Why are young Germans eating pudding with forks?

A strange phenomenon is sweeping through Germany. In large cities in recent days and weeks, hundreds of young people have gathered in parks to sit together and eat pudding with forks (the creamy, milk-based dessert rather than the final course at the end of a meal).

In Munich, for example, at the end of September BR24 reported that hundreds of young people had gathered in the English Garden, seated on picnic blankets, jackets and plastic bags – each with a personal packet of pudding in hand.

The event is something of a ceremony. It begins with the group tapping their forks on the pudding they brought and counting down together: "Ten, nine, eight...three, two, one."

Then the feast: Everyone opens their puddings and plunges their forks in. 

Similar gatherings have occurred far and wide: In Nuremberg, Würzburg, Münster and Berlin.

WDR also reported on a pudding party in Dortmund's Westpark, and noted others in Wuppertal, Münster, Cologne, Bonn, Bielefeld, Siegen and other cities.

Videos of the events can be seen on the social media app Tiktok, where the hashtag "PuddingmitGabel" (Pudding with fork) has taken off.

How did it begin?

Interestingly, the originators behind the pudding party are not known. Rumours online have suggested the concept started with a group of artists - but it hasn't been confirmed. 

The trend appears to have originated in Karlsruhe.

Reportedly a simple flyer posted on a pole in the southern university town attracted some attention. It had a simple image of a cup of chocolate pudding and said, "Komm zu unserem wir-essen-pudding-mit-einer-gabel-treffen" (Come to our we-eat-pudding-with-a-fork meeting).

It also included a date, time and location where people were to gather.

The meeting must have been a success because from there the idea went viral on social media, specifically on Tiktok, and similar meetings began popping up all over the country and beyond.

A large pudding party recently occurred in Vienna's Burggarten, for example.

So far, the trend seems to have only taken off among German-speaking communities. But, at time of writing, a recent post suggests a pudding gathering is set to take place in New York city.

Seeking community

Participants have been known to travel far and wide just to eat their pudding with a fork amongst their comrades. 

READ ALSO: Number of people living alone in Germany surges

At the recent gathering in Munich, BR24 found Adrian who had driven two and half hours from Lindau to join in.

Asked why he and so many others had made the effort, he suggested that "many young people nowadays want a reason to gather again..."

Born into a world that is chronically online, and confronted by increasingly tense politics and world events, many young people express a desire to reconnect with each other and find community in new forms. 

Silly as it is, eating pudding with a fork appears to be a good enough excuse for many young Germans to do exactly that.