ABSTRACT
This chapter turns toward the historical background of the way that Islam has been characterized – and caricatured in Europe. To do this, the author focuses on coffee, including the historical references by Europeans to coffee and its Arab origins. The author takes a close look at the symbol for a Viennese coffee that celebrates the conquering of the Ottoman army at the gates of Vienna in 1683 along with the arrival of the Arab-based popular drink and the coffeehouses that purvey it. The essay shows that the seemingly innocent icon of a Moorish boy became the symbol not only for coffee but also for the domination of non-Muslim Christian culture in Europe. Such symbols support the attitude of othering that continues in Austria and elsewhere in Europe in the contemporary era.
