3 ms·

> If you only drink water, you're not having any fun. That's a very strange thing to say... It's only in the last two generations that other beverages have su

> If you only drink water, you're not having any fun. That's a very strange thing to say... It's only in the last two generations that other beverages have supplanted water. Prior to that it was a rare thing. When I first switched to water only 7 years ago, it was actually hard because I'd had a lifetime of flavor overload, and it takes awhile for your sense of taste to adjust to normality. American food in general is over-salted, and over-flavored. Eating most things there is like a punch in the face after eating normal food again (England has the opposite problem). Drinking carbonated water with a twist of lime helped a lot, and then after awhile I came to appreciate the subtle nuances between different water types. Tap water in San Francisco has a harsh overtone to it. Tap water in Western Oakland tastes a little muddy. Tap water in Vancouver and Leipzig is actually quite tasty. The best water I've ever had is hands down in the tiny town of Nagasasa in Japan. We actually dumped out all of our water bottles and brought 20 litres of the stuff back with us to Nagoya (where the tap water tastes terrible).

semi-extrinsic 4y ago
> It's only in the last two generations that other beverages have supplanted water. Prior to that it was a rare thing. It's only in the last six generations that water has supplanted beer (typically "small beer") as a beverage. Prior to that it was a dangerous thing to drink water unless you lived far out in the countryside.
- kstenerud 4y ago
  I doubt this very much. Beer costs money to make, and very few people would have been able to afford it. We also see much more recently that 3rd world countries didn't do this, either. People drank water.
  - semi-extrinsic 4y ago
    Why doubt it? People made beer at home from barley and water and mugworth, it was decidedly not expensive. Today the Czech Republic is the country with the highest beer consumption per capita, at 140 liters per person per year. Germany clocks in at 99, and the US is at 72. In the late middle ages, the average in Britain was 300 liters per person per year. In 1830, Americans over the age of 15 consumed more than 31 liters of pure alcohol per year. If that was all in 7% beer, it corresponds to 1.2 liters of strong beer every day. Probably quite a bit was also in whiskey, which was cheaper than milk back then.
    - UIUC_06 4y ago
      Very true. People did drink a lot more back then (even John Adams had some hard cider with breakfast), but also, the alcohol content of their wine or beer was probably pretty low.
UIUC_06 4y ago
I haven't been to Japan, so I'm not arguing. Just curious: have you been to Mt. Shasta in northern CA? Their water is awesome.

semi-extrinsic 4y ago

> It's only in the last two generations that other beverages have supplanted water. Prior to that it was a rare thing. It's only in the last six generations that water has supplanted beer (typically "small beer") as a beverage. Prior to that it was a dangerous thing to drink water unless you lived far out in the countryside.

kstenerud 4y ago
I doubt this very much. Beer costs money to make, and very few people would have been able to afford it. We also see much more recently that 3rd world countries didn't do this, either. People drank water.
- semi-extrinsic 4y ago
  Why doubt it? People made beer at home from barley and water and mugworth, it was decidedly not expensive. Today the Czech Republic is the country with the highest beer consumption per capita, at 140 liters per person per year. Germany clocks in at 99, and the US is at 72. In the late middle ages, the average in Britain was 300 liters per person per year. In 1830, Americans over the age of 15 consumed more than 31 liters of pure alcohol per year. If that was all in 7% beer, it corresponds to 1.2 liters of strong beer every day. Probably quite a bit was also in whiskey, which was cheaper than milk back then.
  - UIUC_06 4y ago
    Very true. People did drink a lot more back then (even John Adams had some hard cider with breakfast), but also, the alcohol content of their wine or beer was probably pretty low.

UIUC_06 4y ago

I haven't been to Japan, so I'm not arguing. Just curious: have you been to Mt. Shasta in northern CA? Their water is awesome.