Does Anyone know Why No Ice in europe?
 

I've just returned from 2 weeks in London Paris and Cannes. It was great but very HOT. So why is it that it's like pulling teeth to get ice in a beverage over there? Seriously, is it just that Europeans don't ask for it so they're not equipped, or for some other reason?

We just returned from London and Portugal and just simply asked for ice. It always came nicely served in a glass with a spoon. I didn't think it was like "pulling teeth", since they always complied with our request. My European relatives drink their drinks without ice too. Why? I never asked.

For restaurants, etc, I think that mostly the lack of ice is the fact that making it, and large freezer equipment, are expensive to run. similarly, all of their appliances are smaller, and many airconditoning units seem under-powered for Americans. Their fuel costs are much higher, which makes anything "extra" an expense to consider. So: especially in climates like Britain where it doesn't get that hot most of the year, ice isn't a way of life.

That said, once you get used to a certain way of eating, that is what becomes normal to you, whether it's termperature, level of spicing, etc. But things can change. It seemess that whenever Britain has a heat wave these days, a lot more cold beer and ice drinks are sold.

But you can often get ice if you ask, especially if the establishment gets number of American tourists. Rememeber: it was not that long ago that the concept of Diet cola was almost unknown.

(I've never been a fan of extrememly cold drinks, and usually ask for "no ice" on planes, but I don't live in the South muchof the year, either.)

"No ice" is an ingrained cultural habit or practice. Think back to what America was like a generation or two ago. There were few wine drinkers at dinner. Ethnic restaurants served ethnic communities. There were few imported cars. Time changes things.

One thought is, the colder you drink your drinks, the more you will notice how hot it is around you.

My favorite thing though is seeing how many people ask for bottled water then ask for ice to pour it over. I just don't get it. Do they think the ice was made from bottled water? If they can drink the melted tap water, why don't they just order tap water to begin with?

It's all what you get used to. Now, I find myself asking for no ice or taking the ice out of my drinks. It actually dilutes the flavors of the item that you're drinking.

Since we do not drink soda, we drink carbonated (fizzy/gas or whatever it is called) water and that is usually served at room temperature (warm). Adding ice to it is just like adding ice to a soda and for me has nothing to do with not wanting to drink the tap water.

Yes, I failed to mention about the fizzy water. I was referring to those who order "non-fizzy" water and then request ice. Or for that matter to those who refuse to drink tap water at all, but add ice to any of their bottled drinks.

Europeans don't prefer their drinks watered down as Americans do. Why pay for a drink that's sometimes 75% ice? And they hold this habit even during heat waves, yes.

It's part of the European culture.

When haying in the Swiss alps, farmers often drink hot tea or weak coffee to satisfy their thirst. It works.

Hi Ill,
Why is it so difficult to get a fountain drink with no ice over here?

((I))

But I didn't find that I was paying for a watered down drink or something that contained 75% ice. The glass came full...the ice served apart...leaving me to determine how much or how little I wanted to add. I prefer it this way as opposed to the practice in the U.S.

I'm not sure I agree that ice in a drink automatically means it is "watered down" but that's simply my own feeling.

I have been told in the past that there is the feeling amongst some in Europe that icy drinks can cause bad health effects.

I've asked for ice and gotten it in many restaurants; in Florence once the waiter actually brought a bowl of ice to the table because he knew we were from the US.

I think Madame x answered the question, Thanks. For those who want to argue about why I wanted ice in the recent heat wave in France, I can only say a glass of ice water (tap water is perfectly fine with me) really helps after a long day of sightseeing, especially after climbing the 200 and whatever steps to the gargoyle level at Notre Dame or traisping through the Hamlet at Versailles.

My European friends..mostly French..do not use ice or require the air conditioning that we do.

My French friends visited me in May. We always had to ask to have water sans ice!! My A/C in both house and car were too cold for them. She had to try my iced tea (unsweetened) as it seemed that almost everyone seemed to order it for lunch.

"I'm not sure I agree that ice in a drink automatically means it is "watered down" but that's simply my own feeling."

Huh? Ice is frozen water. When the ice melts it waters down the drink. Pure and simple. The only way it wouldn't water down the drink is if the drink is so cold already that the ice doesn't melt. And if so, what was the point of the ice?

I lived in New England for two years.
In the Winter, I regularly turned the thermostat down outside my flat, only to have the neighbours turn it up to 80F again.
In the Summer, I kept a cardigan at work because the air conditioning made it too cold. So the locals wanted to be steamy hot in the Winter and freezing cold in the Summer. Very strange.
I agree about diluting drinks.
Ice is frozen water and it's much cheaper to sell water than a beverage.

" I can only say a glass of ice water (tap water is perfectly fine with me) really helps after a long day of sightseeing,"

Well, beer does the job much better .)

The health thing many people believe in: Drinking very cold on a very hot day can upset your stomach.

Well, I'm happy with tap water with ice. This is the thing that doesn't seem to be readily available. Especially when I have been out sightseeing & walking, I like to have several glasses of iced tap water to quench my thirst. I am at home in the US now & just returned from a nice long walk. Came in the door & downed 2 big glasses of tap wahter with lots of ice. This is what I'd like to bd able to get in Europe. My husband about dropped dead on our recent trip to Germany when I paid E5 for a cold liter bottle of water at a restaurant.

I am not sure anyone answered your question. I think ice in drinks isn't something they are accustomed to. You can get ice if you ask for it but it is like asking for tap water at a resturant in Europe, the custom is bottled water and they think you are odd for asking for tap water.

I think it is all a cultural thing. If you grew up with or without ice..that is the way you like it!!

When Americans travel to Europe, you will not expect the ice..when Europeans travel to the US, they always have to ask to have the ice left out!! That is the way it is!!

There are many cultural differences that you adjust to..you don't complain, you adjust to wherever you are in the world..some seem strange, some unpleasant..that is all part of travel and learning how they do it someplace else.

Here's a sub-question: I reluctantly admit that we visited McDonalds' in both Rome and Florence. In both cities, the drinks were fountain drinks, served with ice without our asking for it. Is ice a "McDonalds standard" world wide, such that a Roman eating at a Rome McDonalds would have to ask for "no ice", or were we given ice since we were obviously Americans?

I can't stand ice in sparkling/fizzy water because it reduces the fizz (I love really fizz water, like Spa Rouge water, that stuff crackles!). In Brussels, many places will give you ice in drinks, but only one or two cubes, not a big chunk of crushed ice.

If you want a drink that's refreshing even thought it's served hot, ask for a glass of tea with fresh mint leaves. Easy to find in Paris and Brussels.

Oddly enough, Magners Irish cider is traditionally served with ice, a departure from the usual room temp beer. So if you're in a British pub and want a drink with ice, ask for Magners.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/food/Story/0,,1771479,00.html

I live in St. Louis, where it gets very hot and humid in the summers, and I don't like ice in my drinks. I like them on the cold side, but ice just ends up watering down whatever I am drinking. I actually find it difficult to not get ice in my drinks, as usually its such a habit that the waiter forgets that I requested it and automatically adds ice to my drink.

Everyone has their own preferences, and ice is obviousy an American preference. I don't think Europe should have to change their ways to suit our tastes.

Tracy

Tracy, I don't think anyone is asking Europe to change its ways to suit our tastes. It seems like whenever one expresses genuine curiosity about WHY certain things are different in Europe, that is often mistaken on this board as a desire for things to be the same.

When ice started to become readily available in the developed world, why did Americans like it in drinks and Europeans didn't? I find that kind of thing quite interesting.

>Is ice a "McDonalds standard"
No longer (at least here in Germany) you get your Coke without ice. It was annoying to always have to ask "without ice", now they finally changed their policy to be more reasonable. The still sell bottled tab water btw and people are acually buying it.

Missy, my comment was just a loose comment. Of course I don't think that anyone here expects Europe to change to suit our tastes. Its just that questions like this come up quite often. We should just accept that things in Europe are different than at home and go with the flow.

Tracy

We're hardly asking Europeans to change their ways. It is a matter of preference and every restaurant I have been to has been accomodating. Many people who travel from other countries to the U.S. make preference requests as well. And since restaurants are in the service industry, I think they make every effort to please their customers.

I would prefer my fizzy water without ice too and if the bottle comes cold, I don't add it.

Neo..after all those iced drinks you've had in your lifetime I am sure you understand that havuing ice in a drink doesn't immediately put it into a "watered down" state but then again, i wondered why all the guys complained about the lousy booze at your parties!

i agree with elina--drinking ice water on a hot day upsets stomaches, and at least where I live (Le Marche, Italy), Italians really take that seriously.

It's not just in Europe. In most parts of the world, people rarely ask for over-iced drinks. Maybe for dessert, but certainly not with meals! Americans seem to prefer everything super-cold or overheated and can't seem to adjust themselves to the local habits or anything in-between. I've heard Americans complain about beer not being served ice cold (it's served just chilled everywhere else) and also not being strong enough (as if the only reason to drink beer is to get drunk). In other places, when it's hot, they enjoy (or tolerate) it- they just minimize their physical activities, they don't turn the AC on full blast. When it's cold, they shut the windows, wear wool socks and hats, maybe turn up the heat a little, but don't make their homes a furnace. What else? "Why don't Asian restaurants in Asia have soy sauce on the table so you can drown your white rice and already-seasoned food with it?" or "Why don't they give you fortune cookies at the end of a meal? It's not hard to make."

Tracy, I go with the flow, but I'm still fascinated with the WHY of the differences. I'm still waiting for someone to tell me how the whole wash cloth thing got started. There was obviously an era where ladies sewed everything their family used; did American ladies make small little squares to use as what we know as washcloths, and the French and Italian ladies didn't? Or did it all start when towels started being mass-produced, and washcloths were the idea of some American towel manufacturer? The differences that persist, despite "globalization," are so interesting to me.

At most Mickey D's world-wide (and I've been in them from Cairo to Beijing) mainly to pick up a bottled water or a milkshare, since I don't eat meat, and sometimes just to check out what local foods they have on offer (always a few things interesting and different for local tastes) they'll do the ice thing as requested-in other words, if Americans are coming in for a drink, and request ice, or they know that the person ordering is American, they'll fill up the cup with ice, without making you force them to do so-as it properly should be-it is an American chain-if a European doesn't LIKE that, why, go get one of your nice room-temp. cans of Coke that you can get everywhere else.

I did note this last trip in May to Vienna that there were almost all Viennese in the Mickey D's and they didn't seem to have any problem with ice in the drinks there on one warm day.

Coke, by the way, is an American invention, out of Atlanta, GA, and since the early 1900's has ALWAYS been served with ice-particularly fountain cokes-which simply do NOT taste the same WITHOUT ice-it's too syrupy-sweet otherwise.

When I'm in Italy in the summertime, it seems I don't have too much of a problem getting more than the one tiny ice cube in a drink when it's very hot outside-certainly not as much of a problem there as in the UK, that's for sure.

As far as "ice" not cooling you down, or upsetting your stomach, well, someone needs to tell medical personnel that when someone is rushed to the hospital with a fever-the first thing they do is wrap the person in ice blankets and/or put the person in an ice bath to get their temperature down-so there must be SOME good reason why ice is thought of as a coolant, for otherwise disgustingly tepid drinks such as one all too frequently gets in Europe when its hot outside.

And as for the rest of the world, well, I go to Thailand and S.E. Asia fairly frequently, I never have a problem getting an ice cold drink there-that's out on the street, or in little grocery stores stopping in to pick up a bottled water-ICE COLD-ALWAYS. In Bangkok restaurants, I get as much ice as I want. Same in the Middle East-have never gone anywhere in Egypt, Jordan, Morocco where I didn't get ice the way I want it, only in Europe do they seem to have this overly fastidious aversion to ice in drinks-particularly in their overheated, horribly stuffy, undercooled public spaces, and on hot days.

And to drink sparkling water, which I love, at "room temperature" is absolutely incomprehensible to me, as you really do not get the full crisp refreshing bite of such water UNLESS it's ice cold.

For my part, it's the Europeans who are out of sync on this issue-not the other way around.

I sometimes found the ice annoying when thirsty - trying to GULP down a drink and get the ice OUT OF THE WAY!
Sensitive teeth - EEK!
Also when drinking a jim beam and coke - if you add the ice it certainly waters the bloody drink down (well maybe only the first couple because the rest go down MUCH FASTER).
If you have a cup of tea on a hot day it makes you sweat a little and thus cools you down faster? Mum used to say that....
Some drinks (soft or otherwise) are meant to be served CHILLED and others are meant to be served at room temperature - it certainly affects the taste on some things.
If I want ice I ask for it. If I don't I ask for it that way. :)

Wow, Burga and Tracy, way to get on a soapbox in response to a genuine question. I was asking for information, but I'm glad gave you a forum to express your condescension.

well, I want to know how "entree" morphed into the main serving rather than the appetizer.

Illegallady, I think somebody's burqa is in a twist. :-D

I believe the most accurate answer, as several posters have already mentioned, is that it is simply not part of the culture.

I was born in Europe, but now live in the U.S. I don't put ice in my drinks. Why? BEACAUSE WHY WOULD YOU PUT ICE IN SOMETHING THAT IS ALREADY COLD?????

illegallady, I wasn't trying to be mean, condescending or offensive, and I'm sorry if I came across that way; that's just not the way I am. I was just giving my opinion. Isn't that what this forum's about?

I did answer your question with my opinion. I think that its just a matter of personal taste and cultural differences. I'm sure Europeans come over here and wonder why we put ice in our drinks, but its just the way we do things and the way we do things.

My comment about not expecting Europe to change to suit our tastes was more of a joke and certainly I didn't mean anything by it.

Tracy