"Lobscou(r)se" was the English name for a dish for rough sea-faring folk. This traditional sailor's meal originated in an age when the great sailing ships had to take sufficient provisions for voyages lasting months on end, and survives today in north Germany as "Labskaus".

Lübeck is synonymous with marzipan. The sweetmeat made from almonds and sugar and coated with chocolate is a speciality of this Hanseatic town. Lots of different stories have grown up about the origin of marzipan, but one thing is certain: it came from the Middle East.

Another regional speciality is made in smokehouses. Located in fisherman's cottages, they use the traditional method of smoking fresh pike-perch, pike or eel over beechwood and alder to transform them into golden yellow delicacies.

The land between the North Sea and the Baltic is also a great place for cheese. The local variety is Tilsiter cheese. Cheese dairies are spread across the whole region and range from large cooperatives to individual cheese makers on small farms. These cheese specialists are linked by the "Schleswig-Holstein Cheese Route" running from the Lauenburg region to North Friesland and from the Baltic to the North Sea