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Comment by rauljordan2020 | Hacker News Reader

rauljordan2020

I'm from latam. I never saw anyone drink water growing up. Anytime you try to drink water, people label you as boring, even your parents. Whenever we go to a restaurant, the first thing you ask the waiter is "what sodas do you have?". If you're not feeling like drinking soda and want something "healthier", you ask what kinds of fruit juices they have. If you don't like the options, you settle on a hyper-sweetened tea.

I frequently ask my parents to drink more water, and they get defensive saying they drink a lot of water but I just don't see it. The truth is they only drink half a small cup in the middle of the night...

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Is there a lack of education on nutrition?

Growing up in the 1990s and early 2000s in the United States in a middle class suburban environment, it was definitely considered "boring" to get a water instead of a soda when going out for dinner at a restaurant as a family, but at home it was not. I think we had some awareness that it wasn't healthy to drink soda for every single meal or just when hanging out, but it absolutely was considered normal to have it every day, to drink several cans at a party, to drink several cans at work. If you had drank it at breakfast you would have been looked at like you were crazy though.

Now, living in a coastal, cultural capital city as an adult, I don't know anyone who drinks soda in their normal day-to-day life, at home, at restaurants, etc. except in special situations. If anything flavored sparkling water is common. But if I visit my hometown, I do see that people still drink soda heavily, but its diet soda.

It is very common and nobody will shame you for asking water in Brazil. Some cities even have laws mandating that filtered water should be served for free.

Latin America is very big, I don’t think you can generalise your experience to a whole subcontinent.

And how are latam's doing? From your writeup seems to be enjoying life

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