{"id":50442,"date":"2026-07-08T03:32:08","date_gmt":"2026-07-08T03:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/50442\/"},"modified":"2026-07-08T03:32:08","modified_gmt":"2026-07-08T03:32:08","slug":"berlins-restaurants-are-relishing-in-ingredients-from-the-citys-allotments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/50442\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlin\u2019s restaurants are relishing in ingredients from the city\u2019s allotments"},"content":{"rendered":"

Agriculture might not be the first thing that comes to mind when sampling the delights of Berlin. It\u2019s a sprawling metropolis, cross-hatched by boulevards and large cement buildings. Yet tucked between the city\u2019s warehouses, apartment blocks and train lines is one of Europe\u2019s largest collections of urban allotments.<\/p>\n

For well over a century, Berliners have used allotments \u2013 kleing\u00e4rten or schrebergarten in German \u2013 to spend time outside and grow fruit, vegetables and herbs. This land was especially crucial during times of war and instability, when shop shelves were often empty and fresh produce commanded extremely high prices. At roughly 24 sq m per plot, the allotments were large enough to help provide food security for many families.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Garden variety: An allotment complex northeast of Berlin (Image: Jan Scheunert\/Zuma Press Wire via Alamy)<\/p>\n

Today, Berlin has 870 community gardens with roughly 70,000 allotment plots. Though the majority of Berliners no longer depend on them for food, they are increasingly popular for hobbyist farmers; wait times for an allotment can reach eight years. The plots preserve a \u201ccultural memory of urban cultivation\u201d and reinforce the idea that \u201cfood production belongs in the city\u201d, says Dr Monika Egerer, a professor of urban productive ecosystems at the Technical University of Munich.<\/p>\n

Egerer views allotments\u2019 modern value less as a matter of production volume and more about keeping culinary heritage alive. \u201cKleing\u00e4rten aren\u2019t feeding cities quantitatively at scale,\u201d she says. \u201cBut qualitatively, they\u2019re very significant. They maintain practical knowledge of cultivation, preserve local and heirloom varieties, and sustain a culture of seasonal eating and food literacy that\u2019s increasingly rare in industrial food systems.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\u2018Brotzeit\u2019 at Nobelhaft & Schmutzig\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t(Image: Marko Seifert\/Nobelhaft & Schmutzig)\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\u2018Brotzeit\u2019 at Nobelhaft & Schmutzig\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image: Marko Seifert\/Nobelhaft & Schmutzig)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGrilled asparagus\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image: Marko Seifert\/Nobelhaft & Schmutzig)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tNobelhaft & Schmutzig owner Billy Wagner (on left) and culinary director Micha Sch\u00e4fer\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image: Meike Peters\/Nobelhaft & Schmutzig)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

In recent years, many of the city\u2019s most ambitious dining rooms have started connecting their kitchens with allotments. Chefs have built direct relationships with small growers across Berlin, designing menus around what the land can provide. Dubbed \u201cbrutal lokal\u201d by Berlin restaurant Nobelhart & Schmutzig, the movement\u2019s central principle is strict enough to warrant the name: nothing reaches a diner\u2019s plate that couldn\u2019t be grown, raised or foraged in Berlin or the fields around it.<\/p>\n

For Vadim Otto Ursus, the founder of acclaimed restaurant Otto, brutal lokal improves both the food and the dining experience. \u201cLocal ingredients taste of your surroundings. They give you a sense of time and place,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s one of the best ways to get to know a culture.\u201d Working closely with small suppliers, he adds, also opens up ingredients that commercial supply chains don\u2019t offer: seeds, sprouts and vegetables picked unripe or overripe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\tGreen shoots: Linseed cracker, labneh, salsa verde, chickweed at Otto\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t(Image: Robert Rieger\/Otto)\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tGreen shoots: Linseed cracker, labneh, salsa verde, chickweed at Otto\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image: Robert Rieger\/Otto)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWild boar rib, grilled cabbage at Otto\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image: Robert Rieger\/Otto)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

To help support small farmers, a number of Berlin kitchens have joined charity Die Gemeinschaft<\/a> (the community). Founded in 2017 by Nobelhart & Schmutzig and fellow Michelin-starred eatery Horv\u00e1th, Die Gemeinschaft brings together a network of German farmers, food producers and restaurants in a bid to create a \u201cbetter food system\u201d that uses regionally grown food and promotes equitable working conditions. The charity currently has 145 members across Germany.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Berlin] is an incredibly green city and people genuinely want to know where their food comes from\u201d, says Nikodemus Berger, the head chef at Michelin-starred vegan restaurant and Die Gemeinschaft member Bonvivant. The focus on sourcing food from the region has, he believes, helped the city define its identity within the fine-dining scene. \u201cWe don\u2019t need to import everything to do fine dining anymore,\u201d Berger continues. \u201cWe take pride in showing what the region can do. Vegetables harvested in Brandenburg in the morning and arriving by midday simply taste better, crisper and more intense.\u201d<\/p>\n

Few places embody the kleing\u00e4rten spirit as literally as Caf\u00e9 Botanico in Neuk\u00f6lln, where a 1,000 sq m permaculture garden supplies the restaurant with herbs, vegetables and edible flowers. Its founder, Martin H\u00f6fft, didn\u2019t set out to run a restaurant. \u201cI\u2019m a geographer and permaculture gardener,\u201d he says. He kept an allotment of his own for years and admits that Caf\u00e9 Botanico \u201cwas essentially built to market my herbs because I had more than I could eat and I needed money to come in to pay for the garden\u2019s rent\u201d.<\/p>\n

\t\t\tHomegrown: Caf\u00e9 Botanico\u2019s 1,000 sq m permaculture garden\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t(Image: Sascha & Laura-Lee Timmler\/Caf\u00e9 Botanico)\n\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHomegrown: Caf\u00e9 Botanico\u2019s 1,000 sq m permaculture garden\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image: Sascha & Laura-Lee Timmler\/Caf\u00e9 Botanico)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCaf\u00e9 Botanico founder Martin H\u00f6fft\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image: Sascha & Laura-Lee Timmler\/Caf\u00e9 Botanico)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\"\"\/<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tVisitors in Caf\u00e9 Botanico\u2019s Neuk\u00f6lln garden\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t(Image: Sascha & Laura-Lee Timmler\/Caf\u00e9 Botanico)\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Unlike the city\u2019s Michelin-starred brutal lokal restaurants, Caf\u00e9 Botanico is not a fine-dining establishment \u2013 and that\u2019s entirely by design. Offering high-quality, garden-grown food at mid-range prices, the restaurant is metres from where the ingredients are picked, allowing the plot-to-plate journey to become part of the meal. During service, the grounds \u2013 which were an allotment prior to H\u00f6fft\u2019s arrival \u2013 stay open to anyone who wants a mid-meal wander.<\/p>\n

Growing your own food, H\u00f6fft says, takes \u201cmore thought, more patience, more creativity\u201d. Dishes have to be built around whatever the season delivers. But that constraint is exactly what many Berlin chefs have come to value. When winter leaves Berger, Bonvivant\u2019s head chef, with little but cabbage and root vegetables, he turns to fermentation and preservation, using koji, pickles and aged vegetable garums to build variety from a thin harvest. With fewer ingredients on hand, he becomes more inventive. \u201cIf you have access to everything all year round, you get lazy,\u201d he says. \u201cSeasonality forces us, in a very positive way, to dig deeper into our technical toolkit.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Agriculture might not be the first thing that comes to mind when sampling the delights of Berlin. It\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50443,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[18,2045,41310],"class_list":["post-50442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-berlin","tag-fine-dining","tag-food-cities"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50442\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50443"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}