Viennese cuisine facts for kids
Viennese cuisine is the special way of cooking food that comes from Vienna, the capital city of Austria. Many people think Viennese food is the same as all Austrian food. But while some Viennese dishes are popular across Austria, other parts of Austria have their own unique foods too.
Vienna's food is famous for its crispy Wiener schnitzel and its many sweet pastries. But there are lots of other unique dishes to discover!
Vienna has been Austria's capital for over a thousand years. This long history helped it become a cultural center. It also allowed Vienna to create its very own style of cooking.
If you visit the Naschmarkt, a famous market in Vienna, you'll see many different ingredients. This might make you think Viennese food is super varied. But actually, many traditional Viennese dishes are made with meat. For example, there's Wiener schnitzel, which is veal coated in breadcrumbs and fried. Another popular dish is Tafelspitz, which is boiled beef. You might also find Beuschel, a stew made with veal lungs and heart. Smoked meat, called Selchfleisch, served with sauerkraut and dumplings, is also very common.
Viennese cuisine also has many amazing sweet treats. Apfelstrudel is a pastry filled with apples. Millirahmstrudel is a strudel filled with milk cream. Kaiserschmarrn is a shredded pancake served with fruit sauces. And the Sachertorte is a famous chocolate cake with apricot jam. You can find these and many other desserts in Vienna's many Konditorei (pastry shops). People usually enjoy them with coffee in the afternoon. Spreads like Liptauer cheese or Powidl (a plum jam) are also very popular. Powidl is also used as a filling for dumplings.
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How Viennese Food Developed
The cooking traditions in Vienna grew from many different places. It's like a mix of foods from all over Europe and beyond. Many of these places were once part of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Italian cooking had a big impact on Vienna starting in the 1600s. Later, in the 1700s, French cooking became popular in Vienna. The phrase "Wiener Küche," meaning "Viennese cuisine," first appeared in German cookbooks around the late 1700s. Sometimes, people mistakenly thought it meant all Austrian food.
The famous croissant pastry is also thought to have started in Vienna. This happened after the city won a big battle against the Turks, called the Siege of Vienna.
In the late 1800s, cookbooks began to include foods from many different cultures in Viennese cuisine. These included dishes from Bohemia, Hungary, Italy, Jewish communities, Poland, and the Balkans. Viennese cooking truly showed off foods from all parts of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. For example, menus often had Hungarian goulash, Wiener schnitzel, and south Slav ćevapčići. You might also find crêpe-like Palatschinken, which Romanians also claim. And Powidltascherl, a type of dumpling, came from the Czechs.
New Viennese Cooking
Today, many chefs in Vienna are mixing old traditional dishes with new cooking ideas. This new style is called "Neue Wiener Küche," or New Viennese cuisine. It even includes more vegetarian food options.
Because many people from other countries now live in Vienna, their food traditions also influence the city. You can find delicious Turkish, Jewish, Middle Eastern, and Indian cuisine in Vienna.
Vienna's Coffee Houses
The Viennese coffee house is a super important part of Vienna's food and culture. It's so special that UNESCO has listed it as "Intangible Cultural Heritage" in Austria. This means it's a cultural treasure that needs to be protected. The list describes a Viennese coffee house as a place "where time and space are consumed, but only the coffee is found on the bill." It's a place to relax, chat, and enjoy coffee and pastries.
Popular Viennese Dishes
Here are some typical dishes you might find in Vienna:
- Apfelstrudel: A sweet pastry filled with apples.
- Topfenstrudel: A strudel filled with quark cheese.
- Palatschinken: Thin pancakes, similar to crêpes.
- Kaiserschmarrn: A caramelized and shredded pancake.
- Buchteln: Sweet rolls made from yeast dough. They are traditionally filled with Powidl (plum jam) or apricot jam.
- Germknödel: A large, fluffy yeast dumpling, often filled with plum jam and topped with poppy seeds and melted butter.
- Marillenknödel: Dumplings made with apricots.
- Powidl: A thick plum jam.
- Sachertorte: A famous chocolate cake.
- Wiener schnitzel: A thin, breaded, and pan-fried cutlet of veal.
- Tafelspitz: Boiled beef, often served with apple and horseradish sauces.
- Gulasch: A hearty meat stew, similar to Hungarian pörkölt.
- Selchfleisch: Smoked meat served with Sauerkraut and dumplings.
- Rindsuppe: A clear beef soup.
- Beuschel: A stew containing veal lungs and heart.
- Liptauer cheese: A spicy cheese spread.
