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Bruno and food culture

C1 · 22 words

Bruno and food culture

Bruno's new dish brings together Vietnamese herbs from the market hall in Lichtenberg and his grandmother's dumplings, and not everyone at the table likes the idea. Learn to talk about food culture - tradition, fusion, identity and appropriation - and to discuss respectfully who a dish belongs to.

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Dialogue

A short conversation with the words of this scenario. Tap "Translation" under a line to see what it means.

  1. Bruno

    Tadaa! Omas Teigtaschen mit vietnamesischen Kräutern - eine Fusion zweier Esskulturen!

    Translation

    Ta-da! Grandma's dumplings with Vietnamese herbs - a fusion of two food cultures!

  2. Frida

    Genial! Koriander und Zitronengras in einer Teigtasche.

    Translation

    Brilliant! Coriander and lemongrass in a dumpling.

  3. Lotte

    Translation

    Delicious, honestly. But isn't that already cultural appropriation?

  4. Bruno

    Aneignung? Die Kräuter habe ich doch gekauft, nicht geklaut!

    Translation

    Appropriation? I bought the herbs, I didn't pinch them!

  5. Lotte

    Spaßvogel. Entscheidend ist, ob man eine fremde Esskultur respektvoll aufgreift oder sie zum Klischee degradiert.

    Translation

    Very funny. What matters is whether you take up another food culture respectfully or reduce it to a cliché.

  6. Frida

    Translation

    But every cuisine thrives on outside influences. Even the potato wasn't always native here.

  7. Lotte

    Schon. Heikel wird es erst, wenn ein angeblich authentisches Gericht alles verfälscht.

    Translation

    True. It only gets tricky when a supposedly authentic dish distorts everything.

  8. Bruno

    Authentizität beanspruche ich ja gar nicht. Den Ursprung der Kräuter nenne ich auf der Karte.

    Translation

    I'm not claiming authenticity at all. I name where the herbs come from on the menu.

  9. Frida

    Na also, Lotte: Er würdigt beide Traditionen. Für mich ist das keine Aneignung, sondern eine Bereicherung.

    Translation

    There you go, Lotte: he honours both traditions. To me that's not appropriation, it's an enrichment.

  10. Lotte

    Na gut. Über den Tellerrand schauen, ganz gleich welcher Herkunft - das ist ja Teil der Berliner Identität.

    Translation

    All right. Looking beyond your own backyard, whatever your background - that's part of Berlin's identity, after all.

  11. Bruno

    Eben! Gute Kochkunst verschmilzt Traditionen, statt sie wegzusperren. Wer will noch eine Teigtasche?

    Translation

    Exactly! Good cooking blends traditions instead of locking them away. Who wants another dumpling?

  12. Lotte

    Drei, bitte. Aus rein kulinarischem Interesse.

    Translation

    Three, please. Out of purely culinary interest.

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