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German Word of the Day: Der Kummerspeck

The Local Germany
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German Word of the Day: Der Kummerspeck
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Comfort eating is a staple of the human experience, and the Germans (of course) have the perfect word to describe the excess fat you gain from emotional overeating: Kummerspeck.

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Kummerspeck is a compound noun composed of Kummer (grief), and Speck (bacon, or lard), so translates literally as ‘grief bacon’.

We all have those days when we accidentally eat the whole tub of ice cream, or the second pizza, or both. It helps to assuage feelings of loneliness, sadness and melancholy.

One of our writers recalls eating a kilogram of pasta on the day following a break-up, inevitably gaining a lot of Kummerspeck in the months that followed.

Examples:

Er ist normalerweise ziemlich schlank, aber heutzutage hat er viel Kummerspeck

He’s normally quite slim, but nowadays he’s put on weight as he’s been comfort eating.

Sie liebt ihren Kummerspeck und will kein Gewicht verlieren.

She loves her body fat and doesn’t want to lose weight.

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