The Foreigner's Guide to Slovakia

Cherry season is almost here (though it might be delayed due to all the heavy rain). Cherry trees can be found all across Slovakia. In fact, you have to know two words: čerešňa – cherry, and višňa – black cherry or sour cherry. I remember the first year I was teaching and students would bring me large bags of cherries. My teacher roommate and I could never finish them, even after making cherry cobblers and pies.

There are many recipes for koláč using cherries. I posted a basic fruit cake recipe here in the past. Of course you can always eat cherries as they are, freshly picked, but if you reach for a glass of water don’t be surprised if a Slovak vigorously warns you against taking a drink.

This is something I have never encountered anywhere else but in Slovakia. Slovaks say you really shouldn’t drink water while eating a fruit that has a pit in it such as cherries, peaches, nectarines, etc. Why? Because you will get an upset stomach, or diarrhea, or both.

“What?” I remember myself saying. “Your kidding, right?” Even my Slovak husband warns me repeatedly if I’m drinking something while eating a pitted fruit. “Nothing will happen to me. I guarantee it.” And nothing ever has, but I still wonder how it came to be that people warn against it.

I told my dad this story once and he told me his father used to say the same thing. My grandfather was from Bavaria. Interesting. Maybe it’s a central-European thing?

Has anyone else encountered this belief or know its origins?

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