My Dinner - Easy German Recipes is a German food blog dedicated to promoting German recipes all over the world. It aims to connect those who are new to German food with the culture and history of German cuisine and reconnect those Germans who now live abroad and are looking for German dishes from their childhood. It is written by Marita Sinden, a self-taught home cook and food blogger.
About Marita - Willkommen!
Hi there, thanks for stopping by. My Dinner is my little corner of the internet where I have created a small German recipe site. Here I share classic German recipes, lesser-known regional dishes, and modern takes on traditional food.
It all started in Germany
I was born sometime in the 80s in Düsseldorf, Germany to a Filipino mother and a German father. I grew up in a little town called Schwalbach am Taunus, near Frankfurt.
My family was always very international - growing up with a mixed heritage, I was aware from a very young age that food culture differs from country to country. However, I took the dishes I grew up with for granted, such as red cabbage, Frikadellen, and Milchreis.
Leaving Germany at 16 for the UK
When I finished my Realschullabschluss in the 90s, I had to choose either to continue my education in Germany or move abroad. I was always intrigued by the British boarding schools having grown up reading Enid Blyton's Hanni and Nanni, so I chose to continue my education in the UK. My school was located near Oxford.
This is when I started to appreciate German home cooking. British school meals at the time soon made me miss the dishes I grew up with. I first tried to survive on pasta and tomato sauce - but soon decided I had no other choice but to learn how to cook German dishes from scratch.
I went on to study at Durham University but visited my family home in Germany frequently. Cooking easy German recipes such as Bratkartoffeln, Pfannkuchen and Schinkennudeln brought me through my university years.
London - where this German food blog was born
After university, I found a job working for an e-commerce company in London. I had never worked with websites before, but I decided to create one of my own.
This is where I created MyDinner in 2011. It was that literally - "My Dinner". I would take a picture of my dinner - place it in a blog post and press publish! Here is my first blog post - so you can see how basic it was.
From an Online Food Journal to a German Recipe Site
After a while, I started also started publishing recipes. Not just German recipes at first. It was during this time I met my now-husband Dave, who grew up with a Lebanese grandmother. So I also published some Lebanese recipes such as Hummus and Baba Ganoush.
But it was for my German Recipes that strangers would email me. Before it would just be my family reading the blog. So I would publish more, and connect with other German food bloggers.
We had a wedding in Germany, in the beautiful Rheingau. You can read about it here. Then we moved from London to Surrey. I gave birth to my first son, then a second. My life priorities changed and soon my food blog was dormant and neglected. It continued to live on the internet for a few years but I did not have the time to continue it.
Moving back to Germany and the Blog revival
The chance to return to Germany came along. My husband was offered a position in North Germany, Bremen. So we packed up our children and belongings and crossed the channel.
North German food culture is different from what I was used to growing up near Frankfurt. My father was born in Bremen into a Baker's family. So he was excited to hear that I was returning to his hometown.
I still have two uncles who are German bakers. They taught me traditional Northern German dishes such as Bremer Klaben, Rote Grütze, Grünkohl and Pinkel. Some of the recipes they gave me such as German Stollen and Marzipan cookies are some of the most popular recipes on the blog.
You can read more about my family history here:
When we first moved here, I did not have childcare for my sons. So I started working on my blog again in my free time. I found that there is a big demand for German recipes in English. I was also surprised to discover that food blogging can be a business.
I took some online courses in website publishing and learned how to monetize the website with advertisements. In 2022 I gave birth to another child, a girl this time. Since then, I have been working on this website. Grateful that this enables me to pursue my passion for German food, whilst being able to raise my children.
Let's stay in touch
You can follow me on facebook, Instagram or Pinterest.
In my Facebook group called "Homemade German Food and Recipes," we discuss everything about German Food, share pictures of our dishes, and meet like-minded cooks.
Via my weekly email, I share details of my life in Germany. I also let you know when I publish new recipes, or what I am working on. It is my favorite way to connect with my readers.
If you subscribe you will also receive a FREE German-Mini Cookbook with 8 traditional German recipes. I promise that I won't send you any spam or pass on your details to third parties. You can unsubscribe at any time.
I would love to get some feedback about the recipes via comments. Or send me an e-mail.
For more information about the privacy policy on this site please visit here
My brother Julian, is also working in the online world and runs the Online Analytics School Measureschool.com.