It takes a while for the first bite to arrive. Cem Özdemir and Kai Wegner have already cut a light green ribbon, passed the organic hall and received a box with a mini apple tree to plant at the Dutch stand. A large board with cheese cubes approaches. The Federal Agriculture Minister and the Governing Mayor start the traditional opening tour at the Green Week in Berlin. It is a first for Wegner. Özdemir is also acting as an agricultural diplomat this time because of the discontent over subsidy cuts in agriculture.
The Minister made it clear right at the start in the hall of his department that the Green Week is also an opportunity to fill in the gaps that have arisen. The conflict should not cloud the tour. Ultimately, the trade fair is also about an optimistic and appealing presentation of the entire industry. He and Wegner spoke briefly about who should start, says Özdemir: “It’s my hall, but his city.” But the two don’t get in each other’s way at the stops on the tasting tour.
Cheese, tea and coffee
In the Holland Hall, Wegner and Özdemir taste cheese in front of a mirror hanging above them that reveals a large windmill. There is tea and pastries at the Moroccan stand, and then small bites of mushrooms and cheese at the Polish stand. “The governing mayor is our taster,” jokes Özdemir. A small coffee made in Rwanda follows in the exhibition district of the Federal Development Ministry. “Produced fairly by women” is written above the small counter.
Things get more political in Hall 27. The President of the German Forestry Council, Georg Schirmbeck, warns that you should have trust in young business owners and that “a new regulation is not needed for every thing”. Then there are glasses of shimmering brown birch sap. Özdemir and Wegner use spades to put two small trees in a box with soil – the minister from the Greens a pine tree, the ruler from the CDU a copper beech.
“Less zigzag”
At the South Tyrol stand everyone clinks glasses of white wine and it’s just before eleven. Later, Özdemir and Wegner cut something from a small vegan kebab skewer. In the flower hall, Özdemir talks about the hard work of farmers and how extreme weather is increasingly becoming a factor of uncertainty for them. Politicians can contribute something “by giving us more planning security, investment security and less zigzag.” He doesn’t want to say anything more given the current situation.
In the hall with flower beds and turf, Wegner says his first tour wasn’t at all strenuous. Farmers President Joachim Rukwied, an experienced participant, also attests that the Governing Mayor is doing very well. “He tastes good, he’s communicative. And I can see he really enjoys it.” The next guest has already announced themselves for the premiere tour this Monday: Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) is coming for a two-hour tour – with stops, among other things, in a show kitchen and a show bakery.
