What is the difference between the meat on our body and the meat on our plates? Is there really one? Why does our brain rather consider a bunch of oversized fake sausages “meat” while the real meat sits naked on top of it?
For the research to his award-winning piece Requiem for a Piece of Meat theater maker Daniel Hellmann went deep into the cruel realities of the meat production industry. What he found there was both shocking and eye-opening, and turned him and part of his team to veganism. The ways how we humans disassociate a piece of meat from what it really is – a sliced-off piece from a living creature that was killed against its will after enduring a life of torture and mistreatment – is one of the topics he dissects in his piece. But it goes far beyond the treatment of animals and blurred lines of what is the meat on our bones, the meat of an animal and the meat product that goes over the butcher’s counter. It also questions how we treat black bodies and female bodies, and how lust and desire play into our associations with meat.
Nothing that you will see in this piece is done for shock value – in fact, the realities of the things depicted in the play are by far more shocking. Yet, for some theaters, the production was too extreme so it got censored and even canceled. Luckily, Berlin theater people are not so thin-skinned so we can enjoy the German premiere tonight at Ballhaus Ost with encore screenings on the following days. Some impressions and details below.
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by Frank | Theater
La Lucha, photo: liz_b.
Berlin never stops to deliver us new places to explore and fall in love with. Each year an abundance of new things pop up all over town, putting undiscovered areas on the map and adding new spice to already established ones.
The gastronomic newcomers of this years are particularly exciting and diverse and we had a bit of a hard time to choose the ones we want to present you here in our new guide. We especially love the fact that the style of kitchen is becoming more experimental and bringing some new trends into town, but also that interior and ambience continues to evolve.
Here’s our selection of the most exciting new restaurants in Berlin that you should check out in 2017.
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by Frank | Charlottenburg, Kreuzberg, Mitte, Prenzlauer Berg, Restaurants
Before we all buckle up for this little joyride, let me start with a disclaimer: the selection of places below is a very subjective one, intending to highlight the wide range of leisure options available around Warschauer Strasse, but even more so to convey some of its unique spirit and direct your attention at a few lesser-known spots. Therefore, I am going to include some of the more or less immediate vicinity, fully aware of the fact that Schlesi is in Kreuzberg, and leave off some distinguished venues like Berghain, since they’re doing a great job speaking (raving?) for themselves. Read on…
by Michalina | Friedrichshain
One of the major aims we have here on the blog is to find ways for you to have an amazing time in Berlin. Regardless if you live here or if you are just visiting, we want you to make the most of this amazing city and have an unforgettable time here. With our guides and reviews we’re offering a lot of recommendations on what to do here – with our recent collaboration with Priceless® Berlin we have also introduced you to a whole new spectrum of unique experiences from culinary delights to fun adventures.
But what makes an experience really unique and unforgettable? It’s not really as easy as it sounds. We thought a lot about this, because we wanted to create our own “priceless” event for you. As the season of cosy nights at home and lovely holiday dinners is approaching we decided that we wanted to do something related to amazing food. So we sat down with someone who really knows something about excellent food: our Blogfabrik colleague Sophia Hoffmann, who recently published her second amazing cookbook “Vegan Queens”. Together we developed a dinner event of a different kind. “Harvest Muse” turned out to much more than just a dinner party. For the delight of our guests Sophia created something that could almost be described as an altar of the fruits of Autumn – a beautiful food installation that was first admired and photographed and than later devoured by the attendants. In a short interview Sophia explains how the idea came up and what other advice she can give to our readers on how to host an unforgettable dinner.
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by Frank | Books, Food, People
illustrations: Sophia Halamoda
Show me what you eat and I’ll tell you who you are. Basked in a plethora of choice, Berlin inhabitants’ hardest seems to be where to eat. Trying to arrange Sunday brunch with a vegan, a meat lover and a person that claims to be allergic to almost anything between is more normal than everyone involved would like it to be. With a rough estimate of two hundred guides to hyped food spots being published (in Berlin alone) every day the proof must be in the pudding. So if you’re looking for your very own flavor of love, by all means, dig in:
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by Alix | People
photo: Ailine Liefeld
With a couple of brand new, awesome vegan restaurants and cafes that opened in Berlin recently, we thought it was about time to put together a new vegan guide for Berlin. Veganism is probably the biggest “trend” in gastronomy right now, though it is inaccurate to consider it a trend, I like to call it an “awakening”. I think with all the information we have nowadays about industrially produced food and its effect on the ecosystem and on our health, it is only a natural reaction that people start to change their consumption and eating habits. I personally really like vegan cooking, mainly because it requires certain creativity that makes us break out of our decade long food habits of what goes with what and how you prepare certain things. Vegan dishes, no matter if they are simple or elaborate, open up another world of taste experiences and I think that’s really exciting for everyone’s palate. Enjoy our selection of the most interesting vegan restaurants and cafes in Berlin.
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by Frank | Friedrichshain, Kreuzberg, Mitte, Neukölln, Prenzlauer Berg, Restaurants
photo: Oh Sophia
It’s Christmas time, a good chance to be thoughtful, thankful and helpful. Especially with thousands of refugees arriving in Berlin this year, giving back to people in need becomes an even bigger issue and responsibility for our community. We’re living in a time were we need to reach out to each other, face our global challenges and help together. After visiting some Charity Christmas Markets and donating some money to our Blogfabrik Project #HelpDontHate, we want to look at some other alternatives to help in Berlin. So what do you think about eating and drinking for a good cause?
We found some wonderful and delicious events happening this month that we want to share with you after the jump…
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by Kate | Events, Food
Appetizer or main meal in itself, when sharing food with friends hummus is always high up on the list. We all know it’s made of chickpeas but there is an art to making really good hummus, dressing it up and adding accompanying dishes. It already starts with the main ingredient chickpeas. Different people have different methods of peeling off the thin clear skin to make the hummus rich and less seamy. While we’re not able to share the ultimate trick of making the best hummus with you, we have our recommendation of best places in Berlin to fulfill your hummus craving. Best enjoyed with a group of your favorite people. Read more after the jump.
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by Yoori | Mitte, Neukölln, Prenzlauer Berg, Restaurants
In the last couple of years many people have had a bit of an awakening in terms of food. Organic supermarkets, vegan restaurants, locally produced products and special diet catering are some of the new developments that we find ourselves surrounded with and that are replacing the old sources for food for more and more people. Some like to call it a trend, but I think that’s not what it is. It’s a change of mind, it’s the realization that the food industry is selling us shit that is bad for us and the world. It’s a development caused by education and I think for a big part we have the internet to thank for this. We no longer have to be slaves to traditions, habits and mainstream supermarket products. Because now there are food blogs, cook books, organic shops and delivery services out there that supply us with knowledge, recipes and ingredients for a better way of eating.
Ella Woodward is one of these people who are pushing the health food movement forward with her blog Deliciously Ella. She is, you could say, the British version of our own Berlin vegan expert Oh Sophia, and she too has now released an amazing cookbook that we want to introduce you to today. After the jump we will give you a little insight into Deliciously Ella with a list of 7 of her most important basic ingredients that make excellent healthy replacements for milk products, white flower, and refined sugar.
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by Frank | Books, Food
Ayurveda is a term based on thousands of years of holy Indian scripture that translates to “the knowledge of life.” It is a holistic science of health with a focus on the maintenance of a balanced state of being. Our bodies contain three doshas, which are biological energies that express patterns in our physical, emotional and mental characteristics. There’s no doubt about the food and drinks we ingest affecting our doshas, and now a new lunch spot in Schöneberg is serving up delicious Thalis with the right combination of herbs and spices to balance our Ayurvedic constitutions. Check out their fresh new concept and menu after the jump!
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by Skylar | Cafés, Restaurants, Schöneberg
