By continuing you agree to eChinacities's Privacy Policy .
Sign up with Google
Sign up with Facebook
Q: Cooking with tap water
Acceptable or Verboten ?
Please give your thoughts behind your response.
I recently went on a pasta kick and that got me thinking about this issue again. I had been boiling my pasta in bottled water, but being as I'm a cheap son-of-a-gun I decided I would just go ahead and use tap water. I kinda justified it in my mind by telling myself that I have eaten out in E/SE Asia, both street food and common restaurants, for well over a decade and they sure as shite aren't cooking with bottled h2o. I also sorta justified it by telling myself I haven't dropped dead from their cooking (tap water) yet, and I've eaten at some pretty damn unhygienic places.
anyway, I'd like to hear the thoughts of my fellow EC's on this issue.
I have been cooking in China with tap water for more than 7 years, I never got sick from it, whenever I got sick it wasn't on the day or the day after I cooked with tap water.
The long term effects however... boiling doesn't remove heavy metals.
diverdude1:
hmmmm..... I think I will do a bit of online research re. Heavy Metals. Doesn't sound like I'm going to like what I find. I'm guessing there are filters to address this concern?
Eorthisio:
There are plenty of filters but none of them can eliminate everything, I have one at home that I bought in Hong Kong because I don't trust local brands for obvious reasons.
Depends:
Boil potatoes or pasta - OK (compared to forking out big bucks for mineral water)
Cook soup or rice. - Not OK as the main ingredient in soup is the water and rice absorbs a lot of (almost all) the water added.
Yes yes. I know that pasta sucks up some water too, but a bigger amount is needed compared to what is sucked up. Poor justification, but that is how the world is in our kitchen.
diverdude1:
makes good sense. I hadn't thought about it that way, but I see what you mean. I'll probably do the same thing- bottled water for soup & tap for pasta.
We dont use bottled water in our house. The wife insists all the bottled water is from the tap anyway, so why pay for it. But I think it depends on where you live. We live in the water rich south. Lots of places in China have naturally poisonous water. High arsnic content in the soil etc. The UN has water quality maps on its website. Research and decide.
We use tap water for cooking pasta and vegetables, but for soups and our daughter food only bottled water.
Sometimes I'm not entirely sure that the bottled water we get isn't just tap water even if I'm buying Watsons.
diverdude1:
I hear you. How many times have I had mental flashes of the guys making c'est bon down the street in the good ol' Chinese way of shan zhai. haha... good profit margin. Please don't destroy my last hopes that at least Watsons is legitimate!
Lol, I wouldn't be surprised if it were all tap water. I have a water filter in my place that runs the water through three filters... Apparently for heavy metals, taste, and germs. Well, not sure how effective it is, but it does change the taste to a neutral flavor. I quit buying water for over a year since I got the thing, and haven't turned back since. It also has a boiling function built in which makes the darn thing worth it just for the convenience of storing and boiling water. Anyway, with all that plastic bottle water, you have the issue of BPAs too.
We use tap water at home for cooking & drinking after boiling. I still have bottled water for drinking though not sure I really trust it!
I have been cooking in China with tap water for more than 7 years, I never got sick from it, whenever I got sick it wasn't on the day or the day after I cooked with tap water.
The long term effects however... boiling doesn't remove heavy metals.
diverdude1:
hmmmm..... I think I will do a bit of online research re. Heavy Metals. Doesn't sound like I'm going to like what I find. I'm guessing there are filters to address this concern?
Eorthisio:
There are plenty of filters but none of them can eliminate everything, I have one at home that I bought in Hong Kong because I don't trust local brands for obvious reasons.
As some says here, it depends.
For pasta and kind of this, I do not care using tap water. Here in shanghai it has to be fine. Potatoes, sometimes tap, sometimes bottled, depend what I am cooking.
For soups and all others, only bottled water. even when I cook rice , i use bottled. my wife not. And she wonder why my rice is tastier 
The wife and I cook with tap water.
I make morning coffee and daily drink bottle water (some of which has bee called "undrinkable" c'est bon)
I read an article, and can't find it again, but it said, Chinese investors are finished buying just properties in British Columbia, Canada. They are diversifying and now a big investment for them is water wells. just buy the water.
http://www.ats-sea.agr.gc.ca/reg/6408-eng.htm
oh here is the article
http://www.24news.ca/the-news/economic-news/96523-wealthy-chinese-invest...
I lived in Rosswood BC, when a Japanese guy came and offered a million bucks for the "peeing tree" ... a joke thing we locals had ... a tree that we got our water at.. ..I had no running water at home... had to run and get it..... look it up, the peeing tree, Rosswood BC.
http://rosswoodbc.com/services/using-the-campground/
http://northword.ca/june-2007/trees-as-tourist-attractions
ok, I get a little reminiscent , when talking about water..... I lived in the best place in the world for water, and now I question what I drink every day.
BHGAL:
further to my experience with the peeing tree....... my buddy carved numerous penis's to fit over the pipe extending from the tree, but somebody kept stealing them.... even the carvings were good pieces of art.
Soup and crock pot stuff, only boiled water. Potatoes, tap water. Drinking, boiled water.
Fingers crossed.
Well the heavy metals can be removed to some extent by filters. But the antibacterial stuff they add can't. That's what'll do you harm even with a good filter installed. I try to avoid using tap water when I can.
Tap water for everything but drinking water. So far so good, but I don't know the long term effect. I don't drink the boiled water, because it taste terrible. My wife does not feel the bad taste, for some reason. She does not smell the ozone in the air either...
Seems there is some consensus here on the use of tap water vs bottled water for consumption. Like many others, I use tap water (which is potable where I live) for pasta and boiling certain vegetables. Bottled water for drinking, soups and stews.
If anything I eat or drink in China is going to poison/kill me, it won't be the tap water in my kitchen (unless it has a deadly cumulative effect over time). That said, I plan to pick up a water filter for the tap. Just in case.
