wherefore the straw?

[bavila]

While zoning out at Nordstrom Cafe the other day with my server's tidy bundle of cellophane-wrapped straws tucked in her apron in my line of sight, I thought, "Why in the world do so many adults use straws in restaurants?"

I can see the utility of straws for to-go beverages with lids ala the fast food world. And something like a milk shake might just move faster with suction applied. And of course kids -- well -- we're lucky if somehow, anyhow, most of the beverage winds up in their mouths rather than the table or floor. But for grown ups?

Some might argue that straws seem a more sanitary means to drinking from glassware used by many, but a server's grubby paws could easily make that point moot. Another reason might be to facilitate tidiness. But if I'm old enough to be trusted with a glass of red wine and a white linen tablecloth, I hope I can handle a glass of iced tea. And speaking of iced tea, sometimes the straw may be the most suitable stirring implement provided a diner for sweetening tea -- truly a lack of civility not to serve iced tea with iced tea spoons.

So eGulleters, on yet another extraordinarily hot summer day in the mid-Atlantic, I ask you -- do you straw or don't you?

[ivan]

I like straws because they keep the beer off my exquisitely trimmed mustachios.

[hjshorter]

I straw, when appropriate, especially in the car. I even drink beer with a straw when I'm alone and no one can make fun of me.

At a nightclub I frequent, the bartender knows to serve my mixed drink with a "big girl straw" instead of a teeny little swizzle straw.

[Pan]

I'm always amused when I'm provided with a straw for my ice water in my local diner. Straws have their place, for example for bubble tea. I'm not anti-straw, but use them sparingly. Right now, I'm drinking some iced tea with a straw. Yep, it's takeout from my local diner.

[mizducky]

I tend to use straws in big iced drinks, simply because having the ice bang up against my lips and teeth bugs me.

I sometimes use the straw the bartender stuck in my mixed drink because I'm trying to pace my booze consumption for the evening.

I actually find most straws in milkshakes to be a royal pain in the ass. Unless they're the extra-wide ones, the straw gets continually plugged-up by milkshake so that sucking on them means a risk of imploding your eardrums. (And if a milkshake is thin enough to be easily slurped with a standard-size straw, I ain't interested in it.)

[*Deborah*]

Beer with a straw? not since I was in junior college.

"Umbrella drinks" yes; but scorn on the bartender who serves me whiskey on the rocks (or straight!!) with a straw.

For iced pop or other restaurant beverage, yes, as my front teeth are sensitive to ice (I guess this is inconsistent with the whiskey, but then again, I'm inconsistent ).

Edited July 22, 2005 by *Deborah* (log)

[oneidaone]

We recently spent a lovely afternoon in the pool floating about with some Pommery "Pops" those

little bottles of champagne that come with a straw, perfect for summer drinking! a hui hou

[Toliver]

I'm usually an optimist in Life (at least, I hope I am! ) but regarding restaurant glassware, I'm a pessimist.

Having worked in the dish cleaning end of restaurants I almost always use a straw when dining out. Better safe than sorry...

[lala]

I hate those skinny, useless straws that too many places use, and often take straws out of the drink. However, I adore bendy straws for using at home, as I like to lounge sideways on the sofa while reading, and bendy straws make beverages so much easier to drink! I also use straws if I'm drinking soda out of a can, because you never know how clean that can is.

As an aside, a chiropractor I saw many years ago said that everyone should use straws because drinking out of a glass/bottle/can puts your neck in an unnatural position, particularly when shaking those last drops out of an iced drink, or a can. I'm thinking he had shares in a straw company!

Edited July 22, 2005 by lala (log)

[ludja]

I've heard recs for using straws with cola beverages with the idea that you reduce the flow of the drink all over your mouth and thus stain your teeth less. (I think I've actually seen this in the newsletter I get from my dentist).

When I was a little girl straws were offered with bottles of coke depending where it was served (i.e. in a restaurant) because it was considered a little more 'genteel' to sip with a straw rather than to clamp your lips around the bottle and tilt your head back, etc. (Also a little more sanitary with respect to contact with the outside of the bottle and to avoid accidentally hitting your teeth on the glass). Regarding the concept of ''niceties' in this regard, with beer I'll drink it out of the bottle at home, at a picnic or at a casual bar but will usually have it in a glass at a restaurant.) Straws never really seemed to accompany soda in cans though.

Nowadays, I think it is just because there is usually alot of ice in the drink and the straw allows you to avoid potentially spilling ice/drink on yourself as you get near the end and to avoid making a bunch of noise wth the ice each time you take a drink (if you're in place where you care!)

I'm a sometimes surreptious ice cruncher so I usually don't use a straw with sodas except when I'm in a restaurant, a movie theater, etc or with a group of other people.

With tall, alcoholic drinks I think it's easier to sip the drink slowly with a straw and to let the ice slowly melt. It's also a good strategy with mojitos in order to avoid pieces of mint being inadvertantly plastered on your lips and teeth.

[TPO]

Nowadays, I think it is just because there is usually alot of ice in the drink and the straw allows you to avoid potentially spilling ice/drink on yourself as you get near the end and to avoid making a bunch of noise wth the ice each time you take a drink (if you're in place where you care!) 

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I think reason above is probably the main reason for offering straws to everyone.

As for other reasons for giving them to adults, I think adults sometimes suffer from sensitive teeth, and straws help them avoid the pain associated with this. Arthritis and other conditions make using heavy glasses more difficult than a lighter glass of red wine.

And whether the customer is a kid or an adult, servers can use one straw in a regular soda and two in a diet soda to make it easy to tell them apapt.

[Chef Shogun]

I tend to use straws in big iced drinks, simply because having the ice bang up against my lips and teeth bugs me.

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Exactly!

[Mayhaw Man]

No straw, really ever.

With the exception of during overseas travel. As someone who has run bottling plants in three different countries other than the US, I can tell you that a straw is a good plan in many places. Particularly in Latin America. I will eat the street food always, and not even worry about the consequences (there are rarely any, is my experience) but I know that at some point a bottle washer in an underfunded soda plant is pretty much gross, even if it's not a health hazard.

This rule does not go for new containers. It's not the packaging or the product, it's the cleaning of the recycled glass or plastic (in much of Latin America there is a heavy pet plastic bottle that goes back for reuse).

This also does not apply to beer. Breweries are clean or they are not in business. Especially huge breweries. Beer is usually the safest beverage around.

I like to crunch ice and I don't like to use straws, so I usually don't.

[Ling]

I use a straw when I'm drinking soda. Keeps my lipstick from getting all over the glass.

[lesfen]

I'm a complete spaz when it comes to drinking anything without a straw.

If I don't have a straw, you might as well put a bib on me. I'm the one you see trying to sip her water nicely, only to end up with an ice cube sliding off her face and down her shirt on a stream of water. Altho' I don't drink beer or wine with a straw. I just wear a black shirt.

That's terrible. I'm embarrassed for sharing.

[chile_peppa]

I like the slurpy noise the straw makes when you're at the bottom of the glass. And the paper wrapping is fun to blow at your dining companions.

[ivan]

Also, with a straw, you can pretend you're drinking when you're actually not. Just suck your cheeks in, and the illusion is perfect. Otherwise, you have to find a potted plant to ditch your drink and make a show of getting refills.

[Eden]

When I'm trying to drink a large volume of liquid (8 glasses of water a day for example) I find a straw the easiest way to imbibe in quantity. I guess I never learned to chug

but I agree that their main purpose is to cope with the ridiculous amounts of ice people put in drinks these days.

and chile_peppa forgot how much fun it is to make "snakes" by scrunching up straw wrapppers and then dotting them with liquid

[BarbaraY]

I don't want a straw in my ice water or iced tea. If I'm having a soft drink in a restaurant I use the straw.

Why do they put salt on the rim of a Margarita and then put straws in it? I want a bit of salt with each sip.

When I was a teen, word was that you would get drunk faster if you drank beer through a straw.

[ivan]

When I was a teen, word was that you would get drunk faster if you drank beer through a straw.

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You can get drunk faster because the beer can be drunk faster.

cf. Eden's post re: chugging, above.

[Priscilla]

In a food-handling certification course I took, the instructor told us she always used a straw in a restaurant, to avoid contact with the rim of any glass. Saliva residue from previous patrons was one risk, she said, but also pointed out how glasses, both dirty ones being bussed and clean ones for set-up, are often in grabbed in groups by their rims, in sequence, by the same bare hands.

She also did not approve of bag o' salad.

[Deacon]

I stir with the straw (especially iced tea) and then take it out. I'd feel like a child using a straw anywhere but the car, drinking from a "to-go" cup.

As for using a straw for "sanitary reasons" I just want to point out: how many other mouths do you think that fork you're eating with has been in?

Edited July 23, 2005 by Deacon (log)

[suzilightning]

we know that johnnybird's friend, andres, has been let loose by his other half for a night of serious drinking when he shows up with a straw behind his ear. he says it keeps the foam down and allows him to ingest more alcoholic product quicker without becoming bloated. course back in the 80's we used straws and spoons for different things

[lia]

and chile_peppa forgot how much fun it is to make "snakes" by scrunching up straw wrapppers and then dotting them with liquid biggrin.gif

oh dear, that's not what we used to call it...

and I think lesfen and i were separated at birth. Yeah, i'm a slob and I use a straw whenever possible.

[Betts]

Why do they put salt on the rim of a Margarita and then put straws in it? I want a bit of salt with each sip.

This is exactly what I said to my dining companion tonight as I sipped a Margherita. BTW, I left the straw in for the first half.