Berlin: Jessica Diesing, Food blog Berliner Küche

On my way to café &Coffee in Berlin-Charlottenburg, I pass charming streets lined with balconies overgrown with green plants and bright coloured flowers. Here I meet Jessica Diesing who has been sharing recipes to which the German capital inspires here on her food blog Berliner Küche which translates to Berlin Kitchen for already more than 10 years.

Words by Katharina Müller
Photography by Jessica Diesing

Charming and elegant old buildings, exuding a certain pre-war architecture style peak high up into the surprisingly blue sky as I walk through the narrow cobble stone streets. Through the windows, I can detect tastefully decorated kitchens and living rooms with large wooden and well stocked book shelves. It’s a peaceful and quiet late morning in this residential area in the district Charlottenburg.

Here, I meet Jessica Diesing, who is the founder and creator of Berliner Küche, which translates to Berlin kitchen, a much recognized food blog and who has been living in Berlin-Charlottenburg for a few years. “Meanwhile, I like Charlottenburg very much and I hardly cannot imagine living somewhere else”, Jessica will later tell me.

Jessica left Wolfsburg, a city close to Hannover, over 15 years ago and moved to Berlin during her studies of sociology, political and media science. After having lived for 10 years in her apartment in Berlin-Friedrichshain on lively Warschauer Straße, Jessica moved into an apartment in Charlottenburg with her then partner and now husband. “This apartment represented itself as an opportunity we could not let pass. Meanwhile, I like Charlottenburg very much and I hardly cannot imagine myself living somewhere else”, she says and smiles as we drink our cappuccino in café &Coffee in Nehringstraße in the Klausenerplatz-Kiez.

More than 10 years ago, the idea for her blog Berliner Küche was born, while the choice of the name was at first in fact rather pragmatic. “My kitchen is in Berlin, therefore it seemed natural to name the blog as such. It reflects my interpretation of the Berlin kitchen that is continously changing.” Thanks to the abundance of cultural influences of various cuisines present in the city, the Berlin culinary landscape has changed over the course of time. The typical and original Berlin cuisine, rather hefty and hearty itself, may not be found on her blog, but many international, colourful and diverse recipes, which she marries accompanied with tasteful photography. Her roasted cauliflower with a deep purple beet root and tahini dip has been a personal favourite and certainly awakes pleasant memories of street side eating in Tel Aviv.

“I like the variety in Berlin, also the culinary one. At every corner you may find another kitchen, you can try a lot of unknown food”, Jessica adds and we continue talking about the smaller, often family-owned restaurants who offer authentic food and about those new ones interpreting the traditional Berlin kitchen in a modern way, such as Lausebengel in the neighbourhood Graefekiez in Berlin-Kreuzberg. We also talk about the current concern in Berlin of continously rising renting prices. Not few cafés and restaurants are faced with a threaded termination of contract and the question of finding new facilities. The gentrification has reached the gastronomy scene in some Berlin neighbourhoods, too.

Her love for cooking and the pleasure for food is very distinct and easily noticeable. Her voice is calm and collected but she is full of enthusiasm. When we met in September, Jessica had just returned from her holidays in Greece with her husband and her son. She tells me about the holiday house in the countryside and her preference to go on holiday in autumn, when there is much to harvest and when she can turn freshly picked fruit into marmalade to bring home as holiday souvenirs. She can recognize fig trees from afar. On her holidays, Jessica discovers recipes, that she cooks at home and if some taste particularly well to her, she will share it on her blog. With her vegetarian moussaka she recreated the uniquely Greek recipe upon returning from her holidays in Greece.

Where does she find her inspiration for new recipes?

“I always discover many new things when I am with friends, also in cafés and restaurants. When something tastes particularly good, I try and cook it at home. I might add other ingredients and amend the recipe slightly to my liking and in the end, I create an entirely new recipe.”    

To her, seasonality and regionality play both a big role in finding and creating new recipe. Jessica likes to visit the weekly market on Karl-August-Platz in Charlottenburg where she finds inspiration. “Perhaps I feel I am slightly biased because I live in Charlottenburg but I find the atmosphere always very nice.”

Eating out and finding new cafés is important to her. “I like the commonly shared moments of pleasure while eating.” Her three-year old son accompanies her frequently and tries the food of course, too. Does she have favourite places she likes to return to? I ask her. She smiles. “Two Trick Pony is no secret tip anymore but it is really good. I like going there and frequently so. Shakespear & Sons is always so beautiful. You should plan in a lot of time to browse (the bookshop). There is also Fine Bagels with their great bagels.” She seeks out Domberger Brot-Werk in Berlin-Moabit, too, who bakes high-quality and fine bread and pastries according to German bread baking craftsmanship.

It’s lunch time. The seats surrounding us are filling up, I watch people meet and hug each other on the side walk, there’s laughter and hardly traffic. We have finished our coffees and my white cappuccino cup collects the frothy milk.

Jessica likes to explore Berlin on her bike, too: Through Charlottenburg and Tiergarten, past the Siegessäule. Meanwhile she enjoys living in Charlottenburg, she tells me reassuringly, because “it is more varied than you would asssume at first”. For children, her neighbourhood has even more to offer than its many playgrounds. There is Lietzensee, an urban lake in midst of the district Charlottenburg, invites with its park meadow, Schillerwiese, during summertime and Charlottenburg Palace, on whose surrounding meadows herds of sheep graze during the summer months.

Does she miss Friedrichshain and its bustle at all, I’d like to know after she told me of her living there for many years. “If there wasn’t Kantstraße, I would perhaps actually miss Friedrichshain”, Jessica adds and smiles as I inquire her about the nearby Kantstraße in Charlottenburg. “It bustles beautifully, I like coming here when I am in need of a bit of a change.” Kantstraße, named after Immanuel Kant, is one of the liveliest streets in Berlin. Starting from Savignyplatz, particularly the Asian cuisine is prominent on both sides of the streets, which has earned the street the name of China Town of Berlin. With always a new culinary experience to be had, there are classics who have been around a while, such as Lon Men’s Noodle House. “Berlin could do with more Japanese restaurants still, who not only serve Sushi. The Japanese kitchen has lots more to offer than Sushi”, Jessica would tell me later on as we speak about her travels and she enthusiastically recalls her experience in Japan.

“I like to return to Friedrichshain every now and then. A visit to Falafel Oase shouldn’t be missed, a small Falafel place on lively Warschauer Straße and next door to her first apartment, inconspicuous at first, but she finds the Falafel and Schawarma to be the best in Berlin. “I like to plan my day then beforehand when I return for a visit and think about the places which I’d like to go to.” What a beautiful way to experience the new and revisit the familiar in your very own city, I think to myself, as the sun finally peeps through the leafy trees on the streets and I head to Kantstraße to lose myself in the bustle of Charlottenburg.

www.berlinerkueche.de
@berlinerkueche