In the matter of cuisine the Germans are the most cosmopolitan of all
peoples; they learn eagerly from other nations, and sometimes improve
on the original. They like variety; when traveling, unlike the English
and Americans, they prefer things new to them, and it has been justly
said that one of the Germans' chief objects in touring is to enjoy
exotic pleasures of the table.
At home they avoid monotony by frequently supping in restaurants or
beer gardens, the whole family being taken there, including the dog,
unless a great crowd is expected because of a special musical treat,
in which case the public is informed that "_Hunde dürfen nicht
mitgebracht werden_."
And how enthusiastically these burghers discuss the diverse good things
placed before them! A Berlin author maintains that three-fourths of all
Germans, and four-fifths of their cousins, the Austrians, talk more
about eating than about anything else, and that the most successful
novels in their countries are those in which there are descriptions of
banquets that make the mouth water. No need of preaching gastronomy to
them!
To deny that the Germans have a cuisine of their own, as some of their
own writers have done, is folly. While they have set a good example in
being willing to learn from their neighbors--as the Italians learned
from the Orientals and the French from the Italians--they have also
originated and improved a number of things gastronomic which deserve to
be transplanted to other countries.
A contributor to the "Frankfurter Zeitung" points out that "more than
one dish which in Germany, France, and England is relished under a
French name was originated by German cooks." He exhorts these cooks to
give the dishes they create German names, choosing such as a foreigner
can pronounce. England has succeeded in adding some of its food
names--like beefsteak, Irish stew, mock-turtle soup, pudding, roast
beef, toast--to the world-language, and the French have shown by their
adoption of _Lied_, _Concertmeister_, _Hinterland_, _Bock_, etc., that
they would not balk at German culinary terms.