Scarywurst museum!

Those of you who have been reading Chez Pim for a while might remember that, last February when I was visiting the German Boy in Heidelberg, currywurst was part of my cultural education. I called it Scarywurst, but many Germans love it so, there's even a movie made about it.

Currywurst is one of those food quirks that every culinary culture has. In this case, for the Germans, especially Berliners, the quirk takes the form of a perfectly good wurst, freshly cooked so the skin snaps like only German wursts could, cut up into small pieces, doused liberally with curry powder and eaten with ketchup -with a plastic fork and on a paper plate, no less- and often with a side of fries, or sometimes on top of a pile of fries.

To add insult to injury, sometimes the wurst itself comes flavored with curry powder, and as if ketchup alone isn't enough, some places actually smother the entire thing in dark gravy. Ick.

Sounds like a perfectly good wurst spoiled, doesn't it? But frankly, I must say that the one I had wasn't so bad at all. The curry powder had a weirdly sandy mouthfeel, but it really wasn't such a bad flavor.

Oh well, whatever I think of the thing, the Germans seem to be proud enough of this to actually build a museum for it. Yes, ladies and gentleman, the wurst museum in the world. Fifteen hundred square meters of all things Scarywurst, detailing everything from origins, history, recipes, to cultural value or these strange wursts.

The museum is slated to open in 2006, and plans to accommodate more than 350,000 visitors a year. Whatdayaknow, they may be on to something!