This member of the cabbage family - the name means "cabbage turnip" - is a common vegetable throughout Germany. It is mild, crisp and juicy when eaten raw, and soft and creamy when steamed and served puréed or in a sauce, soup or casserole. It's often called kohlrabi in English, too.

It is emerald green and has crisp crinkly leaves, lots of vitamin C and a distinct taste. Savoy cabbage is great in soups and stews, or steamed as a side dish. What Germans call "Wirsing" is a staple at German farmers' markets and in supermarket produce aisles all year round.

Turnip greens - "Rübstiel" in German (literally, beet stems) - are a regional specialty and are particularly common in Germany's western Rhineland area and in the Netherlands. Their tender stems are chopped, steamed and mixed with potatoes or added to stews. "Rübstiel" aficionados can look forward two harvests a year - in spring and fall.

This member of the Allium family - known as ramsons, wild garlic, wood garlic, bear leek, or bear's garlic - is kin to onions, chives and garlic. It grows in the forest and makes an excellent pesto. It smells like garlic, and tastes like garlic. Known in German as "Bärlauch," it is very popular in Germany and can be found in anything from soups and salads to dips, quiches and cheese.

Black salsify is a long, slender white taproot covered with a dark skin. "Schwarzwurzel" (black root) in German, it is also known as the "poor man's asparagus" or "winter asparagus" and is a typical winter vegetable. It is served when the Germans' beloved white asparagus is not yet in season, steamed, with boiled potatoes and butter.

The white vegetable in the photo above is actually asparagus. The green variety is more popular in other countries, but Germans love their white asparagus and anxiously await its arrival in spring, keeping a lookout in late April for the first stalks of their "white gold" to appear in stores and roadside stands.

Parsely root, which is easily confused with the slightly larger parsnips, is the third vegetable from the left, next to the black salsify. It is a winter vegetable that has been used in Europe for centuries, in soups, stews, and mixed veggie dishes. The smaller the root, the more tender it is, experts say - and it's a great source of vitamin C, too.

If you ever come to Bavaria and order a typical "Brotzeit" (bread time) snack to go with your beer, you'll find a crispy white garnish, sometimes draped in elaborate twists and curls on your plate. They're called "Radi," and are a spicy white radish that is full of vitamin C and always eaten raw. The word derives from the Latin for root, "radix." Its cousin, the radish, is "Radieschen" in German.

"Brötchen" ("Brot" is German for bread, the -"chen" is a diminutive suffix) are a staple all over the German-speaking world, but the word used to order the crusty rolls at the bakery counter vary greatly. You'll find "Schrippe" in Berlin, "Wecken" in Swabia, "Rundstück" in the North and "Semmel" in southern Germany. Austrians call the little breads "Laibchen" and in Switzerland they're "Weggen."

What looks like a donut without a hole and is deep-fried sweet yeast dough is a "Berliner" in northern and western Germany and Switzerland. But beware: Don't ask for a Berliner in Berlin! In eastern Germany, the pastry is called "Pfannkuchen" (pancake). In southern Germany and Austria, it's a "Krapfen." No matter the name, it is often filled with jam and covered with icing or powdered sugar.

Food trucks in cities and towns across the country sell roast chicken on the spit: "Brathähnchen." In Bavaria and Austria, the roasted chickens are called "Hendl" or "Grillhendl." In eastern Germany, they are "Broiler" to this very day, decades after communist East Germany ceased to exist, where a roast chicken was a "Goldbroiler" — or, more flippantly, "Gummiadler" (rubber eagle).

In southern Germany and Austria a carrot (from the Latin carota) is simply "Karotte." In northern Germany, the orange veggie is called "Wurzel" (root) or "Möhre," and "Mohrrübe" in eastern Germany. In the German-speaking part of Switzerland, a carrot is a "Rübli" — which makes carrot cake "Rüblikuchen."

"Kartoffel" is the most common term for potatoes, but in some areas the German staple is likened to fruit: "Erdäpfel" (apples of the earth) in southern Germany and Austria, "Grundbirnen" (pears of the ground) in southwestern Germany. If you see "Kartoffelbrei," "Kartoffelpüree" or "Kartoffelmus" on the menu - expect mashed potatoes.

Eaten hot or cold and dipped in mustard, a "Frikadelle" is a fried hamburger made of ground beef or pork mixed with bread, onions, egg and seasonings. A bar snack or part of a hot lunch, it's a "Bulette" in northeastern Germany, "Fleischpflanzerl" (meat plant) in Bavaria and "Fleischküchle" (little meat cake) in southwestern Germany.

Lamb's lettuce in English, this hardy winter green is widely known as field lettuce throughout most of Germany: "Feldsalat." The tiny green leaves are called "Rapunzel" in eastern and northern Germany, "Nüsslisalat" (nut lettuce) in Switzerland and "Vogerlsalat" (bird lettuce) in Austria. A close look at the tiny leaves shows why some people also know it as "Mausohrsalat" (mouse ear lettuce).

Pflaumenkuchen is a classic German cake - traditionally a sheet cake - made with yeast dough and plums. In southern Germany the tangy treat is "Zwetschgenkuchen" or "Zwetschgen-Datschi." The term "Datschi" is said to refer to the act of pressing the halved fruit into the dough. Topped with whipped cream? That's "Sahne" or "Rahm" in most of Germany and Switzerland, but "Obers" in Austria.