Alcohol and Drugs History Society

Jewish taverns in rural Poland (article)

Glenn Dynner, "Legal Fictions: The Survival of Rural Jewish Tavernkeeping in the Kingdom of Poland," Jewish Social Studies 16/2 (2010): 28-66.

Dry villages in Poland, 1920-1934

Adrian Zandberg (University of Warsaw), “'Dry villages': Local Alcohol Prohibition in Poland 1920-1934," paper to be delivered at a conference "History, Digestion and Society: New Perspectives," University College Dublin, April 30-May 1, 2010.

Costa acquires coffee shops in central and eastern Europe

Costa (founded in 1971), a subsidiary of Whitbread, has over a thousand coffee shops in Britain and 400 elsewhere.  Seeking to expand in central and eastern Europe, Costa has purchased coffeeheaven and its 90 outlets there, including 62 in Poland.  For more, see here.

Brits now drink more vodka than blended Scotch whiskey

For the first time the British now drink more vodka than blended Scotch whiskey. The (London) Telegraph suggests rather weirdly that the influx of Polish workers explains the shift in taste for hard liquor. For more, see here.

Polish American teetotalers (article)

William Galush, "The Unremembered Movement: Abstinence among Polish Americans," Polish American Studies 63/2 (2006): 13-22.

Coffee: who grows it? who drinks it?

India's Financial Times, 5 Feburary 2007, reports on who grows and who drinks coffee. Although there are 25 kinds of coffee grown, two varieties dominate, (mostly) Arabica and (secondly) Robusta. The major producers are Brazil (33.16%), Columbia (11.65%), Vietnam (10.61%), Indonesia (5.97%), Mexico (4.59%) and India (4.60%) that combined produce about 70% of the world's coffee. The major consumers are the United States, Canada, Japan. Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, Poland, and Spain. As an Indian newspaper, the Financial Times mentions that India consumes 30% of the coffee that it grows. For more, see here.

Frontwide World, May 2003, lists the top 10 coffee-importing countries, in order of amount imported, as the United States, Germany (less than half that of the USA), Japan, France, Italy, Spain, Canada, the United Kingdom, Poland, and the Netherlands. Per capita the Scandinavian countries drink the most coffee, with Finland averaging more than four cups a day per person. This website lists the ten leading coffee producers, in order of amount produced, as Brazil, Vietnam, Colombia, Indonesia, India, Mexico, Ethiopia, Guatemala, Ivory Coast and Uganda. Nearly 25 million farmers grow coffee in more than fifty countries. For more, see here.

poleczne problemy alkoholizmu w Polsce w latach (article)

Brzezinski, Tadeusz. “Spoleczne problemy alkoholizmu w Polsce w latach, 1918-1939.” Archiwum Historii i Filozofii Medycyny 60:4 (1997), 345-352. [In Polish; on alcohol as a social problem in newly-independent Poland.]

Pope Benedict in Poland

The heavily Roman Catholic city of Warsaw did some things to spruce up the city for Pope Benedict's May visit.

Sexy advertisements were put under wraps and a ban on liquor sales went into force on Thursday in areas that Pope Benedict will visit during his just-started tour of Poland.

An eye-catching outdoor poster for an anti-cellulite cream was covered up after a conservative group in this overwhelmingly Roman Catholic country complained that the sight of a woman's bare backside and thigh was offensive.

Tabloid newspapers refrained from publishing their customary topless models on their back pages on Thursday, while Warsaw bars were either closed or served only low alcohol content beer.

Link to a May 25 Reuters report here.

Abstinence among Polish Americans (AHA paper)

William J. Galush (Loyola University of Chicago), "An Unremembered Movement: Abstinence among Poles," American Historical Association annual meeting, Philadelphia, January 2006. Temperance among Polish-Americans.

Alcohol advertising restrictions

The Warsaw Business Journal reports (4 April 2005) that with the exception of beer, the advertisement and promotion of alcohol in Poland is prohibited. However, the reality, for better or worse, is not so clear. As with many laws, this prohibition is followed by a long list of exceptions. Find the full story here.