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The improbable rise of Europe’s 'Tofu King'

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.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Kevin Ponniah

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

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24 minutes

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