Germany pretends to be a very progressive, green country, with all its bio this and eco that. But the hypocrisy behind this illusion is that they won’t serve you tap water in a restaurant.
Despite the fact that other countries have
won awards for solving one of the world’s biggest problems, of the pollution and
energy waste caused by bottled water, you still can’t get a glass of tap water
in many restaurants in Berlin.
Some restaurants tell you they don’t have
tap water. What? So they don’t have taps then? How do they wash their dishes I
wonder?
Some waitresses give you a look of disgust,
nod, but then “forget” to bring you the water.
Some ask you whether that will be still or
sparkling.
Only the Vietnamese restaurants actually
give you tap water without complaint.
Luckily I really like Vietnamese food.
But this is hardly progressive thinking in
2014.
Sorry for commenting on several of your posts, but they are really interesting and fun to read.
ReplyDeleteIt's interesting to see the Germans through the eyes of a person from another European country. Especially people from Italy and Spain often consider British and German to be nearly the same with regard to culture.
Not so, from my point of view, and you stress my point by pointing out the differences.
In German cafés and most cheap restaurants, the profit margin is largely by selling drinks. Especially in the cafès.
There are many that will offer rather delicious breakfast menues, but gaining next to nothing on the food. The profit is in the drinks, so they don't want you to drink tap water.
They will be glad to serve you a 0,2 glass of mineral water for 3,50 €, though.
I know tap water is considered something like a natural right in countries like Spain or Turkey or Greece, but their calculation model for meals has to be different from the German one, then.