Kiss Imre: Szódavíz, egy magyar kultuszital, Szikvíz ipartörténeti album (Budapest, 2008)

Tabáni vendéglős lányával és szódásüveggel, 1920-as évek Restaurant owner formTabán with his daughter and a soda bottle, 1

920s „... további millióknak felüdülést és örömöt, enyhülést és élvezetet nyújtott ez az ital. Mindennapjaink természetes társává vált, olyan alapvető élelmiszer lett belőle, ami nem hiányozhatott a különböző néprétegekbe tartozó emberek asztaláról. Vegyítettük borral és szörpökkel, hittünk és hiszünk gyógyító erejében, használjuk főzéshez és tisztításhoz. Megihlette a legnagyobb művészeinket is, irodalmi és képzőművészeti alkotások témája lett. Szerteágazó jelenlétével kivívta magának életünkben azt a kultikus szerepet, amit éppen egyszerűségének varázsával, hasznosságának erejével és kirobbanó vitalitásával ért el. emphatic - then I called it „hymnic" - style, but I could not couch my meaning in other words than I did: „... this drink offered recreation and joy, quenching thirst and having a good time to millions of people. It is an accepted companion in our every day life, by now it has become a food of basic importance that could not be missing from the tables of the different social strata. We have already mixed it with wine and syrups, we believed and believe in its medicinal effect, use it for cooking and cleaning. It inspired our greatest artists, it served a model to literary and artistic works. As it was present almost everywhere, it deserved a cultic role in our lives that was due to its magic simplicity, power of usefulness and extraordinary vitality. It is a great feeling to meet it, craving for it or being enslaved to it - it is your decision. We enjoy every drip - all the time and in every way. We stay together in good and bad times, we complain about our pains and discontents, but we also have a good time together. It has its place at out tables, it has its place in our lives. We get it, we transubstantiate it, and we get transubstantiated ourselves. It quenches our thirst and makes us burning. It bombards us with bubbles, and cools down us as a waterfalls. It breaks in our world and makes peace. It calms down and agitates." But let us break with the pathetic tone and examine the bare facts. In the previous chapters we could see that soda manufacturing offered the opportunity for tens of thousands of people in the trade and the related trades to gain a secured livelihood. Today's figures show that about 1500 entrepreneurs working with this drink, support their families. It is quite natural that they are consumers too,