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Outlook: The improbable rise of Europe’s 'Tofu King'

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Bernd Drosihn stands behind a large pile of tofu in a factory

11/08/2021 GMT

The improbable rise of Europe’s 'Tofu King'

BBC World Service - Outlook, The improbable rise of Europe’s 'Tofu King'

How German vegetarian Bernard Drosihn took on the ‘meat police’ and won

How vegetarian hippie Bernard Drosihn set up Germany's first tofu collective - and was even imprisoned for it.

When Bernard Drosihn was growing up in 1970s Germany he rebelled against the predominantly meat-heavy diet. These were the days when no one around him had even heard of vegetarianism. He later spent time in New York where he came across tofu - a bean curd block - and a product that wasn't available in Germany. So he and some other young hippies decided to produce their own, setting up a tofu collective. Bernard tells Jo Fidgen that the local authorities saw them as dangerous radicals, and the so-called ‘meat police’ raided their premises and even threw them in jail for a few nights. Undeterred, Bernard went on to become one of Europe’s biggest producers of tofu.

Steven Bradbury is an Australian speed skater who became a controversial winner at the Winter Olympic Games in 2002. He survived a late wipeout in which four of his competitors toppled, allowing him to clinch victory against all the odds. His success gave rise to the phrase 'doing a Bradbury'. This interview was first broadcast in 2018.

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Picture: Bernard Drosihn in his tofu factory
Credit: Marcus Simaitis, laif, Camera Press

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