BRITISH IDENTITY AND THE GERMAN OTHER A Dissertation ...

A more innocuous, if no less deplorable, image of German gluttony, laziness and
drunkenness continued to be a favorite topic into the 1890s. One anonymous writer scorned the
German Mittagessen, or midday meal, saying “no highly-civilized nation dines heavily in the
middle of the day,” and opined that “the Germans hold, with certain of the ancient philosophers,
that their souls are situated in their stomachs.” 33 A more detailed treatise on the German
penchant for a leisurely existence of eating, drinking and smoking graced the pages of
Gentleman’s Magazine in 1895. Some excerpts follow:
The German out-of-doors spends most of his time walking from one restaurant to
another, and always smokes: a cigar is as invariable a feature on his face as the carefullycultivated
moustache; . . . Even the German workman smokes them during the many
moments of leisure which occur in his work, for he does not hurry or overtire himself; . . .
. . . The end and aim of every German expedition is the restaurant; after seeing
twenty of these establishments in two hundred yards of street, one realizes how
extensively they must be patronized. . . .
. . . The Germans have a habit of taking all their courses on one plate, which is not
very inviting, and, like Dr. Johnson, have been known to snort over their food. . . .
. . . Beer is, with the love of music, the great national characteristic, and the
methods employed in the beer-clubs, to drink as much as possible, suggest the orgies of
some of the Roman emperors. Perhaps it is due to this excessive drinking, and the smoky
atmosphere of the restaurants, that so many of the Germans have eyes which look as if
they had been boiled, and wear spectacles so much more generally than the English. 34
The gluttony of German theatre patrons became legendary. A commentator for Cassell’s
Family Magazine in 1898 described the ritual gorging between acts:
As these worthy citizens with their wives emerge from the theatre, they call loudly for
beer and various eatables, and, sitting down, commence to devour their food with
astonishing rapidity. The interval lasts but ten minutes, and they intend to make the best
use of their time. Presently a bell rings loudly, and back to our seats we all hurry, the
supper consumers finishing the last fragments of their meal en route. Several, we notice,
33 “Cousins German,” Cornhill, 295, 297.
34 Vernon Rendall, “The Germans At Home,” Gentleman’s Magazine 278 (February
1895): 177, 179, 182-83.
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