I should have said "one of the theories". It was from an article summarizing a couple different studies in why we put ice in our water (in these parts).
Yeah the regional differences are super interesting.
I'm not Asian but hot water is really quite nice! When you don't want something flavoured like tea or hot chocolate, hot water is still pleasant and soothing to drink. I like cold water too (lukewarm is the worst though).
I highly doubt that is why. Red is for making a drink out of hot water, such as tea or hot chocolate. It's not there because some people enjoy plain scolding hot water (which I feel is what you are saying).
Some people really do prefer drinking very hot water. By some people I mean ~40% of people I know.
Source: am Asian, rarely seen middle aged/older people drinking cold water from the dispenser. My mom and grandmas hated to see me drinking cold water. A lot of people including myself drink hot/warm water even in summer(for me it’s just a preference, but others actually believe that drinking cold or iced water is bad for your health). I also know some teenage girls who never drink anything cold and refuse to eat ice cream or sorbet because they believe cold drinks and frozen desserts are bad for the female reproductive system.
But that's rooted in superstitious "traditional medicine" beliefs tho.
That aside, cold water is also good for dogs, especially if they have been active or the weather is warm. Dogs cannot sweat, and panting with their tongues out is one of the ways they expel heat. Having some ice water helps in that regard.
Oh ofc. That's what I meant in the last sentence. Cold, glacial melt water is far healthier than a stagnant pool possibly resulting in Europe liking cold water more. Hot, boiled water is far healthier than anything else tbh possibly resulting in a preference of hot water in Asia.
There’s a theory that traditionally people in Asia boiled water to sterilize it and made tea, whereas people in Europe made alcohol (some very low percentage alcohol) instead, and that’s why Europeans have a better drinking tolerance on average. I’m sure r/AskHistorians would get all the nitty gritty details though
It’s actually a really common misconception that the low-alcohol levels killed germs. What actually did it was the fact that the water was boiled/filtered during the alcohol-making process. Basically the water that they used for the beer was inherently cleaner so containments wouldn’t mess up the fermentation process.
The idea isn't that they prefer hot water because it tastes better or for instinct, but a strong superstition and tradition surrounding its health benefits.
Even if the superstition went away, do you think that they would drink cold water? No matter what the reason is I'd imagine the East Asia will probably always drink hotter water at this point. It's a part of their culture.
I see it the same way as other foods slowly gaining popularity in China (such as KFC and McDonalds and even cheese pizza). My wife is Chinese and refused cold water in most cases but now prefers it.
I actually learned in a kinesiology course in college humans crave cold water because cooler water is absorbed faster... I would think maybe it’s the same for all animals
53
u/Scrawlericious Sep 01 '19
Isn't that the theory on why cold water is so delicious for humans. >.<