Soup, food the German needed (7)
I believe the answer is:
chowder
'soup' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'food the german needed' is the wordplay.
'food' becomes 'chow' (chow is a kind of food**).
'the german' becomes 'der' ('the' in German).
'needed' means one lot of letters go next to another.
'chow'+'der'='CHOWDER'
(Other definitions for chowder that I've seen before include "Fish soup for cowherd" , "possible first course?" , "Thick soup containing clams or fish" , "Thick seafood soup" , "Thick fish stew" .)