When I was a kid and visiting Belgium over the summer

[conuly]

I had a lot of trouble eating ice cream neatly. For some reason I had it in my head that you should eat your cone from the bottom up. (Tip I found out on the internet: If you're using cones that are slightly open at the bottom you can plug up the gap with a marshmallow.)

That same summer my grandmother told me one day that soup was better in hot weather (not that it ever gets that hot in Wavre) because you sweat and that cools you down. I don't know if my grandfather expressed agreement, or if he even was in the room, but I'm certain he didn't disagree.

"Hot food for hot weather" is a widespread folk-ism. My grandmother of course was Walloon, and my grandfather's family was... from... idk, somewhere in Tsarist Russia's general sphere of influence. I don't know if it's entirely true, but people from regions where it's widespread certainly do believe it.

Has anybody ever really mapped where it's found, though? People will say that the grandmothers here or there believe it, but has anybody actually sat down and recorded where this belief is most widespread, and among whom? Or when it started?

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Comments

[melannen]

People downthread are naming hot places where they do this, but I still think nobody who comes from a place where relative humidity regularly hits 90% in summer truly thinks *more sweat* is a good thing on a hot day.

Truly hot food is actually better than "room temperature armpit sweat" food if "cold" isn't an option though. (and probably safer).