Germans worried about Donerflation

In the 1960s as the West German economy started to boom, the government introduced the ‘Gastarbeiter’ rule which saw some 650,000 Turks arrive.

They brought with them spouses and families and today, Turks are not only the largest minority in Germany but they imported a number of specialist dishes including the now incredibly popular Doner Kebab.

Do you enjoy a Doner Kebab?

It is estimated that there are least 16,000 kebab shops in Germany and like currywurst, the kebab is one of the most popular fast foods in the country.

Germany, like every other member of the European Union, has seen prices explode and now a new catch word is being bandied about by lovers of the kebab and even political parties which is ‘Donerflation’.

So worried is one left wing political party about the way that the price of kebabs keeps going up that it is demanding, apparently in all seriousness, that the price in the shops should be subsidised by the German Government and Chancellor Olaf Scholz has even admitted that he is regularly asked what he is going to do about it!

The proposition is that with Doner Kebabs currently costing in the region of €7.90 and likely to reach the dizzy heights of €10 in the not too distant future, a cap of €4.90 for adults and €2.50 for younger people should be introduced.

The problem for the Chancellor, according to German newspaper BILD, is that some 1.3 billion kebabs are sold every year and this would cost the taxpayer more than €4 billion.

Should there be a ‘munchies’ levy?

With the recent decision to allow Germans over 18 to legally possess and smoke marijuana, perhaps when these people get the ‘munchies’ they should pay a little extra per kebab in order to subsidise those below the ‘Donerflation’ poverty line.

Now that a German Doner chain has opened in the UK, it may be that if the Germans do offer a subsidy, then one of the planks of the Conservatives or Labour campaign to win the General Election due later this year, could be a promise to keep the cost of kebabs affordable.