Christmas markets

Many people flock to German Christmas markets simply for the street food. Row upon row of brightly lit stalls line market squares selling fresh produce. The Gendarmenmarkt in Berlin, one of Germany's oldest Christmas markets, is particularly stunning. Try traditional foods, such as potato cakes with quark, salmon, apple sauce or onions.

There is also a huge variety of succulent fried sausages, served with a bread roll, and mustard or curry sauce. Giant pretzels hang from hooks covered in salt – wash them down with a glass of beer or gluwein (mulled wine).

You'll be tempted by the huge selections of sweets and chocolates wrapped in foil and moulded into Father Christmas or other seasonal shapes. You can watch chestnuts and almonds being toasted, and admire the painted edible marzipan figurines lining the front of confectionary stands.

Shopping

Quality is a benchmark of the German culinary way of life. Visiting a restaurant for dinner or a bakery to pick up afternoon cakes, you can expect to walk away with nothing less than the highest quality.

With this in mind German cuisine tends to include a variety of fresh food from bakers, butchers and delicatessens. The concept of 'one stop shopping' is quite alien.

The choice is seemingly endless. Bakers, for example, offer around 200 types of bread - from light brown bread made from rye flour (known as farm bread) to pumpernickel (dark, coarse wholemeal bread with a strong flavour).

Delicatessen products

Cheeses are a key to German cuisine and there is a wide variety, including hard tangy cow’s milk cheeses such as tilsiter and emmentaler – which is particularly good for grilling and melting. Softer German cheeses include velvety Bavarian blue brie or brie with added mushrooms or green peppercorns

Pickles may be eaten as an accompaniment to sausages, sandwiches, or mixed in with a dish. Germans like to pickle cucumbers, carrots, peppers, cauliflower and cabbage (to make the famous sauerkraut). Schnicken, Black Forest ham, liver paté, chicken in aspic and tongue are just some of the 100s of cold meats available in Germany.