Learning the small things

Isn't Jo wonderful?

Little bin (sometimes with a swing lid sometimes not) or sometimes bowl is for rubbish/trash. Top of butter containers and then bottoms, food dropped on floor, that little tube that liverwurst comes in, little jam pots, etc.

I first saw little rubbish bins on the breakfast table in France about 30 years ago. Since then, I have seen them in many other countries. Sometimes they have writing on them indicating what they are for, but it is in the language of the country.

At my traditional guesthouse, there is a small empty plastic tub parked on my breakfast table every morning. What am I supposed to do with it? Is it for the empty cream and butter containers?

Exactly. But it's for your convenience. Nobody expects you to use it if you don't want to.

Once I learned what the little rubbish bins on the table were for, I wondered why they don't have them everywhere! But it did take me a while; the one I remember was the one properly labeled, in several languages, "For A Clean Table."

I have long admired those containers in restaurants across Europe for years. I can be fairly oblivious to the the junk piled up in my house but have a minor obsession with clearing the table of sugar wrappers, jelly containers, napkins etc. while eating out. I’ve looked off and on over the years, but after reading this I googled “table top rubbish bins”. Thanks for the inspiration.

Ha, well I guess I’m not as uneducated (schlecht ausgebildet) as I looked on the tasting tour. I figured it out but I was too nervous to follow through in case it was somehow reserved just for organics and I put in butter wrappers. I guess after I saw the bottle sorters on every corner (white glass/brown glass/green glass, only to be deposited between the hours of 6:00-19:00 and never on Sundays), I was a bit skittish about not following the rules.

@Nigel - yes Jo is truly delightful. I worried I was taking too much of her time but I loved every minute. I also took the daily tour with her husband and enjoyed his very knowledgeable but relaxed approach.

I’m now sitting on the Innenhof (terrace) of my lovely old Fachwerk hotel enjoying a few glasses of Riesling. La dolce vita German style.

It was so fun meeting you! Enjoy your last evening in Frankfurt and I hope you come over here again really soon.