How Frankfurt came to eat the way it does: the people, migrations and accidents that shaped the plate.
Key eras
Imperial fair city, 1200s to 1700s
Frankfurt grew rich feeding its trade fairs and imperial coronations, and the sausage tradition that became the Frankfurter Würstchen grew with it. The Kleinmarkthalle's ancestor markets and the butchers' lanes around the Römer fed merchants from across Europe, fixing the city's habit of eating fast, well and standing up.
The apfelwein centuries, 1600s to 1900s
As vineyards on the Main's slopes gave way, pressed apples took over as Frankfurt's everyday drink. Sachsenhausen's taverns formalised the culture: the grey stoneware Bembel, the diamond-cut Gerippte glass, and houses like Fichtekränzi from 1849 and Lorsbacher Thal from 1803 that still pour today.
Rindswurst and the industrial city, 1894 to 1945
In 1894 the butchers at Gref-Völsings on Hanauer Landstraße began making an all-beef Rindswurst, a sausage the whole working city could eat. It joined Handkäs mit Musik and Grüne Soße as workers' food that outlived the empire, the inflation and the war that levelled the old town around them.
Banking city, world city, 1950s to today
The postwar boom rebuilt Frankfurt as Germany's money capital and filled the Bahnhofsviertel with Turkish, Indian, Eritrean and East Asian kitchens. The 2026 Michelin Guide gives the city three two-star rooms, and Seven Swans holds the distinction of being the world's first fully vegan starred restaurant.
Immigrant influences
- Turkish: Münchener Straße and the Bahnhofsviertel run on Turkish grills, halal butchers and late-night döner houses like Bayram Kebap-Haus.
- South Asian: Kaiserstraße's Indian block, anchored by the vegetarian dosa halls of Saravanaa Bhavan, feeds Frankfurt's large Indian business community.
- Eritrean and East African: Injera platters eaten by hand at Im Herzen Afrikas made Gutleutstraße a destination for East African cooking.
- Japanese: Decades of Japanese banking postings built real demand: Masa's starred washoku, The Sakai's omakase and Azko Iimori's pâtisserie.
- Italian: Postwar Italian families gave Frankfurt its gelato institutions, from Eis Christina in the Nordend to Eis Fontanella on Kaiserstraße.
Signature innovations
- The Bembel and Gerippte: apfelwein's stoneware jug and ribbed glass service ritual
- Rindswurst: the all-beef Frankfurt sausage created at Gref-Völsings in 1894
- Grüne Soße: a cold sauce of exactly seven herbs, eaten as a main course
- Seven Swans: the world's first fully vegan Michelin-starred restaurant
- Handkäs mit Musik: sour-milk cheese in onion vinaigrette, the original bar snack