The Sauce — Stuttgart Chili Festival

Festival of Heat with Cult Status

The Sauce — the Stuttgart Chili Festival — is one of the newer, but most uncompromising food festivals in the state capital of Baden-Württemberg. The one-day event is held at Im Wizemann, one of Stuttgart's best-known event locations on Quellenstraße in eastern Stuttgart. The focus is on everything that makes things hot: hot sauces, chili products, salsas, chili chocolates, spicy spirits, and an international selection of chili varieties.

Exhibitors, Tastings, Raffles

On the exhibitor floor, manufacturers of hot sauces from Germany, Europe, and overseas present their latest creations. Sample bottles, stand tastings, and themed raffles — such as gift boxes, chili sets, or meetings with producers — are part of the regular program. Those who prefer it less hot will find mild sauces with flavor profiles; those seeking the extreme can sample their way up to the highest capsaicin classes (Reaper, Ghost Pepper, Carolina varieties).

Im Wizemann as a Stage

The Im Wizemann Club in Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt is normally a concert and club venue; on festival days like The Sauce, the grounds transform into a pop-up market. The industrial architecture of the former Wizemann factory provides an urban, gritty backdrop that fits the concept well: unvarnished, intense, full of flavor.

Stuttgart and the Swabian Food Scene

Stuttgart, the capital of Baden-Württemberg, has established itself as a food festival city in recent years — from the Mössingen Maultaschen meeting to the culinary offerings of the Cannstatter Wasen Volksfest. The Sauce occupies a special niche: not classic street food, but a specialized trade fair for a growing German chili subculture. Heat has long ceased to be just a restaurant phenomenon in Germany; it is now its own field of enjoyment with a regular audience.