Culinary Cultures

September 29, 2014 1

Beyond Berlin: London and other transplants

This past week, I visited my good friend D who, like me, is an American transplant. D lives in East London, where the corner store owner greets you in an upbeat banter and the sign to a ‘Carolina Fried Chicken’ joint dances in the light from the neighboring gastropub. Multicultural, maybe. But London’s multiculturalism has a few faces and facades. And, in the end, it’s the people that matter more than the cultural installation: So, who is actually 'making' it here?... [Read More!]

April 30, 2014 0

Rave: the California Breakfast Slam Effect

Identity and belonging are closely intertwined with the foods we eat. The California Breakfast Slam, or CABslam, originally a pop-up breakfast establishment celebrating Americana classics like hash browns and maple syrup-drenched bacon, now hosts an unassuming 'Beta' restaurant space at the far edge of Neukölln's Reuterkiez. A visit allows for the giddy return to childhood memories that lead to goosebumps and pride, or a combination of both. Let's call this the California Breakfast Slam effect... [Read More!]

February 27, 2014 0

Viet in Berlin: Images from Dong Xuan Center Lichtenberg

Lichtenberg's Dong Xuan Center consists of 6 hangars, stocked tightly with all the things one might come to miss living far away from a place, where a broth of cardamom and ginger is paired with any meat imaginable and the most delicate of noodles; where a certain kind of manufacturing can turn out plastic and fabric wares for all sizes and ages in bulk; where sweet things might come packaged in banana leaves, wrapped around sticky mango rice like presents. Or this is the impression one might get of Vietnam, when visiting Dong Xuan - a Mecca in the middle of former East Berlin, little Hanoi amidst not so little Plattenbauten... [Read More!]

February 20, 2014 2

Lens: An Ode to the Maybachufer

From Berlin's "problem district" to more expensive than spießig Charlottenburg: Kreuzberg's made quite the transformation over the decades, but migration continues to shape its identity and reputation as a district. The bulk of Kreuzberg's diversity stems from the '50s and '60s, when guest workers were recruited by West Germany to fill labor shortages after World War II*. Kreuzberg's dilapidated housing became home to guest workers, primarily from Turkey... [Read More!]

December 20, 2013 0

Happy Weekend Review: An Old-New Christmas Market

Let's just come right out with it: It's hard to beat Christmas in Germany. Glühwein, cookies, classic lights, decorations strewn across homes and street corners, a calendar that expects, nay, requires you eat a chocolate per day... it's simply wonderful. Though I grew up in the US, my family celebrated Christmas the Teutonic way. I have more than fond memories of hiding the Buttergebäck and Lebkuchen in the laundry room from our Opa so he wouldn't devour them in one sitting, ripping open a human-size Adventskalendar in the course of one night made by our Oma... [Read More!]

December 11, 2013 5

Rave: a Colombian Culinary Homecoming

What role do embassies play in the lives of foreign nationals abroad? Beyond pure administration and diplomacy, cultural events that allow for a homecoming, a return to childhood, and a bringing together of compatriots might change how immigrants and expats live abroad and the involvement of embassies and consulates therein. The Embassy of Columbia in Berlin sponsored an event that did something just like this. A few weeks ago in Neukölln, Colombians and non-Colombians united over the genius of duck woven into starch - the duck, a true Berliner... [Read More!]

October 29, 2013 0

Beyond Berlin: the Istanbul Connection

Istanbul gives Berlin its baseline. In kind, Berlin is richly integrated into the complexity of Istanbul. For no relationship is ever purely one-sided. And so a Berlin : Istanbul connection, which moves beyond Gastarbeiter music and Fatih Akin films, is what one can find after six days immersed in the shapes and silhouettes of this city of 13 million... [Read More!]

August 7, 2013 2

Ramadan with Neighbors: It’s About Showing Up

For those non-Muslims among us, Ramadan is an almost hidden spectacle with mysterious allure: the hot tea, the music, and the platters of food only come out when the sun has turned in for the day or before it has even appeared. We hear the clatter of dishes from our neighbors’ windows late into the night or watch children unpack colorful sweets on Eid al-Fitr, all without necessarily being able to place these traditions in our own line of experience. In honor of the last night of Ramadan, here is a reflection on an event Sophia and I attended last Friday as part of Berlin's festival die Nächte des Ramadan, the Nights of Ramadan... [Read More!]

The Thai Park otherwise known as the Thai Wiese or Berlin's Little Thailand in Wilmersdorf is a spot where Thai women cook under umbrellas and sell their food.

August 1, 2013 2

Happy Weekend: Toi, Toi, Toi, Thai Park

During the summer I'm here almost every weekend, inhaling shrimp summer rolls slathered in peanut sauce, papaya salad speckled with red chili, and iced coffee swimming in globs of cloyingly sweet condensed milk. I may meander the colorful rows for food, but my coffee always comes from the same umbrella: Kaffee Oma's... [Read More!]

June 29, 2013 0

Happy Weekend: “part Korean, part American, part German, all Kimchi”

If the chance of rain deters participation in any of the street events or outdoor markets this weekend, I've got a solution: stuff your face with delicious Korean-fusion. In fact, why not learn a little about Lauren Lee AKA "Fräulein Kimchi" - the proponent of the Korean taco and the Bavarian-Korean cooking course - whose appearances in Mauerpark and Markthalle 9 are bringing in the masses (even if the retelling of my Bimbibap obsession in my Seattle years elicits more often the "Bimbi - whaaa?" than an affirmative nod). This post comes from Jessica Jungbauer of Best Wishes from Berlin, who seeks out the so-called "creatives" of the city, the culinary sort among them, initiating short auto-portraits for an interesting lens into one facet of creative engagement or another... [Read More!]

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