Countdown to Christmas
3 - Plastic Drinking Straws
- Straws increase drinking pleasure by gently tickling the palate. However, previous materials spoiled the taste. But in the 1950s plastic straws ended this misery worldwide. Cocktails and soft drinks could be enjoyed undistortedly!
- Plastic straws were banned in the EU in 2021. Others followed. Now we must use straws that taste terribly (metal), turn soggy (paper) or are potentially dangerous (glass). Now that it is regulated away, we know what the plastic straw meant to us.
Inventor
The honour of this invention belongs to Otto W. Dieffenbach, a Baltimore entrepreneur and chairman of Glassips Inc.. He invented the plastic straw – made of cellophane - in 1930. Together with Josef Friedman's invention of the bendy straw (1937) the world was ready for a new and great era of drinking culture, which is now in danger!
Normally, a mundane pack of straws wouldn't make an attractive Christmas gift, to put it mildly. Things have changed since the EU banned it. If you are coming for a visit from a less regulation-friendly country, you will make your hosts very happy with it, indeed.
