Kitchen Meetup Sheep

Sheep meat plays almost no role at all in German culinary culture today. Although it is widespread and popular in various cultures and cuisines around the world, it is rarely consumed in this country; and when it is, it is usually lamb. The meat of older sheep, on the other hand, is often not used for human consumption. There are many reservations and unanswered questions regarding its taste, preparation and, of course, its origin and rearing conditions.

Together with the FÖL’s reffischaf project, we addressed the following questions in our roundtable discussion: What does sheep meat have to do with sustainable eating? How can we integrate old breeds and recipes into our modern culinary landscape, and where does the negative image come from? How can we make use of the whole animal? And what actually defines the flavour of pasture-reared sheep or older sheep? invited.

Together with our speakers, we took a look at sheep’s meat in the cuisines of different countries: Paul Gerber and Tobias Beck from Luna D’Oro highlighted the historical significance of sheep’s meat in German cuisine – and why it is now rarely found on menus. Javier Barbosa from Ita Bistro contributed Latin American ideas, ranging from creative everyday cooking to making full use of the meat. Sissi Chen from eatinginberlin showed how deeply sheep meat is interwoven with identity and memory in Chinese food culture, whilst Rhagav from ernst added global perspectives from India and beyond.

Peter Schmidt from the reffischaf project also shared his experiences and extensive knowledge gained from the project’s work, and brought along their crispy barbecued sausages made from sheep meat for everyone to try. These were served fresh off the barbecue in delicious bread rolls to round off the event.