00:00Fresh from the oven, these loaves are part of Germany's rich bread culture, which boasts over 3,000 varieties.
00:08UNESCO listed German bread as intangible cultural heritage in 2015.
00:14Sadly, at the end of the day, some bakeries set aside any bread that goes unsold.
00:18It's my first time in Germany, and the sight of edible bread about to go to west evokes bitter memories.
00:24During the peak of Zimbabwe's hyperinflation period, bread was hard to come by.
00:31And when you were lucky enough to find it, a single loaf would go for billions of Zimbabwean dollars.
00:37Now, things have changed for the better in Zimbabwe.
00:40But however, as I report right here in Germany, I observe a different bread challenge.
00:46What happens to the excess loaves of bread that are on the verge of being thrown away?
00:51Let's find out.
00:54For one of Berlin's popular bakery chains, like Tite for Brot, reducing wastage is not always easy.
01:01It's always a delicate balance for Ioannis, one of the bakery's managers, keeping fresh bread on the shelves and satisfying
01:08customers' changing demands.
01:10To get help serving leftovers, it goes elsewhere.
01:14You cannot plan exactly. There's never going to be 100% accuracy.
01:18And that's why it really helps to have a partnership with Berliner Tafel or food sharing.
01:24So they will take care of the surplus, which we try to minimize, but they will take the rest of
01:30it so other people can still enjoy it.
01:33Today, six crates of leftover bread and pastries from the previous day are being collected by the Berliner Tafel, a
01:40non-profit food rescue organization.
01:45Even a small surplus can really add up.
01:56Such figures mean food businesses are also looking for ways to turn a profit from some of the day-old
02:01bread.
02:03One approach involves online applications like Too Good To Go.
02:08Similar food rescue platforms are also taking route in countries like Nigeria, South Africa and Kenya.
02:15Curious to find out how the bread rescuing application works, I tried it out myself.
02:24Back home, when we talk about bread, the conversation revolves around costs, not West.
02:31But right here in Germany, applications like Too Good To Go are helping to just solve that
02:37by connecting leftover food from shops and supermarkets with potential customers at a discounted price.
02:45For just a third of the price, I get a surprise bag full of random bread and pastries.
02:50So finally, I got the surprise bag. I'm not so sure what is inside. Maybe we can have a fill
02:56of it together.
02:57I find the idea appealing, but the experience has made me consider another issue.
03:02This bag may keep a few loaves out of the bin, but it only represents a small fraction.
03:09This raises an important question. Are such initiatives dealing with the problem of breadwurst or simply managing abundance?
03:20To understand the scale of Germany's breadwurst challenge, I followed the collected surplus bread and pastries to the Berliner Tafel,
03:28where together with other foodstuffs, they are sorted before being distributed to over 100,000 people in need.
03:43Despite this demand, can the Berliner Tafel and other food rescue initiatives absorb the surplus bread generated each day?
03:51In Berlin, no. When it comes to other food banks and smaller cities and villages, I would say yes.
03:57But in Berlin, definitely not. No. I would say there is still way more supply than we can save.
04:07This means bread that cannot be served ultimately ends as waste.
04:11And as to all the other food waste heaping up, it's a big problem here.
04:19However, when it is no longer feeding into the human food chain, that doesn't always mean it's the end.
04:26What I find intriguing here is how it gets a second life as renewable energy through biogas initiatives.
04:33But while that is important, Ioannis believes more could be achieved by sharing responsibility,
04:39starting off with beggars doing their bit and then households.
04:43To not bake way too much, to also allow your availability to decrease towards the evening.
04:54And the second part is also in private households.
04:57If you store bread in the right way at home, you can have it for several days.
05:01And even if it goes a bit dry, you can still slice it up and put it in the freezer
05:07so it stays fresh,
05:08or you can put it in a toaster.
05:10It's a simple idea, but one that shifts from rescuing bread to preventing waste in the first place.
05:19As my adventures in Germany come to an end, I can only but marvel at how bread ties my past
05:25with this place.
05:27My memories of economic hardships have shaped how I see the unsolved loaves on Berlin's bakery shelves.
05:34But following their journey has shown me that this is not a story about West.
05:39It is also about community, solidarity, and the limits of giving food another chance.
05:46Bye.
