Peanuts or peenuts?
Posted by Fiona Nevile in Discoveries | 23 comments
Photo: Bowl of peanuts
Working freelance in Soho (London) in the 90s was fun. The economy was buoyant and there was the buzz of cash, talent and hope. People worked hard and played hard too. Playing hard was the best part. The bars were packed at lunchtimes and early evening. This is where a lot of freelance people made contacts that might bring them new work.
Generally I was too busy to need to do this, but if the telephone didn’t chirrup then simply drifting down Wardour Street often bought work. You’d bump into someone on the pavement, have a drink in a bar and suddenly you had a new contract.
One of my favourite clients was a producer called Ross. Talented, debonair and very much his own person. He had toppled from millionaire to penniless and gradually trekked his way back up again. A real grafter.
His favourite evening dive was Zilli’s bar. A chic place with great bar snacks, appetisers and free peanuts. These complimentary treats can sustain a happy drinker for an extra hour or two in a buzzing bar so everyone tucked in, including Ross.
Then one terrible Sunday he read an article in his newspaper. Someone had carried out tests in the amount of urine present in bowls of countertop nuts in London and Paris bars. The results would have had a Health and Safety officer reaching for his notebook in a trice. Ross’s heart ran cold. How much urine had he unknowingly consumed over the past twenty five years?
So from then on he demanded his own personal bowl of nuts at Zilli’s, poured straight from the jar. He was happy. A super clean place like that wouldn’t pour the uneaten nuts back into the jar. Would they?
Some people think that the idea of urine on peanuts is an urban myth. No one seems to be able to unearth the details of who carried out the study. Since I heard this story, I have avoided grazing on any bar nuts except from the expensive individual packs.
Perhaps the nut magnates ‘sponsor’ studies every now and then.
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I believe it. I never eat bar snacks and sometimes when you use a public loo you see ladies leave without even looking at the wash basins so it’s no surprise.
Rgds
Sam
Sadly my brain did the Homer Simpson thing and just went straight to ‘Mmmm, peanuts!’ completely ignoring the yuk factor.
In the absence of insanitary bar snacks I’m now eating crackers spread with peanut butter. Doh!
Until someone I know actually contracts a disease directly traceable to this type of bar food, I remain both sceptical and unbothered …
Perhaps peanuts, and other bar snacks, should only be served in containers that require the contents to be poured out them with no room for fingers!
I’d heard about the bugs in the peanuts but have never considered the bowl of mints. And if you think about it, even if you wash your hands, you still have to exit the loos and if the person before hasn’t washed theirs you might as well not have washed yours when you touch the door handle. I wouldn’t have thought a spoon would make much difference as anyone who doesn’t care enough to wash their hands isn’t going to pay much attention to the social niceties and not just dig in with their dirty mitts? Have I just totally freaked out people who thought the spoon meant clean nuts?
eugh, grim! i shall keep that in mind next time i’m at the bar. you did however make me feel nostalgia for my london days and wondering around soho!
And the mints, do you remember the large bowls of mints that would sit by the cash till/register. I’d heard about this study too years ago and don’t eat anything from a communal bowl that isn’t specifically served to a group of us. Though hadn’t thought about unused nuts being poured back… Bleugh!
Much better to serve with a spoon as Casalba said.
There are always bar snacks served here with aperatives. Bruschette, pizza tarts, all sorts of little delicious bite-sized goodies. There are nuts too, but served in a bowl with a spoon! It’s such a simple solution.
I agree with Steve, I don’t eat the bar snacks unless the bar tender pours fresh snacks for me right then, or scoops fresh popcorn out of the popper.
I do think women are worse then men for some reason. I’m not sure why, but if you listen in the ladies room you hear the flush of the toilet and the steps to the door without the stop at the sink waaaaaaay too often! What is so importaint that you have to rush back?
I can well believe the study! the amount of times i have seen folk leaving the “loo” without washing thier hands and then rooting around in the “nuts ‘n’ raisens” really puts one off!
According to our landlady, the Women are the worst! in our local thier paper-towel bin is usually almost empty compared to the one in the gents.
However, i’ve never known or even read of anybody catching anything or being made sick by eating bar-top fodder, but i think i personally will continue to decline!