The Vienna sausage stand is more than just a snack stall. Now it has a UNESCO heritage recognition

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The Vienna sausage stand is more than just a snack stall. Now it has a UNESCO heritage recognition

2024-11-29 00:07 Last Updated At：00:21

VIENNA (AP) — The Vienna sausage stand is a place where the street sweeper, the manager, the tourist and the celebrity converge for the same tasty snack. Now it also has the official stamp of approval as part of Austria's heritage.

The culture of the humble “Würstelstand” became this week one of the latest additions to the national list of intangible cultural heritage, overseen by the Austrian UNESCO Commission. It joins the Austrian capital's distinctive wine taverns, or “Heurigen,” which have been listed since 2019, and the city's famous coffee house culture, which was honored in 2011.

The Würstelstand, which can now point to a history going back generations, is more than just a source of greasy gastronomic satisfaction.

The street stand is known for bringing people of many classes and backgrounds together and has its own distinctive vocabulary.

Meet the “Haasse,” a coarse boiled sausage, and also the “Käsekrainer” — a smoked creation infused with cheese that oozes out, also sometimes known as the “Eitrige,” or “suppurating” sausage. There is also the “Oaschpfeiferl,” a spicy peperoni, and the “Krokodü,” a gherkin.

“Sausage stands have a long history in Vienna," said Josef Bitzinger, whose Bitzinger Würstelstand is located next to the Albertina museum and just behind the Vienna State Opera.

“Originally it was just a bucket with hot water in which the sausages used to swim," he said. They were sold from "small carriages drawn by dogs and bigger ones drawn by horses, later by a VW bus or a tractor to their spot.”

The tradition goes back to the pre-World War I days of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, when former soldiers set up mobile cookshops to make a living. The city’s longest-lived stall in a fixed location, Würstelstand Leo, has been serving up sausages since 1928. The stands developed into a bigger institution after wider-ranging permission for fixed stalls was granted in 1969.

It was then that the griddle was introduced and the cheesy Käsekrainer invented, Bitzinger said. "Today that’s already a classic.”

The UNESCO designation “honors the tradition, the hospitality and the diversity of our city,” Mayor Michael Ludwig said in a statement.

“This title is a recognition for all those Viennese who, with their warmth and their charm, make the sausage stands more than just a snack place — a meeting place where joie de vivre and culture come together.”

Bitzinger said that “we have been fighting a long time for this.”

“The special thing about it is that it’s a form of gastronomy everybody can afford," he said. "Here the general director and, during the opera ball, a celebrity stands next to a worker and the street sweeper who just finished cleaning the street. That unites people.”

Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.

Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: Big balloons, wet weather and 21 protesters arrested

2024-11-29 00:11 Last Updated At：00:21

NEW YORK (AP) — The Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was drenched in rain Thursday and briefly disrupted by Pro-Palestinian demonstrators.

New York City police said they arrested 21 people after protesters sat down on the parade route with Palestinian flags and a “Don't Celebrate Genocide” banner.

People protesting Israel's war in Gaza also interrupted last year’s parade.

Thanks to the wet weather, this year’s parade saw lots of ponchos and umbrellas along with the usual lineup of giant balloons, floats and star-studded performances.

The latest edition of the annual holiday tradition featured new Spider-Man and Minnie Mouse balloons, zoo and pasta-themed floats, an ode to Big Apple coffee and bagels, performances from Jennifer Hudson, Idina Menzel and Kylie Minogue, and more.

The lineup was a far cry from the parade’s initial incarnation a century ago, which featured floats showing scenes from Mother Goose, Red Riding Hood and the Wolf, Miss Muffet and the Spider, and other fairy tales.

Some things remained the same, though. As in 1924, there are plenty of marching bands and lots of clowns, followed by the grand finale of Santa Claus riding through Manhattan and ushering in the holiday season.

This year's parade featured 17 giant, helium-filled character balloons, 22 floats, 15 novelty and heritage inflatables, 11 marching bands, 700 clowns, 10 performance groups, award-winning singers and actors, and the WNBA champion New York Liberty.

Other highlights included reality TV star Ariana Madix, hip-hop’s T-Pain, country duo Dan + Shay, The War and Treaty, The Temptations, Jimmy Fallon & The Roots, Broadway veteran Lea Salonga, and “Glow” actor and Macy's spokesperson Alison Brie.

One new float spotlighted the Rao’s food brand, featuring a knight and a dragon in battle made with actual pasta elements. Another celebrated the Bronx Zoo’s 125th anniversary with representations of a tiger, a giraffe, a zebra and a gorilla.

“The work that we do, the opportunity to impact millions of people and bring a bit of joy for a couple of hours on Thanksgiving morning, is what motivates us every day,” said Will Coss, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade executive producer.

The parade began at 8:30 a.m. on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and ends 2.5 miles (4 kilometers) away around noon at Macy’s Herald Square flagship store on 34th Street, which serves as a stage and backdrop for performances.

The rain isn't stopping anything — the parade has only been canceled three times, from 1942 to 1944 during World War II — but organizers are monitoring wind speeds throughout the festivities to make sure it’s safe for the big balloons to fly.

Temperatures are in the upper 40s degrees F, with rain throughout the morning and winds around 10 mph (16 kph), well within the acceptable range for letting Snoopy, Bluey and their friends soar. New York City law prohibits Macy’s from flying the full-size balloons if sustained winds exceed 23 mph (37 kph) or wind gusts are over 35 mph (56 kph).

The parade airs on NBC with hosts Savannah Guthrie, Hoda Kotb and Al Roker and streams on the network's Peacock service. Carlos Adyan and Andrea Meza will host a Spanish simulcast on Telemundo.

The Vienna sausage stand is more than just a snack stall. Now it has a UNESCO heritage recognition

ENT

The Vienna sausage stand is more than just a snack stall. Now it has a UNESCO heritage recognition

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Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade: Big balloons, wet weather and 21 protesters arrested

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