Make coffee last longer...just add acorns?

Jun 6, 2017
1 min read

Ever heard the saying, 'so poor we had to add cornmeal or acorns to stretch our coffee'? Well, I'm not sure if it's an actual saying, but in East Germany, it was definitely true. Living under socialism in the Deutsche Demokratische Republik was pretty tough. The DDR Museum in Berlin gives you an interactive walk through of life in the East, and for that reason was one of the group's favorites. Ever heard of a trabi? It was the standard car used in the East...which was about 20 years behind in technology from the West. It took 6 months to get your driver's license, and about 15 years to get a car made up almost entirely of plastic.

Random facts:

1) A collective potty bench was used in school where all the children would would stay seated until the last one was done

2) The Socialist 'brothers' kiss' was the official formal greeting method used to show onlookers that they shared closer relationships than the those in capitalist countries

3) Tropical fruits, most wines, jewelry, and fine leather goods were scare goods only possessed by the Party bosses