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When Paul Erich Küppers, artist and summer guest on Baltrum had thoroughly been shaken by the waves of the Northsea in 1919, he stepped out of the water and said: "People, I'm through with infinity and cosmos. I've had it. Can I eat a good sea lobster with a goblet of wine somewhere on this island?"
Sea lobster? Goblet of wine? - Well, one could get wine on Baltrum in 1919, although the economy of the island was not particularly flourishing after a couple of decades of tourism. But the main ingredient of wintry food fish though, fresh, dried and salted. Even during tea on a Sunday afternoon the guest was offered dried fish. If the fish supply would have run out, people got mussels, about which they say: "Mussel is'n groot Fisk, wenn d'r anders nix is." (A mussel is a great fish, when there's nothing else around). And as far as the nutritious value is concerned: "Three mussels - one egg."
Meat, all kinds of was considered a delicacy, but the rabbit was Sunday's piece of meat that was on the table. The islanders went to the dunes secretly to dig out his hole and catch it. It is not unusual when looking into old articles to read about complaints with regards being done to the dunes and poaching.
Bread and other food prepared with flour: people baked bread themselves. Rye was imported from the mainland. During the Christmas period people baked "Stuten" (bread with currants) instead of the usual black bread, sometimes also heavy white bread with currants.Dark bread soaked in milk was called "Stön in 't Liev" (Stone in the body).Another dish was "Karmelkbree", a kind of sour milk soup "Gört"/"Grütze" (with groats) A delicacy was "Sackkok" that was baked with dough with yeast and raisins in a cloth and served with syrup and "Butterstipp". Typical for Baltrum was pastry that consisted of rye flour and bran, without yeast, that was baked on the stove: "Buntjes" they were called and still are. If you're lucky, somebody will offer them to you even this day during the Baltrum street parties.
As far as vegetables are concerned, people ate particularly beans, carrots, cabbage and onions.The dried ("updrögt") beans ("Bohnen") that were stringed and left to dry during the summer months, were a Sunday meal. Also preserved "Prunkelbohnen" from the "Pullpott" ("Steintopf" = stone pot) were very popular. In every garden green cabbage could be found - it was fertilised with a mix of sheep's manure, "Teek" (rotten grass) and mussels. White cabbage, red cabbage and turnips were 'imported' in autumn from the mainland. The Baltrum "Sandkartoffel" (sand potato) was very tasty and also quite popular on the mainland!
Like today there was hardly any fruit on Baltrum. Paul Otten writes:Fruit on Baltrum has always been a desirable article. When one could hear "Konen liegt up Rä!" each year from August till September it was a special event for the islanders. The skipper from Westrhauderfehn brought peat and apples to the island. He sold his apples "fatjeweise" (per barrel) and brought on his last autumn trip big, red paradise apples that could be stored as winter fruit until Christmas.
It was also then that the islanders drank tea.Several times a day it was: "drei Tassen sind Ostfriesenrecht" (a variation on "three times lucky") ... and please don't you forget to put the teaspoon in the cup instead of on the saucer during your Sunday visit, otherwise you might go through the same experience as a vicar from the town of Norden, who did not know this custom and after his tea cup had been refilled 32 times, he finally, utterly desperate, tucked the tea cup away in his pocket!
Because of the wet cold climate drinking of alcoholic beverages was usual on the island. Particularly brandy. On New Year's Eve they had "Kassenbranntwein" (cherry brandy, that was imported from the mainland in gallons). The old islanders told, that they - while enjoying the cherry brandy - "manch' kesse Sohle auf die Holzdielen gelegt hätten" (put a good show on the dance floor).
During festival events, particularly when a child was baptised, the guests were served brandy with raisins. With the native population it is still a custom nowadays. In many households people drank "Eierbeer" that was prepared according to an old recipe and that contained relatively little alcohol.
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