Eat: Tap, tap, tap.
Britons drink 3 billion bottles of water a year, one-sixth of which are imported from overseas. But based solely on my dining experiences in the last week alone, the tide is turning.
At Hoxton's newly refurbished Cay Tre, staff raced to the table with a huge jug of iced tap water. At the new Bord'eaux restaurant in Mayfair's Grosvenor House, my request for tap water produced a lovely crystal decanter that would have done justice to a first growth Bordeaux.
Last Friday night, all but three tables at the sardine-packed Fifteen restaurant in Watergate Bay, Cornwall, were drinking clear, sweet-tasting water served in handsome, functional jugs. And at Soho's antipodean Flat White café, stainless steel jugs line up on the counter allowing you to democratically help yourself.
Only at Queensway's Mandarin Kitchen did a waiter respond to my request for tap water with an expression caught somewhere between surprise and horror. Two very plain glasses were eventually brought, only to be ignored for the rest of the night.
A lot of the credit for the swing to tap should go to Giles Coren, restaurant critic for The Times, who started his own vendetta against bottled water in January 2007. So in tune with the zeitgeist was he, that the cause was recently taken up by the Evening Standard's "Water On Tap" campaign - with no acknowledgement to Coren, mind you.
But I think we need to take it further. The next step, surely, is for restaurants to purify and even carbonate their own water on the premises, as at the organically minded Duke of Cambridge pub in Islington, in order to eliminate "water miles" and minimise glass wastage. To all those restaurateurs who can see their water profits going down the drain – this could be the answer. Offer your own lightly chilled filtered water, still or sparkling, and you can charge us something for it. (The Duke charges £2.50 bottle).
It's not just a cost issue. It's not just a food miles issue, although it does seem hideous to fly bottles of water around for one half of the world when the other half is walking half a day to the local spring. It is, I think, just a common sense issue. If you live in a place where the tap water is drinkable, then drink the tap water.
If you occasionally need a sparkle, perhaps at lunchtime when a glass of water often becomes a substitute for wine, then order it and enjoy it. Just try to make sure it is British, or from a carbon-neutral company such as Belu.
The main thing that Coren has achieved is to give us a real alternative to that rather expensive question "still or sparkling?" Personally, I think we all owe him a drink.
Let's take it a step further and start paying a nominal fee for tap water, donating the proceeds to water charities. It works:
http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/green-living/should-restaurateurs-charge-for-tap-water-801137.html
www.wateraid.org/tapintowateraid
Posted by: Will | Monday, 31 March 2008 at 12:25 PM
bog standard South Asian eateries always bring you a jug of water at the start your meal, whether it's in Southall, Sparkbrook or Syhlet. Why all restaurants can't do the same I have no idea.
Posted by: Sam | Monday, 31 March 2008 at 06:18 PM
We have been collecting 60's soda syphons over the last few months and will be serving bubbly Birregurra water.
Previously we only served still from the cool well.
The tankers of San Pellegrino that are served up in Australia are a complete waste of everything. I was especially peeved to be served it at a Slow Food conference, no one seemed to care.
Posted by: George Biron | Tuesday, 01 April 2008 at 08:48 AM
Once again, George at Sunnybrae is leading the charge! Perhaps everyone else's soda siphons are being used to serve up la-de-da foams?
Yes, back in Melbourne the pretentious are paying through the nose for imports of 'sparkling water' when fine dining, but the cafes still bring you a glass of tap water on arrival and top it up, or democratically offer self service iced water. Interestingly many locals who drink bottled water at home, will drink the tap water in restaurants. Go figure.
Water is such a precious resource - why are we so blase about it? The drought here in Aus has made some of us reconsider our consumption. The tendency towards consuming ethically is also kicking in, so hopefully the locally sourced sparkling from Hepburn Springs may yet hit the tables of our establishment venues.
Posted by: stickyfingers | Wednesday, 02 April 2008 at 01:03 AM
Love your post so much, I posted myself similarly and have began a bit of a debate.
http://eatingwithjack.blogspot.com/2008/03/house-filtered-carbonated-water-would.html
Thanks for getting us thinking.
I think house filtered and carbonated water is a fantatsic idea.
Jack
Posted by: Jack | Wednesday, 02 April 2008 at 04:26 AM
Hi, I've just written a blog post about this very topic. If any of the readers here are interested in hearing about how this trend is growing in North America, please click on my blog link.
http://danamccauley.wordpress.com/2008/04/03/liquid-thinking-choosing-the-tap-over-the-bottle/
Posted by: Dana McCauley | Friday, 04 April 2008 at 12:12 AM
Plain old Tap water should indeed be free! but there are some mean spirited restaurants/Pubs out there who actually charge..
I'm currently researching a story item for a BBC documentary series about food and would love to know the names of those places who refuse to serve tap water or expect their customers to pay.
to name and shame
please email me audreybrown33@hotmail.com 0208 008 0609
Posted by: Audrey Brown | Friday, 02 May 2008 at 04:24 PM