Oktoberfest Coimbatore showcases German music, food, and culture

Oktoberfest Coimbatore showcases German music, food, and culture

“Bread dumplings,” says chef Kurt Henkensmeier’s with a bright smile pointing to the dish on the platter. Chef Kurt is in Coimbatore to dole out German delicacies at the ongoing three-day Oktoberfest Coimbatore organised by Goethe Zentrum. “We use diced hardened bread cubes, onions, butter, fresh parsley, milk, eggs, salt, pepper and often a dash of freshly-ground nutmeg and serve them with mushroom sauce,” he explains, talking about the standard recipe of the classic from the Bavarian region of Germany. He adds that food counters at the festival will be filled with German specials like pork sausages, crusty roasted pork (juicy pork cooked in pork fat after being marinated in salt, pepper, garlic and caravana seeds, and baked for over three hours), soft cabbage salad tossed in oil with onions, pepper, and a sprinkling of vinegar on top, and potato salad without mayonnaise.

He also talks of obatza, a happy union of camembert cheese and butter, spiced with salt and pepper, paprika powder, caravana seeds and garnished with onions, served with freshly baked bread or pretzels. For dessert, there is Bavarian vanilla cream with berries on top, and kaiserschmarren, a light, caramelised pancake to choose from.

Kurt, who is India for the first time, is thrilled to taste idli, masala dosa, and chaats like pani puri and dahi puri. “People are kind and friendly,” he says with a glint in his eye. Besides running a catering business with his wife in Germany and training young chefs, he works closely with organisations on cutting down on food waste. Kurt, the President of the German Chefs Association, Rhineland-Palatinate has worked across Africa and Asia besides cooking for the royal family in Saudi Arabia. “I grew up in middle Germany dotted with vineyards. Our food is not spicy and we always pair it with a glass of wine. Towards North, we get fish, and vegetables like beetroot. I started learning cooking when I was 16. I joined an apprentice for three years and then I travelled to Egypt, China, Saudi Arabia. When you practise different cuisines, you become tolerant,” says Kurt adding that people can enjoy, good food, music and be merry at the three-day festival.

Tracing the history of Oktoberfest, Armin Alagic-Mueller, director of Coimbatore Indo-German Cultural Association, says the festival held annually in Bavaria is the world’s largest fair, with more than six million people attending every year. In Germany, four natural ingredients can be used for brewing beer — water, malt, hops and yeast. This is governed by the Purity Law of 1516, the oldest, valid consumer protection law in the world that is still unchanged. It stands for transparency, naturalness, clarity and purity. “We have 1500 brands of beer in Germany. The fest is conducted in every big city across the world including New York, Rio De Janeiro, Johannesburg, Singapore, and Beijing.”

Visitors can also try out traditional German games like goal wall shooting, invented by Heinrich Klein, and others like hammer hitting, can throwing and beer mug holding. “The longer you hold a filled beer mug, better are the chances of winning,” says Armin adding that all the games can be played for free. The German Music Band named Blechsauga will perform live with baritone, trombone, airhorn, saxophone, flugelhorn, and trumpet recreating original Oktoberfest tunes. 

Akila Shanmugam, director of Goethe Zentrum says the festival aims to introduce a slice of German culture in Coimbatore as there are as many as 30 German companies in the city. “For Germans living here, it brings back memories of home. There is a growing demand to learn the language as students want to explore education opportunities there. Such events open up their minds and being accepting and tolerant of varied cultures. We wanted to take it one step ahead by introducing German music, food, culture, and camaraderie.”

At Hotel The Grand Regent, Avinashi Road from 5pm to 11pm today and from 11am to 2pm and 5pm to 11pm on Sunday (November 26). Tickets are priced at ₹1500 per entry which includes a complimentary drink, the German beer. Tickets can be purchased on bookmyshow and at the venue.