28 - Der Spargelkult (Spargelzeit and agricultural labour w/ Benjamin Luig)

Spaßbremse

It's Spargelzeit! For those of you lucky enough to be unfamiliar, that's the time of year when Germany's most prized vegetable — the white asparagus — is in season. On this episode, we try to get in the mind of the Germans to understand their obsession with this mediocre dish by sitting down with some Spargel and Schnitzel. We give a bit of background to the German Spargelkult before speaking with Benjamin Luig, the branch coordinator for agriculture at IG Bau's Initiative for Fair Work in Agriculture as well as at Fair Mobility, to talk about the labour conditions for the seasonal workers who pick our asparagus and other fruits and vegetables.

For further reading on this subject:

Der Spargelkult muss enden by Margarete Stokowski in Der Spiegel (Keen listeners will recognize this phrase from the intro to our podcast, which features Christian Lindner reacting to this column)

Keine Dumpinglöhne für Geflüchtete by Szabolcs Sepsi in Jacobin

Ernten ohne Versicherung by Nelli Tügel in Der Freitag

Corona-Ausbruch: Über 100 Covid-19-Fälle auf Spargelbetrieb by Katharina Krenn in agrarheute

The Queens of Asparagus by Ben Miller for Arts of the Working Class

You can also follow the work of Fair Mobility on Facebook and Twitter.

Co-hosted by Ted (@ted_knudsen) and Michelle (@shhellgames). Produced by Isaac (@wuermann).

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Follow Spaßbremse on Twitter (@spassbremse_pod). Music by Lee Rosevere. Art by Franziska Schneider.