Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

I think in particular with coffee there is if anything the opposite cultural bias. Being German, there's a popular Canon (loosely translated)

"don't drink coffee, coffee! The Turkish potion is not for kids, weakens the nerves, makes you pale and sick. Don't be a muselman (muslim, archaic), who can't do without it"

My almost 90 year old grandmother still talks like this about coffee and many people forget nowadays how bad of a reputation coffee had in the West until it got really popular, and despite not having many obvious bad health effects, and maybe even having positive ones.



I'm german and I have never heard that. Coffee has a great reputation and pretty much everyone I know drinks it. It's more of a social stigma not to.


that's surprising and I guess you're relatively young and don't have kids because I've actually still heard it sung by kids in kindergarden. There's also Bach's coffee Cantata in a similar vein, and quite a lot of fiction dictated to the allegedly detrimental effects of drinking coffee.

And sadly often a lot of it is tied to the image of the "sickly Turk" which is a popular stereotype attached to most things imported from 'oriental' cultures. You may remember debates about the hookah craze a decade ago or so.


Surely in Vienna where they were actually fighting the Turks they had no compunction about drinking coffee?


I'm in my thirties (NRW)


This seems strange considering the popularity of Caffeinated beverages in WW2 and Muckefuck post War.

If she is 90, maybe this is some sort of propoganda fallout from WW1 induced shortanges?




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: