I'm Jana — I'll Take You to the Kreuzberg Food That Built Berlin

My name is Jana and I grew up in Kreuzberg. The Berlin döner kebab is one of the most important foods in German history: invented in the 1970s by Turkish guest workers in this neighbourhood, it became the most-eaten street food in Germany and is now a 3.5-billion-euro industry. The original is still being made in Kreuzberg and it is categorically different from every imitation. I take groups through Kreuzberg and Neukölln across an evening: the original döner spot, a Vietnamese pho place in the east that has been feeding the community since the GDR era, a Middle Eastern falafel spot on Sonnenallee, and a Berlin street market. I explain the immigration history that built Berlin's food culture and why this city's street food is one of the great undiscovered food stories in Europe.