Saxon cuisine encompasses regional cooking traditions of Saxony. In general the cuisine is very hearty and features many peculiarities of Mid-Germany such as a great variety of sauces which accompany the main dish and the fashion to serve Klöße/Knödel as a side dish instead of potatoes, pastaorrice. Also much freshwater fish is used in Saxon cuisine, particularly carp and trout as is the case throughout Eastern Europe.
The rich history of the region did and still does influence the cuisine. In the blossoming and growing cities of Dresden and Leipzig an extravagant style of cuisine is cherished as exemplified by crab as an ingredient in Leipziger Allerlei. Other regions where the people had to work really hard to yield some harvest and were really poor like in the Ore Mountains peasant dishes play a major role and famous dishes originating there are e.g. potatoes with quark, potato soup or potato with bread and linseed oil. Also in the region Vogtland there were many peasants but they were wealthier and that's why in this region the Sunday roast is a tradition that is nowadays still lived up to.
Throughout Saxony there are brewery traditions and traditional beers. Many famous varieties are brewed there, such as Freiberger, Radeberger, and Wernesgrüner, which was especially in the time of the GDR frequently exported.
The baking goods and pastries of the cuisine of Saxony are known to be varied and unique. The German tradition of Kaffee und Kuchen (lit. coffee and cake), Gaffee un Guchn in the Upper Saxon dialect, originates in Saxony and the Saxons were the first to serve cake with their coffee[citation needed]. This distinction can be seen in the expressions Kaffeesachse and Kaffeetante (which conveys the idea that 'aunties' (Tanten) or old women would meet to gossip over a cup of coffee). This custom, which shows the cultural relations to the cuisineofAustria, and that of Bohemia, is still followed today. No other region in Germany has such a distinct and rich café-culture as Saxony. This can be seen in the many old, grandiose coffeehousesinLeipzig, where the first German café was opened, and in Dresden.
