Translating the German menu

Go to any barbecue in the American Midwest, and alongside the hot dogs, hamburgers and steaks you will find "brats" on the grill. When 19th- and 20th-century German immigrants introduced their hearty German cuisine to the Americas, they introduced the New World to:

• sausages (both fried and steeped), cold cuts and spreads such as liverwurst
• meat dishes such as pork roast, pork knuckle, suckling pig, marinated beef, veal and venison
• often accompanied by condiments like mustard and horseradish
• cold side dishes such as potato salad and coleslaw
• hot side dishes like sauerkraut, potato dumplings and red cabbage
• and baked goods, from rye bread and rolls to soft pretzels

Especially at this time of year, you'll find German food celebrated at Oktoberfeste from Blumenau in Brazil, with over a million visitors, to "Zinzinnati" (Cincinnati) in Ohio, where the "Gemuetlichkeit Games" include beer barrel-rolling contests, beer stein races and a dachshund derby. They're still doing the Chicken Dance in Old World Village in Huntington Beach, California:

Oktoberfeste are held all over the world as an excuse to have a big beer party. Small wonder, then, that foreigners stream to Germany, and specifically Bavaria, in search of "the real thing". "Excuse me," they might say to you, looking at the menu at the Oktoberfest in Munich, "I know that a 'Maß' is a litre of beer on tap, but what's a 'Brathendl'?" Let's go through the Oktoberfest menu together so you can translate and explain some standard German dishes. Next page, please!

Anne Hodgson