Ursula Heinzelmann will use bread as a point of departure to look at history and society, discuss morale and taste. A regular supermarket’s offerings and those of three very distinctive Berlin bakers will illustrate German history of the twentieth century. Schrippen, white rolls stand for the industrialization of the food industry. Vollkornbrot, wholemeal bread came up with the Lebensreform countermovement, was later appropriated by the Nazis and saw a revival with the green movement in the 1980s. Finally Dinkelseelen, large bread sticks made from spelt, sprinkled with coarse salt and caraway seeds embody the latest multicultural trend. Rooted in (or rather risen from) the larger social and cultural developments, these and other breads open a window on the Germany’s food history and politics.
Heinzelmann is a culinary historian and a freelance food and wine journalist. She is currently working on a History of Food in Germany to be published in 2013 by Reaktion Books.
Thursday, October 11 at 6:30 p.m. | Schapiro Hall, Room 129
The talk is cosponsored by the Zilka Center’s Sustainable Food and Agriculture Program, the Departments of German and Russian and History, the Center for Environmental Studies, the Center for Foreign Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, and the Lecture Committee.
