An introduction to currywurst
By Rachel Hergett EBS COLUMNIST
“I’ll try anything once” is core to the spirit of adventure I like to cultivate in my life. Be scared and do it anyway. Take the leap. Try the new thing. This is especially true of food.
So, I’m not entirely sure what I was thinking when I decided to write about the inaugural Big Sky Oktoberfest on Sept. 15 and 16 in the context of a food column. The menu was predictably sausage heavy; I’ve never eaten a German-themed meal that wasn’t. What newness could it offer?
But as I walked toward the entrance tent where lederhosen-clad volunteers were collecting money in exchange for bier steins and drink tokens, I ran into an old friend. Under a slightly inebriated slur, she told me the currywurst was delicious. I wasn’t sure what to think of this statement, because what the hell is a currywurst?
Despite claiming German as the majority of my ancestry, I had never heard of this culinary mash-up that National Geographic calls “Germany’s favourite fast food” (British spelling and all in the online article). Competing theories of the dish’s origins don’t seem to hold any sway over its popularity. Over 800 million portions are consumed in Germany each year, according to the travelogue. We’ll get back to currywurst in a moment.
Despite my trepidations, I wanted to cover Oktoberfest because it was a fundraiser to support kids in the Big Sky community. Event organizers Dana and Larry Wikan debriefed me the day after the event. About 500 people attended Friday, Dana estimated. And Saturday saw 800 through the gate. Proceeds from Oktoberfest are slated for Big Sky Futbol Club, a local youth soccer club. Larry was on the board when the nonprofit was founded in fall 2018. And Dana has been a supportive volunteer in numerous administrative capacities. They have seen the club grow from 15 kids, including their eldest son, to over 200.
Proceeds will help with operations and equipment, and support scholarships. The goal, Dana explained, is to get as many kids outside as possible. “It’s not even soccer, per se,” she said.
Dana expects Oktoberfest to be an annual event and has dreams for its growth helping support youth in Big Sky Futbol Club and beyond.
“We see a fundraiser like this really keeping the costs down for the local community,” Dana said.
With Larry, I talked about food.
His goal was to bring an authentic German Oktoberfest sausage menu to Big Sky, including the thin Nürnberger brat and German snack sausages known as landjäger—sourced from Bavaria Sausage in Fitchburg, Wisconsin.
Big Sky Oktoberfest’s currywurst offering featured weisswurst, a sausage usually made with veal and bacon that give it a slightly odd light color. It makes more sense when I learn that “weisswurst” means “white sausage.”
“Currywurst,” Larry tells me, “is cut up weisswurst with curry ketchup and one of those little wooden forks.”
The fork adds to the authenticity, he said. While the Brits may call these “chip forks” and use them to eat fish and chips, in Germany they are “currywurst pieker,” the currywurst fork.
Fork aside, I enjoyed the tang and depth of flavor the tomato-based curry sauce brought to my sausage experience.
Research for this column leads to some interesting places at times. Big Sky Oktoberfest was just an introduction to the world of currywurst. It led me down a currywurst rabbit hole, into a new world filled with fierce debates about the right ketchup recipe or correct sausage (weisswurst? a beef or pork bratwurst?). I can’t speak to those questions yet, but I tried the dish once… and I’m ready to try it again.
Rachel Hergett is a foodie and cook from Montana. She is arts editor emeritus at the Bozeman Daily Chronicle and has written for publications such as Food Network Magazine and Montana Quarterly. Rachel is also the host of the Magic Monday Show on KGLT-FM and teaches at Montana State University.
