No free lunch
People who complain about tipping don’t realize the restaurant industry has such thin margins, there must always be a way to make it up. Even 1-2% is enough for a restaurant to not accept credit cards (personal experience). In the US, making up the difference comes through tipping. In Europe it tends to be 3 Euro waters. You don’t have to tip and you can sneak water into the restaurant, but it causes people to be pissed at you. Implicitly, people don’t know why these things are the case though.
Likewise, Texas has tolls on highways in lieu of income tax. Remember that the world operates under a set of constraints, and one should be cautious when hearing others proclaiming things such as Texas is great because it lacks income tax or that there is no tipping in Europe, as this statement may state benefits while hiding trade-offs.
Rumors and Perception
I am not convinced of Americans online saying food is much better and healthier in Europe, and I have seen supermarkets in Germany, France, Spain, and Italy. I saw Driscoll’s at Lidl, which is identical to the brand in the USA. Many non-seasonal fruits are imported from greenhouses in the south of Spain or South America. I seriously doubt tetrapak orange juice is significantly healthier than American juice “not from concentrate.” However, the wheat (bread) is better, and that might make a significant difference over time.
I think this brings up another good point, which is that false initial perceptions shape people’s actions while real wisdom is hard to come by. Why would Americans go vacation in Europe and lug their luggage around on trains and stay in cities for a few days if not the impression that it is such a good place to go?
Any rumor, if sufficiently established, is hard to refute for two reasons: anyone who has done it and can contradict the original opinion is hard to find and the bad information outruns the good because the good requires nuance.
Seeing nuance is not the most common because it is hard to communicate, and you’d have to tell other people that they’re wrong. I’d suspect much current migratory movement in the world is due to this.
Random Musings on Food and Perception
Back to food: there are many more alternatives to American fried foods such as bakeries and cheap Vietnamese/Thai places, etc. Walking is also much more common. There are unhealthy options, but they’re not the only options, and that makes all the difference.
I did go to a food truck festival in Cologne, but something was off. Modern food seems to be focused heavily on presentation, rather than the deep richness some foods just have. It’s probably because they all buy from similar suppliers of food.
When I think of creative food, I ask myself whether someone’s walking into a forest and fermenting random things. I suppose this is another take against the modern, globalized world, as once we have experienced so much we find that much diversity is lost to time rather than place.
German supermarkets such as Edeka and Rewe offer great selection while Lidl maintains impeccable neatness. The selection in Dresden’s Edeka is probably 1.25x-1.5x greater than the Atlanta Whole Foods as I immediately noticed the similarity of the produce between Whole Foods and USA Lidl. Edeka had a lot of products regional to parts of Germany. America, I hypothesize, has much fewer independent suppliers selling to stores. I immediately noticed the cleanliness standards in an American Lidl in Georgia failed to match that of Dresden coming back.
There are a lot of memes online such as “German poop shelf toilets” and “trains always come on time” which are wholly inaccurate. Although the internet has shortened the time of communication, much of the world doesn’t actually reveal its true nature. Information on most things is available but often incorrect. Knowing what to look for is near impossible, as they lie in the realm of unknown unknowns. I find people discussing “Europe” as if it were to be a monolith quite annoying now. There are significant regional differences!!!
More Musings on the Past and Living in Germany
A store like Whole Foods now doesn’t seem too extravagant, but rather stores like Publix, Walmart, and Kroger seem to offer too little for their size. I am always happy to shop at Lidl given its affordability, utilitarianism, and quality. Also of note, “go asia” is the German equivalent of HMART. During my time abroad, I was introduced to ingredients such as tofu skin (腐竹), brands such as Fissler and WMF (though I heard the latter is not as good in recent years), and became a slightly better cook. I understand stovetop pressure cookers on an intuitive level, air out the house, drink mineral water, hang my clothes to dry, and sometimes eat cold breakfasts of deli meats.
It wasn’t all good. The winter and lack of sunlight is harsh. Density means you smell the smoke and hear the noise in daily life. I don’t have any family there, and if I stayed for a long time I would never really be a part of society in the way that some people with certain family backgrounds could assimilate.
I don’t know what kept bringing me back to Europe. I think it’s easier to get to than Asia for one, being on the East Coast. It was the continent I was born on; I’ve lived in France briefly and Germany for an extended period, and I’ve seen most of Western Europe. But I think I don’t need to go back unless there would be a specific and important reason. I need to build something and make something of my life. I have very mixed feelings about where I am in life that deserves its own post.