page_title: Über den Tellerrand
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Über den Tellerrand / History
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Berlin-Kreuzberg Oranienplatz
context_page_description: Über den Tellerrand is a nonprofit organization engaged in the integration of refugees. The headquarters of the organization is in Berlin, Germany. It was founded in April 2014. The main focus of the organization is to have citizens and refugees live and work together side by side with each side learning from the others. In July 2017 the organization was active in 25 cities in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and the Netherlands.
  The German name, Über den Tellerrand, literally means "Beyond the Edge of the Plate". It is a German expression, meaning roughly "beyond the horizon." It is especially relevant for a program that deals with bringing people together through food.
  In addition to the Berlin office, there are 25 satellite programs in Germany and neighboring countries, and one in the United States, in Columbus, Ohio.
context_section_description: The concept began in 2013 when large protests of refugees occurred in Berlin at Oranienplatz. The protesters had read a great deal about refugees, but had no personal direct experience of them, so everything they read was theoretical. People had lost sight of the fact that the people protesting were individual human beings, each with their own story. So they decided to get to know the refugees on a more personal level. They began by cooking together with them at Oranienplatz in the Berlin area of Kreuzberg. From the cooking sessions they developed a cook book. The cook book included recipes and also the personal stories of the refugees who contributed them. The cook book itself was developed during the Funpreneur competition organized by the Free University of Berlin. During the competition a product needs to be developed and marketed within an eight-week period. The first book included 21 recipes gathered from refugees living in shelters or who been part of the protests at Oranienplatz. The team received the Funpreneur Prize in December 2013. Four hundred copies were printed and quickly sold. There was so much demand that the team realized that there was potential to professionalize the endeavor. 
  The cooking event with refugees gave the participants the idea to have refugees give cooking lessons. The idea was developed with the help of the Social Impact Lab in Berlin in the spring of 2014. It was important for the founders to have locals and refugees come together as equals. Through the leading part that refugees play in the cooking lessons "the humility of a petitioner was replaced by the confidence of an expert."
  Later a cook book was published that included 36 recipes from 27 refugees. The cooks came from countries such as Afghanistan, Syria, Guinea, Niger, Macedonia and Chechnya. A second cook book was later published with recipes in both German and English.
  From the beginning the idea of the Foundation was to have refugees teaching the locals how to cook meals from their culture, and thus present their culture through the meal. During the process locals who had little idea about the concept of refugees came to have more understanding of their situations and more respect for their cultures.
caption: The Oranienplatz at Berlin- Kreuzberg
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