Northwestern GermanyKale & PinkelWinter traditions

Grünkohl mit Pinkel: The Meal at the End of the Walk

Grünkohl mit Pinkel

Why turn a plate of kale and sausage into a winter outing? Around Bremen and Oldenburg, the walk, the shared table and the choice of next year’s organizers belong to the same occasion.

SmartRestro editorial Updated September 12, 2026 4 min read

Grünkohl mit Pinkel pairs cooked kale with a grain sausage; boiled potatoes accompany the meal.

A three-hour walk to lunch

On 15 January 1871, members of the Oldenburger Turnerbund, a gymnastics club, walked through Metjendorf to Wiefelstede. Lunch was waiting: kale with Pinkel, other sausage, pork and fried potatoes. After eating, singing and speeches, the party continued to Rastede and eventually took the train home.

The details survive in an 1884 club retrospective reproduced by archivist Ulrich Linser in the regional cultural journal kulturland oldenburg in 2021. Linser identifies the event as the club’s first winter outing of this kind. The account documents a particular Kohlfahrt—a kale outing—rather than the invention of kale with Pinkel.

Its appeal is easy to understand from the itinerary: exercise, a substantial meal and several hours of company were planned together. Lunch was the destination around which the day took shape.

The crown comes with a job

Bremen’s municipal guide describes today’s Kohlfahrt as a group walk with friends or colleagues ending in a Grünkohl meal at an inn. A Bollerwagen, or handcart, carries drinks and snacks; games interrupt the journey. The customary season runs through the colder months, which the guide places between November and March.

At the gathering, a Kohlkönig and Kohlkönigin—kale king and queen—may be chosen through games or other group rules. The titles bring practical work: arranging the next outing’s route, venue, games and provisions. Beneath the joking ceremony is a way to make sure someone takes responsibility for meeting again.

Separate dishes of chopped kale, Pinkel and Kochwurst sausages, sliced Kasseler and boiled potatoes — Shared service: kale in a bowl, sausages and Kasseler on a platter, and potatoes alongside. Oldenburg’s municipal recipe describes this separation of vegetables and meat.

Two places for the grain

The City of Oldenburg’s published version starts with chopped kale, onions and lard, adds oat groats and broth, and slowly braises the greens with smoked pork. Pinkel and Kochwurst join the pot later. For service, the meat goes onto a platter and the kale into a bowl, with boiled potatoes alongside. This is one documented arrangement, rather than a single formula for every household.

Pinkel contributes another layer of cereal. Guter Genuss, the butchers’ guide, describes it as a Grützwurst: a sausage containing pork and oat or barley groats. In its account of production, the oats are softened before being mixed with pork, onion and seasoning. Grain belongs inside the sausage, not merely beside it as a starch.

The same guide describes Kochwurst as a smoked pork sausage. It can share the platter with Pinkel, but the two names do not describe the same filling. When ordering the meal, asking which sausages are included tells you more than simply asking whether it comes with sausage.

A cut cooked Pinkel showing a coarse filling of softened grain, pork and fat beside a small serving of kale — Pinkel’s coarse filling includes cereal as well as pork and fat. Individual butchers vary the balance and seasoning.

Regional tendencies

Bremer and Oldenburger Pinkel

NDR distinguishes these familiar styles by their balance of meat and fat. Guter Genuss adds an essential qualification: recipes vary from butcher to butcher. Treat the names as a starting point for a conversation, rather than a fixed ingredient percentage.

Bremer Pinkel

NDR describes the Bremen style as richer in fat, with more bacon and pork fat and relatively little muscle meat.

Oldenburger Pinkel

NDR lists pork meat, bacon, oat groats, onion and seasonings for the Oldenburg style. The coarse mixture is stuffed into a casing, smoked and briefly dried. Ask the producer about the actual cereal and meat balance in the version you buy.

Research notes

Sources and further reading

Local cultural history, municipal accounts and ingredient guides establish different parts of the story. The 1871 date belongs to the documented club outing.

Oldenburgische Landschaft — kulturland oldenburg 1/2021 Ulrich Linser, “Vom Wandern zur Kohlfahrt,” printed pages 12–14: club history and the reproduced account of the 1871 outing.
Bremen — Kohltourtradition The contemporary walk, handcart, games, meal and organizing duties of the elected kale king and queen.
City of Oldenburg — Grünkohl mit Speck und Pinkel A municipal recipe documenting groats in the kale, gradual addition of meats, and separate platter-and-bowl service.
Guter Genuss — Pinkel, Kochwurst und Bregenwurst The cereal component and preparation of Pinkel, butcher variation and the distinction from Kochwurst.
NDR — Pinkel Ingredients, coarse filling, smoking and the described differences between Bremer and Oldenburger styles.
BZL — Does kale really need frost? Why cool conditions and plant maturity can affect sweetness without requiring freezing temperatures.