It's no secret that Germans love their Bratwurst. From the supermarket, to festivals, any outdoor activity in Bavaria, or maybe even all of Germany, you will find a Bratwurst stand. 3 years ago when we first heard about the Fränkischer Bratwurstgipfel (Bratwurst Festival) we fell in love!
This Bratwurst festival is located in Pegnitz, about 30 minutes away from where we live. The Franconian Bratwurst Summit (Organized by Upper Franconia, in Pegnitz) has become a tradition. Franconian Butchers meet for sophisticated sausage competition in which each participating butcher sends two sausage specialties in the race: a creative and a classic Bratwurst sausage. This is the 5th year it has been going on. Since the festival started back in 2010 they've held it in Pegnitz, in Meadow Park. I think it is the perfect place to hold it.
What I love most about these festivals are the fact that they're free! You don't have to spend any money, (Unless you wanna eat or drink, unfortunately it's not free)
Usually there are a lot of American's who go to the festival, but I think this year since it wasn't advertised on the "Things to do this weekend" list it got over looked. Not that it needed any advertising. The little park was PACKED. There were lines to get food and no place to sit! We didn't even bother trying to park across the street. Instead we parked at the Edeka (grocery store) a couple blocks away and walked down to the park.
Since our first year in Germany, back in 2013 this has been one of the handful of festivals we go to once a year. In 2013 we had arrived later in the day, it had rain a bit so there were hardly any people there. We had no idea what is was about, I had heard through the grapevine of this mini festival and we jumped at the opportunity to do something on a Sunday (since everything was closed and we were used to doing all of our errands on Sunday's) We had found a bratwurst stand and filled up on bratwursts before walking around.
In 2014, we went with some friends. My friend Lisa, is German, so she was able to translate things for us, she had told us that there were sample size Bratwursts, so instead of each getting a regular size, we got sample sizes. It was still a big mistake, we all filled up on Brats before making it around all the stalls.
This year, we were prepared. We went with our friends the Cruz's again. Even though we've been here for 2 years, we haven't learned much German, so it's great when we do things with Lisa, she translates for us and even teaches us how to pronounce the words correctly!
This year there were 15 different butchers/stalls, and we knew we were going to get 1 sample size ("Versuchala") and split it between us, so we would make it to every single stall. That was the best decision we made!
The Bratwurst Summit is once a year and only on a Sunday! The Sample size costs 1.50, a normal size ranged from 2-3 euros. I preferred the sample size. There were 15 stalls and we made it to 13 of them! One of the stalls was serving an Organic version and Drew and Ray said that they had no interest in it, and another stall they had run out of the fun flavors, and only had the regular brats. Every year the butchers bring 2 sausages to the summit to be judged on, and the flavors are incredible! We walked around the little park for 3 hours. This year we tasted a bratwurst made from Walnut & Wild Boar, Apple and even a pulled pork one! It was amazing!
It was pretty crowed, but I would suggest going. There was good food and beer, but it was even better because we went with friends! I love these festivals, it's a great way to get out and enjoy the German culture, and the beautiful weather!
:)
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