For all of us lovers of all things German, Aldi’s German week is essentially a holiday, but have we stopped and asked ourselves how accurate the German grocery chain is at portraying its own home food culture?
We all know that certain German stereotypes have been ingrained into the American minds, but for a company based in Germany, Aldi has a prime opportunity to set the record straight whenever it promotes its German Week.
At first glance, it appears that Aldi has set out to do just that with a range of products that expand past the more typical bratwurst, pretzels and sauerkraut, but are the added additions even German?
Stern, a Hamburg-based weekly news magazine, decided to take a look at this past April’s Aldi ad for German Week to see what the big deal was and came to an interesting realization. German Week is not so much “German” but instead “European”.
Aside from the German basics known all around the world, some items were found to be obviously NOT German. So if you’re curious as to how German Week is perceived by real Germans living in Germany, the short investigative report by Stern is a must read. If anything, it will make you look at Aldi German Week with a new set of trained eyes so you’re not tricked into grabbing that clearly un-German item.
