Mori cooks and presents

Linus is not making any progress with his tractor. He presses the joystick on his controller - nothing happens. "You've probably accidentally rammed the fork into the ground," surmises presenter "Mori" Maurice Lange, peering over the eleven-year-old's shoulder. "Exactly, you have to pull it up first and then you can ride again." Meanwhile, in the next chair, Konstantin, 12, steers his tractor at full speed towards a green trailer to unload the second bale of hay. A little too brash, as it turns out: The tractor rammed into the trailer and the hay bale tumbled off the loading area. On to the next attempt. "Yes, it's not as easy as it looks," says "Mori".

Stacking hay bales from an armchair

The two boys from Schildow in Brandenburg play against each other on Grüne Woche stage. "E-sports meets agricultural simulator" is the name of the format, which is on the programme once a day in Hall 6.2a. In five minutes, eight hay bales have to be collected one after the other in a field with a fork, driven to the trailer and unloaded there. Whoever has stacked the most bales at the end of the game is the winner and receives a free game. The loser still takes home a vegan chocolate.

At least seven programme items can still be seen on Grüne Woche stage every day from Friday to Sunday. Gaming games to take part in as well as life hacks from various influencers and cookery demonstrations. On Friday, for example, the "Bastel Boys to the rescue!" will be coming, while on Saturday YouTuber DoktorFroid's will be having a "kitchen showdown" with host Mori.

Fresh food three times a day and plenty of tips

"Mori" Maurice Lange is also a YouTube celebrity. As a chef and e-sports commentator, he runs his own channel "Mori kocht". The chemistry graduate prepares fresh dishes on stage three times a day at Grüne Woche. The leftover food boxes supplied by the organisations "etepete" and "Too Good To Go" determine what is served. He not only talks non-stop about what he is doing, but also about the chemical processes that determine whether the food is delicious - or not. The whole thing is streamed live on his Twitch channel.

On Thursday morning, we had fried gnocchi with kale, peppers and sultanas - a rather surprising combination in Germany. After all, kale is usually only known here as a very long-cooked stew with smoky sausages as a garnish. Yet kale is actually a vitamin bomb and is considered a superfood in the USA. "Many people don't realise that you can eat kale briefly fried and even raw," explains Mori. It tastes completely different and the vitamins are retained.

Chatting about smoke points and chemistry

While you watch Mori slicing, plucking and chopping, you get another hour of chemistry and organic knowledge. Can you fry with olive oil? It depends on the temperature. Olive oil has more unsaturated fatty acids than sunflower oil, for example, and is therefore healthier, but has a lower smoke point - the point at which the fat starts to burn. When this happens, arcrolein, a carcinogenic substance, is produced. It is therefore important to make olive oil hot enough to fry kale or gnocchi in, but not to exceed the smoke point.

And so it goes on: What happens during frying? (Maillard reaction) Why does it taste better to grind pepper directly from the mill onto the dish? What is umami from a chemical point of view (roasted flavours), in which foods does it occur (tomatoes, soy sauce, parmesan), when does it taste artificial? Why is it useless to cook pasta on the highest heat?

The amusing and fact-filled chat keeps the audience on the edge of their seats. Teenagers and retired couples alike. After an hour, there are kale gnocchi to try and the general verdict is: it's delicious!