First it was warm beer, now it's un-refrigerated eggs. What next?

Please note that there should be a /s marker on the post to mark it as sarcastic/humorous in tone -- I keep forgetting that it is hard to infer tone from items posted on social media. I keep trying the :P tongue-in-cheek emoticon but the movement is toward /s as the accepted convention. Carry on.

Who gets eggs which have been chilled? Eggs straight off the farm, never been cold. Honesty box, take eggs leave money.

I thought the debate these days was over where to store tomato ketchup.

I have never understood putting butter in the fridge.. how do you spread it on bread when it cold and hard.. I will never understand it.

Ketchup,, never refrigerated it either.

My friend does bring me eggs shes raised herself.. the best darn eggs.. but I do stick them in fridge as she does wash them. However , when making a cake or omelette I have always been taught to take eggs out an hour ahead of time for best results.

I also leave beef out for an hour or two before cooking it..

Hahahaha - avirosemail, while in Amsterdam shopping this winter we looked and looked through the refrigerated section for eggs to no avail. Upon asking we were directed to a shelf in the middle of the store. Honestly, I had never seen eggs not in a fridge. "Don't refrigerate, and wash eggs and hands well before using", we were told. I live to tell the tale. Who'da thunk?

Major sins:
1] Albert Heijn brand Erwtensoep in a can
2] Enticing consumers to fulfill their fantasy of easy money by hauling their recyclables to the grocery to find the machine seemingly only accepts 1.5 L plastic bottles for cash refund. Actually we thought it grand that we could get a .25E return on coke bottles, but every other item was spit back out with a resounding beep to let the rest of the store know that this person is not native and obviously doesn't know the secret policy lol. Not being one to give up easily, every week I would stuff different plastic and glass items that I would have recycled at home into the machine, only to have passing customers shake their heads at my ignorance and inform me, "it doesn't take that, you know", as the machine began its inevitable loud signal of distress at my ongoing quest to be a frugal, responsible citizen of the world. Ha!

Sins commited by new world people: Don't say "restroom" or "bathroom" when you mean toilet.
A restroom is where you go to lie down if you are tired, it can also be a break room or coffee room in a factory.
A bathroom is a room with a bath in it.

Every time I see a post asking something like "will there be a bathroom on the bus/train?" or "Is it easy to find a public bathroom in xxx?" I am tempted to reply I have never seen a bathroom on a bus, it would be totally impractical as the water would slosh out every time the bus went around a corner :-)

Well said Chris F

Re: Ketchup - I refrigerate after opening - that's what it says on the bottle!

I remember when I was in community college, one of the ladies had an exchange student from France, and her daughter was over there - she said her daughter couldn't get over that milk was left out of the fridge - who wants warm milk on cereal?!? Not sure if that is the norm in France or not, but in that household, it was...

Who eats cold cuts and cheese for breakfast???? and why are they serving coffee/ drinks at a street festival to go in a real (non paper) cup?? LOL
Also why is this hot chocolate so thick? and the coffee so small ??

Something that perhaps should be made very clear about the eggs issue: In the US, commercial eggs are washed as part of the processing and MUST be kept in the fridge or they can take on bacteria. In Europe, the eggs are left unwashed until ready to use at there is a protective coating that prevents bacteria from infiltrating. Refrigerated eggs also keep longer.

Good cooks know to bring cold items out about 20-30 minutes before using them.

My oddities with food storage in Europe:

At our U.K. exchange houses we've found the previously opened jams and marmalades to be in a cupboard, not the refrigerator. Usually one or more of the contents has mold growing on the surface--last time it was the marmalade. We always just buy a fresh jar now.

One year in our German city (pop. 300,000) I was driving to my language class when I passed a large old wooden building with big doors wide open. I looked inside and saw full sides of beef hanging from hooks. The carcasses were just swinging in the breeze with anything and everything able to fly in those open doors. Needless to say, I started to rinse off meat from the market after that observation.

Another thing that freaks some people out, but oddly enough not me, are all of the bees/wasps flying around inside some pastry counters in Germany. The workers just reach right in and brush off the bees and hand you the pastry. I don't have any problem with that but I've traveled with others who do.

butter
Unvariably hotels have their butter - packed or unpacked as balls - in a bowl of ice on the breakfast buffet, making it near impossible to spread it on your roll or slice of bread.
restroom
There must be a moment in the near future when the »restroom« doesn't do its work anymore of hiding what people are doing there. What will be the next step?
PS. This is an American sin, not a European. We find the »toilet« decent enough.

Growing up, eggs were always found in the grocery store unrefrigerated. Yes, this was in the US! They were found near the milk, which was refrigerated, so they stayed somewhat chilled. I don't know when the move happened to refrigerate eggs, but by the time I got my first job at a grocery store the eggs were always refrigerated. I do remember that the refrigerated eggs could be classified AA where the room temperature one were never better than A.

Unfortunately most of us don't live anywhere near where the farmers leave their produce out for purchase with the honesty box. However, a local garden shop now sells farm fresh eggs when they can get them and these are not refrigerated. Taste great too!

Butter - we keep 1/4 lb or so on the counter, in a butter dish during the winter, in a butter bell during the hotter months. In super hot weather we put in in the fridge. At 80 or 90F butter goes rancid really quickly. Any extra is stored in the freezer 'til we need to replenish the supply on the counter. Friends who grew up in hot climates where you really can't leave your butter out because it melts and goes rancid are still weirded out by New Englanders' habit of having butter out and warm.

Jams & jellies - in the cupboard. On the rare occasion mold occurs, scrape it off.

Ketchup in the fridge because we usually don't use it fast enough to warrant keeping it out. It has such a high sugar and acid content it shouldn't need refrigeration at all.

Eggs go in the fridge because they've been washed - even the ones we buy direct from the farmer. Take them out a while before we use them to let them warm up.

Don't say "restroom" or "bathroom" when you mean toilet.

It was so cute to hear our friends' five year old grandson yesterday who will be going to Paris in July say "Où sont les toilettes?"

Thanks, Marco, for that link -- it is always interesting to see how similar but not quite the same British NHS advice is to US authorities' advice.

Regarding ketchup, it's a darn shame that the archaeological record is unclear and historians examining the ancient Latin texts are unable to say for certain how Jesus and his disciples stored their ketchup. As with many other practices, we have to depend on tradition for guidance. This has always been a source of anxiety at holiday time especially, since we can't definitively tell if the Israelites were using russets or yukon golds for their potato pancake latkes while wandering in the desert for forty years. It can lead to tensions just like leaving butter out or putting it in the larder or fridge --

"Larder" itself is a bit of a head-scratcher to the younger hipper west coast generation. Not clear on what that is, really. A room to hold the Crisco? Are you really making that much frijoles refritos?

A couple of years ago, when I was at this restaurant for dinner in Vienna, large dining room, this New York guy walks in, a non-customer, approaches the Austrian waiter who happened to be standing close to my table, and says "restroom?" The waiter doesn't even answer him, just points in the right direction. Obviously, the waiter knows what this guy wants. The NY guy doesn't say "thank you" in English or German when he knows where to go. I watched this tell-tale scene.

I take a ceramics class for fun. There is a pottery piece called a French Butter Dish that is designed to keep butter fresh when not refrigerated. The bottom is slightly larger than the top piece (but they fit together closely) and holds a small amount of water. The top holds the butter (you pack it into the interior section). When you put them together the water should just touch the 'top' of the butter. This prevents air contact which helps delay to butter going rancid. You keep the dish on the counter or table. It is pretty when well made and decorated by the potter.

What confused me when we first started traveling to Europe was the different names for many food items. Courgetts especially confused me (I think I remember that it is either zucchini or cucumber????). Baps ??? Bread Rolls - correct? I'll probably think of others later.

I store catsup with fresh French fries...short shelf life. :)

In France one time, a cheese vendor, after selling us several cheeses, said (in French): "Never never in the fridge."

Toni - I grew up knowing that as a butter bell. Very handy.

https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=butter+bell

Have you walked by a real "Carniceria" in Mexico? The meat hangs outside in the open air stalls with all manner of flying insect landing on them!

Remember when "où est la "vay-cey" was the accepted question for the toilet in France?

Yes, Toni et alia, a butter bell!

Part of the tittery tone in my message on this topic is the right-in-front-of-our-faces notion that butter and eggs have been around a lot longer than Kenmore and Sub-Zero!

Not just in larders on land but in casks at sea, butter and other perishables have been defended against perishing since the days when Noah was herding the velociraptors two by two.

It was way back in the olden times, too, that the English started using the wrong names for zucchini, eggplant, kiwi fruit, and a cornucopia of other garden veggies and comestibles. A couple of battles and changes of coats of arms nine centuries ago, and the English still think that French-y terms are de rigueur.

I own a butter bell. I never knew what one was until I went to Botswana and every safari camp stored their butter this way. Brilliant.

Good discussion. Since we often rent apartments, and I lived in Germany back in the last century, non-refrigerated eggs are not a shock to me. I figured they were truly fresh, sold out rapidly and came to the stores daily.

True story about good eggs. There was a young female soldier at the Nuremberg Military Community transient billets the same time as I was. She refused to eat the eggs because the yolk was too orange and too dark. She said they were "sick." She had never seen an egg yolk that wasn't mass-produced pale yellow.

One surprise sin we experienced in the Netherlands in 2013 was iced tea, Lipton, made with sparkling water, from a can, served in a special glass, with ice. We also got ice served to us in Greece and Italy in 2014. We didn't ask for it. Blasphemy!

Hi Lo, Yes -- the combination of mass product with a personal touch seems to find its way onto the table often.
I recall last year in Valencia when Chani and I stopped for a break on a pedestrianized street and she ordered a can of soda, which came with a fancy glass of ice and a cherry and an orange twist, and my tea came in a nice mug with an actual tapa (cover and snack both)
all for less than what we'd pay for a plastic bottle from a high-tech vending machine here in San Francisco.

Regarding 'truly fresh' eggs, buried in my photos is a shot I got of an egg delivery from the rack of a scooter to the RS-recommended Maison Courtois in Nimes. A gross of eggs in open flats on the back of a mid-size (by US standards) motorscooter. Carried through the front into the kitchen just as a pan of fresh out of the oven pastries comes out to cool. That's quick turnover!

i grew up in iowa, as you might envision, the heart of corn country. i think i had eaten my life time supply by age 10. we were underwhelmed during a trip to ireland when corn kept showing up in unexpected and undesired places. the pinnacle of this was the hand lettered sign my compainions and I still quote to each other, on an unrefrigerated shelf in some motorway gas station "Tuna & Corn Sandwiches, now at Reduced Price"

I hear you doric8 --
Places that try to cater to vacationers by offering something that's chic or exotic yet popular among their in-crowd
sometimes inadvertently bring coals to Newcastle (if that's still a thing).

Best instance of that on film is in the movie Castaway when Tom Hanks is rescued from the tropical island and
they have a big celebratory seafood buffet.

Currently, it's avocado toast making its way to brunch menus everywhere. I buy more than fifty avocados a year, since it's on my list of grocery staples every week. OTOH, I had a total of four bagels in 2016, three of which were in December during an East Coast visit. One person's daily bread is another's rare treat.

Yes, tuna and sweetcorn is one of the most common sandwich combinations in British shops.

I've had the tuna and sweet corn sandwich and I liked it. My question to Emma and Philip though is it's shelf storage life without refrigeration. Do they use mayonnaise to bind the loose filling together? If so, I think this is why people would be surprised to find it on an unrefrigerated shelf in a shop. When you visit a Pret or M&S Simply Food store now, sandwiches are on refrigerated shelves.

I often saw tuna, sweet corn and egg pizzas in Germany but I didn't try those...

Thank you, Emma, for not mentioning Hershey's and tea horrors. Indefensible, you're quite right.

I would only plead that you not tar the whole continent with the same brush -- here in my hippie couture corner of the New World we have evolved beyond our east coast kin in these practices.

Brunch has certain rules, though, even if unwritten, and right there in the main text it says that it must include a slice of cantaloupe.

To delve deeper into tuna and sweetcorn sandwiches, are we to understand that their ubiquity and affordability is primarily an indicator that the ingredients came out of cans? Further, that their preparation doesn't tax the skills or creativity of shop staff? Even further, that their flavor and texture pose no danger to the palate of UK eaters in the areas of spice, savor, or [I can't come up with a third that isn't in French]?

Here I can't resist a short anecdote: during a long unplanned layover at Heathrow, I was forced to have dinner at a supposedly traditional pub in the terminal and ordered the bangers and mash with onion gravy. When the server checked in to see if I was enjoying it (!) I asked if I could have some more gravy. She returned from the back several minutes later and said that to do so would involve taking it from the freezer and putting it in the microwave. I demurred. Didn't want to be thought of as a bother.

Our butter's in a bowl on the counter. We only have problems during a very cold spell, when the radiator under the counter is going full steam.

I remember my mom once telling us that it was OK to leave the butter out now that it had gotten cold, but could we please put the lid on so that the cat didn't lick it?

I'm not a ketchup lover. I can tell you, from my restaurant experience, that it does go bad. It can sometimes sort of explode out of the bottle when a customer opens it. I've seen it ooze all over the table. If you hear a pretty loud pop on a bottle that's not new, don't use it.

The whole kombucha craze has me puzzled. Why drink something that tastes like old, spoiling juice? What's next- canned pineapple that is turning fizzy and bites you back? Old ketchup? Beets that are getting slimy? Bubbly applesauce? All these are fermenting and have active bio cultures. They're still gross. I'll stick to beer, wine, and yogurt.

It is impossible to order any hot food without a slice of melon and orange getting in the way of the bacon and eggs. It's slightly revolting. Why do they do it?

It makes the breakfast "healthy." For every slice of cantaloupe or little sliced strawberry, one can eat 3 pieces of bacon without guilt...

On the beer...I remember on my first trip in 1971, paid a visit to this German family (I didn't know them) in Hamburg in July since I was there anyway, on behalf of a good friend here, showed up in front of the door thinking they might be thinking who is this total stranger suddenly at the door. My friend here didn't have a phone number anyway. I told them who I was, from Calif, showed my US passport as proof I wasn't lying, which by hand signal they told put it away.

Anyway, I was invited in, sat in the living room talking to his second son, and when the father came in, he saw I had not been offered any refreshments. He asked how about a beer? Sure. Now, do think you he went to the fridge for the couple bottles of beer. No, of course not. The father went to this living room cabinet near to us, pulled out a couple of bottles. My immediate thought upon seeing where the beer was kept for guests, presumably, was that it was in this living room cabinet. Had he gotten a couple ice cold bottles from the fridge, that would have really surprised me.

@Karen in Fort Wayne, Yes -- there's a profile of Anthony Bourdain in a recent New Yorker and he says the up and coming thing among super chefs is rot.

Make your own kimchee / sauerkraut is next phase after the home yogurt and brew your own beer trend has blown through (as it were). On my December visit to the east coast there was a Russian supermarket with a huge pickling and pickled counter that just thinking about gives me the heebie jeebies.

Reminds me of a comedian talking about cottage cheese: "Who invented this stuff? And how did they know when they were finished inventing it?

Two come to mind:

One the Rue Cler in Paris, we noticed a pigeon land on a loaf of bread. We snapped a photo before the shopkeeper shooed it away. Then as we walked away, we figured the ultimate buyer of that loaf would have no idea !!

Then, in Italy, we watched as a restaurant worker took glass bottles (the type that are sold for individual tables) and filled them at a public fountain, where the water recirculated from a little pool under the fountain (and yes, birds would swoop down for their drink of water, too.)

I guess if we don't know about it, it won't kill us :o

Then, in Italy, we watched as a restaurant worker took glass bottles (the type that are sold for individual tables) and filled them at a public fountain, where the water recirculated from a little pool under the fountain

Maggie, that is where you are wrong. The public fountain is connected to the public water supply. It is where the inhabitants got their water before it was piped to individual buildings. No way is it recycled, that would require electric pumps, which didn't exist when the public fountain was built. And where would you house them, in a solid stone public drinking fountain?
That water is fresher than you get out of the taps in the buildings. It is a continuous flow, it has not been stagnant in pipes. Unlike the new pipes in the buildings, any impurities in the pipes (lead, chemicals etc.) have been leached out of the pipes to the fountains centuries ago.

Chris,
I would buy your explanation, but the water ran constantly from the faucet. I guess it is plausible that the water that was not used....that dropped into the fountain pond below, was sent somewhere else, while just fresh water continued to enter the fountain/pool, but seems that would require a lot more advance draining and plumbing than I could imagine in that particular old village....but who knows...maybe I am wrong!

EDIT: I just mentioned this to my spouse, and he said: Of course, the water was not recirculated. He explained the reason the water remained running is that it (likely) was coming from a spring, and one does not "turn off" the spring. I learn something new every day!! Had not even thought of that. You can tell I get my water from the tap from a Metro Water Department.

Maggie, it is gravity fed. A fresh stream is diverted into the fountain, and then flows out back to the river. These fountains are centuries old. In Italy some date back to the Romans, ~2000 years. How do you think they worked before electricity?
But now modern water treatment rules apply. The excess still flows back into the river.

EDIT: I just read your edit. In Switzerland, every village has such a fountain, in the towns many (click for photo). They are part of the architectural heritage.
In mountain villages, walkers refill their water bottles when they reach the next village. The water in different villages sometimes tastes different because of the different minerals, real "mineral water". A lot fresher than anything from a "Metro Water Department"!

That Italian fountain water is wonderful, cold and crisp, straight from the mountains. And pure. And not recycled. If it isn't ok there will be a prominent sign saying Non Potabile which means non-potable, don't drink. Search the interwebs for Nasone.

The Swiss ones are even better, if that is possible. Walking around or hiking in both countries is so easy because you can always have a full water bottle.

There are a few, but not many, Wallace Fountains in France which also dispense pure drinking water.

I still have a hard time thinking of 'rocket' as a green veggie.

I thought we sent satellites into spake with a rocket. Not eat the darn thing.

It is "roquet" if that makes you feel any better.

Norma, you must be a fan of "Keeping Up Appearances," yes?

The eggs thing is funny. They actually did tests on them and the refrigerated ones didn't last any longer than the ones on the shelf.
No one has said anything about the colored, hard-boiled eggs seen in every German grocery store all year round.

Pizza with corn on it is called American pizza! Or with BBQ on it then it is Texan pizza. One can order tuna fish pizza or spinach pizza or a pizza with a fried egg on it. Or perhaps artichoke hearts or black olives with the stones still in them. What you won't find is pizza with saurkraut on it like I have seen in the US. Sausages, like bratwursts, fleischwursts or frankfurters come in a hard roll and never with sauerkraut.

Chili always has corn in it in Germany. Have never seen it without. Oddest is nachos served with both corn and kidney beans, cause yes, these 2 items mean it is now Mexican.

Rocket is arugula and you will find this on pizza too.

No one has mentioned quark?

The wasps (they aren't bees) in bakeries are a huge annoyance.

Have never been served warm beer in Germany. It isn't going to be ice cold like in the US, but it isn't warm.

I love quark! Eat liters of it when I'm in Germany. Can't find it at home.

I often have nachos with corn and kidney beans around home, seems to be a Colorado thing in the US. I was surprised first time visiting a Subway shop in Europe and they had corn to add to sandwiches, but I tried it and it was good. I have only seen corn in vegetarian chili so far.

The egg thing is interesting. Which results were found to support refrigeration or room temperature seems to depend on which country the research was done. In the US, the American Egg Board insists that refrigerated eggs last 4 - 6 weeks where European results say eggs only last a couple weeks anyway regardless of the temperature they are kept at. And since it is EU law requiring the sale of unrefrigerated eggs no matter what, I guess that settles it for Europe.

And warm beer is relative. :-)

Today I found out has an explanation why some countries refrigerate eggs.

Travelling I have found in Spain and France red wine is put in the fridge, serving temperature is 17 - 19 celcius.

Peanut butter is American, if I fancy peanut butter I look in the international section. I did walk away from some Italian students in out local supermarket when they did the comparison of some pasta from pounds to euros..

And of course any one from somewhere that is not Northern Ireland trying to buy alcohol in Northern Ireland.... For GB and the ROI this is quite bizarre.

And then there is the question of the best colour for eggshells. Over here in England it is definitely brown. Indeed, it is hard to find white eggs in some supermarkets. Egg yolks should of course be orange.

Re "orange yolks". Gratified to learn this hasn't been my imagination. Seems to be the case in many European places we have visited. I just assumed the feed was different? Or different chickens? I have no idea but have wondered about it for some time.
We were just the other day chuckling with our English friend whose mum complains that she must refrigerate eggs and butter when his "fussy" American wife visits.

Those Americans. Tsk. Tsk. Fussy. Loud. Over-obsessed with cleanliness. Anxious about fashion and fitting in. Too concerned with name brands and labels. /s

What actually counts as safe food varies a great deal between different countries. The European Union bans almost all GM crops, meat from animals which have been given growth hormones, and also limits HFCS (high fructose corn syrup). All of these are promoted in the USA, which, however, bans the haggis.

Warm beer depending on type is very normal in Europe. We are not talking lager/pilsner, but rather bitter or dark beer.

free range or insect eating chickens has yellow yolks. if you wash eggs you wash off the protective coating that keeps them fresh. I used eggs 1 or 2 months past the date?stamped as long as they don't float. Jesus and his friends prayed over the ketchup so they didn't worry about it. also Europeans don't Bathe daily like Americans or use deodorant. in hot italy they smelled bad. in cold germany less bad. when visiting my cousins they asked if I washed my hair daily too.

free range or insect eating chickens has yellow yolks

same with other chickens. As for the rest of the post - myths

The post from grizzleybear mom is bizarre and just plain wrong. Talk about generalizing!
A continent of over 300 million people and she knows their all of their bathing and deo habits.

Ms. Jo, I wonder if grizzly bear is joking around -- as I mentioned above and in other posts, it's hard to tell sometimes if someone is being tongue-in-cheek or not, so I try to use the tongue in cheek emoji
:P
or the sarcasm marker /s
when I remember to.

You make a good point about not generalizing, and it should be applied to what we Americans think is American as well as what we think is European --
I've seen people here posting about recycling household trash and how it's done in places they visit in Europe compared to how it isn't done at all 'here' -- depending on where 'here' is, recycling might be pretty similar. My county has always separated trash into two or more than two categories as long as I've been an adult, so recycling doesn't seem so 'European' to me -- it seems normal.

Same with food terms (to get back to the original topic) like 'aioli' -- it makes me cringe when I see Brits still using the word mayonnaise or flavored mayonnaise for aioli. British menu descriptions are still a hoot, even after their too brief involvement in the EU.

Another item in this category is American cities that are just now discovering that Columbus wasn't a hero, and adjusting Columbus Day in response -- where I live the Columbus Day demotion happened more than 25 years ago. The parking meters used to list the holidays that didn't require payment, and the meters listed Indigenous People's Day back in the '90s -- so what counts as 'American' or 'normal' really does depend on where and when and who you are.

There are some funny comments here!
My understanding with eggs is if you didn't buy them from a refrigerator then you actually don't have to store them in one.
Ketchup - not used to it being on the refrigerator either, neither butter

In Austria, it is not uncommon for bathrooms to be attached (or inside) of the kitchen. Toilets are often in a separate room from the bathroom, but the toilet room rarely has a sinking for washing hands. If there is a sink, it is only cold water. Hate that.

no cappuccinos after breakfast in italy is a funny one. gave me an appreciation for the instant caffeination of downing a shot of espresso at the counter though; i started talking about getting an espresso maker at home for quicker caffeinating in the morning, and my husband says, "the true mark of an addict is when you start thinking about the most efficient delivery method" :-D