A Transfer of Language and Culture: German Bread and Pastries and Their Names in Kosovo

Introduction

In his book Our Daily Bread: A Meditation on the Cultural and Symbolic Significance of Bread throughout History, the Croatian writer and literary scholar Predrag Matvejević highlights the fundamental role of bread, serving as it does not only as a staple food but also as an important cultural artefact (Matvejević 2020, 7). The significance of bread is deeply rooted in the Albanian language and culture, including in Kosovo (Hamiti, Sadiku, and Rexhepi 2018; Hamiti and Dushi 2023; Hamiti and Sadiku 2018). Kosovo’s Albanians experienced a different historical trajectory to Albanians in Albania. In socialist Yugoslavia, the territory of today’s Kosovo was an autonomous province within the Socialist Republic of Serbia (Malcolm 1999; Schmitt 2008). In the context of the dissolution of Yugoslavia, Kosovo’s autonomy was abolished by Slobodan Milošević’s regime, which exacerbated existing conflicts and led to the war of 1998–1999. At the end of the war, Kosovo was a United Nations protectorate (1999–2008) and in 2008 it declared its independence (Judah 2008; Hamiti and Hamiti 2018). Despite its designation as a multicultural state in the aftermath of the conflict and through its internationally monitored constitution, Kosovo is, demographically speaking, predominantly Albanian.^[1]

In the context of the Albanian cultural sphere, bread occupies a prominent position, as evidenced by its historical and cultural presence and its use in culinary idioms (Hamiti, Sadiku, and Rexhepi 2018), even in the Kanuni i Lekë Dukagjinit, the Medieval customary law of the Albanians. This was originally an oral legal system that governed the basic aspects of social behaviour in the isolated regions of northern Albania. The Kanun contains both pre-Christian and Christian elements (Gjeçovi 1989; Schmidt-Neke 2014).

The importance of bread in Albanian culture (as in many cultures) is reflected not only in the language used to describe it, but also in its symbolic meaning for community and cohesion. The Kanun of Lekë Dukagjini endows bread with a profound symbolic significance that extends far beyond its role as a staple food (Cara and Margjeka 2015, 185). In Albanian tradition, bukë (“bread”) plays a pivotal role in establishing and maintaining social bonds and ethical obligations, particularly in the context of hospitality (Cara and Margjeka 2015, 179-80). The maxim Mikut do t‘i bahet nderë: bukë e krypë e zemër (“The guest must be honoured: bread and salt and the heart”) suggests that honour is bestowed through bread, salt, and a welcoming heart (Gjeçovi 1989, 131), exemplifying the central role of hospitality as an enduring principle. Bread is thus more than mere physical sustenance; it also carries a deeply embedded symbolic function, underpinning the moral code of Albanian society.

When it comes to both language and cultural transfers, the prevailing argument is that contact with other languages and cultures leads to such transfers in areas that are undergoing change, thereby closing supposed gaps in one’s own language and culture, or opening up new fields. However, Albanian–German relations date back to the 13th century, when the Saxons started engaging in mining in the territory of present-day Kosovo (Gashi 1995; Gashi 2015). With the Ottomans’ conquest of today’s Albanian-speaking areas in the mid-15th century, this contact ceased for centuries, only to be resumed in a completely different form in the context of the colonialist efforts of Austria–Hungary and the German Empire and then Nazi Germany in the World Wars (Csaplár-Degovics and Jusufi 2020; Langer 2019; Zaugg 2016). In terms of language and culture transfer, very little happened during any of these phases.

After the Second World War, however, Albanian–German relations intensified and acquired a different nature. In the 1960s, there was a bilateral agreement between Yugoslavia and West Germany allowing the recruitment of Yugoslav “guest workers” (Gastarbeiter). This triggered migration which then became the main connection between the two cultures and languages (Novinšćak Kölker 2016). When Yugoslavia disintegrated in the 1990s, these “guest workers” were followed by other migrants, not only the families of the original workers, but also other compatriots, including the refugees fleeing the 1999 Kosovo War. Many of these eventually returned to their homeland (Kadriu 2024). As a consequence of the war, German–Albanian interaction acquired a third component in the form of the activities of German-speaking institutions within the framework of the international presence in Kosovo. Germany participated in the Kosovo Force (KFOR), the United Nations Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK), and the European Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo (EULEX) and there were also German-speaking embassies and non-governmental organisations (NGOs). Cultural and language interaction in the realm of culinary traditions stem from these recent developments. Germany’s close association with bread came to have a significant bearing on the baking and eating culture in Kosovo. Artisanal skills were transferred, as was a specialised language associated with the field of baking. The Buka Bakery chain in Kosovo describes itself as having its origins in Germany, specifically a bakery in the Ruhr Valley area near the city of Essen,^[2] and presents as evidence the types of bread on offer as well as their names and the specialisation of the bakers working there.^[3] In this article, we discuss the transfer of German language and culture in bread production.

The primary hypothesis advanced in this article is that the German cultural and language transfer we describe entered Kosovo directly after the 1999 conflict. Earlier Germanisms, several of which we mention, came to Kosovo’s Albanian-speaking population in the context of the former Yugoslavia and mostly via the Serbo-Croatian language. However, not only does Yugoslavia no longer exist, but the Serbo-Croatian language has ceased to be dominant in Kosovo, and in fact continues to carry strong negative connotations (Munishi 2020). Following Espagne and Werner’s (1985) conceptualisation of cultural transfer, the mediators (Ger. Mittler) in these recent bilateral transfers between Germany and Kosovo are the numerous and diverse Kosovar migrants in Germany. Our findings here are corroborated by our earlier studies conducted in the linguistic fields of technology (Jusufi 2023) and consumer goods (Hamiti and Dushi 2023).

State of Research

In our study, we took a multidisciplinary approach, focusing on the nexus between cultural studies, history, and linguistics. There has been a notable increase in linguistic research on the contact between Albanian and German (Maksuti 2009; Maksuti 2010; 2014]; 2015]; Sadiku and Ismajli 2017; Sadiku 2018; Sadiku and Hamiti 2021). In sociolinguistics, language contacts tend to be situated within the broader context of cultural interaction (Kadzadej and Hamiti 2020; Hamiti and Dushi 2023; Jusufi 2020; 2023]; Jusufi and Sadiku 2024). Other studies have examined the spread of the German language in Kosovo after the 1999 war (Hamiti and Ismajli 2020; Tichy and Ismajli 2022). There is a relatively limited body of research on this subject in political and historical studies, with notable exceptions that include analyses conducted at the state level (Dornfeldt and Seewald 2019), within the contexts of colonialism (Gostentschnigg 2017; Langer 2019; Csaplár-Degovics and Jusufi 2020), and migration (Novinšćak Kölker 2016). There is a marked lack of research in the field of cultural studies, specifically with regard to German–Albanian cultural contacts. Here, too, migration studies are the exception, as these do address aspects of cultural interaction (Pichler 2010; Leutloff-Grandits 2015; Novinšćak Kölker 2016).

The study of food as a cultural phenomenon spans a number of research fields and is an essential aspect of social history (Neumann 2001, 14; Ochs and Shohet 2006, 37). Historically, it is anchored in ideas and values that shape human behaviour in relation to food (Hirschfelder 2008: 368). Food is seen as an integral part of cultural identity (Tanner 1997; Neumann 2001; Goldstein and Merkle 2005; Kalinke, Roth, and Weger 2010; Hirschfelder 2013). In addition to meeting biological needs, food is underpinned by social and cultural markers, such as values, tastes, pleasures, rituals, symbols, and social relations (Den Hartog 1997; Grieshaber 1997; Neumann 2001; Meyer 2002; Aronsson and Gottzén 2011; Brombach 2011). The field of culinary studies distinguishes between food and nutrition as an action and system, on the one hand, and as a cultural good that is contingent on its context, on the other (Wierlacher 2008, 1-10). Linguistic research on food and nutrition includes semantic, pragmatic, phraseological, anthropological, and communicative/discursive studies that facilitate an understanding of the multilayered meanings and social contexts of eating habits (Szatrowski 2014; Riley and Paugh 2018; Mancuso 2021). Such a multidisciplinary perspective is also adopted in Matvejević (2020), who provides an insightful analysis of the cultural significance of bread, highlighting its religious, symbolic, and cultural dimensions.

Ethnological research on Albanian bread culture is limited. The eminent Kosovar ethnographer Mark Krasniqi (2005) employed the lens of bread culture to analyse Albanian hospitality. In his Mikpritja në traditën shqiptare (“Hospitality in the Albanian tradition”), he devoted a chapter to the rules and customs surrounding the sofra, the traditional round dining table. A key aspect of his discussion is the enduring reverence for bukë, which means both bread and food, in Albanian culture. In her work Nga djepi në përjetësi (“From the cradle to eternity”), Drita Statovci-Halimi presents a comprehensive typology of “folk food”, a detailed examination of traditional culinary practices (Statovci-Halimi 2014). Both Krasniqi and Statovci-Halimi consider food to be a central component of traditional hospitality and thus of folk cultural heritage (Canolli 2019, 37-42).

Methods

In our study, we employ the concept of language and cultural transfer as proposed by Michel Espagne and Michael Werner (1985]) and Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink (2008]). The term “language transfer” describes the process of transferring lexical, phonological, or grammatical structures from one language to another. This is frequently accompanied by the transfer of cultural connotations. In contrast, the term “cultural transfer” describes the process of transferring cultural practices, symbols, or meanings from one culture to another. Here, particular attention is paid to the mediator or Mittler (Espagne 1997a), which underpins the study of cultural transfer. In contrast to language contact, language transfer is merely a secondary process in the context of cultural transfer. Espagne later refined the concept and also placed it in the context of migration, studying, for example, the role of German winemakers in the south of France (Espagne 1997a; Espagne 1997b). Lüsebrink, drawing on intercultural studies, then placed the concept in the context of globalisation and Americanisation (Lüsebrink 2008). Both Espagne and Lüsebrink – the latter to a much greater extent – analyse in detail the factors involved in cultural transfer and the ways in which it takes place. At the heart of their work are processes of social transformation and their links with another culture and language. Both provide useful tools for the study of Albanian–German relations, namely through migration, transformation, and especially the prestige of the German language and culture among Albanians in general and those living in the area of the former Yugoslavia in particular (Jusufi and Sadiku 2024).

Empirical Data Collection

Our article is based on a broad empirical data base created using a variety of different approaches. We conducted extensive participant observation as customers in various supermarkets, bakeries, and at snack stands throughout Kosovo. Vjosa Hamiti monitored advertisements for German bakery products on all Kosovar TV channels. In April 2022, we studied the Buka Bakery chain and its products in detail, collecting empirical information in the bakery’s different branches about its range of products, their ingredients, customer preferences, and the customers themselves, compiling photographs, product and name lists, as well as ethnographic diaries. Last but not least, we were accompanied by photographer Linda Pagenelli (Berlin, Germany).

In March 2022, we conducted an in-depth interview with Raif Gashi, the proprietor of the bakery in question, and Bajram Rushiti, the managing director. The interview was recorded and transcribed and formed the basis of our qualitative analysis. The interviewees provided a comprehensive insight into the management, marketing strategies, and corporate values of their bakery, as well as the company’s history and relations with Germany. We collected the data using a semi-structured interview guide containing both targeted and open questions. We coded the transcripts in order to identify key patterns and themes.

In order to illustrate our qualitative analysis of the Buka Bakery, Table 1 presents an overview of the most important aspects addressed in the interview. These include an examination of the background and motivation behind the establishment of the German business partnership; an analysis of the cultural influences on the product development process; an investigation of the use of German ingredients and bread types; and a discussion of the challenges faced by the bakery. Furthermore, we examined social dimensions, such as health benefits and social responsibility, as well as the language aspects of communication and marketing. Additionally, we provide an overview of the Kosovar bakery industry, highlighting the cultural dimensions of economic and other pressures on traditional baking practices, especially the knowledge gaps and need to adapt in order to modernise the industry.

In our linguistic analysis, we had access to the ingredient order lists from the Buka Bakery. However, due to confidentiality constraints, we were unable to disclose these lists. We thus complemented our data with publicly accessible language samples, which included price labels displayed in retail settings as well as promotional materials from a variety of sources, including online platforms, print media, and television broadcasts.

The Linguistic and Cultural Significance of Bread

Bread serves not only as a staple food for much of humanity, but it also plays a crucial role in human cultural development (Brewer and Porter 1997). Its cultural significance covers various aspects that go beyond its function as food (Wotjak 2010, 424). The historical significance of bread is evidenced by many written records and traditions, with human diets and culinary practices evolving over time (Camporesi 1989). For example, sharing bread has promoted social bonding and served as an expression of solidarity, shaping community identity. Regional variations in bread making – use of different grains, baking techniques, and bread shapes, for instance – reflect cultural diversity (Bickel 2015). Bread also plays a special role in rites and myths. Prahl and Setzwein (1999, 17) point out that since the early modern period, religious ceremonies have influenced sensory perception and imagination. There is even historical evidence that in certain societies, “toxic substances” were added to the “bread of the poor” to supress hunger and prevent social unrest (Prahl and Setzwein 1999, 18). Proter (1989, 10), too, describes how in many cultures, various bread-making methods were used to alleviate feelings of hunger by deceiving the senses. The beginning of life is associated with rituals and myths involving bread (Buzilă and Băzgu 2005, 302; Imbrasienė 2005, 274; Poghosyan Haik 2005, 39), which thereby obtained mythical qualities in itself (Matvejević 2020, 39).

The Evolution of Bread Culture in Kosovo

The recent evolution of bread culture in Kosovo and other Albanian-speaking regions remains a relatively under-researched topic. Personal experiences and insights gained through regular conversations with older female relatives were significant for our study.

Historically, the baking culture in the Albanian-speaking regions was characterised by the predominant use of three grain types: wheat, rye, and maize (Durham [1909] 2021, 80). This is due to the region’s climatic conditions, as all three were primarily summer grains (Pasqualone et al. 2004, 48). Until the 1980s, homemade sourdough was used as a leavening agent. For a long time, all three of the aforementioned grains were mainly ground into wholemeal flour in traditional mills (Alb. mulli/nj). Baking bread and other goods was largely done by women and culturally very important; it was a household chore carried out by every housewife. State bakeries were the only ones to provide sandwiches for working people, students, and schoolchildren; take-away meals or sandwiches are still not very common in Kosovo to this day. People did buy bread to take home, but only in exceptional cases and mainly in the towns and cities.^[8]

As more people started to migrate to northern Yugoslavia, and from the late 1960s also to Western Europe, the region’s economy grew, even though Kosovo remained one of Yugoslavia’s poorest regions. As a result, however, the cultivation of cereals declined. Nowadays, white flour is purchased from state mills, and industrially produced yeast is commonly used. For Albanian families, type 500 wheat flour – in Germany known as type 550 – has become a symbol of social advancement. The introduction of type 550 white flour simplified the baking process and resulted in softer and more digestible bread with a white colour thought of as more attractive. Type 550 flour is slow to absorb liquids, such as milk or water, contributing to higher dough stability throughout the baking process. In addition, it is versatile enough to be used in a variety of baked goods beyond white bread, such as pizza bases, puff pastry, yeast pastries, quark dough, sponge dough, short crust pastry, sponge cake, and dumplings.^[9] There has been no discernable social controversy surrounding the nutritional benefits of wholemeal flour.

When the Yugoslav market was disrupted due to the dissolution of the state and the eruption of the war at the beginning of the 1990s, many family-run bakeries emerged in Kosovo. It was at this time that there was a significant transition in bakery practices, which, as our Buka Bakery interviewees observed, was about the challenge of maintaining product standards: “There weren’t any ingredients, they used a lot of additives without regulation, there was no safety for […] the bakers. They were all family bakers, there were no controls. When we started in 2012, bakeries like ours were quite rare, indeed almost non-existent in Kosovo.”^[10] With the increase of the formal employment of women after the end of World War II, housewives had to economise their time, and the bread culture fell victim to this development. With the onset of significant outward migration at the end of the 1960s, Kosovo’s economic situation improved somewhat due to remittances (Petreski et al. 2018), and more people could afford to purchase bread and baked goods rather than making them at home. To stop baking was seen as a way of displaying one’s wealth. However, consumption of bread and other bakery products remained stable in terms of quantity, despite a variety of changes in dietary habits. With home-baking receding and industrial yeast being introduced, bread became a form of fast food as it was readily available and inexpensive.

German Bread and Bakery Products and Their Names in Kosovo

During the transformation of Kosovo’s traditional bread culture, German bread culture was key and thus also played an important role when the Buka Bakery was founded in 2012. The English term “bakery” makes for a nice alliteration; local customers, though, habitually refer to it as Furra Buka, furra meaning “bakery” in Albanian.

How did German bread culture enter the Buka Bakery’s business concept? The idea was sparked by the owners’ relatives, who worked as bakers in Germany and noticed how digestive problems were never an issue among their customers. This transnational family connection resulted in substantial collaborative endeavours with German companies, which provided comprehensive assistance, sharing their expertise in the production of premium, healthy bread: “And then, based on that, they got in touch with that family member, who worked there and established connections. We held meetings with companies in Germany, who provided us with considerable support, including showing us how they bake their bread”.^[11] This collaboration resulted in a shift in Kosovar baking practices, with a notable increase in the production of healthier and higher-quality baked goods. Germany’s influence on Kosovo’s bread culture has thus been shaped by a combination of migration and global trends towards both fast(er) food and healthy eating. Kosovo’s consumer culture has begun to be characterised by a greater emphasis on the healthier alternatives.

German Bakery Products in Kosovo

In Kosovo, bakery products have traditionally been a part of several types of meal, but were especially favoured at the evening meal. The German breakfast culture of eating Brötchen [ˈbʁøːtçən] (“bread rolls, small round loaves”) has also become popular. The mediators of this imported commodity were the migrants, as evidenced by the pronunciation of the word broçe [ˈbʁotçe], used by Albanian migrants in Germany. A large number of these migrants returned to Kosovo after the war of 1999 and again in even greater numbers after the wave of deportations from Germany in 2006 (Novinšćak Kölker 2016).

German bread rolls have truly revolutionised breakfast traditions in Kosovo. Instead of the traditional baked goods, which come with savoury fillings and in regional variations and are consumed without toppings, accompanied by yoghurt or ayran, people have moved on to broçe. These are topped with cheese, cold meat, or a sweet spread, just as they are in Germany, and are consumed with coffee and/or tea. Broçe can now be bought fresh in almost any bakery or frozen in almost any supermarket – but they are never home-baked.

While their consumption is associated with a rise in social status, they are not commonly seen as upscale cuisine. This is characteristic of postwar Kosovar society, in which migrants occupy an ambivalent social position. They have considerable purchasing power, or facilitate such spending capacity for their relatives at home, but they do not belong to the upper echelons of society, least of all the educated elite. Thus, for migrants, the German bread rolls that are a new part of Kosovar culinary culture are a symbol of social inclusion. In fact, due to its shape, the bread roll in traditional Albanian cuisine is known as kulaç which is an old loanword from Slavic languages, but Brötchen has replaced this term because it is deemed socially more advanced than the former old-fashioned, rural term (Jusufi 2020).

Broçe has several orthographic variants, including broqe, broche, brotche, brötche, and brotchen (Hamiti and Dushi 2023), which we gathered from print and TV advertisements as well as price tags in stores. Different variants even exist within a single company, such as the Buka Bakery or its competitor the Premium Bakery chain. The former uses the variants broçe and broqe, the latter, which entered the market shortly after Buka, brötche, brotche, and brotchen.^[12] Sometimes, the German word Brötchen, in its Albanianised variant, is accompanied by the Albanian word for “bread”, bukë brotchen / brotche / brötche / broçe / broqe (Figure 1).

Figure 1:

Brötchen in Albanianised varieties. Sources: Buka Bakery and Premium Bakery websites, https://bukabakery.com; https://www.premiumbakery.net/de/ (accessed 24 November 2024).

In advertising brochures, the word appears as broçe, as baget e rrumbullakët, meaning “round baguette”, or just as bukë, for example bukë Timalzer, meaning “Tim Mälzer bread”, in reference to the famous German TV chef. The supermarket chain Spar,^[13] on the other hand, translates Brötchen as bukë rrethore meaning “round bread” (Figures 2 and 3). Spar was founded in the Netherlands in 1932 and has since spread worldwide, including to Albania in 2016, and from there to Kosovo in 2019.

Figure 2 and 3:

Bukë Timalzer and baget i rrumbullakët, Buka Bakery, Prishtina; and bukë rrethore, Spar Bakery, Prishtina. Sources: Buka Bakery and Spar Kosova websites, https://bukabakery.com and https://spar-kosova.com (accessed 24 November 2024).

The range of “round bread” is wider however, as it includes products such as brecell < Ger. Brezel (Eng. pretzel), a word that entered Albanian in earlier times via Serbo-Croatian. But Brecell Bajerni (Eng. Bavarian pretzel), for example, are sold at the Spar supermarket, as are rollne (from German Rolle, which means “roll”), which are round and rolled up to form a snail-like shape, similar to the Swedish cinnamon rolls. Rollne can be filled with white cheese (rollne me djathë, “cheese roll”) or with poppy seeds (rollne me mak, “poppy seed roll”) (Figure 4). Similarly, the German loan translation xhep (Ger. Tasche; Eng. “pocket”) has been adopted from the German apple turnover, i.e. a long pastry filled with fruit compote.^[14] In Kosovo, this item is sold with savoury fillings, as in xhep me domate dhe speca meaning “pocket with tomatoes and peppers” (Figure 5).

Figure 4 and 5:

Rollne me mak (“poppy seed roll”) and Xhep me domate dhe speca (“pocket with tomatoes and peppers”), Buka Bakery, Prishtina, April 2022. Sources: Buka Bakery’s website, Prishtina, https://bukabakery.com (accessed 24 November 2024); and courtesy of Linda Pagenelli.

Overall, the selection of the second part of the German sweet Apfeltasche (Eng. apple turnover), i.e. Tasche (Eng. “pocket”) to create an Albanian culinary expression for a savoury bakery good is an interesting case. Albanian has different words for each of the German definitions of Tasche: for a pocket on clothing, it is xhep; for a briefcase or handbag, it is çantë; for a more general type of bag, it is torbë or qese. The concept of a Tasche as a container for a filling did not exist; no matter which of the meanings you choose, it is not quite right in Albanian. The choice of the pocket on clothing, i.e. xhep, seems idiosyncratic and not (yet) commonly accepted. For example, Spar uses the German term rollne or role < Ger.: Rolle, or even the widely known term kifle for this same product. The term kifle, derived from southern German (and Austrian) Kipferl, which is a type of croissant with or without a sweet filling, was introduced into Albanian in Kosovo via Serbo-Croatian, as these bakery goods are widespread throughout the region of former Yugoslavia.

In addition to the previously mentioned rollne me mak “poppy seed roll”, other sweet pastry categories include the berlina (Berliner, Eng. doughnut) (Figure 6). The spelling is adapted to the German pronunciation –-er > -a. The berlina in particular can be seen as a typical transfer by migrants via oral culture (Hamiti and Dushi 2023). In our interview, the owners of Buka Bakery drew a parallel between the adoption of what were originally German names in Albanian in Kosovo and the example of the French croissant: “Just as you cannot change a croissant, you cannot change a Berliner; it remains a Berliner.”^[15] The transfer of both croissant and Berliner is not merely linguistic, but also cultural because, as postulated by Espagne and Lüsebrink, among others, these words signify objects that had no match in Kosovar and Albanian society.

Figure 6:

Berlina, Buka Bakery advertisement. Source: Buka Bakery’s website, https://bukabakery.com (accessed 24 November 2024).

It is worth mentioning the pastry strudell/strudlle (Ger.: Strudel; Eng. strudel) here as it falls into the category of baked goods discussed in this section. Strudell is clearly another Germanism. However, it was already known in Kosovo before the 1990s, as it entered through the Yugoslav market as a product and through Serbo-Croatian as a word (Hamiti and Dushi 2023; Sadiku and Ismajli 2017).

German Bakery Products in Kosovo: The Influence of Healthy Eating Trends

Since the 1999 war, Kosovo has evolved both educationally and economically. Its wealthier social classes have embraced global healthy eating trends. The adoption of aspects of the German bread culture, however, came through Kosovo’s migrants, who do not necessarily belong to the better-off part of society. Thus, we find here an apt exemplification of Pierre Bourdieu’s Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste (Bourdieu [1979] 2010), in which he demonstrated how taste is not “personal”, but a reflection of social class and a means of strategy and competition. Those who are members of the higher social classes influence and shape the collective taste of a given society. In 2014, the UNESCO Commission granted German bread culture intangible cultural heritage status.^[16] In today’s Kosovo, what are perceived as German bread products are significantly more expensive than traditional bread and baked goods.

One type of grain that was, until recently, completely unknown and certainly atypical in the region was spelt, also known as a winter grain and thus more suited to colder countries such as Switzerland and Germany. The fact that this type of grain was entirely unheard of in the Balkans until recently led to it being referred to by two German names: in Albania as Dinkel and in Kosovo as Spelt. Although the term spelt exists in English, people in Kosovo use the German pronunciation of sp- as shp-, clearly indicating a Germanism. Furthermore, the use of grains and seeds in and on bread and rolls is marketed as coming from Germany, and simultaneously as healthy. This practice, too, was unknown in traditional bread culture.

Sometimes, just a few grains strewn on the dough are enough for a bread product to be labelled bukë gjermane or “German bread”. Bukë/broçe me fara, “bread/rolls with seeds”, as well as bukë/broçe spelt, “spelt bread/rolls”, have also become common, as has bukë integrale, “wholegrain bread”. The latter is made from maize starch and buckwheat flour, without yeast. Its recipe is similar to two old types of local pastries known as leqenik, thin corn bread made with cold water, and krelanë e kallamojt, pastry made of corn and cheese. After the war of 1999, with recovery and changes setting in, people began to make both types of pastry from a mixture of maize and wheat flour, which was deemed healthier. The adoption of German bread types is quite widespread; its production and sales however have primarily been concentrated around the two major bakery chains Premium Bakery and Buka Bakery, the latter of which was the focus of our data collection.

When we inquired as to the rationale behind the decision not to translate the product names into Albanian, our interviewees responded that the product names proved untranslatable.^[17] However, when it comes to marketing considerations, this lack of translation into Albanian is clearly also related to the prestige that Germany carries in Kosovo, and this goes beyond bread culture (Hamiti and Dushi 2023). Evidently, there are difficulties both in translating German bakery-related technical terms into the Albanian language in Kosovo and in adapting the terms from the German bread culture for Kosovo’s cultural context. Our interviewees employed the example of Fitnessbrot, “fitness bread”, to exemplify this untranslatability.^[18] This product is promoted as being of exceptional quality, produced in Kosovo according to the original recipe and using the same premium ingredients as in Germany: “It is one hundred percent, meaning: the way we make it here is exactly how they make it there.”^[19] Here prestige comes into play again, as with other “untranslatable” bread types. For example, the company circumvents the cultural bias that exists vis-à-vis certain grains in bread – such as barley or oats – due to their historical use as animal feed by naming it volkanbrot, from the German Vollkornbrot (spelled with the German v rather than the Albanian f), which means “whole grain bread” and sounds more sophisticated than any Albanian-language variant with similar ingredients that invokes the “old times”.

The German favourite Schwarzbrot, literally “black bread”, however, runs into cultural difficulties in the Albanian-language world. There is no direct translation or adaptation of the German Weißbrot, “white bread”, which translates as bukë e bardhë. The black variant, bukë e zezë, is problematic because the colour black carries a negative cultural connotation. For example, there is the adjective bukëzi, composed from bukë, “bread”, and zi, “black”, which effectively combines bread with the colour black, but signifies a stingy or inhospitable person. Again, there is the matter of traditional wholegrain farmer’s bread, which also has a negative association with bukë e zezë. Instead, the term Batard dunkel (“dark Batard”) is used, for example, by the Spar supermarket to sell this French type of bread, thus creating an enjoyable mix of linguistic transfers across Europe (Figure 10). To complete the picture, it is worth noting the existence of a Jugoslawisches Brot, “Yugoslav bread”, in the traditional bakery Fischer am Rathaus in Dortmund in the Ruhr Valley, which is the name it gives to its white bread variant.^[20] The German language being considered synonymous with high quality in Kosovo’s new bread culture echoes other areas where this is also the case, such as technology, skilled trades, and personal hygiene products (Hamiti and Dushi 2023; Jusufi and Sadiku 2024). Examining the range of products offered by the two “Germanised” bakeries in Kosovo, it becomes evident that Buka Bakery offers a wider range (Table 2).

Table 2:

Bread varieties at Buka Bakery and Premium Bakery.

Buka Bakery
bukë gjermane	German bread
bukë integrale	Wholegrain bread
bukë dietale	Diet bread
bukë spelt	Spelt bread (Figure 8)
bukë spelt dinkelbrot	Spelt bread (in Albanian, with the addition of the German term)
bukë fitnesi	Fitness bread
bukë muesli	Muesli bread (note the German spelling ue instead of the Albanian y)
bukë volkanbrot	Wholemeal bread (Figure 7)
bukë e pjekur dy herë	Double-baked breada
bukë (shtëpie) me fara	(Home) grain bread
bukë me arra	Walnut bread
bukë Timalzer/Tim Malzer	Bread in the style of Tim Mälzer (Figure 2)
bukë Oberlander	Oberland bread (Oberländer is a bread from Cologne and the surrounding area) (Figure 9)
Premium Bakery
bukë gjermane	German bread
bukë integrale	Wholegrain bread
bukë e përzier me fara	Mixed bread with grains
bukë thekre	Rye bread
bukë fitnesi	Fitness bread (Figure 8)

1. Source: authors’ compilation. ^aThe “double-baked bread” is baked in two phases in order to create bread that remains edible for longer. For details, see https://www.homebaking.at/doppelt-gebackenes-brot/(accessed 28 November 2024).

Interestingly, alongside the brecell bajerni, “Bavarian pretzel” mentioned above, the bukë Oberlander is another bread type whose distinctively regional German origin was maintained in its transfer to Kosovo (Figure 9).

Figure 7 and 8:

Resembling a typical German bakery: Volkanbrot, Bukë Spelt, and Bukë Fitnesi at a Buka Bakery branch in Prishtina, April 2022. Source: Courtesy of Linda Pagenelli.

Figure 9 and 10:

Bukë Oberlander, Buka Bakery advertisement, and Batard Dunkel, Spar Bakery advertisement. Sources: Buka Bakery and Spar websites. Sources: https://bukabakery.com and https://spar-kosova.com (accessed 24 November 2024).

Buka Bakery and Premium Bakery thus represent a corporate culture that has succeeded in substantially changing Kosovo’s bread culture by introducing German-inspired products, to the point of putting traditional bread culture under pressure. Since opening its first location in Prishtina, Buka Bakery has expanded to 20 branches throughout Kosovo. Premium Bakery supplies several supermarket chains, including Viva Fresh,^[21] where we found another German loan translation, pjekurina (<Germ. Backwaren), used as the collective term for “baked goods”, which however is not (yet) commonly used in Albanian. The supermarket chain Spar on the other hand demonstrates, via the bread language transfer, a difference between Albania and Kosovo. Spar does not use German names (except the aforementioned dunkel, “dark”) but its own idiosyncratic translations, as described above. Spar came to Kosovo via Albania, where Italian rather than German linguistic influences, especially in technology and the skilled trades, are much stronger (Jusufi 2023).

Advertising Bread

German bread products are promoted very professionally and exclusively by the Buka and Premium bakeries. The fact that advertising specifically for bread even exists deserves special consideration. In an Albanian culinary culture, bread and other baked goods form the core of traditional cuisine – so the promotion is hardly aimed at increasing bread consumption. Rather, it is mainly about fostering the universal trend of healthy eating, which the businesses tap into. This can be shown through the language as well.

In the past, the act of purchasing bread at a bakery in Kosovo was described as shkoj me ble bukë (“I am going to buy bread”), and this meant white bread by default. This was also mentioned by our interviewees: “They habitually used to say ‘we are going to buy bread’ […] We [in Kosovo] only had that kind of bread.”^[22] Nowadays, there is wholemeal flour, and this is associated with German bread culture, which is also reflected in changes in language. Now the phrase shkoj te furra (“I am going to the bakery”) is in common usage, reflecting the shift from traditional practice to a wider acceptance and integration of wholemeal products into Kosovar diets. This has been strongly influenced by German bread culture. Our interviewees even related the medical advice they received in the process of deciding which kinds of bread to produce:

The deterioration in the quality of bread [in Kosovo] […] has pushed us, based on our personal experience with many food issues, to look for solutions. Every time we travelled, especially to Germany, we felt relief in our stomachs. After consulting with doctors, they suggested that bad quality bread may the problem. Avoid flour, avoid certain foods [they said].^[23]

Figures 11 and 12 illustrate this new advertising world and testify to its level of professionalism. In Figure 11, beneath the “handmade” label, the bread is advertised as adhering to a “German recipe and quality” in both Albanian and English. The bread is filled with walnuts (arra) and grapes (rrush) and the advertisement recommends it is served with peanut butter, which is not something that is commonly used in Albanian cuisine.

Figure 11:

Buka Bakery advertisement. Source: Buka Bakery’s website, https://bukabakery.com (accessed 24 November 2024).

Figure 12:

Premium Bakery advertisement. Source: Premium Bakery’s website, https://www.premiumbakery.net/de/ (accessed 24 November 2024).

The two bakeries promote a health(y) trend, which is also reflected in the fact that they list their product ingredients. In Kosovo, for a long time, even industrially produced goods did not label ingredients on product packaging. Now, they can be found on bread, baked goods, and even on the price tags of unpackaged products, making everything much more transparent. According to our interlocutors from Buka Bakery, they received this idea from their German partner. Germany has a history of food labelling obligations that spans a few decades and since 2014, the same has been mandatory for all EU member states.^[24] This transfer of good practice and knowledge from Germany to Kosovo may have implications beyond the mere health aspect. Yet, while the advertisements suggest that the products are healthy due to their ingredients, this is obviously not necessarily the case. Sometimes, the ads present the nutritional information in a way that resembles chemical charts, which may be difficult for customers to understand. Other adverts communicate seemingly objective health-related information to the customer, as in Figure 13, which claims that bukë dietale (“diet bread”) improves cholesterol levels (përmirëson kolesterolin).

Figure 13:

Healthy bread, Buka Bakery advertisement. Source: Buka Bakery’s website, https://bukabakery.com (accessed 24 November 2024).

Premium Bakery on the other hand shows consumers what the grains used for making their mixed grain bread look like. These ads primarily target urban dwellers, who may not know what each type of seed and grain looks like (Figure 14). While both companies work to raise awareness of healthy bread and bakery products in Kosovar society, their main focus remains to successfully fill the market gap in Kosovo when it comes to the global trend of healthy eating.

Figure 14:

Premium Bakery advertisement: mixed grain bread. Source: Premium bakery’s website, www.premiumbakery.net (accessed 25 November 2024).

Conclusion

As our study shows, bread has linguistic and cultural significance in the context of German–Albanian relations, particularly in Kosovo. In Albanian culture, as in many others worldwide, bread is a staple food as well as a symbol of cultural identity and community belonging. Bread is closely tied to traditional cultural practices and plays a central role in people’s daily lives. Beyond that, bread is revered, even considered divine and sacred in spiritual rituals and activities.

Migration to German-speaking countries since the 1960s, but especially in the context of the 1999 war, has contributed to the evolution of Kosovo’s bread culture. German-speaking institutions in Kosovo and the country’s economic transformation play a part too. Albanian returnees and transnational migrants from German-speaking countries in particular have introduced aspects of German bread culture and its bakery products, such as the Brötchen, to Kosovo, and these quickly gained popularity, as they were perceived as modern, convenient, and prestigious. Breakfast habits in Kosovo have changed due to introduction of the Brötchen.

We looked at how two bakeries, Buka and Premium, have significantly contributed to the spread of German bread names and products in Kosovo. The German terms have come to be seen as synonymous with the worldwide healthy eating trend. Advertising for German bread products highlight the quality and health benefits, and list the ingredients used, which further enhanced the acceptance and dissemination of these products. The two bakeries have thus successfully filled the market gap, capitalising on the entrepreneurial opportunity presented by the trend of German bread culture in Kosovo.