What “Fish and Chips” is to the Brit, so “Currywurst und Pommes” is to the German. And yes, Germans and sausages is a cliché, but still it is truly a fundamental part of German heritage - it's almost a national institution.
The importance of sausages is clearly visible even in the language. When it's getting serious in Germany, they say: "it is now all about the sausage”.
Something so crucial to German culture is something worth protecting. Food heritage such as the Currywurst can be protected by many means, for example, patents, trademarks, copyrights, designs, trade secrets and appellations of origin. Indeed, there are currently over 40 live EU trade marks which make specific reference to “Currywurst” in their specification of goods (naturally all but one owned by Germany companies!) and there is even talk of having the Currywurst become a UNESCO Cultural Heritage – the ultimate accolade.
Yet where there is something worth protecting, there is often also controversy. It is commonly said that the Currywurst was invented in Berlin on 4th of September 1949 by Herta Heuwer at her snack stand on the corner of Kantstrasse/Kaiser-Friedrich-Strasse in the Charlottenburg. She is said to have experimented with tomato paste, curry powder and Worcestershire sauce on that day. Other sourpusses say she just ran out of mustard. In any event, her new “Currywurst” turned out to be very popular and Herta Heuwer sought protection for her invention, claiming she had a patent. In fact, she had filed a trade mark “Chillup” for her Currywurst sauce, rather than a patent, keeping her Currywurst sauce recipe a trade secret. Heuwer never told a soul (not even her husband) her secret recipe. Thus, her Currywurst died with her in 1999, whereupon Berlin honoured Herta Heuwer with a commemorative plaque and even a Currywurst museum, which sadly closed in 2018.
But history is not clear-cut. In his book “The invention of the Currywurst” the writer Uwe Timm states that Lena Brücker sold the Currywurst at her snack stand on the Großneumarkt in Hamburg, where, as a little boy, he ate Currywurst for the first time in 1947. Thus, before Herta Heuwer’s invention in 1949. Also, Lena Brücker has a commemorative plaque in Hamburg on the Großneumarkt, even though Lena Brücker is said to be a fictional character. Similarly, the great German singer-songwriter Herbert Grönemeyer claims that the Currywurst was actually invented in the Ruhr region and sang the well-known song “Currywurst”. Not to mention that the Ruhr region is planning to open the museum entitled "Ruhr region: Home of the Currywurst”. Clearly, the Currywurst is just one more opportunity for a dose of good old-fashioned local rivalry.
Perhaps in keeping with these local rivalries, each region of Germany, the Currywurst tastes different. In some regions, it is said that the Currywurst has to be free of its skin, while others claim that the skin is an essential part. For both, there are collective marks registered. Naturally each region also claims that only certain regional sausages should be used for the real Currywurst. An application for a Protected Geographical Indication has even been submitted to the DPMA for "Berliner Currywurst ohne Darm" (Berlin curry sausage without skin).
But all different Currywursts have at least two things in common: 1) they are cut into small bite-sized pieces and 2) these pieces must be slathered with Currywurst sauce.
And so it was that the first manual Currywurst-Schneidemaschine (Curry sausage cutting machine) was invented, followed by the electric Currywurst-Schneidemaschine, which was invented and received a utility model patent in 1963 by Friedhelm Selbach. Certain Currywurst shops have even invented their own signature Currywurst-Schneidemaschine, which gives the right cutting surface to allow for the perfect amount of sauce to stick to a piece of sausage - thus creating the ultimate flavour.
Nowadays, more and more snack stands also offer vegan versions of the “Currywurst”, thanks to the new vegan sausages available and processes patented.
So, the history of the Currywurst has not ended and its future is bright; as they say in Germany, “Alles hat ein Ende, nur die Wurst hat zwei” - Everything has an end, only the sausage has two.