Washing vegetables AIBU to ask what's normal

If something is being discussed, multiple times, because a lot of people in a place do it and foreigners find it odd, then it’s a cultural habit.

You can be as fed up as you like. I really don't care. You think I’m rude, I think you’re increasingly irrational and remarkably whiny. We all have opinions. 😁

I would give everything a good rinse and rub under the tap unless it's labelled as ready to eat. But then I tend to be cooking the vast majority of vegetables I eat.

The fact that it comes up means that neither option is "normal", so "not rinsing" isn't a "cultural habit".

I'm getting fed up of you adding to your list of things that you disapprove of and declaring them to be part of British culture. It's not "blunt speaking", it's rude.

I grew up spending most of my childhood in raw agricultural England. Pigs, dogs and cats sometimes wandered into the kitchen, and were chased out. Water was taken from a well. There was no fridge, only a dairy with stone sills and no glazing; so there was a meat and cheese safe on a stone base with perforated ventilation. I don't think there was EVER any food hygiene, but my generation of 12 kids brought up in this bugfest are all still alive and well and now we are nearly 70.

...it is well meaning. 😊

I was quoting someone else’s comment, so clearly it’s something they’ve also observed. If you search variations of ‘rinsing washing up’ and ‘rinsing dishes’ in Advanced Search you’ll get a bunch of posts discussing this topic (I just checked), so it’s clearly something that other people think is an issue.

But, okay. You’ve never seen it. I made it up. 😁

Thank you. I certainly didn’t think there was. Although, I must admit to subsequent acerbity upon being informed I was being bitter and/or xenophobic.

It’s something I’ve never seen, as a Briton living in Britain. But clearly you have, and so it must be a “cultural habit” of ours.

I’m not hiding anything. I’m being extremely direct. I’m also laughing at you. You poor thing, so victimised. 🤣🤣🤣

The 'horror' expressed by @Elednia following your reasonable statement appears to be a huge overreaction. There's nothing nasty about your post at all.

Hiding your rudeness behind 🤣🤣🤣 emojis doesn’t wash (see what I did there 😜) with me. You wouldn’t dare say the people of India or Egypt, for example, had ‘questionable hygiene habits’ or any other rude sweeping statement insulting the whole nation but we are fair game, yeah?

I have no idea if this is a compliment or an insult!

Everything gets a 10-15 minute soak in a bowl of cold water with a tsp on bicarb, a scrub if visibly dirty, and a rinse under the tap. This was advised by a nutritionist as the best way to get rid of any creepy crawlies& chemicals.

Actually in addition to threadworm, she observed roundworm, hookworm and tapeworm. I was pretty surprised as you say you wouldn’t expect this in Britain. I remember my British flatmates at uni being confused when me and another non-British student said we were deworming ourselves, and couldn’t understand why we were washing our fruit and veg, or wouldn’t eat stuff out of the bag. Different individuals have different ways of doing things as this shows. But to original poster’s question: I thoroughly wash all fruit and veg to remove pesticides, parasites, and dirt.

DP's gone one (or ten) better than you.

He's cut it up into pieces and put in into a saucepan full of 100 Celsius water to wash it until it goes bright green - and then he'll put it on the clean plates with the mash (also washed for about ten minutes in 100 Celsius water until they went tender) and some heat treated pork products, finishing off with a cleansing balm of Bisto made with boiling water from the kettle.

Do you reckon they'll all be safe to eat or should he have applied bleach and Fairy Liquid to them first?

@DappledThings you slay as my tween would say! 😀

I confess to not pre-washing bras though..

😂

I do wonder if some of it is a hangover from the Pandemic.

I did draw the line at hot soapy washing cans and bottles though kept most of it outside for a good 24hrs before unpacking

I needed this laugh

As I'm unloading the shopping I have a basin ready to go.

It's quite surprising the amount of gritty stuff left in the basin when done and the water has oil rings in it (I presume from the wax used on some fruits).

I even wash carrots before peeling. We buy the bagged carrots from Lidl and I find they sweat so need washed and dried before putting away.

I think potatoes aren't washed before putting away but I was brought up peeling potatoes in a bowl of cold water so they get washed then. Or scrubbed first if for baked potatoes.

Onions! Never wash onions but I do take layers off when prepping them. Same with garlic. Never wash garlic.

Always wash fruit and vegetables. It's part of the process of putting them away when bought.

Will often wash again before use. Though this will be a rinse rather than a wash.

Learned that particular part of food hygiene when I got my food hygiene certificate as part of my part time job for Uni umpteen years ago.

And there it is. 🤣

‘Cultural habit’ and ‘attitude as a nation’ somehow equal ‘every single person in the country does this’. You and @MerryChristmasYaFilthyBrusselSprout ought to get together and form a club. You’ll have a great time not grasping basic statements. It’ll be a real hoot.

Xenophobia. 🤣🤣🤣

Tbf, the Dutch are known to be very xenophobic/racist. 😉

There you go again "cultural habit" now.

Why do you assume you know what everyone does or doesn't do with regard to vegetables, washing up, etc.?

Do you show the same xenophobia towards other nationalities?

Glad you agree with me.

I've just put a cabbage on a 90 degree wash because of this thread.