Cornelia Brelowski Döner vs. Currywurst – On Berlin’s most beloved street foods

TEXT & PHOTOS: CORNELIA BRELOWSKI

On my last visit to London, I spotted a fast-food place in the King’s Cross area, called German Doner, and said to myself – well, this is the limit. I can barely tolerate the ‘genuine’ Berlin Currywurst available in Soho and other London tourist spots, but what would our Turkish community say if their ingenious street food creation were labelled a German speciality?

Back in Berlin, I entered a coffee-fuelled debate with a friend on the question if you could consider our cherished Döner kebab a German invention – the name itself already claiming it to be a dish of the middle east. The AI-based answer to my friend’s (closed) question on her mobile, if Döner is a German invention, gave her an immediate basis for her argument – that allegedly, a Turkish immigrant had invented it over here. Back at my desk, I looked up the more reliable, double-checked sources, and here goes.

Variations on a theme. Photo: Yoad Shejtman on Unsplash

Döner kebab (Kebap being the correct Turkish spelling) means rotating grilled meat, and is a historic Anatolian dish, traditionally featuring layered, marinated and spiced lamb on a stick, from which the slices are manually extracted and put in a pita-like bread (Pide). It was already commented on in 1836 by military advisor of the Ottoman Empire, https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helmuth_von_Moltke_(Generalfeldmarschall). The afore-mentioned Turkish immigrant may have added salad and white sauce to it – which still does not make it a German dish, AI or not. However, thanks to our large Turkish community, the kebab now has its own Berlin festival, the last one took place in November, in Kreuzberg.

Currywurst at Konnopke’s. Photo: visitBerlin, Philip Koschel

Germans may never have been that great at creating their own street food. But Berliners are indeed proud of our mid 20^th century invention, the Currywurst, combining culinary influences from east and west: German boiled sausage with – well – a specially invented curry sauce. The first known Berlin-based Currywurst dish was created in 1949 by Herta Heuwer in Charlottenburg. Her Chillup Sauce is a protected creation and was patented as Spezial-Sosse in 1958. Throughout her life, Heuwer insisted that she used neither ketchup nor a ready-made seasoning mix but instead mixed the sauce with tomato paste and carefully seasoned it with individual spices. Whilst staying in Berlin, connoisseurs may also want to check out the much-hailed Konnopke’s at Schönhauser Allee, proud owners of the first East German recipe as of 1960, and equally protected.

Now, if you happen to get tired of so called authentic copies of Döner kebab and/or Currywurst in Soho or Bloomsbury, why not come over here, and – hau rin, as the Berliner says!