GERMAN HOTEL FOOD

Evening Star, Issue 16409, 27 April 1917, Page 8

GERMAN HOTEL FOOD

HOW TRAVELLERS FARE. Some reliable information regarding economic and other conditoins in Germany has just reached me through a traveller who has arrived from over the frontier (states ‘The Times’s’ Rotterdam correspondent). His experiences are derived from residence in 20 towns of all sizes, and the hotels in which he stayed were invariably the best commercial Houses. He said: . “My expenses were just about 25s a dav 'or board and lodging, worked out thus;—! paid usually about 4s tor a room. Then amo breakfast, consisting of 80 grammes of tread (3oz), seven grammes or a qi arter of in ounce of butter, and burned yeast innerd of coffee, sometimes, not always, with saccharine, and sometimes jam, which was not very fruity. This always cost Is 6d. Being a torcigner. I got rather more bread than the Germans do. Thus at each place I was ■ * 1 bow long I intended to remain, and would say 'Perhaps a week.’ Then I got for a week a bread card called a traveller's bread i..nl, vvilh 20 tickets of Ijoz each. But vmetimts I only stayed two days; then I ate my weeks snpp ; y in two days, or sometimes !;:.vo some tickets to friends and business acquaintances. After breakfast I usually went lo a cafe, and again gel two thin slices of br_-ad with coffee substitute, which again cost Is 6tl, but kept me going. “ Eugar, real coffee, and milk are nowhere obtainable. Last November, when I was in Germany, yon could still get some milk becro 12 o’clock, but now all milk is kept for ihiidren under two years. At half-past 12 . returned to the hotel for dinner. This conlistcd of thin soup made oi turnip tops or lometimes carrots. Then followed one little rotate. Next came a piece of meat weighing roughly one and a-half English ounces, with one-half of a potato. That was the whole dinner, and cost 4s 6d. “ At 4- p.m. I had tea, consisting again of two thin slices of bread and coffee substitute, price Is 6d. At 8 I had supper, which was the same as dinner and the same price— 4s 6d. Between meals I bought Dutch chocolate, which seems to he on sale in all tho principal towns, chiefly from the firms of Kwata of Breda and Bensdorp of Amsterdam. It costs lid per piece instead of about three halfnenoa as in Holland. “ Twice daily, when I could, I bought a jlasa of beer, which costs about 6d. In some wwns you orn only get beer until 2 p.m., in sthera only after 6 p.m., but it is usually ivailable and not bad. “ Speaking generally, food is better in the small towns than in tho big towns, which may perhaps be because the small towns are in closer touch with agricultural producers, or because the distribution is easier. Everything you get in provision shops in German towns seems to bo Dutch, and you get very forcible illustrations of the extent of smuggling. It is all nonsense to say that it is of no real importance, though, of course, :ho prices of smuggled goeds are crazy. “Now about the state of health- of the people. I watched the children fairly closely for a time. They do not look thin, but there is a striking look of listlessne-ss. Among girls of 14 to 20 you notice that the eyes have no sparkle, and their whole attitude is Useless and lifeless. Despite denials, I know that tho death rate is very high, and the reason is that if illness or disease gets hold of a person there is no strength left to throw it off. Consequently, despite German medical science md precautions, quite harmless illnesses frejuently take a fatal turn.” In conclusion, I asked my informant if he intended to return to Germany. He replied: “ Not I. It pays well, but 1 simply cannot stand it again.”