Question re Howl's Moving Castle and Sequels

[chomiji]

Do any of the common hot beverages from our world (coffee, chocolate, tea) show up in this particular Known World?

In particular, are any of them consumed in Zanzib, but not in Ingary?

This seems like the sort of thing I ought to have noticed, but didn't. :-(

Comments

[elemy]

Ooh, good question. I have a feeling Sophie offers to make tea in response to some crisis, but it may be hot buttered toast. I'm going to have to check when I get home now...

[chomiji]

I thought so too, but I'm in the middle of a couple of other re-reads, so I thought I'd borrow someone else's brain ... thanks!

[mizu_no_cagalli]

I'm pretty certain they have tea in Ingary. I remember there being an exchange between Sophie and Michael when she's first arrived about making something hot to drink and if they had a kettle, etc. I know there is both tea and coffee in High Norland because they keep ordering it from Uncle William's house. Most of the countries in the Howl stories seem to be based somewhat on equivalent cultures in the real world. Ingary is very British. High Norland seems to be based on Switzerland or the Alpine cultures in general. Zanzib is obviously inspired by Arab culture, so depending on what you need the information for, a look at Arab cuisine and beverages might be helpful? From what I remember, they talk more about the food of Zanzib than the drinks.

[chomiji]

That makes sense. Yes, I think someone mentioned sherbet (as a drink, not the fruit ice that we call sherbet in the U.S.), but I don't recall any other drinks.

[mizu_no_cagalli]

Sherbet in the UK is usually hard powdery candy. Haven't heard of it as a drink, but who knows!

[loonylupinlover]

I know in Zanzib Abdullah talks about fruit juices. But for tea I would hazard a guess that like in Morocco, sweetened mint tea might be a thing they would do that Ingary wouldn't. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moroccan_tea_culture

[chomiji]

That's a reasonable idea - thanks!