Wurst Than the Other Sausages: Food, Fear and Public Health in Britain

Speaker: Professor Keir Waddington (Cardiff University)

This talk combines history of science, food and culture and applies these to Anglo-German relations and perceptions by examining how between 1850 and 1914 the German sausage was used as a metaphor for the German nation

Alarm about what went into German sausages was both part of wider concerns about food safety and formed part of a growing strand of popular anti-German sentiment, which drew on increasing insecurity about Britain’s position on the world stage and the perceived economic threat Germany and German immigrants presented.