A popular spicy outfit in Germany is being rebranded because of the racist connotations of its name.
Food company Knorr will change the name of its ‘Gypsy Sauce’, as ‘Gypsy Sauce’ to ‘Paprika Sauce Hungarian Style’, Bild reported on Sunday.
“Since ‘gypsy sauce’ can be interpreted in a negative way, we decided to give our Knorr sauce a new name,” said Unilever, the company that owns Knorr.
File: A man holds a bottle of ‘gypsy sauce’ from the manufacturer Knorr in Berlin, Germany.
(Hauke-Christian Dittrich / dpa via AP)
The spicy sauce, a staple in many German households, will soon be seen with the new name in supermarkets across the country, Bild am Sonntag reported.
The renaming of the brand 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 stereotyping.
“Gypsy” is a derogatory German term for the Roma and Sinti minority groups who have lived in Europe for centuries and still face discrimination. Organizations of Roma and Sinti in Germany have also indicated that the sauce is not even part of their traditional cuisine and they have been demanding for years that the name be abolished.
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The head of the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma welcomed Knorr’s decision to stop using the term.
“It’s good that Knorr is responding to the complaints of apparently a lot of people,” Romani told Rose 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 in 2019 it had received significantly more complaints about racism than the year before. The Federal Agency for Discrimination said it received nearly 1,200 complaints about racism last year, an increase of 10% compared to 2018.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
