Among the Cherusci, the table is not divided into courses like in Rome. Everything revolves around the central fire of the longhouse: a pot of porridge simmering from morning to night, quarters of meat hanging to smoke in the rafters, jugs of beer and mead passed from hand to hand. The daily meal is simple and hot; the victory feast, on the other hand, is excessive, meaty, and well-watered. They eat with their fingers, seated on benches, and drink counts as much as food.

Lacking abundant salt and facing the long Germanic winters, the key technique was to hang meat and bacon in the smoke of the hearth that never goes out. This wood smoke (oak, beech) flavors, preserves, and gives Cheruscan cuisine its deep, smoky, almost fermented taste — the opposite of the garum and Eastern spices favored by the Roman officers Arminius encountered.