Tasteless: Food seller shamed for ‘Anne Frankfurter’ hotdog
A VEGETARIAN food van was dropped from a Birmingham brewery event after it named one of its hot dogs after Holocaust victim Anne Frank.
Viva Veggie staff were due to serve visitors at the Birmingham Brewing Company this weekend – and listed an ‘Anne Frankfurter’ on its menu.
But owners of the Stirchley bar confirmed the Worcestershire-based company’s van would no longer be trading at the venue following criticism of the tasteless move. Organisers branded the name ‘totally inappropriate’.
A spokesman for Viva Veggie said its ‘intention was never to offend’.
Anne Frank was a Dutch Jewish girl who famously kept a diary documenting life in hiding under Nazi persecution. She was later captured and died in a Nazi concentration camp in 1945.
The £7 dish attracted criticism on social media and was branded ‘hideous’ and ‘tasteless’ by many online.
One person said: “This is hideous.” Another tweeted: “Really? THE Anne Frank. I love a bit of dark humour but...” And a third wrote: “Tasteless!”
However, some tried to defend the name as harmless: “The likelihood here is, that the rationale leading to the name, is that Anne Frank was a vegetarian, and this being a veggie frankfurter meal, sort of just made it whimsical.
“I don’t think someone should be banned on a question of taste.”
Owners of Viva Veggie apologised for the reference and said that the name of the hot dog had been changed.
Maria Finn, who runs the independent business with her daughter, said: “There was no big thought process behind the name at all. It was just something that came up when we were looking on the internet for ideas. We know all about Anne Frank and she was from Frankfurt and herself, chose not to eat meat.
“We didn’t mean to offend anyone at all, that was never our intention. I realise now that I shouldn’t have done it.
“We started this business ourselves during Covid and this was a really big event for us. We had bought all the stock for three full days and have now taken a big financial hit.”
A Birmingham Brewing Company spokesman said: “Naively we did not have sight of the menu before it was published. The choice of name for the hotdog is totally inappropriate and does not match our values. Viva Veggie will not be trading with us this weekend.”
Anne Frank has become a potent symbol of the Nazi genocide that killed six million Jews and millions of others. Her diary describing her family’s time in hiding have sold over 30 million copies.