Different cultures and their quirks/food/customs/drink 5

[ziggi]

This is a continuation of a post on a hijacked thread, which was primarily about booze (the post not the thread), but then evolved, but then I forgot where it went, so I'm making a new one.

For those of you who wonder why this is in the self-improvement section. The next time you end up in Poland overpaying a restaurant meal by $80 b/c you gave the waitress $100 for a $20 meal and said thank you, you'll be glad you read this post.

To start us off, when in Poland and at a restaurant, first off pay in cash (credit scams are rife) and secondly don't say anything to the waitress/waiter when paying, saying "Thank you" denotes that you want the waitress/waiter to keep the change.
Also Croatians tend to stare right into your eyes when talking to you, that may creep out the introverts out there....pretty much most engineers ;-) .

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

KENAT,

The Capital is a german style brewery, so none of theirs are gonna be to your taste I think. I would recommend another brwery in my hometown, The Great Dane. They produce many English style brews, many of which (although uncertified) are produced using the standards for "real ale" as defined by CAMRA.

I can personally recommend their Potters Run India Pale Ale and the Wooden Ships ESB as both very good and fairly authentic.

Unfortunately, they don't sell anywhere outside Madison as far as I know.

 

[KENAT]

Beggar,

By the standards of some european countries 3 languages isn't that many. Pretty much every Dutch person I've ever met can speak 5-6 if I remember correctly.

The Brits are bad at learning foreign languages. I know a little French and that's it.

Bruno, if my travels ever take me that way I may have to check it out.

One just occured to me, what's with donuts/doughnuts for breakfast? In the UK we might have this with a coffee or something at about 10:30 -11:00 (the famous elevenses) but not for breakfast.

 

[mog69]

Beggar
..And likewise maple syrup on ham / bacon and eggs for breakfast !
mog69

 

[mog69]

...and now I come to remember - grits !!!!!! whoever thought they were for eating instead of making a decent floor out of I'll never understand !

 

[epoisses]

KENAT,
The Dutchman you spoke with must have been bluffing. Dutch speak Dutch because their mama taught them, Dutch speak English because the TV taught them (everything is subtitled in Holland). Dutch rarely speak much German or French.

And yes they are cheap (don't remember who wrote that much higher up), so definitely no refill! However any place that advertises with a free coffee refill is immediately flooded with customers (which I guess only reconfirms the statement).

 

[MadMango]

Many of my friends that know of and eat grits do so with butter, I prefer sugar.

If I am out to dinner, I usually order iced tea just so I can get free refills. I save the alcoholic drinks for later.

SomptingGuy, yes we still have those top-heavy cups in the USA, and there seems to be no slow down in their growth. Recently a fast food chain (Wendy's) just changed-up their sizes. Their large drink was called a Biggie. Now the Biggie is the medium size (32oz/960ml) and there is a larger Large size (42oz/1260ml). Some of my friends will drink 2-3 cup fulls at lunch.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
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[Jabberwocky]

While in my calculus class way back in high school, we learned about minimizing and related rates. Specifically with regard to material on an aluminum soda can. Our teacher then led us off on a wonderful tangent whereby we learned that the cost of the soda (Coke, Sprite, pop, whatever) amounted to about 0.05 cents US. The point was that the can was the premium item.

In most restaurants here in the US, soft drinks cost between $1.50 and $2.50. There are some outliers but I'd call that average. As was mentioned above, figure in cost of cup, labour, ice, even refrigeration and I can't imagine that the total cost is above $0.25. Add in two (2!) free refills and we're talking, what, $0.26? Remember this the next time you are denied a free refill.

With almost any meal while eating out, I drink (tap) water. If some place has the nerve to charge for that, I don't come back.

 

[ewh]

Grits - delicious with butter, salt and pepper. If you add sugar, you basically have cream of wheat, which is good in it's own right!

 

[casseopeia]

I used to eat grits with sorghum growing up, but find my tastes have changed. Now I eat grits with margarine and salt and LOTS of hot sauce.

Actually, my favorite is grits cass,erole made by mixing cooked grits with grated cheese, jalapenos a bit of cream, and maybe a few other things I can't remember, then baking.

"If you are going to walk on thin ice, you might as well dance!"

 

[SomptingGuy]

Steering back to the thread...

Lemonade is a term we Brits use for flavourless fizzy sugar water. And although I acknowledge the stupidity of it, I really miss it when travelling abroad. When I ask for a whisky and lemonade anywhere else in the world I get either blank or disbelieving looks. Sprite doesn't cut it. Nor does 7UP.

 

[fglass]

Jabberwocky reminded me about the tap water. I noticed most of the Americans drink tap water without boiling/filtering it. Is that what happened in Europe as well?

SMS- There is a Shell oil office in PETRONAS (Malaysia's National Petroleum)towers??? Weird case. Do you think there is a BP office in Exxon building in the US? I didn't know there have 3 levels of food court in KLCC mall. It seems like you know more about my country than me. There is a restaurant called 'Madam XXX (I forget)' in the mall. They sell local food. I ate there 5 years back and think that's not a bad one. In your following KL trip, you can try that if you want something different from American food. Hopefully, you will not have things like fishhead soup again. What's the responsible of a support group in a company? I am working in R&D department. Do you think I am able to have business trip?

 

[MadMango]

American culture- if you celebrate good fortune (birthday, promotion, etc), co-workers/friends take you out and treat you.

Korean culture (wife is Korean)- if you celebrate good fortune, you treat your co-workers/friends when out.

I don't get it.

[green]"Art without engineering is dreaming; Engineering without art is calculating."[/green]
Steven K. Roberts, Technomad
Have you read faq731-376 to make the best use of Eng-Tips Forums?

 

[IRstuff]

It's like a potlatch, the why is unknown.

Speculation is that it's about showing off one's status.

TTFN

 

[fglass]

MadMango, Good that you bring this topic out. I think it depends on the situation. Sometimes, friends would treat us, but not always. Normally, when people get promoted, it also mean that his/her salary would get increased as well. That's the reason why we have to treat our friends , I THINK. For the birthday, it has to depend on who is the one who make the invitation. If you invited your friends to celebrate your birthday, then you have to pay. In other case, if your friends wanted to celebrate your birthday for you without you asking, then they are the one who deal with the bill. BUT, it can be the case that your wife wanted to show off to her co-workers/friends that her husband is rich, smart and generous. who knows?

 

[KENAT]

epoisses

Well I witnessed several of the Dutch guys (and girls) speaking Dutch, English, French and German. So at least several of them spoke at least 4 languages. Also a couple of them had accents so good that you couldn't really tell where they came from, they could easily have been a Brit who just spoke a little odd.

In the UK, where I worked, if it was your birthday you brought in cakes/donuts whatever.

In the US where I've worked it seems they are more likely to treat you.

Sompting, all the lemonade I ever drank in the UK was lemon flavored, just not very strong. The other difference, like you said, lemonade in the UK is fizzy. Even so called traditional lemonade, though being stronger in flavor more like US lemonade, is fizzy. I was quite surprised when I first had lemonade in the US and it was flat.

Here's one for you. In France it seemed perfectly acceptable for the froth on top of a beer to half fill the glass. In the UK that's actually illegal if I recall correctly. The maximum froth is I believe about 10 mm or something like that. Any more and you can take it back for a top up. Some pubs actually have oversize glasses, basically an extra 10mm added on the top so you actually get a full pint of beer!

Any whiskey drinkers out there like to explain the differences between Irish, Scotch, Canadian and American (including bourbon JD etc)? To me the Irish is by far the best but I'm sure others will disagree.

 

[sms]

fglass: Petronas and Shell have joint venture operations. That is why we have offices there.

Most of the Dutch guys I work with speak English, Dutch, and one other language. But usually the third language is not as good. I was told that English and Dutch were mandatory in school, but they also had to take another language as well. I took German in school, and today my ability to speak German is little more than Hi how are you. If you don't use it, you loose it. I think the same is true for the Dutch.

I do speak Spanish, because I use it. So who has enjoyed tapas and Sangria in Barcelona? That is the life.... I really need to move to Spain.

(Tapas is the Spanish version of Dim Sum, a wide variety of small dishes of meats or vegetables that everyone at the table shares).

-The future's so bright I gotta wear shades!

 

[btrueblood]

sms wrote "I do speak Spanish, because I use it. So who has enjoyed tapas and Sangria in Barcelona? That is the life.... I really need to move to Spain."

Agreed, but not to Barcelona (yet). My visit to Madrid (visiting my wife's friends there) started with a morning shopping trip, which "finished up" with a "bite to eat" at a tapas bar. Round after endless round of tasty bits to eat, along with various wines, beer, etc. Everything from bread and olives to squid in its own ink and octopus. After we finally filled up (about 1-ish?) the owner/proprietor refused to let us leave without trying a shot of his home-made pear liquer. Then home for a siesta...

 

[Twoballcane]

Every time I eat at an All You Can Eat buffet place for $10 (USA), I wonder where else in the world would do this. Once when some of my third world country relatives came, my parents treated them to an All You Can Eat Chinese / Japanese buffet place and they were amazed on how much food that they can eat for one price. This was about ten years ago, but today I wonder how common it is in other countries. Did this catch on in your country?

Tobalcane
"If you avoid failure, you also avoid success."

 

[KENAT]

I've seen a few 'all you can eat' buffets in the UK.

One was Chinese food and One was Indian. It's not as common as in the US though.

The Dutch Guys and Gals I spoke to may not have been typical then I guess.

 

[GregLocock]

There's one chain that does all you can eat in Oz. The food is bland and generic at best, I'd rather not eat than eat there.

Dunno about free refills, my local Italian restaurant gives us bread and olive oil all night!


Cheers

Greg Locock

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