The rhon tastes! The communities of bischofsheim, fladungen, oberelsbach and ostheim (all in the district of rhon-grabfeld) as well as hammelburg and wartmannsroth (in the district of bad kissingen) recently proved this with success in a competition organized by the bavarian ministry of food. Since the spring, the six from rhon have been among the "100 delicacies of bavaria" and want to promote themselves and the rhon with this award and the variety of their culinary specialties.
A first opportunity for joint promotion under the event motto "premium strategy for food" the 7. Bavarian enjoyment festival from 10. Until 12. August on munich's odeonsplatz, where up to 20,000 gourmets are expected over three days. There the rhoners want to offer ostheimer leberkas and oberelsbacher sausage from the rhon sheep with fladunger farmhouse bread from the stone oven or hammelburger datscher from rye bread dough for tasting.
"Actually we are much broader", the mayor of bischofsheim, georg seiffert, emphasized "but for the festival we have chosen special features"." however, the serving of kreuzberg beer and wartmannsrother whisky was prohibited by the munich authorities. "The fear of our good goods was probably too rough", suspected district administrator thomas habermann (rhon-grabfeld). "The people of munich can't keep up with our drinks."
habermann praised the bavarian delicacies award: "behind it is a great commitment on the part of farmers and food artisans." the products produced in small private businesses "are undoubtedly of super quality compared to industrial mass-produced goods", he made the difference clear and emphasized: "individuality of taste is something special."
His colleague from bad kissingen, thomas bold, recalled the launch of the rhon umbrella brand 15 years ago. "In the marketing of regionality, we were way ahead of the times back then." since then it has become a trend. In the meantime, it has been recognized everywhere that regionality also means identity.
"This award is an excellent testimony to the quality of our products", said bold. All six towns had not entered the competition as competitors, but "together at eye level as a competition for our region" understood, birgit erb, mayor of oberelsbach, asserted. "We are now forming a chain of pleasure pearls along the rhon."
This "string of pearls from six places of enjoyment is already promoted by the tourist umbrella company rhon gmbh with a special internet presence and a brochure and should, according to managing director thorn ploger, only be a first step and "the start for further actions" his. In his call to other towns in the rhon "to create something comparable now", landrat bold supported him: "there are certainly other communities in our area that could be places of enjoyment. Such an award is not only an advertisement to the outside world, but also an identity-building measure to the inside."
The village of wartmannsroth invites visitors to a first identity-creating event on saturday, 4. August, a. At its "open-air enjoyment" event 14 local producers, including five distillers, will offer their culinary specialties for visitors to taste and buy. Further, also joint performances are to take place in the future, agrees gmbh managing director thorn ploger with oberelsbach's mayor birgit erb. The establishment of a new cooperation to combine forces is also conceivable in the long term. In all activities of this kind, landrat bold sees "a complement to the umbrella brand rhon and a strengthening of already existing marketing initiatives".