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Published on February 10, 2008

Cat says

Do you remember the news last August concerning bottled drinking water? "The soft-drink giant Pepsi has been forced to make an embarrassing admission - its best-selling Aquafina bottled water is nothing more than tap water"!

Bottled water is a major global commodity these days, available everywhere, from big cities and towns to villages in the remotest corners of the Earth. Water bottling is a worldwide multibillion-dollar industry that ranges from very small local bottling operations to giant corporations.

I suppose there are several good reasons for the popularity and commercialisation of bottled water, among them convenience, necessity and commercial value. However, looming larger are two obvious reasons. First there is the matter of perception. Some people think that bottled water is cleaner and healthier than tap water. I suppose it's true in the case of Thailand. But this perception is faulty in countries where tap water is perfectly good for drinking. Second, there is the matter of status and fashion. In affluent societies, consumption of very expensive bottled water, or so-called designer water, carries a certain status and has become fashionable.

A lot of restaurants like to push bottled water - not surprising, as it's one of the most profitable items on the menu. 

I remember when designer water first became fashionable in restaurants in London in the late '80s. Everyone was ordering Perrier at the table in those days. But restaurants did offer tap water for free for those not willing to pay.

The designer-water trend arrived in Bangkok relatively recently. Up until 10 years ago, most restaurants provided free drinking water, or charged a small price for locally bottled water. Sadly there are fewer and fewer restaurants these days offering free drinking water. Okay, one doesn't mind paying for locally bottled water at a reasonable price, but some restaurants even mark up local bottled water to the point of extortion!

I've had a couple of rather irritating experiences recently concerning bottled water at restaurants. At one French eatery I was told the only water I could drink was either Perrier or Evian. There was no free drinking water, nor did they sell local bottled water. When the meal was over, we ended up paying for eight small bottles of Evian: the bill for the water was higher than the one for the wine we drank!

Then there was the visit to a very fashionable restaurant in a five-star hotel. When we arrived, the waiter asked if we would like flat or fizzy water. When I said I'd have ordinary non-sparkling water, he brought a bottle. I didn't recognise the label and thought perhaps it was the restaurant's own brand, which is normally charged at the same price as local bottled water. When the bill was presented, we discovered that the water had cost us Bt370++ per bottle. We also realised the restaurant actually serves free drinking water, plus they have locally bottled water available. Frankly, no matter how nice the meal was, I felt cheated at the end, and will never go back to that restaurant.

Furthermore, I've notice that even though restaurants charge you for water, waiters tend to pour an endless parade of bottles without first asking if you wish to order more.

Surely, if can they ask if you want more wine or beer, they can do the same for water. And especially as they are now charging you for it - in some cases as much as Bt370. 

Nat says

 The most pretentious event I ever attended in

my life was a bottled-water tasting. I know it was pretentious because I organised it. I meant it to

be so.

At the time I was working for a society magazine and we thought the best way to poke fun at some of our readers who waxed orgasmic over the virtues of a special vintage of wine would be to organise a tasting of water. After all, what can be more posy than comparing the virtues of different types of an expensive bottled beverage that can be had practically free out of the tap?

"Don't be an utter boor. That metallic taste you get in your expensive, imported water isn't rust, it's an aluminium-iron bouquet. Don't you know that the carbonation seems softer in some waters because the minerals are natural? In other words, there's less salt than in normal soda water." We learned all this while holding our water glasses by the stem and raising our pinkie fingers as we sophisticatedly brought the water to our lips in a fluid, graceful manner. We swirled it in our mouths before we swallowed.

According to the Department of Water Works, Bangkok's tap water is now safe enough to drink. However, I remember the days when drinking tap water without boiling it would subject you to the risk of dysentery. Back then, bottled water was a necessity for people without resistance to nasty stomach bugs.

So when did bottled water become a necessity not for maintaining good health but for appearing chic and glamorous? More importantly, when did restaurants start to think they could not only charge us as much as a bottle of cheap wine for water but also provide no alternative for water drinkers? I would like to initiate a boycott of any restaurant where the waiting staff automatically open a bottle of expensive water and pour it for you without asking first if you want to pay the exorbitant price they charge for it.

One thing I discovered from the water tasting was that imported water tastes different but no better than local bottled water. It is a matter of preference. 

Not only did I learn to treat brand-name designer water like wine, I also found that bottled water can taste quite different, depending on various factors such as the minerals that are either added or occur naturally in the water itself, and the container in which it is bottled. When plastic bottles get heated up, the water starts to taste, well, plasticky. And since this is a hot country, it is highly likely that any water in a plastic bottle will have been heated up at one time or another, with consequences for the taste.

We conducted a blind tasting of different brands of water which had been bottled in different types of containers. All those in attendance voted by secret ballot. The winner was Singha water, which had come in a glass bottle, coincidentally the least expensive of all the waters tasted. So don't let greedy, pretentious restaurants claim that they only serve expensive, imported water because it tastes better.

Having said that, I have a preference for San Pellegrino. I find the taste less salty, and the fizziness eases my digestion. I order it when I eat out and am happy to tell the waiter to open another bottle when we run out. But, should the waiter open a bottle without asking, and I get charged ... then there's hell to pay.