DrinksWhy Are We Embarrassed About Tap Water?
We in Britain are in the very privileged position of having free flowing water that ranks extremely highly in both taste and quality tests. In fact, our tap water is one of the best in the world! We have high quality water on tap, that we don"t think twice about drinking in the home. Before going to work, many of us would be more than happy to refill old bottles with tap water, in fact,  some of us would rather walk out of the house with no clothes on, than pay money for a bottle of water in a local shop. Why then, as soon as we enter a restaurant, does tap water become an issue? It seems that we are all a bit embarrassed to be asking for tap water in a restaurant. It"s the "tap" prefix that seems to be so distateful. It"s as though the tap distinction is the equivalent of branding water with the label cheap, or dirty, or poor quality. This is simply not the case. Why can"t we just call it water too? - that is, after all, what it is-And call other waters "specialised waters" to mark them out?
Many restaurants place bottles of chilled tap water on the tables before customers have to ask for it. This eliminates the need to say the dreaded words "tap water" out loud. This is ideal practice because very few people don"t want any water at all when they are having a meal, and if a customer should want a special brand of water or sparkling water then they can ask for it separately (we have yet to be in a position where we can get sparkling water on tap). Other (most) restaurants are not so amenable. They make it neccessary for the cstomer to ask for water and some even turn their noses up at the words "tap". It seems that restaurants want to discourage the drinking of tap water because they aren"t making any money from it, and customers pick up on this vibe and are in turn embarrassed to be asking for something for free. It"s time to cast of this fear and be proud of Londons tap water. It is, after all, the best in the world!