Photo: dpa
Martin Löwe, curator of the German Currywurst Museum and initiator of the project, began developing the idea four years ago. In the meantime, five million Euros of private investment have gone into making this fast food icon into a cultural institution. The 1100 square-meter museum is located just next to another tourist magnet, Checkpoint Charlie.
For 60 years this favorite Berliner snack -- fried pork sausage chopped into bite-sized chunks, doused with ketchup , sprinkled with curry powder and dumped onto a paper plate -- has been consumed at the rate of 70 million a year in Berlin alone (800 million in Germany).
The Secret behind Currywurst
Hamburg may contest Berlin's claim to being the first city to produce this sausage delicacy, but for Berliners the case is clear-cut. The inventor of currywurst was Herta Heuwer, a shop assistant who lived in Berlin's post-war British sector.
In a city still ravaged by the war, Heuwer bought a food stand for 35 Marks and converted it into a kiosk. On a rainy day in September 1949, when nary a customer showed up, she experimented with ingredients brought into the city by British soldiers: tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce and curry powder. The next day she sold the world's first currywurst. Heuwer (and Berlin) never looked back.
By the 50s and 60s the Berlin currywurst was so popular that Heuwer employed an entire staff and patented the recipe for the sauce (under the name "Chillup"). You can still see a metal plaque at the corner of Kant and Kaiser-Friedrich-Strasse in Charlottenburg, marking the spot where Heuwer first put up her kiosk. The original recipe with its 12 different spices, though, remains a secret.
In a city still ravaged by the war, Heuwer bought a food stand for 35 Marks and converted it into a kiosk. On a rainy day in September 1949, when nary a customer showed up, she experimented with ingredients brought into the city by British soldiers: tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce and curry powder. The next day she sold the world's first currywurst. Heuwer (and Berlin) never looked back.
By the 50s and 60s the Berlin currywurst was so popular that Heuwer employed an entire staff and patented the recipe for the sauce (under the name "Chillup"). You can still see a metal plaque at the corner of Kant and Kaiser-Friedrich-Strasse in Charlottenburg, marking the spot where Heuwer first put up her kiosk. The original recipe with its 12 different spices, though, remains a secret.
A Tribute to Currywurst
An entire section is dedicated to Herta Heuwer and the origins of the currywurst. But there's more.
At the entrance, visitors can stand behind the counter of a make-believe currywurst stand and have their picture taken. Later, they can marvel at giant ketchup drops from the ceiling, plop down on a leather Wurst- sofa to watch TV-clips on the theme of currywurst, listen to pop songs featuring currywurst lyrics emanating from handsets in the shape of ketchup bottles, or study a map showing locations of Berlin's currywurst stands marked with little forks.
At the entrance, visitors can stand behind the counter of a make-believe currywurst stand and have their picture taken. Later, they can marvel at giant ketchup drops from the ceiling, plop down on a leather Wurst- sofa to watch TV-clips on the theme of currywurst, listen to pop songs featuring currywurst lyrics emanating from handsets in the shape of ketchup bottles, or study a map showing locations of Berlin's currywurst stands marked with little forks.
Photo: dpa
Currywurst Disneyland
You can also pick up trivia about currywurst sales around the world, learn about currywurst variations, follow the history of fast food, watch Grace Lee's documentary film "Best of the Wurst," prepare a virtual currywurst, or peek inside the refrigerators of various social "types" (the single twenty-something male, the two-children family, the gourmet foodie, etc.) to discover the role of Berlin's most famous fast food in each.
If the entrance price of 11 Euros hasn't been steep enough, (note that for one Euro more you can get a combination-ticket for all the fantastic exhibitions at the Museum Island) you can also buy currywurst junk at the exit: a T-Shirt that reads "Don't Worry --- be Curry" or a soft toy sausage (29.90 EUR).
Photo: dpa
If the entrance price of 11 Euros hasn't been steep enough, (note that for one Euro more you can get a combination-ticket for all the fantastic exhibitions at the Museum Island) you can also buy currywurst junk at the exit: a T-Shirt that reads "Don't Worry --- be Curry" or a soft toy sausage (29.90 EUR).
"The museum is a tribute to a cultural phenomenon," said museum director Birgit Breloh. "Our aim is to highlight all the various dimensions of the currywurst." A lofty goal. But all this seems to me like a kind of Currywurst Disneyland. Me, I'd rather go down to Curry 36 in Kreuzberg and get the real thing.
Photo: dpa
The Currywurst Museum is at Schützenstr. 70, 10117 Berlin Mitte (U6 to Kochstr.) and is open daily from 10 am to 10 pm. Tickets are 11 Eur (reduced fee: 7 EUR). More information is at www.currywurstmuseum.de
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