The Same Drink? Wine and Absinthe Consumption and Drinking Cultures Among French and Muslim Groups in Nineteenth Century Algeria

Drinking habits have long been viewed as markers of cultural difference, especially in colonial contexts, where what one drank was influenced by a variety of factors, among them availability, the weather and hygienic considerations, but also religion, ethnicity, class and gender. Consuming either absinthe or wine – or neither or both – in Algeria in the nineteenth century was consequently influenced by more than just a question of taste. This chapter focuses on alcohol consumption in colonial Algeria. It examines descriptions of absinthe and wine and of the different groups who consumed these drinks, as revealed in the accounts of French settlers in Algeria and Métropolitains travelling through the region.