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I remember my vacation in the states (in the South). I got served a absolutely massive glass of coca-cola with my dinner. When I had finally managed to finish it a waiter came and refilled the bloody thing when I wasn't paying attention. How can you enjoy your meal with that much to drink?

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>I remember my vacation in the states (in the South). I got served a absolutely massive glass of coca-cola with my dinner. When I had finally managed to finish it a waiter came and refilled the bloody thing when I wasn't paying attention. How can you enjoy your meal with that much to drink?

Are you from a place where there is a cultural taboo against only drinking part of the beverage a restaurant serves you?

Saying that you "finally managed to finish it" implies that you were putting effort into drinking the entire glass despite not wanting to. And being put out by the fact that the waiter refilled it implies that you felt obligated to drink the refill as well.

Are you from a place where it’s culturally accepted to let left-over drinks simply go to waste?

Yes

In a situation where the water is recycled effectively and we have massive stores of it far in excess of what we need?

Yes. That's the whole point of modern water systems in the US -- that we're very wealthy and water cycles anyway, so why not cycle it a little faster if it makes us happy?

In the US, our troubles with water stem from corruption from people meant to be maintaining the system and inefficient agriculture. Personal consumption is well covered.

> Are you from a place where it’s culturally accepted to let left-over drinks simply go to waste?

Absolutely. Where I'm from, no one bats an eyelash at a half-glass of soda left on a restaurant table.

Most countries in the world will have taboos on wasting food, built over thousands of years of scarcity.

Also a couple decades of over-abundance. Remember "reduce, reuse, recycle"

> Are you from a place where there is a cultural taboo against only drinking part of the beverage a restaurant serves you?

I think that describes most of the world, if allowance is made for places where leaving the last sip (or last mouthful, for food) shows enough was served.

I've never felt this pressure in the US. For food, sure. I was always told growing up to finish my food at each meal. But for water or soda, never.

So it was a common occurrence that you would fill a full glass of soda and dump half of it in the sink?

No, it's comment occurrence to say, "no, thank you" when the pitcher-bearer approaches, or turn that glass over.

ATM this post is downvoted below zero.

I think it poses a legit question, there are in fact a different mindsets related to leftovers in different places, i.e. asking for a "doggy bag" is a thing in some places and not others.

To stay on drinks, my wife leaves glasses of water half full, and it drives me insane.

> Are you from a place where there is a cultural taboo against only drinking part of the beverage a restaurant serves you?

Not a specific culture, it is only abouy not waisting food and drinks. Remember many people still don't have enough of both to live.

Whether you drink your drink or not, once it's in your glass, it's not able to go to someone else. Might as well pour it down the drain if you don't want it. At least it will help keep the sewer system running well.

For me, and probably many Europeans: yes, that is how we are raised. It's not su much of being taboo, more like a sense that it makes no sense to waste anything (not just food/water) and is bad for the planet in general. (well, there is truth in that). My parents even had a picture of a bunch of underfed kids from Ethiopia (or so) on the wall in the kitchen. If we didn't eat our plate, they'd point to it and say something like 'You see that? They would go nuts for that bit of food that is still on your plate. Eat it.' Thinking of it now I can see that might not be regarded as best practices in education, but they meant it well.

The marginal cost of that sugar water is less than the cost of the waiter's time to walk to your table.

My parents had the same attitude and I'm from the UK. My Dad passed away at a younger age than his father from obesity related conditions and it was then that I realised that my parents generation (born in the 50s) were the first in history to have access to unlimited food.

Their own parents had instilled in them this view that you must finish your plate. They had experience of rationing. My parents continued this attitude probably because this just seemed like the thing to do but really this sort of thing seems like a bad thing when many of us are overweight.

  Their own parents had instilled in them this view that you must finish your plate. They had experience of rationing.

In the wake of WW2 clear into the 1950s, there were food shortages in Europe, with hunger and malnutrition. Even Americans were guilted into not wasting food. For example, Allan Sherman (an overweight Jewish American comedian, sort of a Weird Al Yankovic of his era) said in a song monologue:

'My parents would say, "clean your plate; children are starving in Europe!"

So, I would clean the plate.

Four, five, six times a day.'

True, my Dad born in 1952 had a ration book for the first couple of years of his life.

He didn't remember that but for his parents it would all feel too recent.

That's how most people I know were raised in the US, too. As an adult, I've consciously tried to move away from this attitude, because it leads to obesity. It's especially problematic in the South, where I'm from, given the absolutely massive portions that are traditional there. (And it shows in the pervasive obesity of the population.) My rule now is that I stop eating as soon as I'm full. It's sometimes a struggle to make myself follow it, though.

When the U.S. and Russia began joint space station operations aboard the Mir station, one of the startling findings was the enormous quantity of water the American astronauts consumed compared to their Russian counterparts. I remember my first trips abroad to Europe and Asia and being baffled by how little water people drink or the tiny cups that they're served with.

Among Americans, the South is especially known for even more to drink and eat, with larger portions and sweeter drinks.

There's definitely some kind of huge cultural gap and is one of those weird subtle things that makes traveling interesting.

I remember as a child, my family went to a chinese restaurant.

While there the waitress was really on top of filling my glass of water. I thought it would be rude to not drink it. I threw up on the way home.

Don't be like 6 year old me. If you don't want to drink something, don't drink it.

Funny, the same thing happened to my brother too.

Growing up in the states (North Texas), it's treated almost identically to water. There's a baffling lack of recognition that soda is as impactful as it is on health.

When you don't want to drink any more the trick is to just stop drinking.

Last time I talked with people about it, it seemed that Americans drink a lot more on a daily basis than Europeans. It's a habit that people develop.

I drink no soda, but drink 360 ml of coffee, 2 liters of water and 0-2 beers on a typical day. I'm more strict about drinking water than a lot of people, but I don't think I'm far outside the norm.

You don't have to finish your drink.

Many Americans accept gluttony and waste, both trouble many parts of the world.

Obesity you are way ahead. But you do have a lot in common with the Mexicans for whatever reason:

https://healthhabits.files.wordpress.com/2009/07/how-fat-is-...

But food waste actaully the USA isn't that far ahead of others, so I partly take that back:

http://www.dow.com/performanceplastics/make-it-last/global-v...

The only waste from unfinished soda is the syrup. You'd have to clean the water after you peed it out anyway, and water gets recycled in most places.

Real scarcity is a cause for moderation, and Americans aren't always good at that, but clean water is a highly renewable resource in the US (except in areas where the system is corrupt or there's tons of wasteful agriculture, neither of which is fixed by drinking less).

Yeah, I remember that too. When the waiter put the gun to my head, I hurried up and slammed the soda, so he could refill it.

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