The Vienna sausage stand is a spot the place the road sweeper, the supervisor, the vacationer and the superstar converge for a similar tasty snack. Now it additionally has the official stamp of approval as a part of Austria’s heritage.
The tradition of the standard Würstelstand turned this week one of many newest additions to the nationwide listing of intangible cultural heritage, overseen by the Austrian UNESCO Fee.
It joins the Austrian capital’s distinctive wine taverns, or Heurigen, which have been listed since 2019, and the town’s well-known espresso home tradition, which was honoured in 2011.
The Würstelstand, which may now level to a historical past going again generations, is greater than only a supply of greasy gastronomic satisfaction.
The road stand is understood for bringing folks of many courses and backgrounds collectively and has its personal distinctive vocabulary.
Meet the Haasse, a rough boiled sausage, and likewise the Käsekrainer – a smoked creation infused with cheese that oozes out, additionally generally referred to as the Eitrige, or “suppurating” sausage. There’s additionally the Oaschpfeiferl, a spicy peperoni, and the Krokodü, a gherkin.
“Sausage stands have a protracted historical past in Vienna,” mentioned Josef Bitzinger, whose Bitzinger Würstelstand is positioned subsequent to the Albertina museum and simply behind the Vienna State Opera.
“Initially it was only a bucket with scorching water during which the sausages used to swim,” he mentioned. They had been offered from “small carriages drawn by canines and greater ones drawn by horses, later by a VW bus or a tractor to their spot.”
The custom goes again to the pre-World Conflict I days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, when former troopers arrange cellular cookshops to make a dwelling. Town’s longest-lived stall in a hard and fast location, Würstelstand Leo, has been serving up sausages since 1928. The stands developed into a much bigger establishment after wider-ranging permission for mounted stalls was granted in 1969.
It was then that the griddle was launched and the tacky Käsekrainer invented, Bitzinger mentioned.
“At this time that is already a basic.”
Vienna mayor Michael Ludwig mentioned the UNESCO designation “honours the custom, the hospitality and the range of our metropolis.”
“This title is a recognition for all these Viennese who, with their heat and their allure, make the sausage stands greater than only a snack place – a gathering place the place joie de vivre and tradition come collectively.”
