Ice cubes in Europe: Americans wonder about their absence in drinks

Americans are often surprised by the habits of Europeans and vice versa. Currently, it is the absence of ice cubes in drinks that makes the buzz on social networks. “I stopped asking for ice cubes in my glass. Now, I immediately order a bucket of ice cubes, ”writes Isabel Tan, in legend of his video Tiktok (below). The American is annoyed to get at most only two ice cubes for a drink when she asks. Isabel Tan’s video is only one among others, in which Americans are surprised by the absence of ice cubes in drinks.

In Europe, drinks are often served cool without ice cubes. In the United States, the glass is filled with ice cubes before the drink is paid. “Nowhere else in the world, people are also fond of ice cubes as in the United States. We are used to having it in almost everything. It is typically American, ”says historian Jonathan Rees, interviewed by CNN.

Amy Brady, author of a work on the environmental impact of ice, makes the same observation. “Americans are unique in the world in their obsession with ice,” she says.

At the end of the 19th century^e Century, Frederick Tudor, alias “Bostons’ Ice King” (The King of Boston ice) exported blocks of ice to the hot regions of the world. When he ended up with ice surpluses, he began to supply American establishments. Customers have little by little, used to sipping their very cool drinks.

At the beginning of the XX^e A century, ice has become the symbol of a social status, across the Atlantic: having a cooler, a piece of furniture which was used to keep the ice before the invention of the freezer, was a sign of prosperity.

“Today, frozen drinks are simply one of our habits,” explains Jonathan Rees, himself a follower of ice cubes: “Their cracking makes me happy when they fall into the drink,” he said.

On Reddit, quora and other platforms, we can read questions such as: “Why do Europeans hate ice creams?” Or “Why don’t I receive icy water?”

Many Europeans praise water without ice cubes: “Our drinks are cool, I don’t need more,” wrote one of them. Another person adds: “Too many ice cubes dilutes my drink”. The cost is also mentioned: those who command the “American mixture” receive only half a glass of drink, the rest being ice.

In response to this, the Americans write: “No matter the amount of coca at the start, here, we can ask for free”. Others question the quality of ice cubes: “In some Asian countries, I do not take ice cubes, because the water used is not clean”.