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to learn more. Radio

1:26

podcasts. Today, in

1:28

the country of beefsteak, even a

1:30

chicken is a treat these days

1:33

as rampant inflation pushes the cost

1:35

of living ever higher in Argentina.

1:38

How harsh laws and social taboos

1:41

are risking the health of women

1:43

and girls in Kenya. Would

1:46

you choose to go into the

1:48

Amazonian jungle with a former guerrilla

1:50

fighter? These days, Colombia

1:52

invites you to do just

1:54

that, to go birdwatching. And

1:57

the law of the bratwurst in

1:59

Germany. money, don't mess around with

2:02

the recipe, and forget about making

2:04

a vegan version, this sausage means

2:06

far too much to people. But

2:10

first to Indonesia, the world's

2:12

largest Muslim-majority democracy, which will

2:14

vote for its next president

2:16

on the 14th of February.

2:20

Current opinion polls suggest that the

2:22

former general, Prabhoo Sobianto, will win

2:24

out on his third attempt to

2:26

become the country's leader. Rebecca

2:29

Henske reported for the BBC for

2:31

15 years from Indonesia.

2:33

When she recently returned, she

2:35

found, much to her surprise,

2:38

that the 72-year-old former strongman

2:41

has undergone an extraordinary

2:43

rebranding to win over

2:45

first-time voters. Puppy

2:47

Dog eyes on a smiling, chubby-cheeked

2:49

cartoon face stare down at me

2:52

from huge campaign posters that line

2:54

either side of the Java highway

2:56

I'm driving on. I'm

2:58

struggling to get my head around this

3:00

image. It's clearly

3:02

presidential candidate Prabhoo Sobianto.

3:06

But the last time he ran for office

3:08

when I was a correspondent in Jakarta, the

3:10

images were of him commanding or marching with

3:13

troops. He always appeared

3:15

happiest when a strider horse or

3:17

raising his fist in anger during

3:19

a firebrand speech. This

3:22

former top general from a powerful

3:24

family has long revelled in a

3:27

strongman image, not a

3:29

sweet, cute one. Prabhoo

3:32

was dismissed from the military after

3:34

accusations that he was involved in

3:36

the kidnapping and torture of pro-democracy

3:38

students in the late 90s

3:41

in the turbulent dying days of the

3:43

Sahato regime. He was banned

3:45

from entering the United States for a

3:47

while due to rights allegations against him.

3:50

In a press lunch event back

3:53

in 2013, I raised in a

3:55

question this dark past of his. He

3:58

looked clearly insulted, glared, and

4:00

down at me from the speaker's podium, paused

4:03

and said, I knew this question would

4:05

come, and then

4:07

said, let the Indonesian people judge

4:10

me. But now

4:12

there's a whole generation of voters

4:14

who didn't live through the Soharto

4:16

dictatorship or experienced the Asian economic

4:18

crisis of the 1990s,

4:21

or the bloody battle for Timor

4:23

Leste's independence. And these

4:25

dark parts of Indonesia's modern history

4:27

that Prabhupala played a role in

4:29

are not taught in schools. So

4:32

he's not really getting asked that

4:34

question by young voters, and

4:36

they make up half the electorate this time around.

4:40

Instead, under TikTok videos of

4:42

the 72-year-old dancing or cuddling

4:44

his cat, they're calling

4:46

him Gemmul or Cute. It's

4:49

an extraordinary rebranding, from

4:52

a strong man to a

4:54

harmless grandfather. So

4:57

too is his selection of running mates, Gibram

5:00

Rakuboming, the son of current

5:02

president Jokowododo or Jokowi. Gibram

5:05

too has undergone quite a makeover since

5:07

I last saw him. Eight

5:10

years ago, I visited him at the cafe

5:12

he was running down a side street in

5:14

his hometown of Sohlo. He

5:16

specialised in Mataba, stuffed

5:18

fried pancakes. He

5:21

clearly wasn't thrilled to be meeting journalists.

5:24

On that day, he was moody. He

5:26

told us he wasn't interested in following

5:28

his father's footsteps into politics and

5:30

didn't want to discuss his dad's policies. What

5:33

he wanted to talk about was all

5:35

the unusual new flavours of Mataba his

5:37

cafe was offering. We

5:40

ended up not running the interview. But

5:42

here we are in 2024 and he's

5:45

running for the nation's highest office with

5:47

no political experience apart from a two-year

5:49

stint as the mayor of his hometown.

5:52

At 36, Gibram is the youngest

5:55

presidential candidate in Indonesian history. He

5:57

used to have to be faulty to run. campaign

6:00

team successfully and very

6:02

controversially petitioned the constitutional

6:04

court. And at

6:07

this stage, this pairing and rebranding

6:09

has resulted in Prabhu and Gibran

6:11

being well ahead in the polls.

6:15

I know some former journalists and press

6:17

freedom activists who did everything to see

6:19

the end of the Sahato regime and

6:22

then to keep Prabhu out of office

6:24

in previous elections who are now campaigning

6:26

for him. One asked

6:28

one to explain to me why they said

6:30

it was a complex

6:32

political decision. Another

6:34

said it was being pragmatic. But

6:37

the question remains what kind

6:39

of president would Prabhu or be? What

6:42

version of him might show up to run

6:44

the country? Or will it

6:46

be Jokowi who's really pulling the

6:48

strings? After two terms

6:51

in office, the former furniture maker can't

6:53

run in this election but he's

6:55

very present in it. In

6:58

another campaign poster, his image

7:00

looms large over Prabhu and

7:02

Gibran. And the pair have made

7:04

no secret of this. If elected,

7:07

they will be Jokowi 2.0. They're

7:10

promising to complete all his

7:12

infrastructure projects, including the building

7:14

of a new capital on the island of

7:16

Borneo. This

7:18

loyalty from Prabhu to a man

7:21

he suffered two previous humiliating defeats

7:23

to is in stark contrast to

7:25

what he said before. When

7:28

Prabhu lost to Jokowi the first time

7:31

around, he marched into our Jakarta bureau

7:33

and sat down for a live TV

7:35

interview. He was clearly

7:37

angry. On air he rejected

7:39

the early results, saying Jokowi's image of

7:42

being a man of the people was

7:44

just an act and calling him a

7:46

puppet of the political oligarchy. Now

7:49

it looks like Prabhu is a puppet of

7:51

Jokowi, who's proven less a humble

7:54

man of the people and

7:56

more a shrewd political operator with

7:58

a clever social media. media team. Rebecca

8:02

Hensky When Javier

8:04

Millet won Argentina's presidential contest

8:06

in November, nobody predicted an

8:08

easy ride for him or

8:10

for the country. He

8:13

was elected thanks to his promises

8:15

to break with the political establishment

8:17

and take bold steps to get

8:19

Argentina out of its dire economic

8:21

straits. He's pushing for

8:23

a huge package of changes,

8:25

nicknamed the ahustato, or the

8:27

big adjustment, which proposes a

8:30

blizzard of measures. Some

8:32

are radical and highly controversial, like

8:35

abolishing entire state ministries, reducing

8:37

the powers of trade unions,

8:39

and limiting rights to public

8:41

protest. Millet's critics

8:43

called a national strike last week

8:45

in response, and more than one

8:47

and a half million people turned

8:50

out at demonstrations across the country.

8:53

A small majority of Argentines still

8:55

back him, but how far and

8:57

for how long will they stick

8:59

with him? James Menendez.

9:02

Every morning over breakfast in Buenos Aires,

9:04

I'd look out of the hotel window

9:06

at the bustling street just below. Smartly

9:09

dressed workers hurried towards their offices, and

9:11

none of them seemed to notice the

9:14

rather sad-looking red postbox that sat awkwardly

9:16

on the corner, leaning like the Tower

9:18

of Pisa. I'd flown in

9:20

from London, so a red postbox on

9:22

a street corner was hardly a novelty.

9:25

Except I was now in Argentina, and

9:27

this one looked identical to some of

9:29

the postboxes back home. After

9:32

a few inquiries, it turns out it

9:34

is the same model, a remnant of

9:37

the close ties between the UK and

9:39

Argentina in the 19th and early 20th

9:41

centuries. Back

9:43

then, Britain was at the height of its

9:45

imperial and commercial power. Argentina

9:47

had, and still has, abundant natural

9:49

resources, namely the vast fertile grasslands

9:52

of the Pampas and the cattle

9:54

that graze on them. Exports

9:57

of beef, grain and minerals turned Argentina.

10:00

Argentina into one of the richest countries in

10:02

the world, richer even than

10:04

France or Germany. And

10:06

the streets of Buenos Aires are a

10:08

constant, haunting reminder of that wealthy past.

10:11

Wide avenues lined with grand

10:13

and ornate bellipoc architecture, handsome

10:15

squares with manicured lawns and

10:17

even a Victorian clock tower.

10:20

And of course the red, British-style post

10:22

boxes which fell out of use years

10:24

ago, in which no one, it seems,

10:26

has the heart to remove. With

10:29

the government now saddled with huge debts,

10:31

the question I hear again and again

10:33

is are Argentina's best days behind it

10:36

or are they still to come? One

10:39

glib answer you sometimes hear is that this

10:41

is the only country that's gone from being

10:43

developed to developing. It's

10:46

certainly true that it's slipped well

10:48

down the global rankings, after decades

10:50

of boom and bust and a

10:52

series of often vicious military dictatorships.

10:55

Democracy is now well established, but

10:57

the economy is definitely beast.

11:01

Inflation last year was more than

11:03

200% and prices are still soaring.

11:06

Officially 40% of the population are

11:08

now living in poverty, although most

11:10

believe the real figure is even

11:12

higher. Life for all but

11:14

the wealthiest families is a constant struggle to

11:16

pay the bills and put food on the

11:19

table. As one young

11:21

mother put it to me, we're the country of beef

11:23

but we can only afford to eat chicken, and

11:25

even chicken is a treat these days. Everyone's

11:29

doing whatever they can to survive, and

11:31

everyone's an expert in finding bargains. Pablo

11:34

knows this only too well. A middle-aged man

11:36

with a bad leg that makes it difficult

11:38

for him to find work, I ran into

11:40

him by chance one morning by the side

11:42

of the road. Or rather I

11:44

noticed a queue of people snaking up to the

11:46

back of a small car and wonder what was

11:48

going on. When I came

11:50

round the other side, I saw Pablo reaching

11:52

into a boot piled high with trays of

11:55

eggs. He told me

11:57

he buys them cheaply from a farm outside

11:59

Buenos Aires and brings them into the city

12:01

to sell to passers-by. At about £2

12:04

for two dozen, he said he doesn't make

12:06

much money. And it's not legal,

12:08

he said, so there's always the risk of a

12:10

tap on the shoulder from the police. Even

12:13

though he's trying to run a small business legally

12:15

is struggling to keep their heads above water. Claudio

12:18

Pius has the air of a born

12:20

entrepreneur. Squat, shaven-headed and with

12:22

a restless energy, he runs a chain

12:24

of corner shops. Or rather, he

12:26

did. He used to own 12, but

12:29

now he's down to just two because

12:31

of rising costs. If things didn't get

12:33

better soon, he told me, he'd have

12:35

to shut down completely. This

12:37

level of financial hardship is one of

12:39

the reasons why so many people voted

12:41

for Argentina's new president, Javier Mille. He

12:44

won just over 55% of

12:46

the vote on a pledge to

12:48

take a metaphorical chainsaw to what

12:51

he calls the profligacy of the

12:53

previous left-wing populist government. The theory

12:55

is that a currency devaluation, privatisations

12:57

and cuts to public spending will

13:00

encourage the motors of the Argentine

13:02

economy to start turning again. That

13:05

will enable the country to pay off some

13:07

of its vast debts. And then,

13:09

at some point, the rate of inflation

13:11

will start to come down. The

13:14

trouble is, his plan, if it happens, is

13:16

going to be painful. And painful

13:18

for many of those who took a chance

13:20

on this political novice. As

13:22

one analyst here put it to me,

13:24

people voted for Javier Mille because they

13:26

desperately wanted a change, any

13:28

change, but they may not realise what they've

13:31

let themselves in for. James

13:33

Menendez. In many

13:35

ways, Kenya is a case study

13:37

in the demographic changes happening across

13:40

Africa. Overall, the population

13:42

has risen sharply, having doubled over

13:44

the past 30 years to

13:47

over 55 million citizens

13:49

today. That means increased

13:51

pressure on farming land and

13:53

water resources and burgeoning cities.

13:56

It's a youthful country with an

13:58

average age of just 20 years.

14:00

years but the fertility rate is

14:02

now declining and fast. Back

14:05

in the 1960s the average

14:07

Kenyan woman could expect to have

14:09

at least eight children during her

14:11

lifetime. Today that's down to

14:13

just over three. Contraception

14:16

is available to most women who seek

14:18

it but every year there

14:20

are still many women and girls

14:22

who face unplanned and unwanted

14:24

pregnancies. Linda Ngarri

14:27

has investigated what choices

14:29

they have. At

14:31

a petrol station on the outskirts of

14:33

Nairobi it is finally gets into our

14:36

car. That's not her real

14:38

name. I've changed it to protect her

14:40

identity. We've been waiting for her

14:42

to finish her day as a domestic worker

14:44

and it's already dark. She's

14:47

nervous saying she left her three kids

14:49

on their own. She asks her

14:51

to make this quick. The

14:53

last time I saw her she was lying

14:56

on a bed in a backstreet clinic waiting

14:58

for abortion medication to take effect. It

15:00

had taken her four months to save the money

15:02

for the procedure. She

15:05

was already well into her second

15:07

trimester. The room

15:09

smelled of blood and medicine. It is

15:11

said the process felt like giving birth. A

15:15

few days later when we meet at the petrol

15:17

station it is revealed to me

15:19

she is HIV positive. I think

15:21

about the backstreet clinic where she had queued

15:23

along with other women to get a walk-in

15:26

abortion. Others lay on the

15:28

same bed after her. The

15:30

clinic at best covered the beds I

15:32

saw with old newspaper or nothing at

15:34

all. They cleaned the tools in

15:36

a bucket of bleach. I

15:38

later spoke to a lawyer who told

15:41

me it is HIV status could have

15:43

entitled her to a legal abortion but

15:45

she felt this was her only choice. She

15:48

could not afford a safer one. She

15:50

is not alone. Almost two-thirds

15:52

of pregnancies in Kenya are unplanned

15:55

and thousands of women seek unsafe

15:57

abortions every year at backstreet clinics.

16:00

or using dangerous methods on their own.

16:03

The man who carried out Edith's procedure claimed

16:05

to be a clinician, but there

16:07

was no trace of him on the

16:09

official registry of medical professionals. He

16:12

told me he performs up to 150 abortions each month.

16:17

Not everyone makes it through alive.

16:20

Complications from unsafe abortions are a

16:22

leading cause of maternal death in

16:24

the country. Kenya's

16:26

penal code bans abortion unless it's

16:28

to save the mother's life. Its

16:31

constitution and case law, however, allow

16:33

for more exceptions, such as in

16:35

cases of rape, incest, or

16:37

when the mother is under 18. The

16:41

legal ambiguity has created a

16:43

climate of fear, preventing women

16:45

from seeking legal abortions and

16:47

medical professionals from offering it.

16:50

Abortion here is a cultural taboo

16:52

shrouded in stigma and misinformation. One

16:56

teenage girl I met at a crisis

16:58

pregnancy center told me the

17:00

organization running it, which is funded by

17:02

churches in the US, convinced her to

17:04

keep her child. She was

17:06

told there that if she had a

17:08

termination, she would never be able

17:10

to have another baby. Some

17:13

religious organizations teach that abortions lead

17:15

to death. But

17:18

it's also a class issue. It

17:20

took Edith four months to save less

17:23

than half the amount that a safe

17:25

procedure at a registered clinic usually costs.

17:28

And the morning after, she had

17:30

to go back to work, her body

17:32

still reeling from an induced termination

17:34

in non-sterile conditions the night before. I

17:38

was raised in a typical Christian home

17:40

in Mombasa, Kenya's second largest city. When

17:43

I was a girl, my parents, teachers,

17:45

and church warned me against playing with

17:47

boys, lest I end up pregnant. I

17:50

wasn't taught about my sexual and reproductive rights

17:52

at school. Girls in Kenya

17:54

are told by their elders to

17:57

practice total abstinence. That sex

17:59

is shameful. So they learn whatever

18:01

they can from their peers. It

18:04

breeds misinformation. In

18:06

high school, I heard of teenage

18:08

girls drinking bleach, coffee, and cordial

18:10

juice to self-induced abortions. Some

18:13

of those I met, while reporting on

18:15

this story, only realized they were

18:17

pregnant four or five months in. None

18:20

of the women I spoke to took the decision

18:22

to have an abortion lightly, but becoming

18:24

a parent was a burden they could not

18:27

face. The mothers of the

18:29

two teenage girls I interviewed could not hold

18:31

back their tears when I asked

18:33

how they felt about their children becoming

18:35

pregnant so young. Both

18:37

had been teenage mothers themselves, one

18:40

of them as a result of rape. She

18:42

told me, I tried to protect her,

18:44

to help her build a life to be

18:46

different, but it did not happen. What

18:49

I feared and did not want to happen

18:51

to her is what happened. She

18:54

had hoped her daughter would have a better future

18:56

than she did. But now they

18:59

faced the same fate. Linda

19:02

Ngarri Colombia

19:04

has much to attract travelers,

19:06

tropical beaches, Amazonian rainforests full

19:08

of wildlife, cities humming

19:11

with music and culture. But

19:13

decades of drug violence and

19:15

a long-running guerrilla insurgency kept

19:18

most visitors away. Given

19:20

the risks of being kidnapped and held

19:22

for ransom or just mugged, only the

19:25

boldest would dare. Now with

19:27

the war officially over, some former

19:29

rebels are hoping to capitalize on

19:31

the country's natural assets and bring

19:34

in new business. Roofing,

19:36

trekking and abseiling are just

19:38

some of the attractions they're

19:40

selling to tourists, seeking a

19:42

truly off-the-beaten-path experience. Zoe

19:45

Gelber 4

19:47

in the morning and I'm standing outside in

19:49

a valley in the south of Colombia, drinking

19:51

weak sweet coffee, or tinto, from a tiny

19:53

plastic cup. We're surrounded by rolling

19:55

green hills, although I can't see much of anything

19:58

yet. In a huddled group, someone

20:00

hands me a head torch and a small bag. Inside

20:03

are a pair of binoculars, because we're about

20:05

to go bird watching. Ricardo,

20:08

our guide, a wiry man with a moustache

20:10

and a distinctly 80s crew cut, leads us

20:12

over a small river before we start to

20:14

climb one of the nearby slopes in the

20:16

dark. Nearing the top, we pass

20:18

a big boulder and he stops. We

20:21

used to use this as a lookout point, he tells us.

20:23

From here you can see all across the valley

20:26

without being seen yourself. You could see

20:28

if the army was coming. For

20:30

over 30 years, Ricardo had been a

20:33

member of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of

20:35

Colombia, or the FARC, which until fairly

20:37

recently was the country's largest and most

20:39

powerful left-wing guerrilla group. The

20:41

rebel army formally disbanded seven years ago

20:43

following a historic peace agreement between FARC

20:46

leaders and the government, bringing

20:48

more than half a century of violent civil conflict

20:50

to an end. The

20:52

agreement saw thousands of rebels emerging from

20:54

their bases in the jungles, handing over

20:56

their weapons and agreeing to rejoin peaceful

20:59

society, which is why Ricardo

21:01

is now starting a new life in

21:03

ecotourism. Guerrilla soldier to

21:05

nature guide is a fairly drastic career change,

21:07

but it's not quite the screeching handbrake turn

21:10

you might at first imagine. For

21:12

decades, FARC members like Ricardo lived and

21:14

fought in Colombia's remote jungles, which also

21:17

happened to be some of the most

21:19

beautiful and biodiverse places on earth. Now,

21:22

with the war over, these unspoiled areas

21:24

are finally starting to open up to

21:26

researchers and tourists, and former

21:28

fighters who know these places by

21:30

heart have started leading tours through

21:32

them. It's something that

21:34

comes naturally to many of them. The

21:37

forest was our home for all the years we were

21:39

in arms. It was our protector.

21:41

It's where we slept, where we ate, where

21:43

we lived, Felix, another former guerrilla

21:45

tells me. Felix

21:47

says he joined the FARC at just

21:49

11 years old and spent nearly 40

21:52

years with the group, working as a

21:54

security guard for FARC commanders before he

21:56

was captured and imprisoned by the Colombian

21:58

army. He goes on to explain that the FARC

22:00

had strict rules prohibiting deforestation in

22:02

the areas they controlled, which they'd

22:05

enforced with sanctions, fines and guns.

22:08

This was not primarily for environmental reasons.

22:11

In fact, some FARC-controlled areas were

22:13

deforested to make way for coca

22:16

cultivation, the raw material used in

22:18

cocaine and illegal gold mining. Both

22:20

were sources of income for the group. But

22:23

the fighters limited this activity because they

22:25

needed thick tree cover to disguise them

22:27

from government planes overhead. Ironically,

22:30

with the war now over, Colombia has

22:32

seen a huge spike in deforestation as

22:34

other armed groups have moved onto the

22:36

land the FARC left behind, clearing

22:39

trees for their own illegal plantations and

22:41

mines. Over

22:43

the next three days, I accompany Felix,

22:45

Ricardo and other former FARC members as

22:47

they lead group workshops in identifying native

22:49

plants, spotting macaws, ocelots

22:52

and other wildlife and monitoring

22:54

deforestation. Right now, the

22:56

state is giving former rebels a stipend

22:58

as they transition to peaceful society. When

23:01

that eventually runs out, ex-competents will need a

23:03

way to earn an income so they can

23:06

support themselves in peacetime. If they

23:08

can't, it's feared that they might take up arms

23:10

again. It's still

23:12

early days, but tourists are starting to

23:14

arrive in greater numbers, adventurous travellers from

23:16

abroad and some curious Colombians from the

23:18

cities. But to many Colombians, the idea

23:21

is a bit of a hard sell. There

23:23

is still widespread distrust and stigma

23:25

around former guerrieros, who during the

23:27

war became notorious for kidnapping thousands

23:29

of civilians for ransom to finance

23:31

their operations. Many hostages

23:33

died or disappeared and others were subjected

23:36

to brutal and degrading treatment. Colombians

23:39

want peace, but for many people, the idea

23:41

of hiking and birdwatching with people they see

23:43

as responsible for this violence is a bit

23:45

too much to stomach. For

23:48

another former rebel called Lina, coming face to

23:50

face with wider Colombian society is part of

23:52

the point. They can get

23:55

to know us, she tells me, as we walk through

23:57

the forest with her five-year-old daughter bouncing along beside us.

24:00

They'll see we're not monsters, that most of us

24:02

want peace too. Nature can be

24:04

a bridge for us to communicate. Zoe

24:07

Gelber. Champagne

24:09

and brie. Parmesan

24:12

and parmesan cheese. Kalamata

24:14

olives. Many of the

24:16

finer things in life have been

24:18

seized on by the European Union

24:20

regulators in an attempt to

24:22

protect them rather than ban them. The

24:25

rulers governing these products are meant to

24:27

give the real thing an extra edge

24:30

and clamp down on cheap and

24:32

shoddy imitations as a way of

24:34

keeping food traditions alive and keeping

24:36

the people who preserve them in

24:38

business. Amid the

24:40

long list of protected items, lurks

24:43

one you might not have expected

24:45

as Rob Croson recently found in

24:47

Bavaria in central Germany. Bjorn

24:51

grins at me and laughs as

24:53

he rubs his thumb against his fore and

24:55

middle fingers. It seems like

24:57

a warning at first and

24:59

it transpires it is against those

25:02

who would dare to trespass against

25:04

Bjorn's most cherished passion. Yes

25:07

it would be very expensive for anyone

25:09

who tried to break the rules I

25:11

think, he says with

25:13

satisfaction. Bjorn turns and

25:16

briskly strolls over to the cashier's desk

25:18

of his museum where two

25:20

rather confused looking Japanese tourists

25:22

are standing nervously. They

25:25

stare somewhat as scants at

25:27

the displays of medieval butchery equipment

25:29

scattered among reproductions of portraits of

25:32

the burgers of Nuremberg going about

25:34

their business in the shadow of

25:36

half-timbered houses. Yes

25:38

that is correct, this is the

25:41

Bratwurst Museum. Bjorn tells the

25:43

new customers who hand over their four

25:45

euros in cash and are led into

25:47

this temple to Nuremberg's most notable contribution

25:49

to the culinary world. I

25:52

promise you Rob, Bjorn confides. Before

25:55

protection began in 1998, the Nuremberg

25:58

Bratwurst was the grocery item... with

26:00

the most fakes in the world. And

26:02

most of the coffees were really terrible too.

26:06

Bjorn Becker has been the manager of

26:08

the Bratwurst Museum since it opened two

26:10

years ago in the middle of the

26:12

city's medieval outstat. It tells,

26:14

in a sober, almost liturgical tone, the

26:16

story of the Bratwurst, which dates back

26:18

to at least 1313. This is the

26:20

year that the earliest

26:23

mention of the marjoram-flavoured roly-poly sausage

26:25

has yet been found, contained within

26:28

a doctrine from the city elders,

26:30

which, dictating how meat should be

26:32

treated, specifically mentions Bratwurst. "'We

26:35

wanted to protect this little sausage. That's

26:38

why they wanted to keep the

26:40

tradition of over 700 years safe,'

26:42

says Bjorn. 2003 was our big

26:44

year when the Njumburga Rust Bratwurst was

26:47

protected by the European Union. If

26:50

you have a sausage factory in Brussels or

26:52

Bratislava and you label it Bratwurst, you

26:54

can expect legal proceedings and a

26:57

very angry Bjorn." It's

26:59

partly thanks to Bjorn and the Njumburg

27:01

Sausage Protection Association that visitors like myself

27:04

can opt for plates of half a

27:06

dozen to a dozen of these venerable

27:08

protected articles usually served on a heart-shaped

27:10

tin plate with full confidence that they

27:12

were all made within the city limits

27:14

of Njumburg. One of

27:16

the city's oldest sausage house

27:18

restaurants, called Zungildenstern, is run

27:20

by 23-year-old Sophia Hillaprant, who

27:22

also presents her own podcast, called,

27:25

wait for it, Bratwurst in the

27:27

City. "'Look around you,'

27:29

she says as I enter the

27:31

cosy wooden-beamed interior. We're very

27:33

busy at the moment. I think after Covid

27:36

people are more keen than ever to have

27:38

a taste of something homely, maybe

27:40

something they missed for a few years. We

27:42

try not to change anything. Bratwurst

27:44

means too much to people.' Legends

27:47

have, over the centuries, been prepared to

27:49

prove their love in various, not always

27:52

pleasurable ways. Legend has

27:54

it that in Njumburg's ominously named

27:56

Gilt Tower, Hans Thromer, a 16th

27:58

century judge, was in for

28:00

treachery. Whilst incarcerated, it said

28:02

he ate 28,000 bradversd, which were

28:05

passed through

28:07

a keyhole to him as the door could not

28:09

be opened. But

28:11

with veganism on the rise throughout Germany,

28:13

alongside plant food innovations, I

28:16

wonder if the love of bradversd is likely to

28:18

wane, or if there are any plans

28:20

to tweak the sausage to cater for this new

28:22

shift in consumer habits. Could there ever be

28:24

a veggie bradversd?

28:27

Bjorn and Sophia both laugh up

28:29

roriously when I ask this question.

28:32

I tell you, to make the bradversd out

28:34

of anything other than pork is impossible. It

28:37

is then, quite clearly, no

28:39

longer a bradversd, Sophia

28:41

insists. In a

28:44

city that was almost completely levelled in

28:46

1945, it seems hot wars,

28:48

cold wars, reunification, and now 20

28:50

years of official protection, one thing

28:53

has remained constant. This

28:55

little thing reminds us that tradition is

28:57

very important. It reminds us of our

28:59

childhood, reflects Bjorn. The

29:02

bradversd survived 700 years, and it will

29:04

be surviving the next 700 years, he

29:06

tells me triumphantly.

29:09

It's simple. You should never try

29:11

to change a winning team. Rob

29:15

Crossan in Nuremberg, and that's all for today,

29:17

but we'll be here again on Saturday morning

29:20

at half past eleven. Do

29:22

join us. Thirty

29:24

years ago, Britain's farms were hit

29:26

by an epidemic of an infectious

29:28

brain disorder. They called it

29:30

Mad Cow Disease. I'm

29:33

Lucy Proctor, and in The Cows are Mad

29:35

from BBC Radio 4, I

29:37

tell the story of a very weird time

29:39

in our history. The media started calling

29:41

me the Mad Cow Professor. Mad

29:44

Cow Disease rampaged through Britain,

29:46

first killing cows and then

29:48

humans. And the

29:50

thing is, after all this time, nobody

29:52

knows for sure where Mad Cow

29:54

Disease originally came from. The general

29:57

feeling is that we will never know the

29:59

answer. Subscribe to

30:01

the Cows Amad in BBC scenes. That's

30:30

eight numbers to understand China. Listen

30:33

next by searching for the Global

30:35

News podcast wherever you get your

30:37

BBC podcasts.