One stereotypical but reliable way to distinguish a FOB from an ABCD is their attitude towards ice. Whereas an ABCD will load their drinks cup up with ice before filling it, a FOB will (usually) leave their cup entirely devoid of crushed frozen water.
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Mmmmm … bacteria! |
Or is it? A 7th grader in Tampa Florida decided to compare the bacteria in the ice at a fastfood restaurant to the bacteria in its toilets. Her findings:
Roberts set out to test her hypothesis, selecting five fast food restaurants, within a ten-mile radius of the University of South Florida. Roberts says at each restaurant she flushed the toilet once, the[n] used sterile gloves to gather samples. Roberts also collected ice from soda fountains inside the five fast food restaurants. She also asked for cups of ice at the same restaurant’s drive thru windows.
Jasmine Roberts: “I found that 70-percent of the time, the ice from the fast food restaurant’s contain more bacteria than the fast food restaurant’s toilet water…” [Link]
Note that the ice is not necessarily more unsanitary than the toilet water because bacteria is not necessarily a bad thing. For example, bacteria in yogurt is good for you. Most types of bacteria are benign and the ice in question probably has high levels of harmless bacteria in it. Toilet water may have lower levels of aggregate bacteria (because they are regularly disinfected) but still higher levels of unhealthy bacteria, so you don’t want to start emulating your dog just yet.
In short, her study is far from an argument that fast food ice is unhealthy. Still, I suspect that the ice at a fast food restaurant probably is kinda gross (via Boing Boing).
Related Posts: How to befriend a vegetarian
I dont like ice in my coke cos when the ice starts to melt then the coke taste like crap!
Ennis – that’s worthy of the opening page of a novel! Very perceptive of you 🙂
More than thrift, it is the belief that consuming cold stuff – drinks with ice, ice cream – will give you a head cold, particularly in the hot subcontinental weather. I put this theory to test on my last India trip and found it to be untrue. Or is it because I’m more adapted to consuming my ice with coke?
Some Extent ! Try was the only reason for this FOB . But now that I prefer water I load up with ice and wait for it to melt rather than pay a lot more for a small bottle of water.
Makes me cringe when I picture all those people who sit there chewing all of the ice when the soda is done.
Safe to say that I am a FOB then. I also don’t like ice in my water or any other drinks because I have sensitive teeth and they hurt. Plus, if you see how they handle ice in India you’ll never want to consume any ice. Large blocks of ice are wrapped in jute cloth and carried to its destination and then they use a screwdriver (usually rusty) to break them into pieces. Yes, a water – no ice please. Is it really about thrift – in the land of free refills?
My parents and sister almost always leave out the ice, and I often do–esp. on planes. Part of that is actually an Ayurvedic prejudice against excessive cold food, part of it is because very cold drinks tend to get them coughing and give me brain freeze, and part of that is (on my part) a visceral hatred for the taste of overly diluted oj. Recently, though, I more deliberately want to stop supporting the notiion that it’s the cultural standard. It’s terribly wasteful—unless it’s very hot, or you’re feverish, your body isn’t going to really appreciate the temperature difference fridge cold/lightly iced and tons of ice. But it costs energy to make ice—and energy is a false cheap cost, with all of us paying the hidden price.
i always leave out the ice too…but i don’t think its the thrift thing with the free refills as mentioned before but i guess i’ve bought into the idea that i’ll get sick/sore throat by consuming things that are too cold…(maybe its psychological, but i think its true in my case)….
my friends used to always make fun of me for this when we went out to eat …until when we saw a 20/20 special about what’s really in the ice we put in our drinks … well let’s just say its no ice all around now after hearing the phrase “found traces of fecal matter”…
I’m not a FOB, but I guess I play one on TV, since I also request no ice in my drinks. Like Saheli, I fail to understand the point of diluting your drinks. Also, I’m high maintenance. 😉
Holy shit this makes me a FOB. But I have an excuse…my teeth are sensitive so no ice or for that matter even ice cream for me. Actually I don’t like either so it works out just fine. But maybe it’s my predisposed fob ways that leads me to dislike them in the first place!
I always wondered how much “found traces of fecal matter” was a red herring. Unfortunately, there are trace levels of fecal matter in many places, especially those close to toilets (if you flush without closing the lid, you’re sending a geyser of fecal particles up). The question is, is ice any less safe than the other things that you are eating? Is there more fecal matter in the ice, for example, than on the table top. The point is, no study is valid without an adequate control group.
Oh, while you’re at it, here’s a tip: Don’t eat the peanuts at a bar! People don’t wash their hands, and then they stick their fingers in … now that’s a fecund font of fecal matter ….
It’s the brainfreeze, silly. And those annoying people who slurp their ice from their glasses, chew it, spit it back because their mouths are numb and then slurp again in one endless gross inductively-brainfreeze-causing cycle.
it’s not a stereotype if it’s true 😉
I’m a superFOB: I have sensitive teeth, I’m cheap, and I’m afraid of cooties.
If I’m served something with icecubes, I usually fish ’em out with a spoon. Or wait until they melt entirely.
Third World??? Not cool at all .
“I always wondered how much “found traces of fecal matter” was a red herring.”
i know what you mean…i tried googling for the report i saw to no avail…but i do remember that health inspectors were called in for violations at several places and mouthpieces at these places gave a standard response to say these were single incidences…and they would beef up their standards
Oh my this has turned out to be a really appetizing discussion…just in time for lunchtime!!
I’ve always been a FOB hag 😉 As Saheli mentioned, it’s ayurvedic advice to avoid ice in beverages for a variety of reasons. For the active mutineer, iced water/sports drink isn’t processed as quickly into the body. (mmmm, lukewarm gatorade anybody?) Though if you’re overheated it will help cool you back down.
as for the ice cubes vs. toilet, I remember reading an article which stated that there is more bacteria in the average non-veg kitchen’s sink, than in a public toilet bowl. That‘s how to befriend a vegetarian 😉
I don’t think the “fecal matter” bit is a red herring– remember the high school biology field trip to some local lake/river/pond where you test for all sorts of things in the water, including fecal coliform? Surely with all the scientists and science groupies around here, someone can back up the fecal matter bit…
I usually take my drinks without ice, or with very little ice. In Kenya the lack of ice-use was two-fold, you knew most places did not make ice with boiled or filtered water, but alos, most places you were lucky to get a cold drink let alone one with ice…
Again speaking from a Kenyan perspective, “third world” was never an objectionable term when I was there. Same thing with “tribe.” It was not considered uncouth to ask someone what tribe they were. If you used the pc term “ethnic group” people would look at you funny.
This is bad news for people like me who enjoy smoothies — the main ingredient in a smoothie is ice followed by whatever else you desire… I regularly buy smoothies at the mall when my wife and I go shopping. Now I will think twice about my beloved mall smoothie — who knows what’s in that ice? Damn you, mutineers!
OYBBB, everyone on here says 3rd world, I’ve given up trying to correct people.
I don’t take ice cos I’m a tight bastard. I normally just have tap water. Canjoos.
Holy shit this makes me a FOB. But I have an excuse…my teeth are sensitive
That might be a sign of dental cavities.
I’m definitely not an FOB, but if the beverage is already cold, why does one need ice as well? If they were honest, airline flight attendants, in particular, would ask us if we want anything to drink with our ice — usually, if I don’t think to stop them in advance, I usually get a cup completely full of ice and a spoonful or two of orange juice to go with it.
Of course, my mistrust of ice might also have something to do with my mistrust of ICE.
I don’t know if it’s true or that I buy into it but I’ve been told that ice fetish=sexual frustration. I load up on ice big time. I spend more time crunching ice than drinking the drink.
abhi: ice crunching-sexual frustration being able to see ice above the rim of the cup-phallic symbolism
from a class in advertising 101 🙂
You forget that this could also just be a matter of preference……
Frankly, this site surprises me sometimes with such articles, which, in the end, are not even entertaining.
Waaaaaaaaaaa….. Actually no dental cavities/required fillings that have not been taken care of…always been this way. My teeth especially my front teeth have always been sensitive for as long as I have been alive.
I don’t know if it’s true or that I buy into it but I’ve been told that ice fetish=sexual frustration. I load up on ice big time. I spend more time crunching ice than drinking the drink.
Is that a V-day hint, Abhi? 😉
The talk of smoothies reminded me of one of my favorite cold drinks of all time. It’s as much a process as a recipe.
1) Climb a mountain in August. The higher, the better. Sierras recommended. 2) You’re hot–really hot–but surrounded by snow. 3) You’ve been drinking iodined stream water for the last week. (Don’t even start thinking about the fecal matter.) 4) You dig in and scoop out a chunk of pristine, High-Sierra snow. 5) You fill your Nalgene Bottle about 3 quarters full with the stuff. 6) Add a scoop of Tang on top of that. 7) Screw the nalgene bottle shut. Tie it loosely but securely to your pack. 8) Dance like a madwoman or madman on the top of the mountain. Yelling and singing is encouraged. So is wrestling with your fellow climbers and sliding around on the snow. 9) Take that Orange Slurpee like a forty.
sure saheli… and i’m sure you’d like some chocolate covered beans with the orange slurpee.
Wow thanx for the suggestions. It’s not as bad to employ too many things and I will not be trying any Vicco products anytime soon 🙂 Ice cream and cold drinks aren’t my thing. Everything else is all good.
wow, way for two of you to irritate me when i was in a sweet mood.
:+:
and comments like this surprise me all the time, with their irrelevance. i loved this post. i loved ennis even more for writing it. i can tell others dug his choice of a topic, too, whether they commented or not. at my stellar birthday dinner two weeks ago, our party of ten ordered drinks and this very subject came up. someone born here unapologetically stated her preference, adding, “i’m a FOB and proud of it”. so this post is VERY germane, AFAIC.
what irked me was your pronouncement that this “article” (um, no) in the end, was not even entertaining. says YOU. we don’t write just for YOU. we don’t write for anyone, really. we write for ourselves. it’s fantastic that we’ve managed to collect a like-minded crew of fabulous people on the way, all katamari-like. also? the mission of the mutiny is to edify, not just amuse.
neeeeeeeeeeeeeeext.
yes. many of us sepians despise all things Indian, that’s why we have an entire blog devoted to all things brown. where do you get such bovine-fecal-matter-filled preconceived notions from, anyway?
I’d swear we’re watching the public seduction of Abhi. Isn’t such a hiking tale like a serenade?
I HAVE to try this!
This was the best part. 🙂
Ennis,
You missed a huge point – Europeans do not put ice in their drink, seldom. Maybe, in MacDonalds in London. Bong Breaker can correct me.
I have had European friends who make a point of putting ice in their drinks.
I guess they are third worlders too. Oops!!
A term like third world has really ceased to exist (2nd world is practically gone – Is China the 2nd world?), but that is for another day.
Correction: I have had European friends who make a point of not putting ice in their drinks.
Kanjoos is certainly a part of it, but it’s also a taste thing. Refrigerators are smaller or non-existant in places with regular power shortage, with the result that drinks are not served loaded with ice. Since perception of sweetness is temperature dependent (e.g. melted ice-cream tastes alot sweeter), folks who are used to non-iced drinks tend to feel that iced drinks are not as sweet. FOBs like their coke sweet 🙂
Abhi- Maybe you are low on your iron? But, maybe that whole sexual frustration thing is true too.
OYBB: Fair objection. So why do I insist on using it? 1. Throughout the third world, I found the word embraced rather than rejected. The activists I know in many countries use the word to describe their countries. 2. The term was coined by Nehru. 3. There’s no good replacement. Global South, Majority World, Two Thirds World are all strident and lack common currency, LDC is too economic. 4. Third World is euphonious
It’s odd that the word has retained use long after the second world has died, and people have stopped talking about the first world.
Savya:
It’s a preference that systematically covaries, and serves as a cultural marker. It’s even a staple joke of ABCD movies. Is it interesting? To some. Honestly, I prefer to reach further afield with my posts, and write on topics that might be more hit or miss, rather than consistently writing about the same thing. Some of the more random posts on this blog are mine, and that’s intentional. This is not a mutiny of one, we’re a team, precisely so that we can each blog about whatever strikes our fancy. You are free to read about whatever you want.
Abhi’s post rings very true. A few years ago, when I lived in Tokyo, the first Japanese phrase I learnt was, “Kori nashi, onegaishimasu”! (No ice, please)
Maybe it is all semantics, but “developing/underdeveloped” sounds better than saying “third world”. I may be a victim to excessive PC-ness because I work in sp. ed, where you cannot say “autistic person”; you have to say “person with autism”. But now, I feel the language you use does make a difference at least in my work; person-first language sounds better than disability-first language.
Ahem. I know we all look alike, but it’s easy to distinguish Abhi from the rest of the motley male bloggers here – he’s the handsomest one 😉
I am sorry, should have said, “Ennis’ post rings very true”.
what is this jiggerypokery. are you suggesting early evidence of the droop. can he not go as a swede, proudly into the orchard.
“Ahem. I know we all look alike, but it’s easy to distinguish Abhi from the rest of the motley male bloggers here – he’s the handsomest one ;)”
Hmmm…I know what that’s like; sort of, anyway!! For six months, my supervisor called me “Sheralee” and kept asking me if I spoke Spanish (I’m an ice-hating FOB who can’t speak Spanish). Then another supervisor told me that a Korean child in class was comfortable with me because I was from the same country! I gave up correcting these people after a while, let them think I’m from Jupiter for all I care.
where did you hear of Majority World?
yes. many of us sepians despise all things Indian, that’s why we have an entire blog devoted to all things brown. where do you get such bovine-fecal-matter-filled preconceived notions from, anyway?
This blog is devoted to brown people from North America as Sepia God has mentioned several times. Vicco is from a country 7000 miles away from the land of free browns. Their is hardly any connection btn two other than their genes containers came from same contry as Vicco. The preconcieved notion wasnt totally out of place.
Sahej – from Wikipedia’s entry on Third World
This “third world” debate reminds me of Sir Humphrey in Yes, Prime Minister:
DDIA,
That’s amazing. Bravo!!
I have always been a fan of Yes, Minister and Yes, Prime Minister. I need to buy it in DVD
cool Ennis, thanks
hahhaaaaaaa. on another note, i’d love to visit korea