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My impression is that at least in Germany it’s very rare to get a straw in a restaurant at all. It’s usually fast food places, bars and clubs where straws seem to be a thing, and these places usually don’t offer metal cutlery.
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Submitted 11 months ago by FrankTheHealer@lemmy.world to nostupidquestions@lemmy.world
Comments
gigachad@feddit.de 11 months ago
YooperJeff@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Agreed, and it’s because they don’t serve drinks with ice - I witnessed this pretty much everywhere from Amsterdam to Finland. I asked one person why and was told no one wants their expensive drinks to get watered down. At the time, a fountain drink was at least double the expected price in the states. No ice, no need for a straw?
LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world 11 months ago
They are a fucking pain in the ass to clean. Dishwashers leave a ton of shit.
synapse1278@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I have glass straws at home, they come out of the dishwasher immaculate every time.
LemmyIsFantastic@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Unless you drink only water that’s smash (x) doubt.
cynar@lemmy.world 11 months ago
The simple answer is cleanliness.
Straws of any sort are a pain to clean. You need to at least get a focused stream of water up the middle, and preferably a brush. Industrial dishwashers just can’t do this reliably. You either need a specialist cleaning machine, or do it manually. Both are expensive.
There are also issues with preferences (metallic tastes, shape, etc), handling (metal straws are perfectly shaped to mess with the innards of dishwashers) and cost. But cleanliness is the BIG one.
Subverb@lemmy.world 11 months ago
You’re right, but but carry-out drinks are a big part of it too. If you’re keeping disposable straws for those, you might as well use them in both places for the reason you cite.
ook_the_librarian@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Except any annoying kitchen task that can solved by specialized but not crazy expensive equipment will be.
Like, I don’t think a kitchen would bother trying to automate silverware rolling. (I just looked it up. Equipment exists, but not published prices. I’ve seen pleny of staff doing by hand though.) I have, however, seen a thing that looked like 4 mini vertically spinning carwash-spinning-pole-of-towels thingies that bartenders were using to wipe the insides of glasses. (I just looked that up too. I think I found the model for $810 US.) No one would have that in their home, but not many people use any sort of straw at home.
So what I’m saying is that a specialized dishwasher for durable steel straws doesn’t seem hard to design or expensive to manufacturer. I feel OP was hoping for more innovation.
cynar@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Cost/benefits unfortunately kick in. A machine like that takes training to use. It also requires maintenance. The costs Vs using paper straws is too high for most restaurants to push forward with.
kurcatovium@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Don’t mock me, but… Why are people so obsessed with straws? I can’t even remember when I used it the last time. If I want to drink a beverage, I just use glass or cup as it is.
FrankTheHealer@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I have sensitive teeth. Drinking an ice cold drink without a straw hurts my teeth. So I prefer when I can get it
kurcatovium@lemm.ee 11 months ago
Ok, thanks, that’s a good point.
SkippingRelax@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Have you considered avoiding ice cold drinks?
Habahnow@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Boba teas suck without straws. accessibility issues as well. Mixed drinks are pretty good with straws (all the ice, and if it needs to be mixed using a straw serves a dual purpose).
dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 11 months ago
To expand on accessibility, some people have neuromuscular issues that make drinking from a cup difficult. Some people have sensory issues that have the same end result. Straws help these people.
DessertStorms@kbin.social 11 months ago
Patches@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Saves Valuable Time at High
Jumuta@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
why not just have those people bring their own straws then?
guyrocket@kbin.social 11 months ago
I'm with you on this. Just STOP using straws, they're almost always unnecessary.
pikmeir@lemmy.world 11 months ago
You definitely need a straw for a Slurpee or Icee because otherwise you can’t go KhHHHhHhhHHhhuhHh with the straw against the lid up and down making that horrible sound as you try to drink the bottom and the top flavor consecutively. Can’t do that without a straw.
shalafi@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I don’t use straws because I’m all growed up.
shandrakor@lemmy.world 11 months ago
For me personally, I used to have really bad heartburn until I started using straws pretty much exclusively. Rarely do I get heartburn anymore and I also don’t belch as much either, which I was doing a lot of as well.
I do use metal or glass straws exclusively though, even in the car I have some in a case in the cubby so I don’t have to use those awful paper straws if I am ever forced to grab food in the car.
theKalash@feddit.ch 11 months ago
You could just learn to drink like a grown up.
Mr_Blott@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I commented on another thread about McDonald’s, in France they stopped giving out straws and just printed on the cup “To drink, remove lid and lift cup, you’re not an infant”
First comment underneath it was “What about people with mobility problems”
Shut the fuck up bitch
Mr_Dr_Oink@lemmy.world 11 months ago
When i was in paria they just had recycled card lids with a small hole in like a coffee lid and ypu drank from the hole. Or i guess you could remove the lid.
Witchfire@lemmy.world 11 months ago
It’s an accessibility thing. Some people struggle without a straw (elderly, disabled, etc). Straws are also convenient if you’re wearing lipstick.
Stuka@lemmy.world 11 months ago
That’s such a simple thing for people with mobility problems to solve for themselves.
ghen@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
Then I’ll have to get it without ice, my teeth are pretty sensitive
TAG@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Why is “with ice” the default option for drinks in the US? For beverages, the restaurant is saving money, but for water?
DanglingFury@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Hawaii has straws already figured out. They feel and work like regular ass straws, yet they are biodegradable and made from Papayai i think. Every restaurant and vendor i came across used them. Idk why it hasnt spread to the mainland.
Seraph@kbin.social 11 months ago
There's a lot of interesting alternatives like that right now but they all have the same issue: Scale.
Providing a McDonald's quantity of straws requires a HUGE supply chain.
DanglingFury@lemmy.world 11 months ago
True, but every place i went to on all of the islands out there had the straws, so it was working. They had the plastic silverware of the same material as well.
DirigibleProtein@aussie.zone 11 months ago
I’ve never used an ass straw, is it very different to just using your tongue?
DanglingFury@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Your missing out bro
minibyte@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
It’s actually a retrofitted beer bong. Using it requires a handstand and a handful of close friends willing to help.
Nemo@midwest.social 11 months ago
I used to work in a place that used bioplastic straws made from agave fibers. They’re here already.
nyakojiru@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 months ago
They should develop metal syringes to directly inject the fluids into the body
DessertStorms@kbin.social 11 months ago
For many of the same reasons they aren't a suitable alternative for those who need straws, either (though a restaurant owner will be making the decision based on cost rather than accessibility).
The real issue is that people still (or ever) bitch and moan about straws, since they were never really a problem, just a distraction from those actually destroying the environment..
derf82@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I feel like those “reasons” are very exaggerated. How many people are allergic to stainless steel? How is metal not safe in hot beverages? If it’s burning due to heat, the liquid will do that on its own. How are biodegradable straws any more if a choking hazard? There are so many questionable judgements in that list. At the very least, it isn’t nearly that binary.
DessertStorms@kbin.social 11 months ago
I feel like people trying to "poke holes" in the needs of disabled people they clearly haven't taken even a minute to research are wilfully ignorant ableists.
dylanmorgan@slrpnk.net 11 months ago
Metal conducts heat more readily than water. Odd as it may sound, metal stuck into a hot beverage will burn your mouth/lips more readily than the liquid itself.
nobleshift@lemmy.world 11 months ago
[deleted]jeena@jemmy.jeena.net 11 months ago
You can do that with a metal knife too.
snooggums@kbin.social 11 months ago
What alcoholic drink uses a metal knife?
PsychedSy@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
I do not recommend putting knives in your mouth when you’re drunk.
Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 11 months ago
I worked as a dishwasher at Cracker Barrel for a summer, and just getting the utensils clean was a challenge on a busy day. Metal straws used at scale would need specialized washing equipment that can handle a kid shoving it full of pork chops and mashed potatoes.
snooggums@kbin.social 11 months ago
They would make it if there was demand, but that won't happen without forced adoption of the metal straws in the first place.
Semi-Hemi-Demigod@kbin.social 11 months ago
I'm sure the hygiene issues would overshadow the reusability issue. Folks won't be happy the first time they get a chunk of somebody else's dinner when they take a sip of their drink. People abuse dishes in restaurants in very creative ways.
Glass straws might be better, if only because you can see anything that's lodged inside.
_haha_oh_wow_@sh.itjust.works 11 months ago
My guess is cleaning a lot of them effectively would take too much time.
Rand0mA@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Because they will all end up in some kids nose
ares35@kbin.social 11 months ago
via the hole it punched-through the roof of their mouth.
metal straws are dangerous.
pHr34kY@lemmy.world 11 months ago
We’re walking about placing them alongside knives and forks - both of which are pointier.
Baku@aussie.zone 11 months ago
I wouldn’t consider them that dangerous, but even if you do, that’s fairly easily solved with a silicone tip
bstix@feddit.dk 11 months ago
The places that use straws are the same places that don’t offer cutlery or even plates.
Actual restaurants that have plates and cutlery also have glasses that don’t require a straw.
The only reason a straw is necessary in a restaurant in the first place is because customers don’t want to drink from a disposable cardboard cup.
I have seen some fastfood restaurants offering plastic cups instead. They can wash those easily.
Drive through is a different thing altogether, and you’re probably better off with a can or bottle in that case.
The idea to serve beverages in a cardboard cup so uncomfortable that you need a straw and then need a plastic cover to keep the beverage in he cup is fucking stupid considering that they could just serve a bottled beverage instead.
Nemo@midwest.social 11 months ago
Well… a lot of female patrons want a straw so they don’t mess up their lipstick, even at fancier places.
freeindv@monyet.cc 11 months ago
The focus on stupid shit like banning straws is why people are rightfully against environmentalism
AtmaJnana@lemmy.world 11 months ago
-837-838
BruceTwarzen@kbin.social 11 months ago
If staws wouldn't exist, my life would be exactly the same.
BustinJiber@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Garson! You forgot to bring me metal straw with my Cabernet Sauvignon!
kSPvhmTOlwvMd7Y7E@lemmy.world 11 months ago
That’s pretty metal
Also it’s “garçon”
qwerty_bastard@feddit.uk 11 months ago
You know you haven’t made it when you’re still drinking your wine through a paper/plastic straw
Nougat@kbin.social 11 months ago
Also for the same reason that McDonald's discontinued their tiny coffee stirrer spoons.
hactar42@lemmy.world 11 months ago
Cocaine?
snooggums@kbin.social 11 months ago
I just assumed they were melting in the extremely unsafe coffee temps at McDonalds.
Nougat@kbin.social 11 months ago
Nope. Cocaine.
cameron_vale@lemm.ee 11 months ago
unpleasant mouthfeel?
I think a good plastic would be better. Something unnaturally durable like PEX
BombOmOm@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I own some metal straws, they are pretty great to use. The main issue is cleaning them. You cannot just throw them in a dishwasher, you have to use a pipe cleaner. That’s a level of manual effort that restaurants probably don’t want to take on.
saltnotsugar@lemm.ee 11 months ago
I wonder if there could be a solution where there’s an insert with built in pipe cleaner thingies for the dishwasher, and when you load them up and turn the dishwasher on, it goes WOOSH WOOSH and then it’s clean.
HooPhuckenKarez@kbin.social 11 months ago
This was the way I was thinking too. A bore brush on a longish stick. Cram the straws on the stick and send 'em. Any serious chunckage should get pushed out.
HubertManne@kbin.social 11 months ago
I just throw them in the dishwasher. Been fine so far.
azdle@news.idlestate.org 11 months ago
If you have any straight straws, you might want to hold them up to the light. They get pretty grody on the inside.
Valmond@lemmy.mindoki.com 11 months ago
I have a couple and I absolutely hate the metal taste they give. Maybe it’s the cold of the bewerage or the material (cheap straws?).
redcalcium@lemmy.institute 11 months ago
Maybe try silicone straws?
shandrakor@lemmy.world 11 months ago
I have some glass ones I found in my local dollar store, they’re wonderful
livus@kbin.social 11 months ago
I use silicone straws. Easier to clean than metal ones too.