[Balgair]

Yes this is typically why European foods are thought to be less acidic in taste, the issue was the pewter dinnerware of the aristocracy. Tomatoes were blamed for a while, but all acids will allow the leaching out of lead from the pewter into the food and then usually death followed. Romans actually used this technique to sweeten foods and usually wine. To extend this to the use of general metal ware is straightforward. Though not lead, necessarily, I am sure that heated/acidic drinks will do something to the food taste, and maybe not just via leaching. Egg white, whipped in a copper bowl, will stand up much longer and are more satin-y than in other bowls. It would be most interesting to compare the different metals and choose the ones that most exemplify the desired results; hopefully not lead poisoning though.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/why-the-tomato-wa...

http://io9.gizmodo.com/5877587/the-first-artificial-sweetene...