The doner, known as Germany’s national dish, is being skewered by the rising prices of ingredients amid cost of living crisis, MPs are told

It has always been a delicious – if slightly greasy – treat for Germans, perhaps even their national dish.

But the mighty döner kebab has now become a symbol of the country’s cost of living crisis, amid warnings from some quarters that the dish will soon cost more than €10 a serving.

Peckish Germans are so concerned about rising prices that the issue was debated this week in the Bundestag, the German parliament.

Hanna Steinmüller, an MP for the Greens, raised the issue after she was approached by anxious members of a frisbee youth club in Gesundbrunnen, part of her Berlin constituency.

Among the frisbee players’ main concerns, she told MPs, was “increased kebab prices” which are estimated to have gone up from around €3.50 (£2.90) in 2022 to at least €6 (£5.10) in recent months.

In November, one major döner producer warned that it was becoming a “luxury” dish that could soon end up costing as much as €10 (£8.50).

  • Opafi@feddit.de
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    9 months ago

    Take my love, take my land,

    take me where I cannot stand…

    I don’t care as long as we

    get kebab for treefiddy

  • gigachad@feddit.de
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    9 months ago

    3,50€ for Döner in 2022 might be a Berlin thing, in other cities this price was more like 2012. A “major döner producer” is not a credible source for economical forecasting, hell it is probably one of the shittiest places to have Döner in general

    Döner prices have gone up, as has everything else. Also there is no such thing as a right on having cheap meat.

    • chillhelm@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      As a Berliner, it doesn’t match my memory either. I don’t have historical data other than my own shitty memory, but I remember vaguely getting upset at Döner prices during the Pandemic being above 3,50€ (so in 2020).

    • AnneBonny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      9 months ago

      there is no such thing as a right on having cheap meat

      These days, the things people believe they have a right to are insane. It frequently spills over into preventing other people from doing or having certain things.

  • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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    9 months ago

    Same for burger prices in the US.

    Back when I was in college and shortly after, I pretty much lived on $0.99 Whoppers from Burger King.

    Looking at the app, the local price now is $10.23, which is €9.48 or £8.09.

    • Ghostalmedia@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Although that is a great drunk food metric for the Midwest. Southwestern border states track burrito inflation, northeastern states track the cost of a slice, and southeastern states drunk food currency is pegged to the Waffle House bill.

      • jordanlund@lemmy.worldM
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        9 months ago

        The reason I went with burgers is because of the whole notion of the kabob being a national dish for Germany.

        Burritos and pizza and wafflehouse are all popular, but nothing is as national as burgers.

    • LordWarfire@feddit.uk
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      9 months ago

      I ordered a Burger King last week and it was £11.46 for a double whopper meal, around $14.48 or €13.40. It’s not a cheap meal any more.

    • barsoap@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      Find a single other dish that is both commonly eaten and over-regional. Even if Currywurst was properly over-regional, it’s a snack, not an actual meal.

      If you ask canteens the most popular dish is Rinderrouladen but I assure you a lot more Döner are eaten every day.

      I propose we add Döner to Article 22 of the Basic Law. That’s where it belongs.

      • Gilles_D@feddit.de
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        9 months ago

        Currywurst Pommes is a proper meal. In due time it will merge with the Döner to something awe inspiring, an unseen godly feast of epic taste, but at the moment we‘re stuck with Döner Box with Pommes

        I foresee we will get to choose Currywurst sauce at the Döner place one day. They already started with curry-mango. We’re slowly getting there. It will be the dawn of a new day, a new hope for a new people that understood that Döner and Currywurst are just two sides of the same coin

      • afraid_of_zombies@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        I have noticed both going up. I miss it when I could take the family to a diner once every two weeks and have family breakfast. Last time we did that the bill was 50 dollars. I can’t justify that kinda cost. By the looks of the restaurants in my area other people are deciding the same way.

  • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    warnings from some quarters that the dish will soon cost more than €10 a serving. Hanna Steinmüller, an MP for the Greens, raised the issue after she was approached by anxious members of a frisbee youth club

    What the fuck am I reading here? That does not sound like very reliable sources. It sounds more like complete bullshit.

    • DarkThoughts@fedia.io
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      9 months ago

      I don’t know from where they got the frisbee club thingy but it’s real and I don’t see why you’d think it isn’t.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        ?? So you are saying a kebab is ALREADY €10 Euro, or are you saying that you too fear that it will soon be?
        Nobody denies rising cost of living in general, but that’s not what the article is about.

    • barsoap@lemm.ee
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      9 months ago

      I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s already 10 Euros in some places. E.g. my town is notorious for not having cheap options, every single place has good meat, not only are none trying to get away with selling Hackfleischspieß as Döner, none of them use any ground meat at all (by law, a Döner skewer can’t contain stabilisers which severely limits the amount of ground meat you can include before it falls apart).

      Eight Euros are pretty much standard here. Just under 10 if you want a Lahmacun Döner, and my town isn’t the poshest, by far – we just have good taste in Döner and one very old shop which always made their own skewers, own spice mix, own everything, which set the standard.

      Try to get the same stuff in Westerland and I wouldn’t be surprise if it costs 15 Euros.

      • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Really? Is that normal Kebab size in pita bread, or the bigger variant in rolls? Because that sounds crazy expensive even here, and I’m from Denmark, the 2nd most expensive country in Europe after Norway AFAIK.

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          9 months ago

          Pide and Dürum tend to be equal size and generally also cost the same. Lahmacun tend to be bigger than Dürum in the first place and then you have extra meat on there, no wonder it costs more you’re putting a Döner in something that’s already a proper Pizza.

          And, as said: It’s actually good meat. If you want bad meat go to McDonalds.

          • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            OK it’s apparently been a while since I last bought Kebab or Shawarma which is more common here in Copenhagen, but AFAIK the same thing. I just checked the prices, and they are already €8-10 here!
            20 years ago they were only €2 on Nørrebrogade which had super steep competition, and they were crazy good, I’ve only gotten good quality meat here too. Crazy that it’s so expensive now?!

  • xmunk@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    Doner kebab for the people - this is why we fight! Whether you call it Doner, Gyro or Shawarma we stand united!

      • Tujio@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Judging by the sketchy-ass places I’ve gotten gyros from, I’m perfectly willing to die for a gyro.

        • krondo@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          If I understand you correctly you would be surprised and angry to hear we are the Judean Liberation front!!

    • lagomorphlecture@lemm.ee
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      Thanks for clarifying. I looked it up and was expecting shish kebobs of some kind but it looked like a gyro lol

  • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
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    9 months ago

    I find this very exaggerated. In my experience, Germany has one of the most balanced cost-of-living situations of any developed country I’ve been to. Inflation is something all Western countries have been going through lately, but Germany remains relatively affordable compared to most of their peers.

    • raef@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      Have you seen the meat? It literally pours out grease. Fun fact: a main ingredient of döner meat is chicken skin.

      • ElmarsonTheThird@feddit.de
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        9 months ago

        Depends on your local döner supplier’s supplier. I’m pretty sure my lamb döner doesn’t contain chicken skin, unlike the cheap “Drehspieß”.

        For reference, there was a legislation set in place thatandates that a real “Döner” has to contain a certain amount of quality meat, otherwise it can not be sold under that name.

        • raef@lemmy.world
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          9 months ago

          I’m sure there is a range of quality.

          Any döner sold for €3.50 contains largely skin.

            • raef@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              They weren’t making the meat cones themselves.

              At a local place, they left an order catalog on the counter. It was a catalog for just döner shops. I was just flipping through while waiting for them to get to me. It had all ingredients and price points in it

        • barsoap@lemm.ee
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          It’s actually not a percentage, you’re not allowed to used stabilising additives in the skewer which means that you can’t use a lot of ground meat or it’s going to fall apart.

          But yes chicken skin is probably a good choice if you want structure for little money.