The BIO Reception of the BÖLW – Bund Ökologischer Lebensmittelwirtschaft (Association of Organic Food Industry) – based in Berlin was a special highlight of the International Green Week 2020 Berlin, not only from a culinary point of view. I would like to take this opportunity to once again thank the BÖLW press officer, Ms Joyce Moewius, for allowing me to take part in this great event.

The central association of agricultural producers, processors and traders of organic food has once again this year put together an event that is unparalleled. Not without reason does the event have a magical reputation – the Marshall House on the grounds of Messe Berlin is of course a very special place for celebrations. It was named after the Secretary of State at the time, General George C. Marshall, and the builder at the time was the American High Commission – in 1988 it was listed as a historical monument.

The open architecture of the rooms with gallery and long staircase are almost a guarantee that invited guests can feel at home. This multifunctional building, which was renovated in 2008 and is of course also a historical sight of Berlin, opened in 1950 as part of the German Industrial Exhibition, provides the appropriate setting.

After the extremely friendly reception, each guest was “blessed” with a clearly legible name tag and one had the opportunity to “swap” one’s jacket or bag for a ticket at the cloakroom. Upon entering the ballroom, each guest was personally welcomed and provided with a drink of his choice. Now it was time to look for a seat, because soon a handful of speakers were to get the guests in the right mood for the most important topics. The tables had already been stocked with some delicacies beforehand.

Of course, it should be mentioned that all ingredients, food and drinks of the event were high-quality and very tasty organic products. Here, the planning was carried out with a great deal of culinary intuition and sensitivity and was implemented in a climate-neutral manner. The inconspicuous little glasses on the tables contained for example “salmon with horseradish and cucumber”, “Jerusalem artichoke & mushrooms” or also quite classically “black pudding with apple” – in addition there was chilled and very tasty table water at every table. If required, one could of course also choose from a nearly unmanageable offer of organic lemonades at several counters.

It did not take long and the speeches started with Peter Röhrig, the managing director of the BÖLW, who both spoke the foreword and accompanied the respective speakers.

The next speaker was EU Commissioner Janusz Wojciechowski – who actually wanted to speak in his native language, Polish – but decided without further ado to switch to English – which was very much appreciated by some of the guests. A pity, because the organisers of the BÖLW had placed a German translation of the speech on all tables – a very special service.

Mr. Wojciechowski gave a very emotional speech and was literally on fire for the ideas of the BIO industry. Everyone was very impressed and naturally associates the role of this EU Commissioner with a lot of hope for future projects and decisions of the EU.

Dr. Felix Prinz zu Löwenstein followed with an extremely refreshing and understandable contribution, even for laymen like me. As Chairman of the Board of BÖLW, he is of course predestined for  bringing the idea of the organic food industry to the point, and he did this with just the right pinch of humour.

The event was also attended by the Federal Minister of Food and Agriculture, whose speech, however, did not really give any impulses, but from my point of view – as so often – contained hardly resilient and courageous statements.

Coming from the Saarland, Reinhold Jost – Minister for the Environment and Consumer Protection – spoke. He also gave a very flaming speech and pointed out that Saarland had already managed, despite many adversities, to cover a little more than 20% of its territory with purely organic farming. This would mean that the federal government’s future objectives for the next few years would have  been overtaken and he hoped that other federal states would follow suit and not fall into line with the Federal Minister’s far too distant and far too low target.

The last speech came from the Brandenburg Minister of Agriculture, Mr Axel Vogel. He also put a lot of effort into it, but since a previous speaker had gone too far, the attention of the guests was somewhat impaired. This was not least due to the fact that the cooks had already finished preparing the food – on time, so to speak.

So for quite some time now, the scents of the delicacies had been getting into the noses of the guests, ready for them to eat.

The minister also noticed this – so Mr Vogel dismissed the audience in anticipation of the buffets, pointing out what else he would have liked to say.

Peter Röhrig then had the final word, who before he released the “storming of the two buffets”, referred to other events and thanked the previous speakers.

Then the time had finally come and the guests trotted to the buffets. In the ground floor area there was vegan & vegetarian food – cooked under the guidance of Roman Propp, cook of the Bistro Bonvivant in Berlin Schöneberg. For example, very innovative Asian-influenced dishes with coconut milk, ginger, cashew nuts – or Italian with eggplant, parmesan and walnut. Down-to-earth dishes such as green spelt stew, black salsify, but also some dishes with mushrooms up to Mediterranean aspects with humus or chickpeas. At this buffet there was also a delicious sunflower chopped bolognese with spaghetti from the pen of Christoph Hauser.

Chef Christoph Hauser from Herz & Niere was responsible for the physical, but rather “carnal” well-being at this event. At the BIO reception of the BÖLW, the chefs and employees of both types – those of the vegan & vegetarian, as well as those of the “carnal” cuisine – supported each other without any resentment. From my point of view a wonderful thing, only in this way can reservations such as one often encounters be overcome – through professionalism and openness.

The large buffet of Herz & Niere was located on the gallery – here the guests could queue up from both sides and look forward mainly to meat dishes. There was a lot of grilled meat – unfortunately not from the real grill, but from the metal plate, but still with some roasting aromas – compliments for that. There was a choice of pork, beef, veal and turkey in perfect quality and cooked to the point. There were beef as well as poultry livers – even if this is out of fashion nowadays – according to the motto that everything can and should be processed from the slaughtered animal. The liver was remarkably good, both from the preparation and from its own taste.

In addition, there were also classics such as a beef juice goulash, veal stew, beef roulades, Königsberger meatballs from veal, chicken stew and an excellent chicken heart stew. Everything of excellent taste, nothing overcooked and everything balanced seasoned without taking away the natural flavours of the different kinds of meat. My personal highlight were the beef cheeks – such a tender consistency without falling apart is evidence of masterly skill!

The side dishes included rice, lentils, amaranth soufflé, black salsify, cauliflower, baked potatoes and spinach lasagne. The meal concluded with a chocolate mousse with hazelnuts and cherries, a delicious apricot crumble and small pieces of quark tart with raisins (remarkably good & crunchy quality) and apple.

During the whole event, organic wines, beers and lemonades were served at the counters – in my opinion, the BIO-Zisch by Voelkel was especially delicious – this sponsor did his utmost to show the variety of his delicious products. But of course Lammsbräu, Riedenburger, Schleicher and Rheinsberger PreussenQuelle also showed what they have in their portfolio.

Incidentally, the BioManufaktur Havelland also had a small but excellent booth at the reception. Here a wide variety of sausage products were offered for tasting – unfortunately I had hardly any space left for this. I hope I will be able to get a good picture of the product range of this company in the future. Everything that was served there, but also the great website was more than promising – let’s have a look.

After the meal I treated myself to a jungle cocoa at the small stand of KoaWach – strangely enough my choice fell exactly on the one product without guarana – which was due to the coincidence. I got my cocoa on the basis of almond milk and I have to say that it was really delicious.

 

Well, and because the cocoa was without guarana and caffeine, I had to have a fair trade cappuccino right across at the Ökotopia booth. What can I say, the cappuccino was not only made with a lot of love – it also convinced all along the line. It’s been a while since I was able to enjoy such a creamy and delicious cappuccino – my compliments for that.

The atmosphere of the whole event was super relaxed, the guests were all nice, open and so completely different from the image of the typical customer of a usual organic food store that I had in mind before.

But after that I went home, because it was almost 10:00 p.m. and it was time for  summarize my experiences for you.

Last but not least, a big thank you for this wonderful evening goes to the BÖLW (also for the provision of press photos) and of course to all the companies – producers and retailers alike – who made the BIO reception possible in the first place with their sponsoring!

I hope to see you at BIOFACH in Nürnberg.