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Germany’s doner kebab becomes symbol of angst over rising costs (www.politico.eu)

submitted 4 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

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“I can still remember when doner kebabs were sold for €3.50,” reminisced one teenager amid calls for a price brake to stop rising kebab costs.

The German capital is the birthplace of that ubiquitous European fast food, the doner kebab, and it shows.

Kebab shops line streets of many German cities, particularly in Berlin, and the scent of roasting, skewered meat is never far off.

Some two-million doner kebabs — meat wrapped in bread, topped with sauces and vegetables — are consumed a day in Germany, according to an industry association, quite a lot for a country of 83 million people. And the doner kebab has even supplanted the old stalwart, the currywurst — fried veal sausage topped with ketchup and curry powder — as the most popular fast-food dish in the country, according to a 2022 survey.

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[-] gigachad@sh.itjust.works 47 points 4 months ago

I remember 3,50€ from fucking 2007. They make it seem like the prices have gone up from that within the last two years. Meat is way too cheap anyway.

[-] ichbinjasokreativ@lemmy.world 37 points 4 months ago

In 2017 I could still find Döner for 4€ in Nürnberg. Now it's 7,50€.

[-] gigachad@sh.itjust.works 15 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

What is a clear sign for Döner being consistent with overall rise of prices due to inflationin the last 20 years. Maybe it has been too cheap for too long. Bad working conditions, a lot or family business where family members "help out" to deal with the heavy competition etc.

[-] volvoxvsmarla@lemm.ee 20 points 4 months ago

Meat is way too cheap anyway.

This is why I hate that they are focussing on Döner and are even asking for a Dönerpreisbremse. For all I care, discuss falafels, french fries, anything that has no meat in it. I'm not a vegan or vegetarian but it is hilarious to complain that a meat based dish should still be the "easily affordable" fast food for everyone. In 2024. Come on.

[-] FooBarrington@lemmy.world 8 points 4 months ago

I paid between 2,50€ and 4€ around 2016-2018 (depending on the city and place). It's far more recent than 2007.

[-] Blizzard@lemmy.zip 6 points 4 months ago

Meat is way too cheap anyway.

What do you mean "meat is way too cheap"? Are you a kebab joint owner?

[-] GregorGizeh@lemmy.zip 38 points 4 months ago

From an ecological point, meat is too cheap as long as the general population can afford to eat it more than once or twice per week. Meat is very ineffective to produce, requiring vast amounts of water and cattle feed to be grown. It was never supposed to be a three times a day staple of every meal, and the fact that we have normalized it to that point is really unhealthy both for ourselves and the planet we are ruining to keep production going.

[-] chonglibloodsport@lemmy.world -5 points 4 months ago

What do you mean “never supposed to”? The world wasn’t designed.

Anyway, meat can still be cheap without the intensive factory farming practices in the US. Chickens are very cheap to raise on pasture and produce much tastier meat as well! They can be watered with well water and supplemented with minimal grain feed.

[-] WamGams@lemmy.ca 10 points 4 months ago

Factory farming is the only efficient way to have meat for billions of people. About 95% of bovine meat is factory farmed. Its impossible to turn the entire industry free range, and it can't be done for cheaper.

It also requires raising about 50 chickens before a person's economy of scale can compete with the sticker cost at the supermarket.

[-] explore_broaden@midwest.social 20 points 4 months ago

At least in the US there are a number of subsidies that help to keep meat prices low, which isn’t really great because it increases demand for one of the more environmentally damaging foods to produce.

[-] BruceTwarzen@lemm.ee 13 points 4 months ago

A pack of dried beef is like 4 euros where i live. The vegan alternative is smoked beets, which basically tastes the same but comes in a smaller packet and is like 8.50. So you're telling me it's cheaper to raise a cow, feed it, make sure it doesn't move too much, drive it somewhere to get killed, get it butchered, and smoked and dried than slice beets and smoke it?

[-] Urist@lemmy.ml 6 points 4 months ago

Could it be that the beets are too expensive, by which I really mean that the proletariat is exploited and denied the benefits of the surplus gained by their increasing productivity.

[-] ABCDE@lemmy.world 2 points 4 months ago

I guess the quality of the meat they're produced en masse.

[-] norimee@lemmy.world 5 points 4 months ago

2007?

I payed 4€ at my local döner shop before the pandemic. Last year it was 6 and last week i payed 8€ for it.

Doubled the price since 2020!!

[-] rimjob_rainer@discuss.tchncs.de 5 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

2007 I paid 2,50€ as a student. Yes meat is way too cheap but today I even pay at least 7€ for a vegetarian one.

[-] ECB@feddit.org 3 points 4 months ago

There was one place where i was living where you could get one for 2.90€ as recently as 2018. It wasn't the best, but it was great value.

I moved around then, so I have no idea what it costs now.

[-] Tja@programming.dev 2 points 4 months ago

I remember 3.50 around 2010 in some parts of Berlin. In Munich it was over 5. Pre pandemic it was around 7 and now it's 8 or 9 (haven't bought one in a while).

Prices for Dürüm, BTW, the clearly superior kebab delivery mechanism.

[-] Socsa@sh.itjust.works 1 points 4 months ago

Yeah this has some real "old me yells at cloud" vibes.

this post was submitted on 14 Jul 2024

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