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This just in: Humans almost certainly drink water, and have for at least the past two millennium. haha, but in all seriousness, I always thought when people sa
by yogiHacks 12y ago
This just in: Humans almost certainly drink water, and have for at least the past two millennium.
haha, but in all seriousness, I always thought when people said "medieval people didn't drink water" that they really meant "medieval people didn't drink as much water, or drank dirty water".
There was a lecture I watched from someone who explained the Medieval period as "everyone drinking beer because the water was so filthy" and the Enlightenment as "everyone drinking tea because the beer was so intoxicating" and the Industrial Revolution as "everyone drinking coffee because tea wasn't strong enough".
I laughed at that and considered the whole idea of Medieval peoples drinking beer instead of water as mostly hyperbole.
- sthreet 12y agoI have a problem where I can't tell what to take completely literally/seriously and what not too. This is something that I did take literally, and now I am happy to be not wrong on something else.
- jrochkind1 12y agoI thought it was true as well, about ancient greece as well as midieval times. People talk about how children used to drink beer until fairly recently -- I'm not sure if _that's_ really true either, but it is usually explained that the reason for this is that the water couldn't be trusted and nobody drank water, and that part apparently isn't.
- FreeFull 12y agoThere were "small beers" which had very little alcohol content. The yeast is fairly nutritious.
- jrochkind1 12y agoyeah, I understood that... but misunderstood the reason they drank such beers was cause they couldn't drink the water, I guess?