The Triumphant Return of the Currywurst

It was a scandal that had Berliners hopping mad and wondering just what or who had taken over their city. The sausage stand at the Brandenburg Gate selling Berliners' beloved currywurst, pork sausage doused in curry-spiced ketchup, was given the run around starting two years ago, and finally forced to close at the end of 2004. There were several reasons for this, each more outrageous to Berliners than the other.

First, the humble stand was deemed not classy enough for the newly renovated Pariser Platz behind the Brandenburg Gate with its high-end hotels, boutiques and embassies. Then surrounding restaurants began complaining of price dumping, since they charged more for their own fat-filled delicacies. Finally, surrounding residents (transplants from other parts of Germany, surely!) began to complain that the smell from the roasting meat was "aggravating."

The stand, despite the outcry from locals, was cast out into the wilderness and politicians from the nearby Reichstag and tourists visiting some of Berlin's primary landmarks had to make do with panini from Starbucks, which apparently had the appropriate profile for the "new" Berlin.

But in the end, the little guy won, and the snack bar is back.

Thanks to the intervention of some high-profile politicians and artists, who evidently haven't forgotten their roots, currywurst and french fries are again to be had near the Gate. The owner of the new snack bar, Elke Zieschang (photo), beat out 30 other applicants for the coveted spot.

Zieschang got the commission because her product comes from pigs not raised on factory farms, and the organic meat is free from antibiotics and dyes. "For the government, it's politically correct sausage," she said. Every week, she offers a sausage specialty from a different part of Germany. All that impressed the powers that decide such matters.

On Tuesday, the first day of the sausage stand's triumphant return, business was been booming. And it better stay that way, if Zieschang wants to recoup the 25,000 euros ($30,000) she's invested in the operation. She needs to sell around 500 sausages a day. Considering the expansive nature of waistlines in Berlin, that likely won't be a problem.