Culinary through Charlottenburg

For Itay Novik, a native of Israel and Berliner by choice, Charlottenburg is always a surprise. Novik goes on food tours through different parts of Berlin. But he likes Charlottenburg best. He likes the weekly market, the old family businesses and the good stories that can be told about Charlottenburg. The meeting point is in the pedestrian zone, which looks like everywhere else:

Tchibo, Ernsting’s Family, one-euro shops and Decathlon. But Novik knows the addresses that only exist here. Like the historic Rogacki fish smokehouse, which is still a family business. A place full
of history and stories – and herring fillet on the plate. The delicatessen has been around since 1928. “It’s important to me that I find places that people are passionate about,” says Novik. And his passion is culinary. He raves about his favorite lunch table, recommends a Russian café, takes you to an antique shop, where you can get an excellent espresso between art and knick-knacks. And he shows you the wonderful cheese shop run by Fritz Lloyd Blomeyer, a man with cheese expertise who was able to serve cheese to King Charles and Queen Camilla.

Novik tells how Charlottenburg got its name, that the Lietzow settlement became the city of Charlottenburg as a souvenir shortly after Queen Sophie Charlotte died. The castle was their summer residence.

Itay Novik does (almost) nothing

which is not connected to food

My name is Itay Novik. I have lived in Berlin for 5 years, after living in Milan for 6 years. In Milan I studied industrial design in Politecnico (the technical university). I moved to Berlin exactly one year after my first visit here. I knew I wanted to move already on my second day here. So what do I do? I work in Berlin as a food designer, mainly as a stylist for food photography productions. I also cook the food if needed and form recipes.

In addition I advise restaurants and am working on a pilot to a series I’m writing which documents Israeli immigrants in Berlin through domestic food. The cooking style, the domestic tastes missing here, where they get their products and documenting the immigration experience of each one of them. In the end we cook together from a mutual recipe by the will of the host. What else? I guide tours about the culinary history of Berlin and Brandenburg. In these tours I talk about the evolution of food in the area, its characters and the influence of immigrants kitchens. We also visit markets and famous culinary institutes and family businesses. read more