New Yorkers develop a taste for German Bratwurst and mulled wine

By Katharina Sonnichsen Dec 22, 2011, 3:06 GMT

New York - Every year, shortly before Christmas, a cargo of Nuremberg Lebkuchen - German gingerbread, - traditional wooden figures and Kinder Punch arrives in New York from Germany.

Ingo Bergmann from the German city of Oldenburg arrives about the same time in the Big Apple. His mission is to provide Americans with a small taste of Germany's traditional Christmas culture - and it appears he's having some success.

'There's a bit of Germany in all of us,' says the 33-year-old. Bergmann has so much faith in that statement he's turned it into his marketing slogan.

Bergmann is a banker by profession but for the past seven years he's been travelling to Manhattan's Christmas market to promote traditional German Christmas products.

His 'German Delights' stands now have a group of faithful customers who return every year, buying Stollen Christmas cake, Spekulatius shortbread biscuits and Dominostein sweets.

The best seller is the original German Bratwurst sausage. 'They buy it because they've heard about it before,' says Bergmann.

Part of his strategy is to give prospective customers free samples of his wares. Often they opt to choose a mug of mulled wine instead of America's traditional Christmas drink, hot spiced apple juice.

However, in contrast to German mulled wine, the American version is alcohol-free due to strict laws in the United States on drinking in public.

'That's a pity because adding a shot to mulled wine is part of a traditional German Christmas market,' says Daniela Goetz.

Goetz is from Koblenz in Germany and discovered the stalls selling German products at the market in Manhattan for the first time this year along with her friend, Lena Kemenas. 'It's not what you'd expect to find in New York.'

Bergmann was convinced he was on to a winning idea when he visited Manhattan's Christmas market in 2004.

His joy at finding the market was followed by disappointment: 'There was nothing to eat and absolutely nothing hot to drink.' That was the moment Bergmann thought of his idea to set up 'German Delights.'

He founded a firm and applied for a license to import and sell German products. The following year he set up a stall at the market on Columbus Circle. Every year since then Bergmann spends his holiday from his job in Germany working on the market in New York.

The first years were difficult: New Yorkers were unfamiliar with what he had to sell and his stand was not always ideally placed. The US customs authorities also caused some problems importing his alcohol-free mulled wine.

There was also a learning process for Bergmann: he was not aware that Americans are fond of eating Bratwurst with Sauerkraut (pickled cabbage).

'That's how they love eating it so why shouldn't we sell it that way?' And as long as New Yorkers keep eating Bratwurst, Bergmann will be at his stand keeping the German Christmas spirit alive in the US.