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From Our Own Correspondent: Israel and Germany

Israel and Germany

BBC World Service - From Our Own Correspondent, Israel and Germany

Owen Bennett Jones introduces insight and analysis from Matthew Teller and Stephen Evans.

Owen Bennett Jones with despatches from correspondents abroad. Matthew Teller crosses invisible social barriers on a tram ride through Jerusalem, while Stephen Evans lunches in Berlin's canteens.

Owen Bennett Jones introduces insight, wit and analysis from correspondents around the world. 

A tram ride which goes across the tracks

Transport links help communication, allow greater human contact, bring development. At least, that's normally how it works - but in Jerusalem everything is political, they can also allow barely-hidden agendas to be expressed, or even implemented. 

Recent visitors to the city might have seen the Jerusalem Light Rail being constructed. It's been going on for ages. To the delight of some Jewish residents of the city - and the dismay or indifference of some Palestinians - it eventually opened in August, and Matthew Teller took a ride. 

Eating with the workers

The Brits call the French "frogs" because they eat them; the French in turn call the Brits "rosbifs" after the classic Sunday lunch in the UK. And so it goes on: Germans have been nicknamed "Krauts" by English-speaking nations after the cabbage they eat; and the Americans, rather than using the term "rosbifs" for Brits, go for "limeys" - after the Royal Navy's old practice of issuing sailors with limes to prevent scurvy. So, it's not so much that you are what you eat as that you are called what you eat. 

Stephen Evans in Berlin has been giving some thought to foodie labels while lunching in the many workers' canteens open to the public in Berlin - and taking a surprising, if roundabout, culinary journey back to Liverpool.

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