Berlin, veganism and the coronavirus
![alt="Bronze lion and angel statue in front of the Berlin Concert Hall"](https://imananimaltoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Post-27-Featured-Image.jpg)
Upon returning from a recent trip to Berlin we looked forward to writing a blog post about this thought provoking city and our vegan culinary adventures. Alas, it was mid March, and within a few days our world had changed drastically – the coronavirus wreaked havoc everywhere. We were apprehensive about sharing our delicious dining experiences during this strange and difficult time. And yet, there is no better time to talk about veganism, a way of life that not only abstains from exploiting and killing fellow beings, but also focuses on culinary pleasure, the environment and health. Thus, now more than ever we need to connect the dots between the prevalent carnivorous culture, and the coronavirus.
We don’t take lightly what many of us experience in these times, but sharing pleasurable memories and reflections may be what we need. So back to Berlin – this city is a vegan heaven, with about 80,000 vegans, out of roughly 3.75 million people. It’s not surprising that it boasts a wide range of great vegan restaurants, cafés, a donut chain, ice cream parlors, and a wonderful grocery store chain, with an irresistible selection of chocolates and cheeses.
On our first evening we headed to Kopps, a fine dining vegan restaurant in the Mitte district. While waiting for our food we were served a surprise, complimentary, amuse-bouche, made with tangerine gel and candied peel, fermented pumpkin seeds, and pomegranate – what a delicacy. We knew we were off to a great dinner!
![](https://imananimaltoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/KoppsJerusalem-artichoke-baked-and-served-with-turnip-chervil-root-lentil-chips-quince-sour-cherry-juice-walnuts-and-pumpernickel.jpg)
The Jerusalem artichoke entrée
For an appetizer we shared the delicious ‘egg’ salad, made from chopped pasta, a plant-based mayo and sulfuric herbs. Guess what, its taste, smell and texture were exactly like eggs! For main dishes we savored the Jerusalem artichoke, baked and served with turnip, chervil root, lentil chips, quince, sour cherries, walnuts and pumpernickel, and the Brussels sprouts with pretzel dumplings, turnips, plums, amaranth, soy, carefully dotted with mushroom foam. We were wowed at the eclectic and marvelous flavors, and the feast for the eyes. Our dessert, poached pear dolloped with vanilla, chocolate and almond sauce, was to die for. And with our coffees we were served complimentary chocolate truffles. All in all, a vegan indulgence indeed!
Another awesome vegan restaurant we visited was Good Morning Vietnam, which is tucked away in a courtyard on vibrant Bergmannstrasse. We had such a wonderful lunch – the food, service and atmosphere were so terrific that we decided to return later for dinner.
![alt="Good Morning VietnamMì Quảng](https://imananimaltoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/food-IMG_1251-1024x922.jpg)
Mì Quảng
Among other dishes, we had their Mì Quang, a fabulous bowl of rice noodle soup with tofu, mushrooms, lemongrass, coconut milk, mint, garnished with peanuts and toasted sesame rice crackers. We loved the interesting and complex flavors of this dish. We also tried one of their vegan ‘duck’ dishes. The name ‘duck’ is off putting for us, but our friendly waiter highly recommended it, and we had no regrets. It’s made of thinly sliced Seitan, coated in sesame seeds and served with vegetables and rice, and dressed in coconut-peanut sauce – absolutely fantastic. This restaurant is a gem!
![alt="Good Morning Vietnam's vegan 'duck'](https://imananimaltoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Good-Morning-Vietnam-duck-1024x682.jpg)
Vegan ‘duck’
For breakfast we had to resort to non-vegan cafés, as there weren’t any vegan ones near our hotel. But don’t you worry, all of them offered nice plant-based options. Father Carpenter, is a café hidden in the corner of a lovely courtyard. We enjoyed their banana bread with whipped peanut butter and raspberry-chia jam, and an oat porridge with stewed green apples, cinnamon, maple syrup and blueberry compote – unexpected yummy twist on oatmeal. Both dishes helped us survive the miles and miles of walking that day, which as you might guess, made us look forward to dinner…
![alt="Father Carpenter, Berlin"](https://imananimaltoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Father-Carpenter-1024x768.jpg)
Banana bread with whipped peanut butter and raspberry-chia jam
The list of restaurants and dishes we’d love to talk about is too long, so we’ll mention a few briefly. The delicious avocado sandwich breakfasts at Oliv, the amazing vegan Japanese fare at the Secret Garden, so tasty and beautifully served, and the vegan pizza at Zeus Pizzeria. And last but not least, the fantastic Quy Nguyen Vegan Living, with its exotic delicacies, not to mention the interesting people whom we met while dining there. The conversations with them is another topic for a blog post…
![alt="Oliv's avocado sandwich"](https://imananimaltoo.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Olivs-avocado-sandwich-breakfasts-1024x768.jpg)
Oliv’s avocado breakfast
Despite the fun time we had in this fascinating, progressive and vibrant city, we could not overlook Berlin’s dark past. Tens of thousands of Jews, who once lived in this city, were murdered by the Nazis during the late 1930’s to early 1940’s. Yet, the majority of the non-Jewish population was oblivious to their disappearance and murder. As Ian Kershaw, a British historian, wrote: “The road to Auschwitz was built by hate, but paved with indifference.”
Going through Berlin and thinking about the blindness to the suffering of ‘others’, was a stark reminder of our current culture. We humans, torture and brutally kill tens of billions of fellow creatures, every year, only to satisfy our taste buds. Take for example the chickens in the egg industry. All newborn male chicks, 7 billion every year, are ground up alive in industrial grinders, gassed, or suffocated slowly in plastic bags. Eggs labeled as ‘organic’, ‘free-range’, and ‘humane’, and chicks sold to backyard chicken keepers, all originate from the same barbaric killing hatcheries.
The female chickens who lay eggs (including ‘organic’ and ‘humane’), spend their lives crammed in wire cages too small to even spread a wing. ‘Free-range’ merely requires that the hen has an access to a screened-in porch with cement, and she may never be outside. The intense confinement causes behavioral problems such as rubbing her breast against the metal wire until it is bald and bleeding, and pecking and cannibalizing her cage mates. The hens’ beaks are cut off when they’re 5 to 10 days old, using a heated (650-750°C) guillotine-type blade that cuts the sensitive beak tissue. The hens lay too many eggs, 500 eggs annually, compared to hens in the wild who lay only 20 per year. They’re short, miserable lives end in agony, typically at the young age of 2 years, when they’re gassed with CO2, then dumped (which tells us we’ve learned lessons from the holocaust, albeit the wrong ones…). It’s the most heartbreaking life of any animal on this planet, and all for the eggs you thoughtlessly consume. To read more about the standard procedures of raising other farmed animals such as pigs, dairy cows, and chickens, please read here.
This larger than ever holocaust is happening under our noses, and shockingly, most people turn a blind eye. Not only are we following habits instilled in childhood, customs that were never guided by morals or ethical concerns, but we actively contribute to the bloodbath in our daily lives, by consuming animals’ flesh, milk and eggs.
Our violence towards innocent, defenseless beings, have unintended yet dire consequences, the coronavirus to name one. According to a UN report, 75% of all emerging infectious diseases in humans originated in nonhuman animals, both wild and farmed species. Exhibit number one, COVID-19, as well as Ebola, HIV, SARS, H1N1, MERS and Zika.
Humans have caused the spread of deadly viruses, through the conversion of wildlife habitats to croplands used to feed farmed animals, and through the exploitation of wild species. According to a UN science panel, 100 million hectares of tropical forest were converted into agricultural land from 1980 to 2000 alone. The same source reports that more than a third of the world’s land surface and nearly 75% of freshwater resources are now devoted to farmed animals and crops to feed them.
The irony is that because of human encroachment, mainly due to animal agriculture, wild species live in a smaller territory, increasing the chances that they’ll come into contact with humans. This allows their germs to cross over into our bodies, and become even more dangerous for us. “We disrupt their ecosystems, hunt them, build houses next to them, grow livestock right next to their populations…,” said Dr. Peter Daszak, a professor at Columbia University and president of the EcoHealth Alliance. “We allow the viruses they carry, that we’ve never been exposed to in our history, to emerge into our own populations.”
More terrifying is the fact that the animals who’re raised for food, either for meat, dairy or eggs, are a major source of deadly pandemics. The vast majority of them are crammed into extremely small spaces, where they serve as an epidemiological bridge between wildlife and human infections, and their germs transform into deadly pathogens. For instance, Avian influenza viruses, which infected chickens in factory farms, mutated into highly pathogenic forms, and have crossed the species barrier to infect humans. One strain, H5N1, which can infect humans, has a mortality rate of about 60%.
Scientists tell us that humans’ appetite for meat and the resulted shrinking habitat will lead to more COVID-19 like pathogens. So for a moment, let’s stop talking about masks and social distancing, and think about how to prevent the next one. There is only one concrete action we, as individuals, can take to minimize the emergence of new virulent germs. We should stop contributing to human interaction with wild and farmed animals by switching to a plant based diet. Such a step would cut the use of land by 76% (not to mention it would halve the greenhouse gasses), and result in much less interaction with wildlife, let alone, farmed animals.
You may not have direct control over what the government, corporations, and other individuals are doing, but you do have control over your body and what you put in your mouth. You may think it’s a small step, but it’s an easy one that any of us can take. Together we can bring about a new way of life which will help stop future pandemics, save the environment, and improve your health.
Our trip to Berlin was eye opening on many levels. We were haunted by the city’s history, and pondered its relevance to our contemporary culture, the one that allows us to ignore the suffering of others. Now that you have time to contemplate, please have empathy for those who’re victimized for your culinary pleasure. Know that stopping the consumption of meat and animal products will save not only our fellow earthlings, but prevent future diseases. It’s going to be a new world, take responsibility in shaping it for the better. Go vegan.
Pictures by Marc Perlish
Further reading
Animal Viruses Are Jumping to Humans. Forest Loss Makes It Easier.
Eating animals will be the death of us
How to prevent outbreaks of zoonotic diseases like COVID-19
How Wildlife Markets and Factory Farms Guarantee Frequent New Deadly Diseases
Is factory farming to blame for coronavirus?
Think Exotic Animals Are to Blame for the Coronavirus? Think Again.
Our Growing Food Demands Will Lead to More Corona-like Viruses
Thanks for another fascination blog Zahava! The beautiful photographs of the delicious foods by Marc made me want to go back to Berlin! (post covid).
Many thanks my friend! This blog post wouldn’t have been written if we weren’t lured to visit you in Berlin and take part in your wonderful art exhibition. Hopefully you’ll go back to Berlin soon, and try some of the terrific vegan restaurants you haven’t checked out yet….
Thank you so much for this eye opening article. The pictures look so appetizing and makes one want to get a fork and dive in to all that great looking food. I plan on reading the articles that you suggested. Keep them coming. Be well, safe and happy.
Thank you so much dear Alma for your kind words! Marc and I appreciate it. Glad you’ll be reading the articles suggested. We hope it will encourage making changes in diet, that in turn, will promote your health, prevent pandemics, not to mention, save animals’ lives. Please stay safe and healthy!
Everything looks amazing! Zahava, you should open a restaurant; — in the future, that is. I can barely bring myself to think how animals have suffered to feed us.
Your restaurant idea is appreciated although I think we prefer to visit them rather than run them 😉 Thanks for your thoughtfulness and willingness to empathize with the treatment of nonhuman animals. They don’t have enough advocates.
A very fine article and beautifully illustrated. The connection between the Nazi Holacaust and our current treatment of the animal kingdom is apt, especially when you introduce the concept of indifference. On a recent trip to India I was struck by the difficulties women face in a patriarchal society. Yet, when I looked carefully, I could see these “cultural” artifacts were baked in early to the consciousness of children, boys and girls. This is the seedbed of indifference. Young boys, no older than five or six, were already barking orders to their compliant sisters.
This society reveres the cow, and the Jain religion emphasizes no harm to any living creature, even a fly, yet Indifference to the conditions of animals is rampant. So, I wonder if the attributes of Veganism would be more efficiently addressed by educating the young first, rather than convincing adults with a lifetime of habit “baked in.” This is a program that should be introduced in the earliest stages to the education system.
Dear Ralph, thanks for your thoughtful response along with your keen and fascinating observations about traveling in India. Marc and I totally agree that educating the youth will have the most impact for the future. Changing behavior requires rethinking a lifetime of habits which is difficult for many adults. In fact, when we talk about veganism, many of them (thankfully not all) respond with defensiveness, disinformation, and even anger. Indeed, the younger generation is more thoughtful, concerned about the environment and compassionate towards animals. Therefore, veganism has become mainstream among young people.
Hey Zahava! The food in the post looks excellent and of excellent quality, makes you want to taste every dish. Especially with Marc’s beautiful photography. The connection between animals and the virus is a significant thing that we are not exposed to and not talked about enough, thank you for this information.
Dear Amit, we’re glad you enjoyed the photographs (we get hungry looking at them as well :-)) along with the ideas we presented. It’s important to carefully consider the inherent dangers we’re exposed to as we encroach more and more into nonhuman animal habitats due to our eating habits. If people were more aware of all the connections and implications they might be less inclined to support the horrific animal agriculture industry. Thank you for your thoughtful words!
Wow, I want to taste everything you described. Not being one who likes to cook, I need vegan restaurants like those near me!
Zahava, you are correct in correlating the Nazi holocaust to what is being done to animals the world over – every minute, every hour, every day, every week, every month. Like the Germans (and others), many people simply refuse to look at what is happening. If they did, they would then have to acknowledge that every time they put animal parts and blood on their table or wore their skin on their bodies, they are GUILTY of the torture themselves. Non-human animals are currently treated with the indifference and ignorance that is the same as what the Jewish people endured in Germany and Europe.
People complain about the wet markets in China and scream for them to be closed immediately, but they continue to eat beautiful, loving animals in the U.S. that are treated to pain, suffering and torture from the minute they are born until they are brutally killed. Humans yell out about the need for laws against cruelty to animals, usually meaning only dogs and cats (“pets”), but they don’t want to believe they are sanctioning horrific cruelty just to satisfy their selfish desire for flesh and blood or leather or fur.
I once saw an interview with Don Henley of the Eagles. He was asked about the meaning behind the song Hotel California. He said he felt it meant once you know something, you can never go back to where you were. For me, I will never go back to eating other beings.
As the song goes – “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost but now I am found, was blind but now I see.” I was blind for many years, but am now very thankful that I see the truth. I can only hope that more humans will begin to see it also. Not only will they be more healthy physically, but also emotionally and mentally. I find a much deeper spiritual connection to animals, the earth and all of life by being a vegan.
Thank you Rita! I agree with your observations and deep dive into people’s motivation regarding our animal abuse culture – most people refuse to acknowledge that they’re guilty of torture so they can continue their selfish consumption of animals. I think that the term “the banality of evil” (coined by political theorist Hannah Arendt) describes perfectly our complicity in the crimes against fellow sentient beings. It’s never too late to make a change, as the song you so beautifully quoted, “I was blind, but now I see”.
Such an inspiring and provocative post! What a wonderful place to visit with all its gorgeous vegan offerings, exquisitely evoked and come to life on the page! How I wept with joy imagining every glorious mouthful. Seeing the photos and reading such vivid descriptions, I wanted to immediately board a plane for Berlin but, sadly, it would prove difficult sheltering in place.
Which reminds us that everything has its dark side, its shadow, its grim portent: Berlin and its murderous past. And then connecting the Holocaust with the monstrous suffering of other species is perfectly right.
“Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks: they’re only animals.” (Theodor Adorno)
“What do they know—all these scholars, all these philosophers, all the leaders of the world—about such as you? They have convinced themselves that man, the worst transgressor of all the species, is the crown of creation. All other creatures were created merely to provide him with food, pelts, to be tormented, exterminated. In relation to them, all people are Nazis; for the animals it is an eternal Treblinka.” (I. B. Singer)
It is indeed an eternal Treblinka, which you describe so heart-wrenchingly and then powerfully link it to the most frightening pandemic in our lifetime.
Living through this nightmare, the question is, how can we know what we know and still continue to eat animals?
Thank you for this extraordinary blog.
Marc and I appreciate the kudos and your insightful and astute thoughts, Robin. And thank you for reminding us of I.B. Singer’s beautiful and heartbreaking words. Your question is something I ponder all the time, but unfortunately many of us are locked into a life of habits, and won’t initiate simple lifestyle changes. It may take a new generation of open minds to consider the network of interconnections to health, the environment, and of course, the ethical treatment of nonhuman animals.