Moving to Berlin and being surrounded by so many food cultures and eating habits, I started to think about my own relation to german (or local) food, family traditions and what I´m eating on a daily basis. How are my eating habits from growing up in a rather small and enclosed community now changed by being exposed to food cultures from all over the world? Does our generation, as the first one growing up with internet access, play a special role in the globalization of food cultures? How has traveling and having friends from many different countries affected my own food and taste preferences?

One of the foods that is considered a very german thing is bread. Many people agree that the huge diversity of bread is unique to Germany. Eating bread in the morning, in school and most times also in the evening as Abendbrot was my family´s eating habit. But bread can be found all over the world, being a staple food in most cultures and its ingredients, baking method, shape and use have been adapted to each community. How is this specialization affected by our globalized lifestyle, co-existence and mixing of many nationalities and cuisines, ingredients and techniques? Is the bread we are eating now representing this new way of living? Is the mixing and fusing into new cultures also creating new styles of bread? Like a Pumpernikel-tortilla or a steam bun filled with Hummus? Can bread bring different cultures together and create a mutual community?

 

(image by Bobby Doherty)