Food and Drink Symbol Analysis

Throughout Buddenbrooks, food and drink represent the moral decay that results from greed, decadence, and self-indulgence. The sheer frequency with which the narration mentions a sumptuous feast the family members share together or a tasty treat one character or another devours highlights the vast resources the family has to put toward food and drink—and how much they indulge and entertain. The novel begins just as the Buddenbrooks’ guests are arriving at Meng Strasse for the family dinners they host on Thursday, and the narration describes in great detail the vast array of food and drink that comprise the meal’s many courses. The problem is that the Buddenbrooks don’t know when to stop. At the party which begins the novel, young Christian becomes ill from eating too many sweets—a tendency he has inherited from his father and grandfather, the family physician Dr. Grabow wryly notes. Later, Tony’s long-running grudge against the Hagenströms, a rival merchant family, begins after Hermann Hagenström tries to forcibly kiss her as pay for a decadent goose meat-filled lemon bun she covets. Later, considering the unappealing prospect of marrying Bendix Grünlich, Tony’s opinion is nearly swayed at the thought that being the (supposedly) wealthy businessman’s wife might allow her the privilege of drinking hot chocolate each morning for breakfast. Through the countless references to food that appear over the course of the novel, Buddenbrooks illuminates the greed and entitlement that wealth can breed, as well as the harsh consequences one may suffer when they willfully overindulge or become unable to exercise self-control.