Garbage Disposals and PAM
I have some consultants here for a visit. It's absolutely wonderful to have a office full of people working on our backlog of translations - which occurred when I was literally alone in the office for a week (plus training time).
They're European. Western European. I guess I'd assumed that we, as westerners, were pretty much familiar with the same things. These past two weeks have proven me wrong.
I had the consulting couple over for dinner one evening. Among other things, we had pasta. After dinner, we went in to the kitchen to clean up and the wife, discovering there were about two bites of pasta left, teased her husband a bit about finishing it up. With a sigh, he said, "I have a reputation on three continents, might as well add a fourth", and ate the pasta. I mentioned that in my family, we would refer to him as "the human garbage disposal". Being British, he replied, "Yes, but in my family we call it a 'rubbish bin'". In my innocence, I said, "oh, I thought that just meant the trash." Which he confirmed, so I explained that I meant a garbage disposal system. They both sort of shot each other a look, and he said in astonishment, "You mean, those things actually exist?!" Apparently, they'd only ever seen them in horror films - a genre I largely eschew. They spoke of people being ground up by these things, to which I replied, "well, I did say it was for organic materials"....
Another evening we made pizza together and I sprayed PAM on the pan before putting the dough on it. Again, "what is that?!"
I must admit, I thought, "wow, are we Americans totally gadget obsessed or are they just SOOOO behind?!" I suppose that with what can be very old systems in Europe, one never knows whether organic materials would simply clog up pipes that were never meant to hold anything but water? And even if PAM is somehow problematic for someone, Misto just ROCKS (you know, the pump spray bottle that you can put any oil in). Wow, Europe is missing out.
Comments
I guess that's the beauty of making sure to mix with people from other cultures - they'll never be the same again :):)
~amelia
Posted by: amelia | August 6, 2005 03:00 PM
and in turn neither will you!
Posted by: Rae | August 7, 2005 01:34 AM
Just to be abundantly clear, this was just something silly that took me by surprise. Not at all a commentary on "America vs. Europe" or something disturbing like that. . .
Posted by: Mara | August 7, 2005 07:35 AM
The most Amazing thing is -- They are not awash in garbage and their pizza doesn't stick to the pans! How do they do it?!?!?
Posted by: ma | August 7, 2005 02:41 PM
Ah, by and large they don't make their own pizza. At least, that is what my experience has been.
Posted by: Mara | August 7, 2005 03:25 PM
And why should they? There are wonderful restaurants that make if for you. You don't need to heat the house up, or clean up, or figure out how to get the pizza to not stick. Same thing with pastries. It is an art form. Honor the artist. Patronize the artist. Share the wealth.
Posted by: Maman | August 8, 2005 04:01 PM
Hey, what are you saying about my pizza?
Posted by: Mara | August 8, 2005 04:15 PM
No, no, that was MY pizza!
Posted by: Ma | August 8, 2005 08:01 PM
Hey, Mara!
What a great post! Wow!
Okay, I can't speak for all countries in Europe, but here in the UK we do have garbage disposal systems, but they are rare enough that most folks have never heard of them. We scrape the plates into the rubbish.
We've got several Pam-like sprays, but they're only popular with a certain subset, which is small and dwindling. Maman gets it right: folks who make their own pizza will grease the pan the old fashioned way - butter and fingers. Highly recommended. Folks who would use Pam could just as well get top quality pizza from a wide variety of fine establishments within walking distance. This is outside of Milton Keynes, though.
So, general rules: no Pam, no garbage disposals.
Okay, here's a few more: in Europe, everyone has a cell phone, but most people don't have land lines. The only reason you'd get a land line is to get DSL broadband. Why? Because in Europe, you only pay for the call if you call someone. Cell phone numbers are listed. There's a universal 911 for cell phones (it's 999).
Conversely, no one knows anybody's phone number. Remember how Maman and Papa don't know our numbers, because we're on speed dial? Imagine that your speed dial could hold about a thousand numbers and was voice activated. That's cell phones in Europe. And we use text messaging, which America doesn't even vaguely begin to understand. I held my head in my hands and wept when I saw how Rachael had to get and send text messages. I send maybe ten or fifteen texts a day. Amercans just don't do this.
The UK doesn't have forced air heating, just radiators. In every building. And the general rule is no AC.
The average age of buidling on my street is just under 300 years. Most of them were build in the late 1600s. The walls are three foot thick stone. This is not America. The streets are cobblestone.
No one owns a handgun.
Many people have their bank account with their grocery store. Not at a branch of a bank in a grocery store, but Tesco is their bank. And their grocery store. And their car insurance. And lots of other things.
Ernest & Gulio Gallo are considered fancy imported wine from California. It sells for $12 a bottle. For White Zinfandel.
I can't buy any hot sauce except Tobasco. I like Tobasco, but I also like Red Hot.
There are no 24 hour stores, not even gas stations.
There are people here from over ten countries. When I say "here" I mean in my apartment, right now. This is not unusual. In America, it is impossible, outside of some exotic circumstance, like an embassy party.
I can get four types of cream, but no sour cream. Not anywhere. This is really irritating. I like sour cream.
Okay, that's all I can think of.
Posted by: Nathan Dornbrook | August 9, 2005 10:39 PM