The döner kebab has a meaty role in German society
It is a diplomatic tool as well as a tasty, cheap meal
“I have an onion on my head/I am a kebab/because kebab makes you more beautiful.” It is no surprise that the lyrics of “Döner macht schöner”, a German hit from 2004, do not deliver quite the same emotional payload in English. In Britain the kebab is a byword for drunken excess, devoured before bed and recalled in shame. In Germany, especially its capital, it is a more exalted affair. Every Berliner has a favoured Dönerladen. Many build family outings around them.
Explore more
This article appeared in the Culture section of the print edition under the headline “The rest is shishtory”
Culture June 29th 2024
From the June 29th 2024 edition
Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents
Explore the editionDiscover more
Americans are chuffed as chips at British English
Why doesn’t the affection run both ways?
Time for LIV, golf’s Saudi-funded rebel tour, to drift into obscurity
As a golfing experiment it has failed
Boris Johnson shows how not to write a political memoir
His new book is full of revelations, but none of the sort readers actually want
How humans invented good and evil, and may reinvent both
Over thousands of years humans domesticated themselves
Fashion photography is in vogue
Museums and collectors now want what were once panned as commercial images for their walls
Turn down the K-pop and pay attention to K-healing
The rise of South Korean books about burnout has taken the world by storm