Job Discussion Forums

[cgjamil]

At the local restaurants that the Vietnamese eat at (the ones with dishes for like a US $1), do you eat with their silverware and chopsticks or drink out of the glasses they provide? I'm not really sure how they wash them or how often they wash them and it just seems unsanitary to my Western standards. I get sick easy and I don't want to take any chances. Any idea if they are sanitary to use or should I just bring my own chopsticks and spoons when I go out to eat at those spots?

[generalgiap]

Of course, you should bring your own chopsticks and glass! I have a friend who does the same and also wraps a plastic bag around is head and pokes a hole in the bag for his mouth and uses the chopsticks to poke two small holes for his nostrils.

The Vietnamese seem shocked at first but seem very happy when he says
Toi co sida.

[kurtz]

If it's a phobia, just do as the locals do, wipe them with a paper napkin. Can't say I've been sick so far and I eat street food every day.

[generalgiap]

[Jbhughes]

As Kurtz says, in every normal kind of eatery, the Vietnamese will rub the ends of the chopsticks and forks with serviettes. Everyone will also drink out of the communal glasses (I tend to refer these as H1N1 cups), occasionally sluicing them out with some of the tea, before drinking.

Personally, I wipe the cutlery quite well and steer clear of the communal cups, although I'll break this rule at times - without losing too much sleep!

In restaurants, you'll get chopsticks that come in a paper-plastic sleeve, these appear to have been cleaned better, although who knows?


It appears that most of anything is just washed in cold water with possibly some kind of soap. Hardly sanitary, but how often do people get that ill? My own anecdotal evidence is that nothing has gone much worse than the odd spate of the runs.

Have to say though - if you really are susceptible or paranoid or worse, both, then it might be a good idea to have some second thoughts about living here. My mother came here and she carried around a little bottle of hand sanitiser to clean practically everything - including the table!

[tefl peasant]

[generalgiap]

TEFL Peasant wrote