About Us
Annamma came to Germany in the late 1960s as one of many Indian women and trained to be a nurse. Coming to a foreign country at the age of 20, far from her family and getting used to a new culture, language and food was not easy.
A letter to the family took two weeks to arrive in India and another two weeks to get a reply. Telephone calls were only possible using landlines or pay phones, so contact with the family was very limited and homesickness was great.
Since there were only a few Indian shops in Germany at the time, it was hard to get food from home. You could only cook with the products you had brought back from India and it was often two or three years before you could visit home again.
Today, a new generation of nursing staff and students is coming from India who find it easier to stay in touch with their families or to find their way around in Germany. Nevertheless, homesickness remains and people don't always have time to drive to the nearest Indian store to do some shopping after work or during their studies.
Annamma and her family want to help here and at least offer an alternative to buying the most important food and everyday goods.
But the Tante Annamma shop is not only aimed at people with Indian roots. It is intended to give everyone a chance to buy Indian and German products as easily as possible and at affordable prices, to be guided by reviews from other customers in the community and also to try something new.