Political price for the kebab: the idea (worth 4 billion) in Germany

Among the measures on which inflation, or the explosion of prices, can be calculated, there is also the kebab, Döner in German. The “sandwich” went from 4 euros to 8 or 9 in two yearsso much so that there are those who are now proposing in Parliament to put a brake on its prices, just as a brake was put on the debt (Schuldenbremse): and in fact the proposal is called «Dönerpreisbremse». But beyond the neologisms and German linguistic conceptualism, the problem is real. The Linke’s initiative in the Bundestag did not go unnoticed: the «Left» proposes a maximum limit of 4.90 euros and vouchers to be distributed to the poorest kids to take to «political price» of 2.90 euros. Cost of the operation: 4 billion.

Even Chancellor Olaf Scholz (who wants the market to resolve the issue and maintains that the ECB is doing an excellent job on inflation) admitted that he was very impressed in his meetings with young people, because they almost always ask him «if nothing can be done to stop kebab prices.”

The Germans’ love affair with Döner has to do with its Turkish community, which arrived in Germany in the 1960s. In Berlin alone, 400,000 are consumed per day, and several million throughout Germany. When the president Frank-Walter Steinmeier visited Erdogan last month he brought a kebab shop with him on the state plane. It has been much criticized: with all that Turkey has given to Germany – it has been said – artists, politicians, writers, footballers, do we really need to go back to the cliché of the kebab shop? He replied that he wanted Istanbul to taste the German version (in fact, richer than the original).

But if Chicken Tikka Masala – the Indian recipe that Elizabeth II chose as her coronation dish – has become a British national dish, the kebab can now also have a place of honor in German tradition.

May 7, 2024

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