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Cajun cuisine

Cajun cuisine (cuisine cadienne, cocina acadiense) is a style of cooking developed by the Cajun–Acadians who were deported from Acadia to Louisiana during the 18th century and who incorporated West African, French and Spanish cooking techniques into their original cuisine.

Cajun cuisine is often referred to as a "rustic" cuisine, meaning that it is based on locally available ingredients and that preparation is simple. Cajuns historically cooked their dishes, gumbo for example, in one pot.

Crawfish, shrimp, and andouille sausage are staple meats used in a variety of dishes. The aromatic vegetables green bell pepper (piment doux), onion, and celery are called "the trinity" by chefs in Cajun and Louisiana Creole cuisines. Roughly diced and combined in cooking, the method is similar to the use of the mirepoix in traditional French cuisine which blends roughly diced carrot, onion, and celery. Additional characteristic aromatics for both the Creole and Cajun versions may include parsley, bay leaf, thyme, green onions, ground cayenne pepper, and ground black pepper. Cayenne and Louisiana-style hot sauce are the primary sources of spice in Cajun cuisine, which usually tends towards a moderate, well-balanced heat, despite the national "Cajun hot" craze of the 1980s and 1990s.

History
The Acadians were a group of French colonists who lived in Acadia, what is today Eastern Canada. In the mid-18th century, they were deported from Acadia by the British during the French and Indian War in what they termed le Grand Dérangement, and many of them ended up settling in southern Louisiana.

Due to the extreme change in climate from that of Acadia, Acadians were unable to cook their original dishes. Soon, their former culinary traditions were adapted and, in time, incorporated not only Native American traditions, but also African-American traditions—as is exemplified in the classic Cajun dish "gumbo", which is named for its principal ingredient (okra) using the West African name for that very ingredient: "gumbo," in West Africa, means "okra". In Louisiana, the Acadian settlers replaced the whole wheat bread they were accustomed to with cornbread, which by the beginning of the 19th century they were eating with cane syrup. Between 1790 and 1810 most Louisiana Acadians bought one to three enslaved black persons, many of whom who had come from the West Indies, from whom they learned the use of new ingredients, including okra, to incorporate in their cuisine. The ragu sauces that the Cajuns developed are very similar to sauces used in French West Africa, possibly introduced by enslaved cooks.

Many other meals developed along these lines, adapted in no small part from Haiti, to become what is now considered classic Cajun cuisine traditions (not to be confused with the more modern concept associated with Prudhomme's style).

Up through the 20th century, the meals were not elaborate but instead, rather basic. The public's false perception of "Cajun" cuisine was based on Prudhomme's style of Cajun cooking, which was spicy, flavorful, and not true to the classic form of the cuisine.

Cajun and Creole cuisine have mistakenly been considered the same, but the origins of Creole cooking are in New Orleans, and Cajun cooking arose 40 years after its establishment. Today, most restaurants serve dishes that consist of Cajun styles, which Paul Prudhomme dubbed "Louisiana cooking". In Cajun home-cooking, these individual styles are still kept separate. However, there are fewer and fewer people cooking the classic Cajun dishes that would have been eaten by the original settlers.

Cultural aspects
According to political scientist Kevin V. Mulcahy writing on cultural identity, Cajun cuisine today is different from that of the 19th and early 20th centuries, but still defines Cajun culture for many people within and outside Acadiana. Its heritage reflects French, Spanish, American Indian, German, and Afro-Caribbean influences. Cajun food is the result of this assimilation or "cultural blending". Rural Cajun cuisine is distinct from the urban Creole cuisine, having arisen by economic necessity among the Acadian immmigrants who came to Louisiana in the 18th century. These settlers lived off the land and survived on foods they could obtain by hunting, fishing, ranching, foraging, or growing crops.

Although there is a large variety of dishes within the regions that make up Cajun country in Louisiana, rural Cajuns generally prefer strong dark roast coffee, highly seasoned foods, hot peppers, vegetables smothered in brown gravy, and one-pot dishes served with rice. Each region has its own specialties, such as andouille sausage on the west bank of the Mississippi River above New Orleans, formerly known as the German Coast; barbecued shrimp in Terrebonne Parish; tasso ham made from hog's shoulder in the area around Opelousas; and crawfish all across the parishes of southern Louisiana, where they are abundant in the fresh water wetlands and waterways.

Many Cajun recipes are based on rice and the "holy trinity" of onions, celery, and green pepper, and use locally caught shell fish such as shrimp and crawfish. Much of Cajun cookery starts with a roux made of wheat flour cooked and slowly stirred with a fat such as oil, butter or lard, known especially as the base for étouffée, gumbo and sauce piquante. Cajun cooks in south Louisiana historically have cooked meals in single pots, and still cook meats by braising. Almost all Cajun households had gardens up until the latter years of the 20th century, and lifted regional culinary standards by adding the fresh vegetables they grew to their dishes.

There was continuity in cuisines between the southern Bayou Teche area and the northern boundary of Cajun country in Avoyelles Parish. Fresh sausage, pork, and the use of salt and pepper as the main seasonings were universal in the region's foodway traditions, north and south. The role of seafood in the cuisine of the southern parishes distinguished it from that of the prairies, where more wild game was consumed instead.

Anthropologist Charlotte Paige Gutierrez has written extensively on Louisiana's traditional foodways. She writes: "The term foodways, as it is now used by writers in various disciplines, has a broad definition. The study of foodways may include the production, distribution, preparation, preservation, serving, and eating of food, as well as the social, symbolic, psychological, and behavioral aspects of food." Modern conveniences influenced Louisiana's culinary traditions: with the introduction of electricity and refrigerators, consuming freshly butchered meat immediately was not imperative as in the past, thus community events such as hog-killings (boucheries) occurred less frequently. Improved transportation and increased incomes made food stores more accessible and buying produce became more affordable for working families. Cajuns now bought their bread at a grocery store rather than baking their own. According to Gutierrez, when the economy of southern Louisiana boomed with the expansion of oil industry operations in the 1970s, Cajuns gained a renewed pride in their ethnicity.

Only those Cajuns who live near the coast are able to regularly harvest seafood such as crabs, oysters, shrimp, and saltwater fish directly from their habitats. Shrimping, crabbing, fishing, frog-gigging, and gardening have been practiced in Terrebonne and Lafourche Parishes as subsistence and commercial pursuits for many generations. Before the introduction of modern transportation and refrigeration, Cajuns who lived in the southwestern prairie parishes away from the coast had little opportunity to incorporate seafood into their diets. Today, fresh seafood is available all across Acadiana, so that now it is regarded as a regional food rather than one available only to coastal residents.

The cooking traditions of the western prairies and those of the Bayou country in southeastern Louisiana overlap in the lower and middle Bayou Teche region. The complicated network of lakes, streams, bayous, and the flood plains with their rich soil characterize the terrain of Iberia, St. Martin, and St. Mary parishes. The traditional cuisine uses those resources available in the area: pork from hog farms on the plains and seafood from the lowlands.

Seasoning practices in the Teche country occupy a middle place between the salt and black pepper-based approach to spices in the Bayou country and the prevalent use of cayenne pepper in the Cajun prairies. People along the lower and middle Teche use cayenne more often than in the Laforche area. Hot pepper sauce has a more dominant role in the Teche country cuisine than in other Cajun regions.

In the upper Teche region, wild game, freshwater fish, and pork are important in the local diet, with rabbit, duck, and venison being eaten more often than among their neighbors to southward. Avoyelles Parish, along the northern edge of Cajun country where cultural influences converge, shares some of these dietary features, although local cooking traditions are somewhat different than in the Teche country. Natives of the parish make fresh sausage, but cling to certain European customs, notably the preparation of cochon de lait róti, or roasted suckling pig. After the young pigs are slaughtered, they are suspended vertically by a rope tied to a tree limb and hang over a hardwood fire. For even cooking of the pig, it is rotated with a stick. Halfway through the roastiing, the carcass is turned end for end to assure even heating of the meat. Local cooks have constructed improvised rotisseries, some fitting theirs with small motors for mechanized rotation.

The upper prairie, historically an area of small farms, ranches, and rice fields, has its own distinctive cuisine, well-known for its smoked meats and boudin blanc, white sausage made of pork, rice, and seasonings. Local hardwoods such as oak, pecan, and hickory are used to smoke sausages and tasso. Smoked meats are comparatively rare, however, in other Cajun communities.

Cajun cooking methods
"low and slow"]] Southern barbecue traditions, but with Creole/Cajun seasoning. A classic example is Johnson's Boucaniere ("smokehouse") in Lafayette, which was named best barbecue in Louisiana by the Food Network in July 2022. In the Ville Platte area, a unique sauce is made from dried onions reconstituted in water and vegetable oil thick with ketchup, mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and seasonings. The flavorful oil that rises to the top is applied directly to meats being cooked as a baste. Two popular brands are Jack Miller's and Pig Stand, which are available online and in grocery stores across the state. This sauce is also commonly used on hamburgers, hot dogs, pork chops, chicken, and other grilled items.
 * Barbecuing—similar to [[Low-temperature cooking|
 * Baking—direct and indirect dry heat in a furnace or oven, faster than smoking but slower than grilling
 * Grilling—direct heat on a shallow surface, fastest of all variants; sub-variants include:
 * Charbroiling—direct dry heat on a solid surface with wide raised ridges
 * Gridironing—direct dry heat on a solid or hollow surface with narrow raised ridges
 * Griddling—direct dry or moist heat along with the use of oils and butter on a flat surface
 * Braising—combining a direct dry heat charbroil-grill or gridiron-grill with a pot filled with broth for direct moist heat, faster than smoking but slower than regular grilling and baking; time starts fast, slows down, then speeds up again to finish
 * Boiling—as in boiling of blue crabs, crawfish, or shrimp, in seasoned liquid, often with side items like corn on the cob, whole new potatoes, and mushrooms cooked in the same boiling pot. A seafood boil is often a large outdoor social event.
 * Deep frying—lightly breaded and fried seafood including various fish, shrimp, oysters, and soft-shell crab is universally popular in Cajun cuisine, often on French bread po-boys in the New Orleans style, along with traditional Southern favorites like fried chicken, fried okra, and pork chops.
 * Smothering—cooking a vegetable or meat over low heat with the sauteed "trinity," plus small amounts of water or stock, similar to braising. This forms a pan sauce or gravy, and the finished product is served over rice. Étouffée is a popular variant done with crawfish or shrimp. A meatless version might feature mushrooms and eggplant. Two commonly smothered meats are pork chops and round steak]; these heartier meats may sometimes have a bit of roux added to the gravy.
 * Pan-broiling or pan-frying
 * Injecting—using a large syringe-type setup to place seasoning deep inside large cuts of meat; this technique is much newer than the others on this list, but very common in Cajun cuisine
 * Stewing, also known as fricassée; a whole chicken cut into pieces is a popular choice for this method, particularly an older hen.

Deep frying of turkeys or oven-roasted turduckens entered southern Louisiana cuisine more recently. Also, blackening of fish or chicken and barbecuing of shrimp in the shell are excluded because they were not prepared in traditional Cajun cuisine. Blackening was actually an invention by chef Paul Prudhomme in the 1970s, becoming associated with Cajun cooking, and presented as such by him, but is not a true historical or traditional Cajun cooking process.

Ingredients
In the late 18th century, about the same time that Acadian musicians embraced the Spanish guitar, spices from the Iberian Peninsula were adopted in the Acadian cuisine. With the cross-cultural borrowing that took place between them and their neighbors in southern Louisiana, Acadians were eating African okra and American Indian corn by the time of the Louisiana Purchase (1803) in such dishes as gumbo, pain de maïs, and soupe de maïs, which did not closely resemble the African and Indian versions.

The following is a partial list of ingredients used in Cajun cuisine and some of the staple ingredients of the Acadian food culture.

Meat and seafood
Cajun foodways include many ways of preserving meat, some of which are waning due to the availability of refrigeration and mass-produced meat at the grocer. Smoking of meats remains a fairly common practice, but once-common preparations such as turkey or duck confit (preserved in poultry fat, with spices) are now seen even by Acadians as quaint rarities.

Game (and hunting) are still uniformly popular in Acadiana.

The recent increase of catfish farming in the Mississippi Delta has brought about an increase in its usage in Cajun cuisine in place of the more traditional wild-caught speckled trout.

 * Andouille—a spicy smoked pork sausage, characterized by a coarse-ground texture and large-diameter casing.
 * Boudin—a cooked sausage made with green onions, pork, and rice, and usually a large amount of ground pork or chicken livers. Boudin may be thought of as "dirty rice in a casing." Some locals prefer to eat the sausage with the casing on, while others squeeze the contents out. Boudin filling is completely cooked before being stuffed into casings and may be consumed immediately after purchase, although it is also popularly grilled at cookouts. Pork blood is sometimes added to produce boudin rouge. Other versions can contain seafood, such as crawfish.
 * Chaurice, a sausage similar to Spanish chorizo
 * Chaudin or ponce—a pig's stomach, stuffed with spiced pork & smoked.
 * Ham hocks
 * Wild boar or feral hog
 * Head cheese
 * Gratons—hog cracklings or pork rinds; fried, seasoned pork fat & skin, sometimes with small bits of meat attached. Similar to Spanish chicharrones.
 * New Orleans hot sausage— a spiced pork or beef sausage characterized by a reddish color.
 * Pork sausage (fresh)—distinctively seasoned and usually smoked, this sausage is often used in gumbos as is andouille, but it may also be grilled or pan-cooked to produce a rice and gravy dish. The sausage itself does not include rice, separating it from boudin. In Cajun country, a distinction exists between this sausage, which is simply called "pork sausage," is finer ground, and uses smaller pork casings, and the similar andouille, which has a coarser grind and larger beef casings.
 * Salt pork
 * Tasso—a highly seasoned, smoked pork shoulder

Beef and dairy Though parts of Acadiana are well suited to cattle or dairy farming, beef is not often used in a pre-processed or uniquely Cajun form. It is usually prepared fairly simply as chops, stews, or steaks, taking a cue from Texas to the west. Ground beef is used as is traditional throughout the US, although seasoned differently.

Dairy farming is not as prevalent as in the past, but there are still some farms in the business. There are no unique dairy items prepared in Cajun cuisine. Traditional Cajun and New Orleans Creole-influenced desserts are common.

Seasonings

 * Onion (bell pepper, onion, and celery used together are known as the "holy trinity" of Cajun cuisine)

Thyme, sage, mint, marjoram, savory, and basil are considered sweet herbs. In colonial times a herbes de Provence would be several sweet herbs tied up in a muslin.

Blended

 * "Creole/Cajun spice" blends such as Tony Chachere's are sometimes used in Cajun kitchens, but do not suit every cook's style because Creole- and Cajun-style seasoning is often achieved from scratch, even by taste.
 * Cajun seasonings consist of a blend of salt with a variety of spices, most common being cayenne pepper and garlic. The spicy heat comes from the cayenne pepper, while other flavors come from bell pepper, paprika, green onions, parsley and more.

Cooking bases

 * Dark roux—Cajuns inherited roux from the French. However, unlike the French, theirs is made with oil or bacon fat and more lately with olive oil, and not normally with butter. It is used as a thickening agent, especially in gumbo and étouffée.
 * Preparation of a dark roux is probably the most involved or complicated procedure in Cajun cuisine, involving heating fat and flour very carefully, constantly stirring for about 15–45 minutes (depending on the color of the desired product), until the mixture has darkened in color and developed a nutty flavor. The temperature should not be too high, as a burnt roux renders a dish unpalatable.

 * Light roux—The secret to making a good gumbo is pairing the roux with the protein. A dark roux, with its strong (dense) nutty flavor will completely overpower a simple seafood gumbo, but is the perfect complement to a gumbo using chicken, sausage, crawfish or alligator.
 * A light roux, on the other hand, is better suited for strictly seafood dishes and unsuitable for meat gumbos for the reason that it does not support the heavier meat flavor as well. Pairing roux with protein follows the same orthodox philosophy as pairing wine with protein.

 * Stocks: Cajun stocks are more heavily seasoned than Continental counterparts, and the shellfish stock sometimes made with shrimp and crawfish heads is unique to Cajun cuisine.

Primary favorites
Boudin—a type of sausage made from pork, pork liver, rice, garlic, green onions and other spices. It is widely available by the link or pound from butcher shops. Boudin is typically stuffed in a natural casing and has a softer consistency than other, better-known sausage varieties. It is usually served with side dishes such as rice dressing, maque choux or bread. Boudin balls are commonly served in southern Louisiana restaurants and are made by taking the boudin out of the case and frying it in spherical form.

Gumbo—High on the list of favorites of Cajun cooking are the soups called gumbos. Contrary to non-Cajun or Continental beliefs, gumbo does not mean simply "everything in the pot". Gumbo exemplifies the influence of French, Spanish, African and Native American food cultures on Cajun cuisine.

The origins of the word gumbo are in West Africa. Kellersberger Vass lists kingumbo and tshingombo as the Bantu words for okra, while John Laudon of the University of Louisiana says the word gombo is a French word that came to the Western Hemisphere from West Africa, where okra was known as (ki) ngombo along much of the region's coast.

Both filé and okra can be used as thickening agents in gumbo. Historically, large amounts of filé were added directly to the pot when okra was out of season. While a distinction between filé gumbo and okra gumbo is still held by some, many people enjoy putting filé in okra gumbo simply as a flavoring. Regardless of which is the dominant thickener, filé is also provided at the table and added to taste.

Many claim that gumbo is a Cajun dish, but gumbo was established long before the Acadian arrival.

Its early existence came via the early French Creole culture in New Orleans, Louisiana, where French, Spanish and Africans frequented and also influenced by later waves of Italian, German and Irish settlers.

The backbone of a gumbo is roux, as described above. Cajun gumbo typically favors darker roux, often approaching the color of chocolate or coffee beans. Since the starches in the flour break down more with longer cooking time, a dark roux has less thickening power than a lighter one. While the stovetop method is traditional, flour may also be dry-toasted in an oven for a fat-free roux, or a regular roux may be prepared in a microwave oven for a hands-off method. If the roux is for immediate use, the "trinity" may be sauteed in it, which stops the cooking process.

A classic gumbo is made with chicken and andouille, especially in the colder months, but the ingredients vary according to what is available. Seafood gumbos are also very popular in Cajun country.

Jambalaya—The only certain thing that can be said about jambalaya is that it contains rice, some sort of meat (often chicken, ham, sausage, or a combination), seafood (such as shrimp or crawfish), plus other items that may be available. Usually, it will include green peppers, onions, celery, tomatoes and hot chili peppers. This is also a great pre-Acadian dish, established by the Spanish in Louisiana. Jambalaya may be a tomato-rich New Orleans-style "red" jambalaya of Spanish Creole roots, or a Cajun-style "brown" jambalaya which draws its color and flavor from browned meat and caramelized onions. Historically, tomatoes were not as widely available in Acadiana as the area around New Orleans, but in modern times, both styles are popular across the state. Brown is the style served at the annual World Jambalaya Festival in Gonzales.

Rice and gravy—Rice and gravy dishes are a staple of Cajun cuisine and is usually a brown gravy based on pan drippings, which are deglazed and simmered with extra seasonings and served over steamed or boiled rice.

The dish is traditionally made from cheaper cuts of meat and cooked in a cast-iron pot, typically for an extended time period to let the tough cuts of meat become tender. Beef, pork, chicken or any of a large variety of game meats are used for its preparation. Popular local varieties include hamburger steak, smothered rabbit, turkey necks, and chicken fricassee.

Crawfish boil
The crawfish boil is a celebratory event where Cajuns boil crawfish, potatoes, onions and corn in large pots over propane cookers. Lemons and small muslin bags containing a mixture of bay leaves, mustard seeds, cayenne pepper, and other spices, commonly known as "crab boil" or "crawfish boil" are added to the water for seasoning.

The results are then dumped onto large, newspaper-draped tables and in some areas covered in Creole/Cajun spice blends, such as REX, Zatarain's, Louisiana Fish Fry, or Tony Chachere's. Also, cocktail sauce, mayonnaise, and hot sauce are sometimes used. The seafood is scooped onto large trays or plates and eaten by hand.

During times when crawfish are not abundant, shrimp and crabs are prepared and served in the same manner.

Attendees are encouraged to "suck the head" of a crawfish by separating the head from the abdomen of the crustacean and sucking out the fat and juices from the head.

Often, newcomers to the crawfish boil or those unfamiliar with the traditions are jokingly warned "not to eat the dead ones." This comes from the common belief that when live crawfish are boiled, their tails curl beneath themselves, but when dead crawfish are boiled, their tails are straight and limp. Seafood boils with crabs and shrimp are also popular.

Family boucherie
The traditional Cajun outdoor food event is hosted by a farmer in the rural areas of Acadiana. Family and friends of the farmer gather to socialize, play games, dance, drink, and have a copious meal consisting of hog and other dishes. Men have the task of slaughtering a hog, cutting it into usable parts, and cooking the main pork dishes while women have the task of making boudin.

Cochon de lait
Similar to a family boucherie, the cochon de lait is a food event that revolves around pork but does not need to be hosted by a farmer. Traditionally, a suckling pig was purchased for the event, but in modern cochon de laits, adult pigs are used.

Unlike the family boucherie, a hog is not butchered by the hosts and there are generally not as many guests or activities. The host and male guests have the task of roasting the pig (see pig roast) while female guests bring side dishes.

Rural Mardi Gras
The traditional Cajun Mardi Gras (see: Courir de Mardi Gras) is a Mardi Gras celebration in rural Cajun Parishes. The tradition originated in the 18th century with the Cajuns of Louisiana, but it was abandoned in the early 20th century because of unwelcome violence associated with the event. In the early 1950s the tradition was revived in Mamou in Evangeline Parish.

The event revolves around male maskers on horseback who ride into the countryside to collect food ingredients for the party later on. They entertain householders with Cajun music, dancing, and festive antics in return for the ingredients. The preferred ingredient is fresh chicken: the householder throws a live chicken to the maskers, allowing them to chase it down (symbolizing a hunt); other ingredients include rice, sausage, vegetables, or a frozen chicken if a live one is not available.

Unlike other Cajun events, men take no part in cooking the main course for the party, and women prepare the chicken and ingredients for the gumbo. Once the festivities begin, the Cajun community members eat and dance to Cajun music until midnight after which is the beginning of Lent.

List of Cajun-influenced chefs

 * Frank Joseph Davis
 * John Folse
 * Emeril Lagasse
 * Paul Prudhomme
 * Justin Wilson

In popular culture
Three popular local dishes in Acadiana are mentioned in the Hank Williams song "Jambalaya", namely jambalaya, crawfish pie and filé gumbo.

title: Cajun cuisine


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Cologne

Cologne (Köln ; Kölle ) is the largest city of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and over 3.1 million people in the Cologne Bonn urban region. Cologne is also part of the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, the second biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union. Centered on the left (west) bank of the Rhine, Cologne is located on the River Rhine (Lower Rhine), about 35 km southeast of the North Rhine-Westphalia state capital Düsseldorf and 25 km northwest of Bonn, the former capital of West Germany.

The city's medieval Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) was the world's tallest building 1880–1890 and is today the third-tallest church and tallest cathedral in the world. It was constructed to house the Shrine of the Three Kings and is a globally recognized landmark and one of the most visited sights and pilgrimage destinations in Europe. The cityscape is further shaped by the Twelve Romanesque churches of Cologne. Cologne is famous for Eau de Cologne, which has been produced in the city since 1709; "cologne" has since come to be a generic term.

Cologne was founded and established in Germanic Ubii territory in the 1st century CE as the Roman Colonia Agrippina, hence its name. Agrippina was later dropped (except in Latin), and Colonia became the name of the city in its own right, which developed into modern German as Köln. Cologne, the French version of the city's name, has become standard in English as well. Cologne functioned as the capital of the Roman province of Germania Inferior and as the headquarters of the Roman military in the region until occupied by the Franks in 462. During the Middle Ages the city flourished as being located on one of the most important major trade routes between east and western Europe (including the Brabant Road, Via Regia and Publica). Cologne was a free imperial city of the Holy Roman Empire and one of the major members of the trade union Hanseatic League. It was one of the largest European cities in medieval and renaissance times.

Prior to World War II, the city had undergone occupations by the French (1794–1815) and the British (1918–1926), and was part of Prussia beginning in 1815. Cologne was one of the most heavily bombed cities in Germany during World War II. The bombing reduced the population by 93% mainly due to evacuation, and destroyed around 80% of the millennia-old city center. The post-war rebuilding has resulted in a mixed cityscape, restoring most major historic landmarks like city gates and churches (31 of them being Romanesque). The city nowadays consists of around 25 % pre World War II buildings and boasts around 9,000 historic buildings.

Cologne is a major cultural center for the Rhineland; it hosts more than 30 museums and hundreds of galleries. There are many institutions of higher education, most notably the University of Cologne, one of Europe's oldest and largest universities; the Technical University of Cologne, Germany's largest university of applied sciences; and the German Sport University Cologne. It hosts three Max Planck science institutes and is a major research hub for the aerospace industry, with the German Aerospace Center and the European Astronaut Centre headquarters. Lufthansa, Europe's largest airline, have their main corporate headquarters in Cologne. It also has a significant chemical and automobile industry. Cologne Bonn Airport is a regional hub, the main airport for the region being Düsseldorf Airport. The Cologne Trade Fair hosts a number of trade shows.

Roman Cologne

The first urban settlement on the grounds of modern-day Cologne was Oppidum Ubiorum, founded in 38 BCE by the Ubii, a Cisrhenian Germanic tribe. In 50 CE, the Romans founded Colonia Claudia Ara Agrippinensium (Cologne) on the river Rhine and the city became the provincial capital of Germania Inferior in 85 CE. It was also known as Augusta Ubiorum. Considerable Roman remains can be found in present-day Cologne, especially near the wharf area, where a 1,900-year-old Roman boat was discovered in late 2007. From 260 to 271, Cologne was the capital of the Gallic Empire under Postumus, Marius, and Victorinus. In 310, under emperor Constantine I, a bridge was built over the Rhine at Cologne. Roman imperial governors resided in the city and it became one of the most important trade and production centers in the Roman Empire north of the Alps. Cologne is shown on the 4th century Peutinger Map.

Maternus, who was elected as bishop in 313, was the first known bishop of Cologne. The city was the capital of a Roman province until it was occupied by the Ripuarian Franks in 462. Parts of the original Roman sewers are preserved underneath the city, with the new sewerage system having opened in 1890.

After the destruction of the Second Temple in the Siege of Jerusalem and the associated dispersion (diaspora) of the Jews, there is evidence of a Jewish community in Cologne. In 321 CE, Emperor Constantine approved the settlement of a Jewish community with all the freedoms of Roman citizens. It is assumed that it was located near the Marspforte within the city wall. The Edict of Constantine to the Jews is the oldest documented evidence in Germany.

Middle Ages
Early medieval Cologne was part of Austrasia within the Frankish Empire. Cunibert, made bishop of Cologne in 623, was an important advisor to the Merovingian King Dagobert I and served with domesticus Pepin of Landen as tutor to the king's son and heir Siegebert III, the future king of Austrasia. In 716, Charles Martel commanded an army for the first time and suffered the only defeat of his life when Chilperic II, King of Neustria, invaded Austrasia and the city fell to him in the Battle of Cologne. Charles fled to the Eifel mountains, rallied supporters and took the city back that same year after defeating Chilperic in the Battle of Amblève. Cologne had been the seat of a bishop since the Roman period; under Charlemagne, in 795, bishop Hildebold was promoted to archbishop. In the 843 Treaty of Verdun Cologne fell into the dominion of Lothair I's Middle Francia – later called Lotharingia (Lower Lorraine).

In 953, the archbishops of Cologne first gained noteworthy secular power when bishop Bruno was appointed as duke by his brother Otto I, King of Germany. In order to weaken the secular nobility, who threatened his power, Otto endowed Bruno and his archiepiscopal successors with the prerogatives of secular princes, thus establishing the Electorate of Cologne, formed by the temporal possessions of the archbishopric and included in the end a strip of territory along the left Bank of the Rhine east of Jülich, as well as the Duchy of Westphalia on the other side of the Rhine, beyond Berg and Mark. By the end of the 12th century, the Archbishop of Cologne was one of the seven electors of the Holy Roman Emperor. Besides being prince elector, he was Archchancellor of Italy as well, technically from 1238 and permanently from 1263 until 1803.

Following the Battle of Worringen in 1288, Cologne gained its independence from the archbishops and became a Free City. Archbishop Sigfried II von Westerburg was forced to reside in Bonn. The archbishop nevertheless preserved the right of capital punishment. Thus the municipal council (though in strict political opposition towards the archbishop) depended upon him in all matters concerning criminal justice. This included torture, the sentence for which was only allowed to be handed down by the episcopal judge known as the greve. This legal situation lasted until the French conquest of Cologne.

Besides its economic and political significance Cologne also became an important centre of medieval pilgrimage, when Cologne's archbishop, Rainald of Dassel, gave the relics of the Three Wise Men to Cologne's cathedral in 1164 (after they had been taken from Milan). Besides the three magi Cologne preserves the relics of Saint Ursula and Albertus Magnus.

Cologne's location on the river Rhine placed it at the intersection of the major trade routes between east and west as well as the main south–north Western Europe trade route, Venice to Netherlands; even by the mid-10th century, merchants in the town were already known for their prosperity and luxurious standard of living due to the availability of trade opportunities. The intersection of these trade routes was the basis of Cologne's growth. By the end of the 12th century, Archbishop Phillip von Heinsberg enclosed the entire city with walls. By 1300 the city population was 50,000–55,000. Cologne was a member of the Hanseatic League in 1475, when Frederick III confirmed the city's imperial immediacy. Cologne was so influential in regional commerce that its systems of weights and measurements (e.g. the Cologne mark) were used throughout Europe.

Early modern history
The economic structures of medieval and early modern Cologne were characterised by the city's status as a major harbour and transport hub on the Rhine. Craftsmanship was organised by self-administering guilds, some of which were exclusive to women.

As a free imperial city, Cologne was a self-ruling state within the Holy Roman Empire, an imperial estate with seat and vote at the Imperial Diet, and as such had the right (and obligation) to contribute to the defense of the Empire and maintain its own military force. As they wore a red uniform, these troops were known as the Rote Funken (red sparks). These soldiers were part of the Army of the Holy Roman Empire ("Reichskontingent"). They fought in the wars of the 17th and 18th century, including the wars against revolutionary France in which the small force was almost completely wiped out in combat. The tradition of these troops is preserved as a military persiflage by Cologne's most outstanding carnival society, the Rote Funken.

The Free Imperial City of Cologne must not be confused with the Electorate of Cologne, which was a state of its own within the Holy Roman Empire. Since the second half of the 16th century the majority of archbishops were drawn from the Bavarian Wittelsbach dynasty. Due to the free status of Cologne, the archbishops were usually not allowed to enter the city. Thus they took up residence in Bonn and later in Brühl on the Rhine. As members of an influential and powerful family, and supported by their outstanding status as electors, the archbishops of Cologne repeatedly challenged and threatened the free status of Cologne during the 17th and 18th centuries, resulting in complicated affairs, which were handled by diplomatic means and propaganda as well as by the supreme courts of the Holy Roman Empire.

From the 19th century until World War I
Cologne lost its status as a free city during the French period. According to the Treaty of Lunéville (1801) all the territories of the Holy Roman Empire on the left bank of the Rhine were officially incorporated into the French Republic (which had already occupied Cologne in 1794). Thus this region later became part of Napoleon's Empire. Cologne was part of the French Département Roer (named after the river Roer, German: Rur) with Aachen (French: Aix-la-Chapelle) as its capital. The French modernised public life, for example by introducing the Napoleonic code and removing the old elites from power. The Napoleonic code remained in use on the left bank of the Rhine until 1900, when a unified civil code (the Bürgerliches Gesetzbuch) was introduced in the German Empire. In 1815 at the Congress of Vienna, Cologne was made part of the Kingdom of Prussia, first in the Province of Jülich-Cleves-Berg and then the Rhine Province.

The permanent tensions between the Catholic Rhineland and the overwhelmingly Protestant Prussian state repeatedly escalated with Cologne being in the focus of the conflict. In 1837 the archbishop of Cologne, Clemens August von Droste-Vischering, was arrested and imprisoned for two years after a dispute over the legal status of marriages between Catholics and Protestants (Mischehenstreit). In 1874, during the Kulturkampf, Archbishop Paul Melchers was imprisoned before taking asylum in the Netherlands. These conflicts alienated the Catholic population from Berlin and contributed to a deeply felt anti-Prussian resentment, which was still significant after World War II, when the former mayor of Cologne, Konrad Adenauer, became the first West German chancellor.

During the 19th and 20th centuries, Cologne absorbed numerous surrounding towns, and by World War I had already grown to 700,000 inhabitants. Industrialisation changed the city and spurred its growth. Vehicle and engine manufacturing was especially successful, though the heavy industry was less ubiquitous than in the Ruhr area. The cathedral, started in 1248 but abandoned around 1560, was eventually finished in 1880 not just as a place of worship but also as a German national monument celebrating the newly founded German empire and the continuity of the German nation since the Middle Ages. Some of this urban growth occurred at the expense of the city's historic heritage with much being demolished (for example, the city walls or the area around the cathedral) and sometimes replaced by contemporary buildings.

Cologne was designated as one of the Fortresses of the German Confederation. It was turned into a heavily armed fortress (opposing the French and Belgian fortresses of Verdun and Liège) with two fortified belts surrounding the city, the remains of which can be seen to this day. The military demands on what became Germany's largest fortress presented a significant obstacle to urban development, with forts, bunkers, and wide defensive dugouts completely encircling the city and preventing expansion; this resulted in a very densely built-up area within the city itself.

During World War I Cologne was the target of several minor air raids but suffered no significant damage. Cologne was occupied by the British Army of the Rhine until 1926, under the terms of the Armistice and the subsequent Versailles Peace Treaty. In contrast with the harsh behaviour of the French occupation troops in Germany, the British forces were more lenient to the local population. Konrad Adenauer, the mayor of Cologne from 1917 until 1933 and later a West German chancellor, acknowledged the political impact of this approach, especially since Britain had opposed French demands for a permanent Allied occupation of the entire Rhineland.

As part of the demilitarisation of the Rhineland, the city's fortifications had to be dismantled. This was an opportunity to create two green belts (Grüngürtel) around the city by converting the fortifications and their fields of fire into large public parks. This was not completed until 1933. In 1919 the University of Cologne, closed by the French in 1798, was reopened. This was considered to be a replacement for the loss of the University of Strasbourg on the west bank of the Rhine, which reverted to France with the rest of Alsace. Cologne prospered during the Weimar Republic (1919–33), and progress was made especially in public governance, city planning, housing and social affairs. Social housing projects were considered exemplary and were copied by other German cities. Cologne competed to host the Olympics, and a modern sports stadium was erected at Müngersdorf. When the British occupation ended, the prohibition of civil aviation was lifted and Cologne Butzweilerhof Airport soon became a hub for national and international air traffic, second in Germany only to Berlin Tempelhof Airport.

The democratic parties lost the local elections in Cologne in March 1933 to the Nazi Party and other extreme-right parties. The Nazis then arrested the Communist and Social Democrats members of the city assembly, and Mayor Adenauer was dismissed. Compared to some other major cities, however, the Nazis never gained decisive support in Cologne. (Significantly, the number of votes cast for the Nazi Party in Reichstag elections had always been the national average.) By 1939, the population had risen to 772,221 inhabitants.

World War II
During World War II, Cologne was a Military Area Command Headquarters (Militärbereichshauptkommandoquartier) for Wehrkreis VI (headquartered at Münster). Cologne was under the command of Lieutenant-General Freiherr Roeder von Diersburg, who was responsible for military operations in Bonn, Siegburg, Aachen, Jülich, Düren, and Monschau. Cologne was home to the 211th Infantry Regiment and the 26th Artillery Regiment.

The Allies dropped 44,923.2 tons of bombs on the city during World War II, destroying 61% of its built up area. During the Bombing of Cologne in World War II, Cologne endured 262 air raids by the Western Allies, which caused approximately 20,000 civilian casualties and almost completely wiped out the central part of the city. During the night of 31 May 1942, Cologne was the target of "Operation Millennium", the first 1,000 bomber raid by the Royal Air Force in World War II. 1,046 heavy bombers attacked their target with 1,455 tons of explosives, approximately two-thirds of which were incendiary. This raid lasted about 75 minutes, destroyed 600 acre of built-up area (61%), killed 486 civilians and made 59,000 people homeless. The devastation was recorded by Hermann Claasen from 1942 until the end of the war, and presented in his exhibition and book of 1947 ''Singing in the furnace. Cologne – Remains of an old city''.

Cologne was taken by the American First Army in early March 1945 during the Invasion of Germany after a battle. By the end of the war, the population of Cologne had been reduced by 95%. This loss was mainly caused by a massive evacuation of the people to more rural areas. The same happened in many other German cities in the last two years of war. By the end of 1945, however, the population had already recovered to approximately 450,000. By the end of the war, essentially all of Cologne's pre-war Jewish population of 11,000 had been deported or killed by the Nazis. The six synagogues of the city were destroyed. The synagogue on Roonstraße was rebuilt in 1959.

Post-war and Cold War eras
Despite Cologne's status as the largest city in the region, nearby Düsseldorf was chosen as the political capital of the federated state of North Rhine-Westphalia. With Bonn being chosen as the provisional federal capital (provisorische Bundeshauptstadt) and seat of the government of the Federal Republic of Germany (then informally West Germany), Cologne benefited by being sandwiched between two important political centres. The city became–and still is–home to a number of federal agencies and organizations. After reunification in 1990, Berlin was made the capital of Germany.

In 1945 architect and urban planner Rudolf Schwarz called Cologne the "world's greatest heap of rubble". Schwarz designed the master plan for reconstruction in 1947, which included the construction of several new thoroughfares through the city centre, especially the Nord-Süd-Fahrt ("North-South-Drive"). The master plan took into consideration the fact that even shortly after the war a large increase in automobile traffic could be anticipated. Plans for new roads had already, to a certain degree, evolved under the Nazi administration, but the actual construction became easier when most of the city centre was in ruins.

The destruction of 95% of the city centre, including the famous Twelve Romanesque churches such as St. Gereon, Great St. Martin, St. Maria im Kapitol and several other monuments in World War II, meant a tremendous loss of cultural treasures. The rebuilding of those churches and other landmarks such as the Gürzenich event hall was not undisputed among leading architects and art historians at that time, but in most cases, civil intention prevailed. The reconstruction lasted until the 1990s, when the Romanesque church of St. Kunibert was finished.

In 1959, the city's population reached pre-war numbers again. It then grew steadily, exceeding 1 million for about one year from 1975. It remained just below that until mid-2010, when it exceeded 1 million again.

Post-reunification
In the 1980s and 1990s Cologne's economy prospered for two main reasons. The first was the growth in the number of media companies, both in the private and public sectors; they are especially catered for in the newly developed Media Park, which creates a strong visual focal point in Cologne's city centre and includes the KölnTurm, one of Cologne's most prominent high-rise buildings. The second was the permanent improvement of the diverse traffic infrastructure, which made Cologne one of the most easily accessible metropolitan areas in Central Europe.

Due to the economic success of the Cologne Trade Fair, the city arranged a large extension to the fair site in 2005. At the same time the original buildings, which date back to the 1920s, were rented out to RTL, Germany's largest private broadcaster, as their new corporate headquarters.

Cologne was the focus of the 2015-16 New Year's Eve sexual assaults in Germany, with over 500 women reporting that they were sexually assaulted by persons of African and Arab appearance.

Geography
The metropolitan area encompasses over 405 km2, extending around a central point that lies at 50° 56' 33 latitude and 6° 57' 32 longitude. The city's highest point is 118 m above sea level (the Monte Troodelöh) and its lowest point is 37.5 m above sea level (the Worringer Bruch). The city of Cologne lies within the larger area of the Cologne Lowland, a cone-shaped area of the central Rhineland that lies between Bonn, Aachen and Düsseldorf.

Districts
Cologne is divided into 9 boroughs (Stadtbezirke) and 85 districts (Stadtteile):

Climate
Located in the Rhine-Ruhr area, Cologne is one of the warmest cities in Germany. It has a temperate–oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with cool winters and warm summers. It is also one of the cloudiest cities in Germany, with just 1,567.5 hours of sun a year. Its average annual temperature is 10.7 °C: 15.4 °C during the day and 6.1 °C at night. In January, the mean temperature is 3.0 °C, while the mean temperature in July is 19.0 °C. The record high temperature of 40.3 °C happened on 25 July 2019 during the July 2019 European heat wave in which Cologne saw three consecutive days over 38.0 °C. Especially the inner urban neighbourhoods experience a greater number of hot days, as well as significantly higher temperatures during nighttime compared to the surrounding area (including the airport, where temperatures are classified). Still temperatures can vary noticeably over the course of a month with warmer and colder weather. Precipitation is spread evenly throughout the year with a light peak in summer due to showers and thunderstorms.

The progressing climate change can be seen by looking at the climate data of the previous decade with lower mean temperatures.

Flood protection
Cologne is regularly affected by flooding from the Rhine and is considered the most flood-prone European city. A city agency (Stadtentwässerungsbetriebe Köln, "Cologne Urban Drainage Operations") manages an extensive flood control system which includes both permanent and mobile flood walls, protection from rising waters for buildings close to the river banks, monitoring and forecasting systems, pumping stations and programmes to create or protect floodplains, and river embankments. The system was redesigned after a 1993 flood, which resulted in heavy damage.

Demographics
In the Roman Empire, the city was large and rich with a population of 40,000 in 100–200 AD. The city was home to around 20,000 people in 1000 AD, growing to 50,000 in 1200 AD. The Rhineland metropolis still had 50,000 residents in 1300 AD.

Cologne is the fourth-largest city in Germany after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. As of 31 December 2021, there were 1,079,301 people registered as living in Cologne in an area of 404.99 km2, which makes Cologne the third largest city by area. The population density was 2700 PD/sqkm. Cologne first reached the population of 1,000,000 in 1975 due to the incorporation of Wesseling, however this was reversed after public opposition. In 2009 Cologne's population again reached 1,000,000 and it became one of the four cities in Germany with a population exceeding 1 Million. The metropolitan area of the Cologne Bonn Region is home to 3,573,500 living on 4415 PD/sqkm. It is part of the polycentric megacity region Rhine-Ruhr with a population of over 11,000,000 people.

There were 551,528 women and 527,773 men in Cologne. In 2021, there were 11,127 births in Cologne; 5,844 marriages and 1,808 divorces, and 10,536 deaths. In the city, the population was spread out, with 16.3% under the age of 18, and 17.8% were 65 years of age or older. 203 people in Cologne were over the age of 100.

According to the Statistical Office of the City of Cologne, the number of people with a migrant background is at 40.5% (436,660). 2,254 people acquired German citizenship in 2021. In 2021, there were 559,854 households, of which 18.4% had children under the age of 18; 51% of all households were made up of singles. 8% of all households were single-parent households. The average household size was 1.88.

Residents with foreign citizenship
Cologne residents with a foreign citizenship as of 31 December 2021 is as follows:

Turkish community
Cologne is home to 90,000 people of Turkish origin and is the second largest German city with Turkish population after Berlin. Cologne has a Little Istanbul in Keupstraße that has many Turkish restaurants and markets. Famous Turkish-German people like rapper Eko Fresh and TV presenter Nazan Eckes were born in Cologne.

Language
Colognian or Kölsch (natively Kölsch Platt) is a small set of very closely related dialects, or variants, of the Ripuarian Central German group of languages. These dialects are spoken in the area covered by the Archdiocese and former Electorate of Cologne reaching from Neuss in the north to just south of Bonn, west to Düren and east to Olpe in the North-West of Germany. Kölsch is one of the very few city dialects in Germany, which also include the dialect spoken in Berlin, for example.

Religion
As of 2015, 35.5% of the population belonged to the Catholic Church, the largest religious body, and 15.5% to the Protestant Church. Irenaeus of Lyons claimed that Christianity was brought to Cologne by Roman soldiers and traders at an unknown early date. It is known that in the early second century it was a bishop's seat. The first historical Bishop of Cologne was Saint Maternus. Thomas Aquinas studied in Cologne in 1244 under Albertus Magnus. Cologne is the seat of the Archdiocese of Cologne.

According to the 2011 census, 2.1% of the population was Eastern Orthodox, 0.5% belonged of an Evangelical Free Church and 4.2% belonged to further religious communities officially recognized by the state of North Rhine-Westphalia (such as Jehovah's Witnesses).

There are several mosques, including the Cologne Central Mosque run by the Turkish-Islamic Union for Religious Affairs. In 2011, about 11.2% of the population was Muslim.

Cologne also has one of the oldest and largest Jewish communities in Germany. In 2011, 0.3% of Cologne's population was Jewish.

On 11 October 2021, the Mayor of Cologne, Henriette Reker, announced that all of Cologne's 35 mosques would be allowed to broadcast the Adhan (prayer call) for up to five minutes on Fridays between noon and 3 p.m. She commented that the move "shows that diversity is appreciated and loved in Cologne".

Government and politics
The city's administration is headed by the mayor and the three deputy mayors.

Political traditions and developments
The long tradition of a free imperial city, which long dominated an exclusively Catholic population and the age-old conflict between the church and the bourgeoisie (and within it between the patricians and craftsmen) have created its own political climate in Cologne. Various interest groups often form networks beyond party boundaries. The resulting web of relationships, with political, economic, and cultural links with each other in a system of mutual favours, obligations and dependencies, is called the 'Cologne coterie'. This has often led to an unusual proportional distribution in the city government and degenerated at times into corruption: in 1999, a "waste scandal" over kickbacks and illegal campaign contributions came to light, which led not only to the imprisonment of the entrepreneur Hellmut Trienekens, but also to the downfall of almost the entire leadership of the ruling Social Democrats.

Mayor
The List of mayors of Cologne|Lord Mayor of Cologne]] is Henriette Reker. She received 52.66% of the vote at the municipal election on 17 October 2015, running as an independent with the support of the CDU, FDP, and Greens. She took office on 15 December 2015. Reker was re-elected to a second term in a runoff election on 27 September 2020, in which she received 59.27% of the vote.

The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 September 2020, with a runoff held on 27 September, and the results were as follows:

! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate ! rowspan=2| Party ! colspan=2| First round ! colspan=2| Second round ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! 415,933 ! 98.7 ! 294,016 ! 99.1 ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 5,633 ! 1.3 ! 2,727 ! 0.9 ! colspan=3| Total ! 421,566 ! 100.0 ! 296,743 ! 100.0 ! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout ! 820,527 ! 51.4 ! 818,731 ! 36.2
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Henriette Reker
 * align=left| Independent (Green/CDU)
 * 187,389
 * 45.1
 * 174,263
 * 59.3
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Andreas Kossiski
 * align=left| Social Democratic Party
 * 111,353
 * 26.8
 * 119,753
 * 40.7
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Jörg Detjen
 * align=left| The Left
 * 29,810
 * 7.2
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Olivier Fuchs
 * align=left| Volt Germany
 * 18,520
 * 4.5
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Christer Cremer
 * align=left| Alternative for Germany
 * 17,441
 * 4.2
 * align=left| Nicolin Gabrysch
 * align=left| Climate Friends
 * 14,370
 * 3.5
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Roberto Campione
 * align=left| Independent
 * 14,122
 * 3.4
 * align=left| Thor Zimmermann
 * align=left| Good Cologne
 * 8,613
 * 2.1
 * align=left| Dagmar Langel
 * align=left| We Are Cologne
 * 4,464
 * 1.1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Robert Nussholz
 * align=left| Independent
 * 4,044
 * 1.0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Sabine Neumeyer
 * align=left| Independent
 * 2,547
 * 0.6
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Rüdiger-René Keune
 * align=left| Ecological Democratic Party
 * 2,336
 * 0.6
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Martin Przybylski
 * align=left| Independent
 * 924
 * 0.2
 * align=left| Sabine Neumeyer
 * align=left| Independent
 * 2,547
 * 0.6
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Rüdiger-René Keune
 * align=left| Ecological Democratic Party
 * 2,336
 * 0.6
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Martin Przybylski
 * align=left| Independent
 * 924
 * 0.2
 * 924
 * 0.2
 * colspan=7| Source: City of Cologne (1st round, 2nd round)
 * }
 * }

City council
The Cologne city council (Kölner Stadtrat) governs the city alongside the Mayor. It serves a term of five years. The most recent city council election was held on 13 September 2020, and the results were as follows:

! colspan=2| Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! colspan=2| Valid votes ! 417,227 ! 98.9 ! ! ! ! colspan=2| Invalid votes ! 4,596 ! 1.1 ! ! ! ! colspan=2| Total ! 421,823 ! 100.0 ! ! 90 ! ±0 ! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout ! 820,526 ! 51.4 ! 1.8 ! !
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)
 * 118,997
 * 28.5
 * 9.0
 * 26
 * 8
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD)
 * 90,040
 * 21.6
 * 7.8
 * 19
 * 7
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
 * 89,659
 * 21.5
 * 5.7
 * 19
 * 6
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| The Left (Die Linke)
 * 27,044
 * 6.5
 * 0.4
 * 6
 * ±0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP)
 * 21,965
 * 5.3
 * 0.2
 * 5
 * ±0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Volt Germany (Volt)
 * 20,783
 * 5.0
 * New
 * 4
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alternative for Germany (AfD)
 * 18,272
 * 4.4
 * 0.8
 * 4
 * 1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Die PARTEI (PARTEI)
 * 10,261
 * 2.5
 * 2.4
 * 2
 * 2
 * align=left| Climate Friends (Klima Freunde)
 * 8,383
 * 2.0
 * 0.0
 * 2
 * ±0
 * align=left| Good Cologne (GUT)
 * 8,298
 * 2.0
 * 0.6
 * 2
 * ±0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Free Voters Cologne (FWK)
 * 2,501
 * 0.6
 * 0.2
 * 1
 * ±0
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey|
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Ecological Democratic Party (ÖDP)
 * 374
 * 0.1
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| We Are Cologne 2020 (Wir Sind Köln)
 * 265
 * 0.1
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| Independent A. Krause
 * 107
 * 0.0
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| Independent Neumeyer
 * 72
 * 0.0
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| Independent Weber
 * 72
 * 0.0
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| Independent R. Krause
 * 71
 * 0.0
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| Independent Schidlowsky
 * 32
 * 0.0
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| Party of Progress (PdF)
 * 31
 * 0.0
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * 72
 * 0.0
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| Independent R. Krause
 * 71
 * 0.0
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| Independent Schidlowsky
 * 32
 * 0.0
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| Party of Progress (PdF)
 * 31
 * 0.0
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * align=left| Party of Progress (PdF)
 * 31
 * 0.0
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * colspan=7| Source: City of Cologne
 * }
 * }

State Landtag
In the Landtag of North Rhine-Westphalia, Cologne is divided among seven constituencies. After the 2022 North Rhine-Westphalia state election, the composition and representation of each was as follows:

Federal parliament
In the Bundestag, Cologne is divided among four constituencies. In the 20th Bundestag, the composition and representation of each was as follows:

Cityscape
The inner city of Cologne was largely destroyed during World War II. The reconstruction of the city followed the style of the 1950s, while respecting the old layout and naming of the streets. Thus, the city centre today is characterized by modern architecture, with a few interspersed pre-war buildings which were reconstructed due to their historical importance. Some buildings of the "Wiederaufbauzeit" (era of reconstruction), for example, the opera house by Wilhelm Riphahn, are nowadays regarded as classics of modern architecture. Nevertheless, the uncompromising style of the Cologne Opera house and other modern buildings has remained controversial.

The districts outside the city center consist mostly of 19th and 20th century buildings. Around 25 % of Cologne was built before 1945.

Green areas account for over a quarter of Cologne, which is approximately 75 m2 of public green space for every inhabitant.

Wildlife
The dominant wildlife of Cologne is insects, small rodents, and several species of birds. Pigeons are the most often seen animals in Cologne, although the number of birds is augmented each year by a growing population of feral exotics, most visibly parrots such as the rose-ringed parakeet. The sheltered climate in southeast Northrhine-Westphalia allows these birds to survive through the winter, and in some cases, they are displacing native species. The plumage of Cologne's green parrots is highly visible even from a distance, and contrasts starkly with the otherwise muted colours of the cityscape.

Hedgehogs, rabbits and squirrels are common in parks and the greener parts of town. In the outer suburbs foxes and wild boar can be seen, even during the day.

Tourism
Cologne had 5.8 million overnight stays booked and 3.35 million arrivals in 2016.

Churches

 * Cologne Cathedral (German: Kölner Dom) is the city's most famous monument and the Cologne residents' most loved landmark. It is a Gothic church, started in 1248, and completed in 1880. In 1996, it was designated a World Heritage Site; it houses the Shrine of the Three Kings, which supposedly contains the relics of the Three Magi (see also ). Residents of Cologne sometimes refer to the cathedral as "the eternal construction site" (die ewige Baustelle).
 * Twelve Romanesque churches: These buildings are outstanding examples of medieval church architecture. The origins of some of the churches go back as far as Roman times, for example St. Gereon, which was originally a chapel in a Roman graveyard. With the exception of St. Maria Lyskirchen all of these churches were very badly damaged during World War II. Reconstruction was only finished in the 1990s.

Medieval houses
The Cologne City Hall (Kölner Rathaus), founded in the 12th century, is the oldest city hall in Germany still in use. The Renaissance-style loggia and tower were added in the 15th century. Other famous buildings include the Gürzenich, Haus Saaleck and the Overstolzenhaus.

Medieval city gates
Of the twelve medieval city gates that once existed, only the Eigelsteintorburg at Ebertplatz, the Hahnentor at Rudolfplatz and the Severinstorburg at Chlodwigplatz still stand today.

Streets

 * The Cologne Ring boulevards (such as Hohenzollernring, Kaiser-Wilhelm-Ring, Hansaring) with their medieval city gates (such as Hahnentorburg on Rudolfplatz) are also known for their night life.
 * Hohe Straße (literally: High Street) is one of the main shopping areas and extends past the cathedral in an approximately southerly direction. The street contains many gift shops, clothing stores, fast food restaurants and electronic goods dealers.
 * Schildergasse – connects Neumarkt square at its western end to the Hohe Strasse shopping street at its eastern end and has been named the busiest shopping street in Europe with 13,000 people passing through every hour, according to a 2008 study by GfK.
 * Ehrenstraße – the shopping area around Apostelnstrasse, Ehrenstrasse, and Rudolfplatz is a little more on the quirky and stylish side.

Bridges
Several bridges cross the Rhine in Cologne. They are (from south to north): the Rodenkirchen Bridge, South Bridge (railway), Severin Bridge, Deutz Bridge, Hohenzollern Bridge (railway), Zoo Bridge (Zoobrücke) and Mülheim Bridge. In particular the iron tied arch Hohenzollern Bridge (Hohenzollernbrücke) is a dominant landmark along the river embankment. A Rhine crossing of a special kind is provided by the Cologne Cable Car (German: Kölner Seilbahn), a cableway that runs across the river between the Cologne Zoological Garden in Riehl and the Rheinpark in Deutz.

High-rise structures
Cologne's tallest structure is the Colonius telecommunication tower at 266 m. The observation deck has been closed since 1992. A selection of the tallest buildings in Cologne is listed below. Other tall structures include the Hansahochhaus (designed by architect Jacob Koerfer and completed in 1925 – it was at one time Europe's tallest office building), the Kranhaus buildings at Rheinauhafen, and the Messeturm Köln ("trade fair tower").

Culture
Cologne has numerous museums. The famous Roman-Germanic Museum features art and architecture from the city's distant past; the Museum Ludwig houses one of the most important collections of modern art in Europe, including a Picasso collection matched only by the museums in Barcelona and Paris. The Museum Schnütgen of religious art is partly housed in St. Cecilia, one of Cologne's Twelve Romanesque churches. Many art galleries in Cologne enjoy a worldwide reputation like e.g. Galerie Karsten Greve, one of the leading galleries for postwar and contemporary art.

Cologne has more than 60 music venues and the third-highest density of music venues of Germany's four largest cities, after Munich and Hamburg and ahead of Berlin.

Several orchestras are active in the city, among them the Gürzenich Orchestra, which is also the orchestra of the Cologne Opera and the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne (German State Radio Orchestra), both based at the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra Building (Kölner Philharmonie). Other orchestras are the Musica Antiqua Köln, the WDR Rundfunkorchester Köln and WDR Big Band, and several choirs, including the WDR Rundfunkchor Köln. Cologne was also an important hotbed for electronic music in the 1950s (Studio für elektronische Musik, Karlheinz Stockhausen) and again from the 1990s onward. The public radio and TV station WDR was involved in promoting musical movements such as Krautrock in the 1970s; the influential Can was formed there in 1968. There are several centres of nightlife, among them the Kwartier Latäng (the student quarter around the Zülpicher Straße) and the nightclub-studded areas around Hohenzollernring, Friesenplatz and Rudolfplatz.

The large annual literary festival lit.COLOGNE with its Silberschweinpreis features regional and international authors. The main literary figure connected with Cologne is the writer Heinrich Böll, winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Since 2012, there is also an annual international festival of philosophy called phil.cologne.

The city also has the most pubs per capita in Germany. Cologne is well known for its beer, called Kölsch. Kölsch is also the name of the local dialect. This has led to the common joke of Kölsch being the only language one can drink.

Cologne is also famous for Eau de Cologne (German: Kölnisch Wasser; lit: "Water of Cologne"), a perfume created by Italian expatriate Johann Maria Farina at the beginning of the 18th century. During the 18th century, this perfume became increasingly popular, was exported all over Europe by the Farina family and Farina became a household name for Eau de Cologne. In 1803 Wilhelm Mülhens entered into a contract with an unrelated person from Italy named Carlo Francesco Farina who granted him the right to use his family name and Mühlens opened a small factory at Cologne's Glockengasse. In later years, and after various court battles, his grandson Ferdinand Mülhens was forced to abandon the name Farina for the company and their product. He decided to use the house number given to the factory at Glockengasse during the French occupation in the early 19th century, 4711. Today, original Eau de Cologne is still produced in Cologne by both the Farina family, in the eighth generation, and by Mäurer & Wirtz who bought the 4711 brand in 2006.

Carnival
The Cologne carnival is one of the largest street festivals in Europe. In Cologne, the carnival season officially starts on 11 November at 11 minutes past 11 a.m. with the proclamation of the new Carnival Season, and continues until Ash Wednesday. However, the so-called "Tolle Tage" (crazy days) do not start until Weiberfastnacht (Women's Carnival) or, in dialect, Wieverfastelovend, the Thursday before Ash Wednesday, which is the beginning of the street carnival. Zülpicher Strasse and its surroundings, Neumarkt square, Heumarkt and all bars and pubs in the city are crowded with people in costumes dancing and drinking in the streets. Hundreds of thousands of visitors flock to Cologne during this time. Generally, around a million people celebrate in the streets on the Thursday before Ash Wednesday.

Rivalry with Düsseldorf
Cologne and Düsseldorf have a "fierce regional rivalry", which includes carnival parades, ice hockey, football, and beer. People in Cologne prefer Kölsch while people in Düsseldorf prefer Altbier ("Alt"). Waiters and patrons will "scorn" and make a "mockery" of people who order Alt beer in Cologne or Kölsch in Düsseldorf. The rivalry has been described as a "love–hate relationship". The Köln Guild of Brewers was established in 1396. The Kölsch beer style first appeared in the 1800s and in 1986 the breweries established an appellation under which only breweries in the city are allowed to use the term Kölsch.

Museums

 * Farina Fragrance Museum – birthplace of Eau de Cologne
 * Römisch-Germanisches Museum (Roman-Germanic Museum) – ancient Roman and Germanic culture
 * Wallraf-Richartz Museum – European painting from the 13th to the early 20th century
 * Museum Ludwig – modern art
 * Museum Schnütgen – medieval art
 * Museum für Angewandte Kunst – applied art
 * Kolumba Kunstmuseum des Erzbistums Köln (art museum of the Archbishopric of Cologne) – modern art museum built around medieval ruins of St. Kolumba, Cologne, completed 2007
 * Cathedral Treasury "Domschatzkammer" – historic underground vaults of the Cathedral
 * EL-DE Haus – former local headquarters of the Gestapo houses a museum documenting Nazi rule in Cologne with a special focus on the persecution of political dissenters and minorities
 * German Sports and Olympic Museum – exhibitions about sports from antiquity until the present
 * Imhoff-Schokoladenmuseum – Chocolate Museum
 * Geomuseum of the University of Cologne – the exhibition includes fossils (such as dinosaur bones and the skeleton of an Eryops), stones and minerals
 * Forum for Internet Technology in Contemporary Art – collections of Internet-based art, corporate part of (NewMediaArtProjectNetwork):cologne, the experimental platform for art and New Media
 * Flora und Botanischer Garten Köln – the city's formal park and main botanical garden
 * Forstbotanischer Garten Köln – an arboretum and woodland botanical garden

Music fairs and festivals
The city was home to the internationally famous Ringfest, and now to the C/o pop festival.

In addition, Cologne enjoys a thriving Christmas Market (Weihnachtsmarkt) presence with several locations in the city.

Economy
As the largest city in the Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region, Cologne benefits from a large market structure. In competition with Düsseldorf, the economy of Cologne is primarily based on insurance and media industries, while the city is also an important cultural and research centre and home to a number of corporate headquarters.

Among the largest media companies based in Cologne are Westdeutscher Rundfunk, RTL Television (with subsidiaries), n-tv, Deutschlandradio, Brainpool TV and publishing houses like J. P. Bachem, Taschen, Tandem Verlag, and M. DuMont Schauberg. Several clusters of media, arts and communications agencies, TV production studios, and state agencies work partly with private and government-funded cultural institutions. Among the insurance companies based in Cologne are Central, DEVK, DKV, Generali Deutschland, Gen Re, Gothaer, HDI Gerling and national headquarters of Axa Insurance, Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Group and Zurich Financial Services.

The German flag carrier Lufthansa and its subsidiary Lufthansa CityLine have their main corporate headquarters in Cologne. The largest employer in Cologne is Ford Europe, which has its European headquarters and a factory in Niehl (Ford-Werke GmbH). Toyota Motorsport GmbH (TMG), Toyota's official motorsports team, responsible for Toyota rally cars, and then Formula One cars, has its headquarters and workshops in Cologne. Other large companies based in Cologne include the REWE Group, TÜV Rheinland, Deutz AG and a number of Kölsch breweries. The largest three Kölsch breweries of Cologne are Reissdorf, Gaffel, and Früh.

Historically, Cologne has always been an important trade city, with land, air, and sea connections. The city has five Rhine ports, the second largest inland port in Germany and one of the largest in Europe. Cologne Bonn Airport is the second largest freight terminal in Germany. Today, the Cologne trade fair (Koelnmesse) ranks as a major European trade fair location with over 50 trade fairs and other large cultural and sports events. In 2008 Cologne had 4.31 million overnight stays booked and 2.38 million arrivals. Cologne's largest daily newspaper is the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger.

Cologne shows a significant increase in startup companies, especially when considering digital business.

Cologne has also become the first German city with a population of more than a million people to declare climate emergency.

Road transport
Road building had been a major issue in the 1920s under the leadership of mayor Konrad Adenauer. The first German limited-access road was constructed after 1929 between Cologne and Bonn. Today, this is the Bundesautobahn 555. In 1965, Cologne became the first German city to be fully encircled by a motorway ring road. Roughly at the same time, a city centre bypass (Stadtautobahn) was planned, but only partially put into effect, due to opposition by environmental groups. The completed section became Bundesstraße ("Federal Road") B 55a, which begins at the Zoobrücke ("Zoo Bridge") and meets with A 4 and A 3 at the interchange Cologne East. Nevertheless, it is referred to as Stadtautobahn by most locals. In contrast to this, the Nord-Süd-Fahrt ("North-South-Drive") was actually completed, a new four/six-lane city centre through-route, which had already been anticipated by planners such as Fritz Schumacher in the 1920s. The last section south of Ebertplatz was completed in 1972.

In 2005, the first stretch of an eight-lane motorway in North Rhine-Westphalia was opened to traffic on Bundesautobahn 3, part of the eastern section of the Cologne Beltway between the interchanges Cologne East and Heumar.

Cycling

Compared to other German cities, Cologne has a traffic layout that is not very bicycle-friendly. It has repeatedly ranked among the worst in an independent evaluation conducted by the Allgemeiner Deutscher Fahrrad-Club. In 2014, it ranked 36th out of 39 German cities with a population greater than 200,000.

Rail transport
Cologne has a railway service with Deutsche Bahn InterCity and ICE-trains stopping at Köln Hauptbahnhof (Cologne Main Station), Köln Messe/Deutz and Cologne/Bonn Airport. ICE and TGV Thalys high-speed trains link Cologne with Amsterdam, Brussels (in 1h47, 9 departures/day) and Paris (in 3h14, 6 departures/day). There are frequent ICE trains to other German cities, including Frankfurt am Main and Berlin. ICE Trains to London via the Channel Tunnel were planned for 2013.

The Cologne Stadtbahn operated by Kölner Verkehrsbetriebe (KVB) is an extensive light rail system that is partially underground and serves Cologne and a number of neighbouring cities. It evolved from the tram system. Nearby Bonn is linked by both the Stadtbahn and main line railway trains, and occasional recreational boats on the Rhine. Düsseldorf is also linked by S-Bahn trains, which are operated by Deutsche Bahn.

The Rhine-Ruhr S-Bahn has 5 lines which cross Cologne. The S13/S19 runs 24/7 between Cologne Hbf and Cologne/Bonn airport.

There are also frequent buses covering most of the city and surrounding suburbs, and Eurolines coaches to London via Brussels.

Water transport
Häfen und Güterverkehr Köln (Ports and Goods traffic Cologne, HGK) is one of the largest operators of inland ports in Germany. Ports include Köln-Deutz, Köln-Godorf, and Köln-Niehl I and II.

Air transport
Cologne's international airport is Cologne/Bonn Airport (CGN). It is also called Konrad Adenauer Airport after Germany's first post-war Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, who was born in the city and was mayor of Cologne from 1917 until 1933. The airport is shared with the neighbouring city of Bonn. Cologne is headquarters to the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA).

Education
Cologne is home to numerous universities and colleges, and host to some 72,000 students. Its oldest university, the University of Cologne (founded in 1388) is the largest university in Germany, as the Cologne University of Applied Sciences is the largest university of Applied Sciences in the country. The Cologne University of Music and Dance is the largest conservatory in Europe. Foreigners can have German lessons in the VHS (Adult Education Centre).

Lauder Morijah School (Lauder-Morijah-Schule), a Jewish school in Cologne, previously closed. After Russian immigration increased the Jewish population, the school reopened in 2002.

Media
Within Germany, Cologne is known as an important media centre. Several radio and television stations, including Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), RTL and VOX, have their headquarters in the city. Film and TV production is also important. The city is "Germany's capital of TV crime stories". A third of all German TV productions are made in the Cologne region. Furthermore, the city hosts the Cologne Comedy Festival, which is considered to be the largest comedy festival in mainland Europe.

Sports
Cologne hosts the football club 1. FC Köln, who play in the 1. Bundesliga (first division). They play their home matches in RheinEnergieStadion which also hosted five matches of the 2006 FIFA World Cup. The International Olympic Committee and the International Association of Sports and Leisure Facilities gave RheinEnergieStadion a bronze medal for "being one of the best sporting venues in the world". The city also hosts the two football clubs FC Viktoria Köln and SC Fortuna Köln, who play in the 3. Liga (third division) and the Regionalliga West (fourth division) respectively. Cologne's oldest football club 1. FSV Köln 1899 is playing with its amateur team in the Verbandsliga (sixth division).

Cologne also is home of the ice hockey team Kölner Haie, which is playing in the highest ice hockey league in Germany, the Deutsche Eishockey Liga. They are based at Lanxess Arena.

Several horse races per year are held at Cologne-Weidenpesch Racecourse since 1897, the annual Cologne Marathon was started in 1997 and the classic cycling race Rund um Köln is organised in Cologne since 1908. The city also has a long tradition in rowing, being home of some of Germany's oldest regatta courses and boat clubs, such as the Kölner Rudergesellschaft 1891 or the Kölner Ruderverein von 1877 in the Rodenkirchen district.

Japanese automotive manufacturer Toyota has their major motorsport facility known by the name Toyota Motorsport GmbH, which is located in the Marsdorf district, and is responsible for Toyota's major motorsport development and operations, which in the past included the FIA Formula One World Championship, the FIA World Rally Championship and the Le Mans Series. They are working on Toyota's team Toyota Gazoo Racing which competes in the FIA World Endurance Championship.

Cologne is considered "the secret golf capital of Germany". The first golf club in North Rhine-Westphalia was founded in Cologne in 1906. The city offers the most options and top events in Germany.

The city has hosted several athletic events which includes the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, 2006 FIFA World Cup, 2007 World Men's Handball Championship, 2010 and 2017 Ice Hockey World Championships and 2010 Gay Games.

Since 2014, the city has hosted ESL One Cologne, one of the biggest CS GO tournaments held annually in July/August at Lanxess Arena.

Furthermore Cologne is home of the Sport-Club Colonia 1906, Germany's oldest boxing club, and the Kölner Athleten-Club 1882, the world's oldest active weightlifting club.

Notable people

 * Leon Draisaitl, ice hockey player
 * Kim Petras, Grammy award-winning singer-songwriter
 * Paul-Jürgen Weber, visual artist and photographer

Twin towns – sister cities
Cologne is twinned with:

 * 🇪🇸 Barcelona, Spain (1984)
 * 🇨🇳 Beijing, China (1987)
 * 🇵🇸 Bethlehem, Palestine (1996)
 * 🇷🇴 Cluj-Napoca, Romania (1976)
 * 🇳🇮 Corinto, Nicaragua (1988)
 * 🇮🇪 Cork, Ireland (1988)
 * 🇱🇺 Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg (1958)
 * 🇺🇸 Indianapolis, United States (1988)
 * 🇹🇷 Istanbul, Turkey (1997)
 * 🇵🇱 Katowice, Poland (1991)
 * 🇯🇵 Kyoto, Japan (1963)
 * 🇧🇪 Liège, Belgium (1958)
 * 🇫🇷 Lille, France (1958)
 * Liverpool, England, United Kingdom (1952)
 * 🇩🇪 Neukölln (Berlin), Germany (1967)
 * 🇳🇮 El Realejo, Nicaragua (1988)
 * 🇧🇷 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil (2011)
 * Rotterdam, Netherlands (1958)
 * 🇮🇱 Tel Aviv, Israel (1979)
 * 🇬🇷 Thessaloniki, Greece (1988)
 * 🇩🇪 Treptow-Köpenick (Berlin), Germany (1990)
 * 🇹🇳 Tunis, Tunisia (1964)
 * 🇮🇹 Turin, Italy (1958)
 * 🇫🇮 Turku, Finland (1967)

Cologne also cooperates with:
 * 🇺🇦 Dnipro, Ukraine (2022)

Former twin towns

 * 🇷🇺 Volgograd, Russia (1988) - suspended in 2022

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Cologne


text:
Buddhist cuisine

Buddhist cuisine is an Asian cuisine that is followed by monks and many believers from areas historically influenced by Mahayana Buddhism. It is vegetarian or vegan, and it is based on the Dharmic concept of ahimsa (non-violence). Vegetarianism is common in other Dharmic faiths such as Hinduism, Jainism and Sikhism, as well as East Asian religions like Taoism. While monks, nuns and a minority of believers are vegetarian year-round, many believers follow the Buddhist vegetarian diet for celebrations.

Buddhists believe that cooking is seen as a spiritual practice that produces the nourishment which the body needs to work hard and meditate. The origin of "Buddhist food" as a distinct sub-style of cuisine is tied to monasteries, where one member of the community would have the duty of being the head cook and supplying meals that paid respect to the strictures of Buddhist precepts. Temples that were open to visitors from the general public might also serve meals to them and a few temples effectively run functioning restaurants on the premises. In Japan, this culinary custom, recognized as shōjin ryōri (精進料理) or devotion cuisine, is commonly offered at numerous temples, notably in Kyoto. This centuries-old culinary tradition, primarily associated with religious contexts, is seldom encountered beyond places like temples, religious festivals, and funerals. A more recent version, more Chinese in style, is prepared by the Ōbaku school of zen, and known as fucha ryōri (普茶料理); this is served at the head temple of Manpuku-ji, as well as various subtemples. In modern times, commercial restaurants have also latched on to the style, catering both to practicing and non-practicing lay people.

Vegetarianism
Most of the dishes considered to be uniquely Buddhist are vegetarian, but not all Buddhist traditions require vegetarianism of lay followers or clergy. Vegetarian eating is primarily associated with the East and Southeast Asian tradition in China, Vietnam, Japan, and Korea where it is commonly practiced by clergy and may be observed by laity on holidays or as a devotional practice.

In the Mahayana tradition, several sutras of the Mahayana canon contain explicit prohibitions against consuming meat, including sections of the Lankavatara Sutra and Surangama Sutra. The monastic community in Chinese Buddhism, Vietnamese Buddhism and most of Korean Buddhism strictly adhere to vegetarianism.

Theravada Buddhist monks and nuns consume food by gathering alms themselves, and generally must eat whatever foods are offered to them, including meat. The exception to this alms rule is when monks and nuns have seen, heard or known that animal(s) have been specifically killed to feed the alms-seeker, in which case consumption of such meat would be karmically negative, as well as meat from certain animals, such as dogs and snakes, that were regarded as impure in ancient India. The same restriction is also followed by some lay Buddhists and is known as the consumption of "triply clean meat" (三净肉). The Pāli Scriptures also indicated that Lord Buddha refusing a proposal by his traitor disciple Devadatta to mandate vegetarianism in the monastic precepts.

Tibetan Buddhism has long accepted that the practical difficulties in obtaining vegetables and grains within most of Tibet make it impossible to insist upon vegetarianism; however, many leading Tibetan Buddhist teachers agree upon the great worth of practicing vegetarianism whenever and wherever possible, such as Chatral Rinpoche, a lifelong advocate of vegetarianism who famously released large numbers of fish caught for food back into the ocean once a year, and who wrote about the practice of saving lives.

Both Mahayana and Theravada Buddhists consider that one may practice vegetarianism as part of cultivating Bodhisattvas's paramita.

Other restrictions
In addition to the ban on garlic, practically all Mahayana monastics in China, Korea, Vietnam and Japan specifically avoid eating strong-smelling plants, traditionally asafoetida, shallot, mountain leek and Chinese onion, which together with garlic are referred to as wǔ hūn (五葷, or 'Five Acrid and Strong-smelling Vegetables') or wǔ xīn (五辛 or 'Five Spices') as they tend to excite senses. This is based on teachings found in the Brahmajala Sutra, the Surangama Sutra and the Lankavatara Sutra. In modern times this rule is often interpreted to include other vegetables of the onion genus, as well as coriander. The origin of this additional restriction is from the Indic region and can still be found among some believers of Hinduism and Jainism.

The consumption of non-vegetarian food by strict Buddhists is also subject to various restrictions. As well as the aforementioned "triply clean meat" rule followed by Theravada monks, nuns, and some lay Buddhists, many Chinese Buddhists avoid the consumption of beef, large animals, and exotic species. Some Buddhists abstain from eating offal (organ meat), known as xiàshui (下水).

Alcohol and other drugs are also avoided by many Buddhists because of their effects on the mind and "mindfulness". It is part of the Five Precepts which dictate that one is not to "not to take any substance that will cloud the mind." Caffeinated drinks may sometimes be included under this restriction.

Simple and natural
In theory and practice, many regional styles of cooking may be adapted to be "Buddhist" as long as the cook, with the above restrictions in mind, prepares the food, generally in simple preparations, with expert attention to its quality, wholesomeness and flavor. Often working on a tight budget, the monastery cook would have to make the most of whatever ingredients were available.

In Tenzo kyokun ("Instructions for the Zen Cook"), Soto Zen founder Eihei Dogen wrote:

"In preparing food, it is essential to be sincere and to respect each ingredient regardless of how coarse or fine it is. (...) A rich buttery soup is not better as such than a broth of wild herbs. In handling and preparing wild herbs, do so as you would the ingredients for a rich feast, wholeheartedly, sincerely, clearly. When you serve the monastic assembly, they and you should taste only the flavour of the Ocean of Reality, the Ocean of unobscured Awake Awareness, not whether or not the soup is creamy or made only of wild herbs. In nourishing the seeds of living in the Way, rich food and wild grass are not separate."

Ingredients

Following its dominant status in most parts of East Asia where Buddhism is most practiced, rice features heavily as a staple in the Buddhist meal, especially in the form of rice porridge or congee as the usual morning meal. Noodles and other grains may often be served as well. Vegetables of all sorts are generally either stir-fried or cooked in vegetarian broth with seasonings and may be eaten with various sauces. Onions and garlic are usually avoided as consumption of these is thought to increase undesirable emotions such as anger or sexual desire. Traditionally, eggs and dairy are not permitted. Seasonings will be informed by whatever is common in the local region; for example, soy sauce and vegan dashi figure strongly in Japanese monastery food while Thai curry and tương (as a vegetarian replacement for fish sauce) may be prominent in Southeast Asia. Sweets and desserts are not often consumed, but are permitted in moderation and may be served at special occasions, such as in the context of a tea ceremony in the Zen tradition.

Buddhist vegetarian chefs have become extremely creative in imitating meat using prepared wheat gluten, also known as seitan, kao fu (烤麸) or wheat meat, soy (such as tofu or tempeh), agar, konnyaku and other plant products. Some of their recipes are the oldest and most-refined meat analogues in the world. Soy and wheat gluten are very versatile materials, because they can be manufactured into various shapes and textures, and they absorb flavorings (including, but not limited to, meat-like flavorings), while having very little flavor of their own. With the proper seasonings, they can mimic various kinds of meat quite closely.

Some of these Buddhist vegetarian chefs are in the many monasteries and temples which serve allium-free and mock-meat (also known as 'meat analogues') dishes to the monks and visitors (including non-Buddhists who often stay for a few hours or days, to Buddhists who are not monks, but staying overnight for anywhere up to weeks or months). Many Buddhist restaurants also serve vegetarian, vegan, non-alcoholic or allium-free dishes.

Some Buddhists eat vegetarian on the 1st and 15th of the lunar calendar (lenten days), on Chinese New Year eve, and on saint and ancestral holy days. To cater to this type of customer, as well as full-time vegetarians, the menu of a Buddhist vegetarian restaurant usually shows no difference from a typical Chinese or East Asian restaurant, except that in recipes originally made to contain meat, a soy chicken substitute might be served instead.

Variations by sect or region
According to cookbooks published in English, formal monastery meals in the Zen tradition generally follow a pattern of "three bowls" in descending size. The first and largest bowl is a grain-based dish such as rice, noodles or congee; the second contains the protein dish which is often some form of stew or soup; the third and smallest bowl is a vegetable dish or a salad.

title: Buddhist cuisine