Tübingen is located in the province of Baden-Württemberg, which is in the Schwabian part of Germany. One of the local specialities is champagne and caviar, which we’ve sampled more than once. The most common way to eat those things is to cook them with little pieces of hot dogs.

Before you fall off your chair in horror, allow me to explain. Champagne and caviar is my shorthand for how I refer to two of the locally grown ingredients we’ve seen for sale in the stores: one is called Champagnelinsen, the other Belugalinsen. Crucially, you need to know that linsen is the German word for lentils; you should also understand that a locally popular way to cook lentils is to boil them with little pieces of hotdog-like wurst cut up and added to the pot. My niece and nephews like a similar dish in the U.S. that they call “beanie weanies:” pieces of hot dogs cooked in baked beans. Same idea, different legume.

Apparently many different varieties of lentils are grown in the farms near Tübingen, including those champagne and caviar — er, beluga — types. Before we moved here I thought lentils only came in 3 “flavors” — brown, red and yellow. So, to see that there are many more types grown here in Germany was fascinating. There was a huge display at the festival held here in Tübingen a couple of weeks ago. The stall with the lentils display wasn’t terribly photogenic, however, so unfortunately I don’t have a photo of it.

However, here’s a photo of another local specialty that was also featured at the festival. It’s also something produced locally that I didn’t associate with Germany: whisky.

Taste of Tübingen festival, whisky booth

You may wonder why a sheep is the symbol of the typical Swabian whiskey. I will confess I have no idea. I also don’t know why the champagne lentils are named after the drink. The beluga ones at least are black and sort of look like caviar. There, I can explain one out of three of those names – it’s a start. Maybe next year I’ll speak enough German to ask someone at the festival more about the products. For now, I just pass along this info so you can at least be prepared if you come to Schwabia and someone invites you over for champagne and caviar. 😉