Germanic cuisine, as Brecht knew it, isn't divided into starter/main/dessert but revolves around bread. Frühstück (morning) and Abendbrot (cold evening meal) center on Brotzeit: a board of rye bread, cold cuts, cheeses, and sour condiments that you assemble yourself. Mittagessen is the only hot meal, often a one-pot stew. Separately, Kaffeestunde structures the afternoon (coffee and tobacco for Brecht). In Danish then Californian exile, this open-sandwich structure survived, transposed into Scandinavian smørrebrød.

A small seed with an aniseed-peppery flavor, caraway is the signature spice of Southern German cuisine: found in rye bread, pork roast crackling, sauerkraut. Cheap, robust, popular — it perfectly matches the 'man of the people' image Brecht cultivated.