The white vegetable
Is Germany’s love affair with white asparagus coming to an end?
THE cult of white asparagus is as much a part of German culture as beer, football and motorways with no speed limits. But a new survey reveals that younger Germans are less enthusiastic about their country’s national vegetable.
Asparagus ice cream, asparagus pizza and, of course, just plain old asparagus with butter: Few countries worship the asparagus quite like Germany and come spring restaurants around the country begin serving their take on this semi-sacred vegetable.
Before then, German media will have begun reporting forecasts on the coming crop of “white gold” or “edible ivory,” as many fans call it when posting pictures of their first asparagus of the year on social media.
Every year the average German consumes about 1.7 kg of asparagus (mostly white – the green variety is less common in Germany), according to the Federal Agency for Agriculture and Food (BLE). That’s up from about 1.3 kg 25 years ago.
“Not liking asparagus is definitely worse than not knowing the words to the national anthem,” German news magazine Der Spiegel wrote in a hotly debated 2019 opinion piece questioning the German cult of asparagus.
And yet while overall asparagus consumption may be rising, this may only be short-lived given that older people appear to be doing the most eating.
The older the German, the more they love asparagus, according to a survey conducted by research institute Yougov on behalf of dpa. About three in four people over 55 (74%) enjoy asparagus, while less than half of 18- to 24-year-olds (47%) like it.
The research confirms previous generalisations about asparagus consumption in Germany, and Der Spiegel’s controversial opinion piece had dismissed this vegetable as the “old white man” of the food world.
The cult of the asparagus may yet lose its hold on the German food scene if the country’s younger generations don’t change their minds as they age.
For now, millions across Germany love asparagus and look forward to it every year. According to the survey, 64% of adults in Germany like asparagus, and more than half (53%) look forward to its arrival every year in spring.
But many also find the endless hype in news media and social media a little over the top. Around a third of adults (32%) think that too much attention is being paid to white asparagus, according to the poll results.
Indeed, Germany’s love of asparagus takes several bizarre forms, and various states annually crown a so-called “asparagus queen” every year. In the first half of 2021, fears of a bad crop amid pandemic hygiene restrictions and poor weather made headlines across German media.
The most prized dish on the menu of many restaurants in Germany come spring looks like this – white asparagus with a creamy hollandaise sauce with potatoes and sometimes meat. It’s often paired with a Riesling or Grauburgunder white wine.
In Germany, the asparagus season begins in March/april and lasts – at least traditionally – until St. John’s Day on June 24.
Of those who like asparagus, most (62%) prefer to eat it with hollandaise sauce (a sauce made of egg yolk, clarified butter, salt and pepper), while many also just use plain butter (22%).
Because of its high water content, asparagus is low in calories, but at the same time rich in vitamins and minerals, as any asparagus-loving German doctor will tell you.
The topic of asparagus urine is also often debated in Germany, given that the urine of many people smells remarkably strong afterwards. This is due to the breakdown of aspartic acid, a sulphur-containing aromatic substance in asparagus.
Even if today a lot of asparagus comes from Greece, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands or even Peru and China, local asparagus remains particularly sought after in Germany.
However it also comes with an increasingly bad conscience for many consumers.
Environmentalists complain about the level of rubbish caused in asparagus production, which sees gigantic sheets of plastic effectively turning fields into deserts for months. These sealed-off fields also mean that birds and bees have lost their habitat.
In addition, the harsh working conditions and exploitation of lowwage workers, notably poor migrants from Eastern Europe, are a recurring theme every year in spring. 2020 was a record year for asparagus, says a spokesperson from the Association of Southern German Asparagus Growers in Bruchsal, in southern Germany. The following year was somewhat more difficult, but not just because of the pandemic.
“In 2021 the spring was quite grey, cold and wet. There was little asparagus at the beginning of the season and the prices were therefore quite high.” Many (presumably older) Germans then breathed a sigh of relief when temperatures then rose after that – and with them the asparagus harvest volumes.