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Ready, steady - BBQ!

Dagmar Breitenbach
August 4, 2017

Barbecue lovers from all over Germany gather this weekend in Fulda for the 22nd annual German Barbecue Championship. The teams will be allowed to put anything on the grill - but bratwurst.

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food on grill at 18th german BBQ championship
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/D. Maurer

Bratwurst may be what most people in Germany like to slap on their grill - but sausages are not part of the competition at the 2017 German Barbecue Championship on August 5 and 6 in Fulda, a city located right at the heart of Germany.

"We have to try new things to keep it interesting," says Volker Elm, President of the German Barbecue Association (GBA). And that's why they decided to drop the bratwurst.

For one of the courses of their four course challenge, the amateur and professional teams competing for the top prize will be asked to cook pork belly - after all a German favorite on the grill, Elm says, pointing out it's "what Germans like best."

Old favorites and variety

The other courses include sea bass, American Flap Steak and dessert. 

man and woman biting into a sausage in a roll
Bratwurst isn't enough of a challenge for expert grillers - but this year's Thuringian Bratwurst King and Queen certainly enjoy the local sausage in a bun Image: picture alliance/dpa-Zentralbild/Arifoto Ug/M. Reichel

The pros face two extra tasks: a vegetarian dish and a dish improvised from the ingredients they will find in a surprise basket. A 130-member jury then decides on the winner, Germany's "Grillmeister."

The organizers expect to see about 15,000 visitors at the two-day championship for the event's grilling shows, BBQ presentations, bands and DJs - and of course, to taste the food. The admission fee for the entire weekend for non-GBA members is a moderate 8 euros ($9.50).

The 2017 "Grillmeister" is the chosen one to represent his country in the next big grilling event, the World Barbecue Association's (WBQA) championship in Limerick, Ireland, on October 14 and 15.