Nechezol was a Romanian coffee substitute,[1] imposed on the market in the last years of communism in Romania.

Coffee had virtually disappeared from Romanian stores in the 1980s (but was still available in Comturist hard-currency luxury shops and on the black market[2]), with the drastic limitation of imports intended to reduce Romania's external debt. Nechezol contained only one-fifth coffee, the balance typically consisting of barley, oats, chickpeas and chestnuts. Its pejorative nickname is derived from the verb a necheza (to neigh), alluding to the oats (usually fed to horses), with the chemical suffix -ol giving a pseudoscientific touch alluding to Elena Ceaușescu, "world-renowned scientist" and wife of dictator Nicolae Ceaușescu.

Nechezol contained no caffeine.[3]

Notes and references

  1. ↑ "Précarité alimentaire, austérité / Food insecurity and austerity". Manger pendant la dernière décennie communiste en Roumanie / Eating in the last decade of communism in Roumania (in French). Catherina Perianu. Retrieved 2012-02-24.
  2. ↑ http://metropotam.ro/La-zi/Memorabilia-o-ceasca-de-nechezol-cu-lapte-de-soia-va-rog-art5344453460/
  3. ↑ "O lume disparută / A Vanished World". Ion Manolescu, Ioan Stanomir, Paul Cernat, Angelo Mitchievici.

See also

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