Every summer in Berlin, little huts from Karls Erdbeerhof (Karl’s Strawberry Farm) pop up outside of train stations and sell strawberries by the kilogram. This is my favorite time of year in Germany, where I lived for five years: the days are long, everyone is outside, and the world feels at peace. Plus, there are strawberries – and lots of them. When I first moved to Germany, these luscious and sweet strawberries were a revelation, so different from the perfectly shaped, watery-tasting ones I had grown up eating.

This cake is all about strawberries and, to me, it tastes like summer. It tastes like a picnic at Tempelhof, the former airport turned public park in Berlin, where crowds gather as soon as the weather permits. It tastes like the joy of sitting on the grass for hours, eating and drinking as the sun sets and friends come and go. It tastes like the carefree feeling of summer in Berlin. 

As you could probably have guessed, picking strawberries is neither easy nor carefree. It’s difficult work that involves stooping down and squatting for hours at a time. Workers must move quickly and know which berries are ready to be picked, while also being gentle with the berries to avoid bruising them. Pesticides are also a major problem. According to the Environmental Working Group, strawberries are “the fresh produce item most likely to be contaminated with pesticide residues.” This is true even if the strawberries are both rinsed in the field and washed before being eaten. 98 percent of strawberries tested by the federal government had pesticide residue on them. While there is limited data on these pesticides’ effects on workers, there is evidence that pesticides and fumigants can lead to increased risk for cancer, harm child development, and may cause birth defects.