The recipes were simple, because people didn’t have much in the GDR, and of course that was true of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania as well – but some things were available there in sufficient quantities, and those were fish and potatoes, also called Tüften. They were first grown in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania at the command of the Prussian king, and in GDR times, too, they were an important part of the local recipes. The vast forests of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania didn’t put game on every citizen’s plate, but the opportunities were certainly there. “The hunt belongs to the people” – with this slogan they wanted to set themselves apart from capitalism and its “big-shot hunts.” Anyone who didn’t conform closely enough with the state (and so was better not handed a gun) simply gathered mushrooms.
The recipes of the people of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania are marked by a sweet-and-sour cuisine of the kind often found in GDR cookbooks anyway. Grünkohl (kale) always landed on the table in fall and winter, and people liked to refine it with raisins. A real specialty of the region.
The main staple, however, was fish in every variation. Cod, herring, mackerel, plaice, zander or eel, preferably smoked – the wealth of fish in the Baltic Sea and, until 1977, when the 200-nautical-mile zones were introduced, in the Northwest Atlantic as well, filled the plates. The founding of the foreign trade company Fischimpex Rostock in 1980, to make up for the disadvantage the GDR suffered under international fishing rights, did not lead to greater variety on Mecklenburg plates – the catches became export goods.
The typical recipes from Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania in GDR times were simple, hearty dishes that took the harsh climate into account. Stralsunder Fischertopf (fish stew from Stralsund), cod with parsley sauce, carrots in egg sauce or, especially popular with the little ones, Buttermilchplinsen (buttermilk pancakes); the housewives of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania did what all the other women in the GDR did, namely made the best of what was available.
If you want to cook a simple, traditional dish and have no fish at hand, you are warmly advised to try the inexpensive (that, too, is typical of many GDR recipes) Graupeneintopf nach Mecklenburger Art, pearl barley stew Mecklenburg style.
This simple dish tastes even better reheated the next day and was perfect for restoring the fisherman’s strength after a hard day on deck.