Veranstalter / Organizers:
Messe Berlin Website
Datum der Veranstaltung:
17-26 Jan 2025
International Green Week
17-26 Jan 2025

A snake made of henna

Sesame cookies with coffee, tasting rose petal tea, testing chili paste, exploring argan oil - Morocco invites you to try things out at length in Hall 18.

Somewhat shyly, Johnny settles down on the round, yellow seat cushion. "A snake do you want on your arm?" asks Fouzia Krumpiegl of the six-year-old. Johnny nods. "And on Monday you'll go to school with it?" And Johnny beams. He just thinks snakes are totally cool. Then he puts his hand on a small pillow and holds very still until the henna painter has conjured up a lambent snake with a fine pattern on his forearm using a narrow pipette. This takes about five minutes, then Johnny's mom takes his place.

A henna tattoo as a souvenir for the work week

Dorit, 58, dressed in jeans and practical walking shoes, already has a tattoo, a floral pattern that stretches from her ring finger down the back of her hand to her wrist. In the end, she requested glitter in pink and green, now everything has to dry for 20 minutes. "I like to take something with me from the Green Week," says the Berliner. "When I go into the office on Monday, I have something nice and vivid from this weekend."

Preferring to be free and creative

Henna painter Fouzia Krumpiegl, Moroccan by birth but married in Nuremberg for a long time, has a neat job on the Morocco stand. While a Dutch brass band plays its songs from the other end of Hall 18, groups of women repeatedly stop in front of her folder and browse through the patterns. "But there are also men coming who want a henna tattoo," she says. "My favorite thing is when people just tell me if they want flowers or ornaments and then I can paint freely. Then I can get creative."

Spices, tea and dates

Morocco is one of the biggest country displays at Green Week this year. Around the large café counter, where you can get orange juice with cinnamon or sesame cookies to go with your Arabic coffee, there's one stand after another - and at almost every one there's something to try: Almond paste with argan oil, argan oil pure, walnut oil, various dates, cumin on hard-boiled egg, rose petal tea, harissa paste with chili.

Apricot oil from the women's cooperative

The women's cooperative Coop BH Nature has brought fragrant body oils under the brand name Aleya, mint, rose, apricot, almond, lavender or argan. Those who buy here are supporting women from the north of the country. "We are certified organic and make sure that there are no leftovers in our production," explains booth manager Soumaya Yaakoubi. "And we support local women by training them and enabling them to work independently."

Surprisingly mild: garlic with saffron

The garlic products of the Igran cooperative from the oasis town of Taroudant in southern Morocco are brand new. With a small spatula, you can try your way through: roasted garlic, garlic in chili oil, or the gentle mixture of garlic with saffron. "Like this," a man says to his wife as he turns around. "One hour for a hall. If we keep this up, it'll take us two and a half days to do everything."

Visitors will find Moroccan exhibitors in Hall 18.

A woman painting a hand with "henna" paint

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