Great Chefs Prefer Tap Water
by Bonnie Alter, London on 08.28.08
Why do we have to keep proving over and over again that tap water is better than bottled? David Suzuki said that bottled water is toast but somehow everyone is not getting the message. This time seven very famous chefs and sommeliers from Michelin-starred restaurants in London did a blind tasting of ten different waters from various rivers across England. Since they are chefs, they have a very sophisticated palate. They used the lexicon of wine-tasting to describe the different waters as “complex,” “having a floral note,” having “good character” and being “honest and unpretentious. The water from the Severn Trent taps was “a mountain stream of freshness” (it came first) and that from Anglia was “pure and palatable” (it was second).
The organizers popped in a bottle of mineral water (no brand mentioned) and low and behold; it came in eighth in the list of ten. It's all part of a campaign to get people to "Do the Green Thing" and ask for tap water in restaurants. Despite the marketing, there is no evidence to suggest that bottled water is in fact any better for us than tap water. And the build-up of bottles in land fill sites, not to mention the carbon footprint is massive. So be brave and insist on tap the next time a waiter stares down his nose at you in a restaurant. :: Green Thing
More on Tap vs. Bottled Water
:: Do the Green Thing
:: Tap or Bottled, Which is Better?
:: Reasons to Ditch Bottled Water
:: Still or Sparkling?
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I can help you with this one :
- a French law mandate all restaurants to serve tap water FOR FREE (called "carafe" or "pichet") unless it is EXPLICITELY written on the menu OUTSIDE the restaurant.
In fact I only met 1 restaurant (out of hundreds) where water was not free, it was expensives 1 L bottles for 5 euros. I was so choked that neither me nor my friends went back there.
We also warned everybody about that scam !
In France you can recognize foreigners as they nearly never take free fresh water, nobody told them.
So now you know it ;-)
Welcome in our country and "bon appettit".
Bottled water should be banned in restaurants...
Being charged £3.50 for water is ridiculous... tap water ftw! Ask for tap :)
Well, they should come to my town, where they could describe our tap water as a "hint of bleach", "a sweet chemical sludge note", and "probably not so bad if you pass it through the Brita filter twice and chase it with vodka".
I use the filtered water for cooking and bottled water for drinking, because it is just that bad. If I drink more than a glass straight from the tap, my throat gets dry...seriously.
Ah, reminds me of the time that I ate at the Metropolitan in Salt Lake City and the waiter actually commented that I was being cheap when I ordered tap water. The dinner for two of us came to almost $400, even with tap water, so was slightly miffed. While I didn't tell management, I have never returned.
In part it's a status thing. Being able to waste money on bottled water rather than drinking tap is a sign of some wealth.
The other factor is stupidity. People hear stuff like "there are chemicals in the water" and panic. They never bother to learn that the amounts are minute and that small amounts are incapable of doing harm.
The same two points are true of another environmentalist favorite- organic food. It serves to separate those with money from America's poor and people are stupid. So they embrace organic food, technology from the Middle Ages and Stone Ages.
I'm pretty sure most people don't read it, but you should be getting an annual water quality report from your water company. I read it and learned that my tap water is among the best in the state.
I'm not surprised.
Hard water tastes good if the chlorine is removed.
Soft water or pure distilled water will taste bad, because the water molecules (free of minerals) will absorb out of the mouth whatever it can bind to.
IOW, hard water - adding X grams of salt, with distilled or very soft water, you can put X+Y grams of salt before saturation is reached.
Look for Total Dissolved Minerals in PPM. Most tap water is in the 400+ range, some mineral water is in the 150-250 range.
Glacial water I've seen as low as 50 PPM or less.
For the informed - it's not a question of taste - but of which types of dissolved minerals are in tap water.
We use a 3-charcoal filter system under the sink, that removes the heavy metals and the chlorine of course.
Minimal maintenance, tastes good, cartridges are recyclable.
I suppose I could start ordering a Lake Erie cocktail more often whenever I go out to eat. I live in Cleveland, so to add to the 'foofy' factor, I refer to restaurant tap water as a Lake Erie cocktail; feel free to use the name of whatever fresh water body you happen to be closest to and where your tap water is sourced in naming restaurant tap water. Besides, bottled water doesn't taste all that good after a few sips, anyway.
Unfiltered tap water is full of poison. The poison is put in there to keep you from getting cholera, so it is a good thing, but poison all the same.
Tap is great, but be absolutely sure to filter it!!! Tap water contains chlorine which kills bacteria in the water, but also kills the good bacteria (probiotics) living in our stomachs and intestines, leaving the body susceptible to chronic disease. That is why you should never swallow even small amounts of pool water. Most filters on the market remove 100% of the chlorine, you can check the maufacturer's box, or look online. Brita and Pur both do, I know for sure. Cheers!
My experience of tap water is in the north of England on my visits there, it tastes like domestos. I can understand this as many cities take their drinking water from rivers which are highly polluted, and the need for chlorine is obvious, Here in Sweden my tap water is pristine, no additives at all. The water is pumped up from well over 100 meters.
"A mountain stream of freshness".............
Give me a F ing break.
It doesn't matter what famous chefs and their "sophisticated" palates think. If tap water tastes fine and is safe people will drink it. If it's not, they won't.