Cuisine combats clichées
German Tom Franz gives a new flavour to international understanding – in the kitchen.
INTERNATIONAL UNDERSTANDING IN THE KITCHEN. As winner of the Israeli version of the reality show MasterChef 2013, Tom Franz quickly found his way into the German press as well. The German has been living in Israel since 2004 and has converted to Judaism. The Süddeutsche Zeitung wrote he had achieved what the Federal Republic has been trying to do for 60 years: he has brought his homeland closer to the Israelis. Not with long speeches, but with recipes: potato pancakes with apple sauce, trout with potato salad – and everything kosher, of course. The cheeky German daily taz called its item about the lawyer and amateur chef from Erftstadt near Cologne “Cuisine by the convert”. What’s in store for him now? Tom Franz sees his future now as being in the kitchen, rather than continuing with the law. He has been offered book projects in Germany too, and the Jewish Museum in Berlin has expressed interest in his potato pancake recipe for an exhibition project. He revealed to the Süddeutsche Zeitung that he would also like to make a cooking programme in Germany: “In the same way that I have showed German cuisine to Israelis, I could introduce Israeli food to Germany.” Excellent idea.