Stereotypes in Europe : Myths and reality

Stereotypes from Europe : Myths and reality

Good afternoon, everyone. Today I will present you various famous stereotypes regarding this month’s topic, Europe, while of course explaining each of their historical origins. As we know, Europe is a big continent, made up of so many countries, and each nation has its own language, culture, customs, specificities, and special stereotypes. We often keep in mind a few of them that characterize and make the singularity of one country compared to another. But the question is: Do these stereotypes, however absurd and exaggerated as they are, really have any truth to them? And where do they come from? This is what we are going to see through my presentation. However, I sadly won’t have the time to cover all these clichés as there are about 50 countries in Europe, and I have only 5 minutes to present.

So, without further ado, let’s talk about Europe’s stereotypes.

The first country coming up is the one in which we live, it’s France, and lucky for us, we have plenty of stereotypes. To many people, the French are seen as individuals who usually wear a striped shirt, a beret, and a baguette. This image was heavily inspired by the film industry from Britain and America, though it is known for French people to adore the baguette, so much that if you walk around Paris, you will see a bakery each 10 minutes. This long particular bread, recently listed as an intangible heritage by the UNESCO on the 30th of November 2022, is usually eaten with one of our 1200 varieties of wine and 200 types of cheese, all being key elements to this country’s worldwide known gastronomy. This element is also a huge stereotype because it represents one of the few words a non-French-speaking person would say when they meet a French person: “bonjour j’aime la fromage and la baguette”.

Funny enough? Well, let’s move on to our neighbour Germany. Apparently, in Germany, people love eating potatoes (kartoffen), Frankfurt sausages and tend to drink litres, and litres of beer. Real drinkers! Created 6000 years ago, beer is considered all around the world an ordinary festive drink. However, in Germany, beer is an ancient knowledge that was brought up from generation to generation. Thanks to that, Germany has become Europe’s first beer producer, hence the fact that many see the Germans as huge alcoholics. Nonetheless, I’m sure you would agree with that stereotype after you discover the quantities of beer they drink in average! To say, the average German drinks up to 106 litres of beer per year, compared to an average Frenchman with 32 litres only. Germans also tend to stay sober after a lot of bottles.

But we all know that these are rookie numbers compared to Britain’s in terms of tea, with annually 265 litres per person. Ahh the United Kingdom, a world of manners, delicacies, elegance, and of course, tea. Many think the majority of Britain’s population loves tea, sometimes with a small touch of milk, being very very true. Tea like earl grey or Darjeeling fashioned during India’s colonization in the 19th century, where tea was harvested. Milk in tea became popular in the privileged class as the porcelain cups in which tea was served were so delicate that they would crack from the heat of the tea, therefore milk was added to cool the liquid and stop the cups from cracking.

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