Vincent Klink: My Swabia. Living and Dining in the Region of Stubbornness

Vincent Klink portrays Swabia – a home game with good food. With numerous hand-colored photographs, Vincent Klink is one of the most prominent Swabians of our time. He lives in Stuttgart and runs his restaurant there, but he is repeatedly drawn to the surrounding area, to the inns of his region. Klink takes a self-ironic look at his fellow countrymen: How do the Swabians tick, whom the rest of Germany believes to be orderly house builders or rebellious angry citizens? Why are they so stubborn, so ascetic, so fond of wine, so funny, so stingy, so generous, so reasonable, so unreasonable? Klink guides us through the turbulent Swabian history, tracing the spirit of contradiction he observes in his homeland, from Friedrich Schiller to Robert Bosch, from the Peasants' Wars to Stuttgart 21. He describes Protestantism – "Diligence through constant guilt" – from the perspective of his Catholic roots in Schwäbisch Gmünd, narrating how pre-industrial poverty fueled the Swabian inventive spirit and how Swabia became the wealthy region it is today. And of course, a journey through the regional cuisine is a must, from which classics like Spätzle or Maultaschen emerged, as well as delicacies whose names do not always reveal what lies behind them: "Katzengeschrei," "Luckelekäs," "Ringlesspatzen," or "Gsälz." Vincent Klink, born in 1949, runs the restaurant "Wielandshöhe" in Stuttgart. In his spare time, he makes music, engages in woodcuts, paints, and tends to his bees. He is the author of numerous bestsellers, including Sitting Küchenbull (2009), A Belly Strolls Through Paris (2015), and A Belly Strolls Through Vienna (2019). His latest book, A Belly Strolls Through Venice, was published in 2022.