Cultural cleaning practices

[mubarak86]

Sort of reminded by another thread about how when I got with DH and spent time with his non British family, how they were horrified by some of my cleaning (or not so) ways.
Eg, his family always wash meat/chicken before use. Not just a rinse under the tap, but they use flour, lemon juice and some even use olive oil soap and massage it in, before thoroughly rinsing it off.
Another one is how they wash the dishes. Small bowl of warm soapy water, sponge is dipped in, dish washed and set aside before rinsing soap off. Wearing of flip flops in bathroom, no bare feet ever. Flip flops left in bathroom, never to be worn outside of bathroom.

Would be interested to hear if you are in a mixed culture marriage or if you are not white British in what ways you feel you do things differently (or even if you just know others) . Keep it respectful please, no one is asking for opinions on what is the "right" way to do things.

I think it depends on size of houses e.g. in America and Australia re having space to wash clothes in a separate room to the kitchen. When I stayed with my friend in a small flat in USA, there was no separate utility room due to space and where her mum lived, there wasn't space either but they had a washing machine etc in the bathroom (small flat). When my friend bought her own house it definitely had a separate utility room.

Dishes being rinsed. I do this now (for things not going in dishwasher) and always have done but if there's a lot of cleaner water and it's only the outside of e.g. a large pan sometimes I'll leave it on to drain down as I can wipe it if unclean, partly saving water too though.

We've caught up with the rest of the world now, but when my Aussie mum first moved here she was appalled by carpets in the bathroom! I wonder why that was eve a thing, it is stupid as they get all wet and smelly. You still see it in some houses that haven't been refurbished yet.

@makeitallgoaway We created a genkan in our hallway when we moved into our new house as we loved the idea so much :) Hard to get the toddler to comply though 😅

Absolutely WhyPaul.
We never had carpet being very pro- lino. But the background to that was the sheer wonder and novelty that was "wall to wall carpeting."
No-one uses that phrase now but my grans would mention it as a thing in house decoration. To their generation it was a big innovation. They grew up with floorboards, oilcloth flooring and an occasional rug.

That is gross. And I’m white British. I think people are kind of generalising weird things to whole cultures - just because you and people you know don’t/didn’t wash properly doesn’t mean it’s a ‘British’ thing.

And a slatternly friend, married to a Jamaican, had to adjust all her unacceptable practices, not washing the chicken, etc.

Why did your friend have to make all the adjustments? Sounds like she was being over controlled by someone who thought his culture was superior.

@WhyPaulMemory I think the bathroom carpet thing was an 80s fashion. I have been told it is because our old housing stock made bathrooms freezing cold. We removed a bathroom carpet when we first moved into our house and, while it looked pretty bad, I was surprised to find it was not like ordinary carpet. It was backed entirely with rubber and was apparently acrylic, which dries quickly without rotting. So, while I would never have one, I don't think they were as unsanitary as you might imagine. We put underfloor feeling and tiles down, which really achieves the same thing - taking the chill off.

Rinsing off washing up liquid is important as leaving residue on crockery / cutlery increases heart attack risk.

A traveler family I know have a kitchen in their caravan but they don’t use it. Outside there is a little brick house with a kitchen and bathroom inside and they use that.

When I lived in Japan in the 1990s some women wouldn't touch their husband's dirty underwear when putting them into the washing machine. They had a pair of chopsticks kept by the washing machine for picking them up and putting them in. I first saw this being done in a television advertisement, found it odd, so asked about it in the English language classes I gave. It turned out to be surprisingly common.

A funny image, but how sad that they went for chopsticks rather than just making their husbands wash their own clothes. I’ve never washed my husband’s pants once in 10 years of marriage. Wouldn’t dream of letting him wash my clothes either.

I'm getting confused here. I don't eat meat very often and don't wash meat, fish or poultry before I cook it. On the few occasions that I buy steak, I buy the stuff that's been aged for x weeks before sale ie it's been hung in a cold room to mature. Some/all? Game birds also have to be hung for some time before cooking. So these foods are smothered in bacteria and nobody washes it off and this practice is hundreds of years old. As far as I know it's not considered unhealthy?

Having a carpeted floor made a bathroom feel less chilly, pre central heating. Which is why they were ever a thing, but why people ditched them as soon as houses got warmer - because you're right, they're a bit grim!

Because, JudgeJ, in any relationship between 2 people, adjustments will need to be willingly made, by both, to ensure continued harmony. I'll pass on your comments about their 40 year relationship though, I'm sure they'll give them the attention they feel merited.

I’ve never washed my husband’s pants once in 10 years of marriage. Wouldn’t dream of letting him wash my clothes either.

I don't think that's the norm though & for us that wouldn't be very economical.

Slippers for the kitchen and separate pair for thr bathroom/toilet. No walking barefoot in the kitchen or bathroom

Using water after going to the toilet to wash.

Always place washed dishes face down, sunnah of our prophet pbuh.

I am not British. I was (and still am) grossed out when I discovered that many British people, including my husband’s family, do not rinse their dishes after washing in soapy water.

Not all bacteria is unhealthy, lots of things like blue cheese, salami etc have mould or bacteria.

Cooking or curing gets rid of it if you want to get rid.

Salami is often left to develop a complete coating of white mold, sometimes left to nature other times introduced by the producer. The mould actually protects the salami from other moulds growing and from contamination with some bacteria.

OK lets put the cat among the pigeons, who does and who doesn't wash their teapot?

Where I live we don't put washing machines in the kitchen either, when I lived in flats we had it in the bathroom bar one place which was very old and the bathroom was minute. But anywhere where they build new flats and anything over the age of when washing machines were common, so I guess the late 50s early 60s housing they plan for the washing machine in the bathroom in flats. In houses, it'll be a bathroom or a laundry room, but not the kitchen.

Another reason you can't easily have washing machines in UK bathrooms is because we're not meant to have normal electrical sockets in bathrooms.

Yes good point EBearhug.

Things I've learned after years of living in Italy!

Dishes - 99% go in the dishwasher, for any washed by hand, sponge with dish soap, dishes scrubbed individually and then a hot water rinse.

Bedding - I see so many people putting pillows & duvets out of the window every day, never done it though

Shoes - never in the house.

Never get in a bed wearing clothes that have been outside,

Drying hair with dryer - Bathroom only, never in the bedroom.

Public pools and showers - Swimming hats mandatory in all pools, fitflops around pool and in public showers

Supermarket - gloves mandatory to pick up any fruit or veg

Washing Machine - in the bathroom or laundry

Eating - always at the table, always with a tablecloth and napkins. this really bugs me in UK, there's never any napkins, even with a takeaway food.

Bidet after using the toilet, you wouldn't just wipe poo off your hand, with toilet paper, you'd wash it too, same goes for bums!! 😉

Something struck me today at work, everyday the office bathrooms are full of people cleaning their teeth after lunch. I don't recall ever seeing this in UK when I worked in an office. Maybe because they are shared bathrooms?!

That’s the same logic as saying we used to advise smoking and thalidomide during pregnancy, and children travelled in the footwell of cars and didn’t wear seatbelts or bicycle helmets. Just because something doesn’t have a 100% death rate/affected you personally doesn’t mean when research and times move on practices change.
although maybe you are my MIL who thinks we are snowflakes for wanting a car seat and to not feed our baby rusks at 6weeks old.

Exactly. Just because some thing is “traditional” or “cultural” doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s good, especially if there is supporting evidence suggesting otherwise.

I don't have a teapot to wash or not wash. I make tea directly in the mug.