Toytown Germany

If you're interested in the Restaurants in Munich with Non-Smoking Zones, then you may be interested in these sites as well. Some of them have databases or lists of non-smoking hotels, bars, etc.


Non-Smoking Zones in Munich Restaurants. Very complete list, by Julian H. Stacey, Tobacco Smoke Allergic. In English.
Non-Smoking Zones in Munich. In English, from the Munich City Guide.
Reviews of Cafe Ignatz, S.M. Vegetarisch, and Gandl. At Munich Found. In English.
Non-Smoking Zones in all of Germany. In English.
"Rauchfreie Gastronomie" is the link for the database search of registered restaurants with non-smoking sections. This organization is based in Unterschleißheim just north of Munich. In German.
Nichtraucher-Initiative München, a Munich non-smoking initiative. They meet once a month. In German.
Pro-Rauchfrei.de, another Munich non-smoking initiative. They meet every other Tuesday at Cafe Ignaz and the first Saturday of every month in the Turmstüberl in the Valentin Musäum. In German.
Economic Impact of Smokefree Air Laws and Policies -- This link is interesting because the EU is trying to provide more non-smoking zones in restaurants, and certain news channels (Pro7!) continue to report as truth the lie that smoking bans have a negative impact on restaurant revenues.
=17&ID=]Die Abendzeitung also has a list in their Gastroführer of restaurants with their own non-smoking zones.
Nichtraucherkampagne Bel Air startet -- a brand-new non-smoking initiative supported by OB Christian Ude's wife Edith von Welser-Ude. They will award stickers to restaurants that fill the criteria, similar to those Best 10 Restaurants in Munich stickers.
Bayerisches Staatsministerium für
Umwelt, Gesundheit und Verbraucherschutz -- The Bavarian Ministry of the Environment, Health, and Consumer Protection. Also a nice database, for all of Bavaria.

The comments above were posted some time ago but the topic is evergreen. I loved living in Munich last year, hanging out in the cozy coffeehouses and Lokale, though my pleasure was significantly diminished by the ambient smoke in virtually every one of them. The very first thing most smokers (and half the patrons were smokers) did when marching into a cafe was light up. Being from California, where you can now breathe easily in all bars and restaurants, I was unaccustomed to the acrid air and uninterested in becoming accustomed. Patronage at bars and restaurants has not diminished since the California law was passed. Why isn't anybody doing anything about it here, I wondered. So I looked into the matter.

The national German nonsmoker initiative noted above has worked for decades on the issue. One of their top guys is in Unterschleissheim. See:

http://www.ni-d.de/norgan.html
and
http://www.ni-muenchen.de/

I went to one of their bi-monthly meetings and talked to this fellow. (For meeting dates click on "Vereinstreffen" at the ni-muenchen homepage.) He explained to me that the legal situation is different in Germany than in America, where one by one various local communities can ban smoking in eating places, till finally there was a critical mass and the whole state of California (and others like New York) passed anti-smoking laws.

In Deutschland it has to be done at the national level from the outset. This is complicated by the German political party system, which I understand only in the vaguest terms. An official attempt to ban public smoking was made in the national legislature a few years ago but it failed. The topic is going to be raised again. It would help if smokers were not the only people making a big stink, thus letters to editors and personal appeals to restauranteurs for non-smoking sections will eventually have an effect.

(German language comment removed by admin)

Doesn't the present law say that an area in the restaurant should be reserved for non-smokers?

Last night I was in an Indian restaurant and they didn't have a non-smoking area. And I cannot find the law in Internet.

Could you help me?

I don't smoke and smoky restaurants kill my contact lenses, so I have an idea: let's form a big English-only campaign to change every holdover from the past in Germany and try to make this place just like California. That would really help make outsiders more accepted here. Yeah, yeah, I know, you pay lots of taxes and want to have a say here. But, you're not German and you never will be, so just let the natives make up their own minds on such issues in their own time. Germans' resistance to all kinds of change, including this one, is one of the reasons, at least indirectly, that many of us are here. And that's another hypocrisy: nearly every native English speaker is here by choice. Go back to California, or your personal smoke-free haven, and quit giving traditional Germans more reasons to dislike outsiders. Please, please, do not ever argue again that becaue some social change worked in California, it's a good idea in Germany.

I think they'll eventually come around on the issue, but I sincerely hope it does not signal an increase in the pace of change. And from a purely pragmatic view, no Englander or American is going to help this cause. Just wait patiently and it might happen in a few years or maybe your lifetime.

What's wrong with getting involved? I did the website for the bel air folks and they were glad for the help, as they didn't have anyone lined up to do it until I volunteered. All the initiatives above were started by and are run by Germans in German btw., as is bel air.

Why wait when you can work for change?

Gen has a very sensible attitude (good for you in your website activity, Gen!) -- and Mr Blackman has a very strange attitude. He is probably a smoker trying to shame the opposition. Ain't gonna work.

There are plenty of Germans who detest cigarette smoke -- I've been in restaurants with them. Under half of the population smokes, and the nicotine addicts oppress the majority. California is not the only smoke-free zone, that's a lame argument. Try Ireland recently, and other European nations on the way. Ultimately it's a very serious health concern both for primary and secondary inhalers (waiters-waitresses-bartenders in particular), the best reason of all to forbid it inside in public places everywhere.

When you're in a restaurant and somebody lights up next to you, say something to them. I've done it (politely) and it does work.

As far as lobbying for or importing sensible and internationally valid American ideas is concerned, does any German feel nostalgia for the 4-DM-per- minute phone calls abroad before deregulation?

Merely toungue-in-cheek, no insult or belittling of philanthropy was intended.

My point was, and remains: We are and always will be outsiders. Our voice for modernisation, therefore, is weaker, less appreciated and possibly counter-productive, no matter how noble.

When you ask the German next to you in a restaurant not to smoke, they usually comply. But the request, especially if made with a less than perfect accent, will be resented and cursed and likely damage your cause. Even Germans who agree with your goal will likely criticise your action.

Ireland's success with smoke-free restaurants is well known and I have appreciated the benefits first-hand. When I said "your personal smoke-free haven" that obviously includes places outside California.

And, please, phone bills and deregulation? Bad analogies work both ways: Would you support ripping up all that unsafe, outdated cobblestone because people twist their ankles and it's hard on bicycles and cars? People could still have cobblestone at home, why do they need it in public places too? It's simply an unnecessary danger and nuisance. Yes it can be pleasurable, but how many grandmothers have to break a hip before we let go of the past?

I would support actively lobbying if we were talking about helping a developing nation with reforms to aid an oppressed people, but the idea of outsiders imposing an idea on an Old Europe nation just seems so arrogant and wrong.

By involving yourself in this debate are you not implying that German people are oppressed, incapable of protecting themselves and in need of a savior from the U.S., England or wherever? We've been there before and I don't think Germans appreciate being made to feel that way again for something so petty in comparison.

(P.S., there's really no need to open with an attack on my credibility -- no I don't smoke, yes I find it a major nuisance at times and try to sit outside or near open windows. Regardless, shouldn't the arguments take priority, to the exclusion of personal attacks?)

Outsiders? Even those of us who've been here for more than five years? More than ten? We live here and it's also our responsibility to contribute to society -- not only with taxes but with ideas and arguments. Why should getting involved in politics imply "saving" the Germans, especially when the Germans make up the majority of any political group here? (For example, bel air is composed of... oh about 7 Germans, one Turkish woman who's been here for twenty years, and me.) The exception is of course the Ausländerbeirat, put in place to give all those "outsiders" a dedicated voice in politics...

And besides, I can't see how working for a political goal could be "imposing an idea" on anyone. The government still has to make the laws and enforce them -- and who votes for and makes up the government here? German citizens...