3 ms·
> who, like most Europeans of that time, preferred beer to water Yes, the pilgrims preferred beer over water because the water kept killing them. Drinking tea
by ashtonkem 5y ago
> who, like most Europeans of that time, preferred beer to water
Yes, the pilgrims preferred beer over water because the water kept killing them. Drinking tea or beer was a matter of safety, not mere preference or addiction. We now know that the combination of boiling, pH, and alcohol helped keep beer safer than drinking water of the time, but they were unaware of that and just knew that beer seemed safer.
Trying to draw a parallel between modern drinking habits and the pilgrims is just silly, because we’re drinking different things in different amounts for very different reasons.
- zokula 5y ago> Yes, the pilgrims preferred beer over water because the water kept killing them. Drinking tea or beer was a matter of safety, not mere preference or addiction. That's a myth.
- ashtonkem 5y ago[Citation needed]
- jaguar1878 5y agoAskHistorians on reddit has put this very question into their "very frequently asked questions" due to its popularity, and there's a decent number of answers describing why its a myth: https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7b8jea/is_it_true_most_people_in_medieval_europe_drank/dpgj9wp/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/7b8jea/is_it... https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2bewpo/what_factors_made_beer_so_important_to_the/cj76n6f/ https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/comments/2bewpo/what_...
- ashtonkem 5y agoAh, that is helpful. Thank you.