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A spicy dressing popular in Germany is renowned for the racist connotations of its name.
Food company Knorr will change the name of its “zigeuce sauce” or “gypsy sauce” to “Hungarian paprika sauce”, Bild am Sonntag reported on Sunday.
“Since ‘gypsy sauce’ can be interpreted negatively, we decided to give our Knorr sauce a new name,” said Unilever, the company that owns Knorr.
FILE: A man holds in his hand a bottle of “gypsy sauce” from the maker Knorr in Berlin, Germany.
(Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa via AP)
The spicy sauce, a staple in many German households, will soon appear with the new name in supermarkets across the country, Bild am Sonntag reported.
The brand name change follows recent international debates on racism, particularly in the United States, where large national companies have also renamed traditional brands in response to concerns about racial stereotypes.
“Zigeuner” is a derogatory German expression for the Roma and Sinti minority groups who have lived all over Europe for centuries and still face discrimination. The Roma and Sinti organizations in Germany have also pointed out that the sauce is not even part of their traditional cuisine, and for years they have called for the name to be abolished.
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The head of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma welcomed Knorr’s decision to no longer use the term.
“It’s good that Knorr is responding to complaints from a lot of people,” Romani Rose told Bild am Sonntag. However, he added that he was concerned about the growing racism against minorities in Germany.
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Germany’s official anti-discrimination watchdog said in June that it received many more complaints of racism in 2019 than in the previous year. The Federal Anti-Discrimination Agency said it received nearly 1,200 racism complaints last year, a 10% increase from 2018.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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