In Europe, falafel became especially available in Germany by the early 1970s.
Migration helped carry falafel from the Middle East into European cities. Arab and Turkish communities established restaurants and food businesses, and Germany was especially important because a large Turkish population had put down roots there.
During the early 1970s, Turkish food stalls and restaurants made falafel increasingly accessible to German customers. The dish was not simply copied unchanged: local availability, eating habits, and the surrounding Turkish street-food economy helped produce variations in ingredients and serving style.
Germany’s falafel story is sometimes confused with the history of döner kebab, which also became strongly associated with Turkish migrant businesses in West Berlin during the 1970s. The two foods shared parts of the same urban food environment, but they are distinct dishes. The historical claim here is about Germany’s early European availability, not about falafel’s place of origin.