Can I get ya anything? Coffee? Tea? Me?

Remember when ­­­­­assistant Cynthia, Joan Cusack, asks Harrison Ford in Working Girl, “Can I get ya anything? Coffee? Tea? Me?”  No? Okay, it was made way back in the nineties.  Anyway, this quote reminds me of the hospitality of the European culture.  Every single time I entered someone’s house in Europe, whether it was a well-to-do married couple or a college student like me, I was offered tea or coffee as I entered their humbles abodes.  I drank more hot beverages in a semester abroad in the UK than I have before or since combined. That is saying a lot, due to how many cups of coffee I typically drink in one day.

A huge part of the British culture includes eating together and sitting in the parlor over hot drinks.  This was one of my favorite parts about being over there.  Teapots are commonplace, as are milk-frothers, French presses, and electric kettles.  I never found a house without an electric kettle in all of Scotland.  I think they love hot drinks so much partially due to the constant cold and wetness of the weather and in part due to the hospitable culture on that side of the ocean.  Brits would find it rude to allow someone to enter their home without sitting down for a sip of tea or coffee.  And biscuits!  Along with coffee and tea, every host will bring out a plate of cookies, some vanilla, some chocolate, sometimes even chocolate chip, that everyone can eat with or dip in their drink.  Tea parties are very common amongst women as well.  There’s an entire etiquette for tea parties that is loosely adhered to, but mostly the British like tea, and they like company.  A tea party is a perfect reason to have both, and to dress up!  Another thing that the Brits often will provide is guest foot slippers.  Again because it is so cold in the UK, everyone wears robes and slippers around the house, as do some Americans.  But who in America offers their guests a courtesy pair of slippers for their afternoon visit?

Northern Ireland is very similar to the rest of the UK in terms of hospitality.  One distinguishing feature of the Irish is that they are proud, proud of being Irish, and proud of their pubs.  On a tour of Belfast, Northern Ireland, the tour guide said that one of the main things the Irish are proud of is their pubs, since Irish pubs are in many Westernized countries, such as America, Scotland, England, France, etc.  Another thing that the Irish claim is Irish coffee, which is an alcoholic hot drink that includes coffee, whiskey, and usually some whipped cream and sometimes even brown sugar.  The pubs are some of the most welcoming places to go.  First of all, since everyone is drinking and/or already drunk, everyone’s in a good mood.  There is frequently a live band playing a casual Irish jig, and the people are eager to have conversations with strangers.  They embrace company and are very inclusive.  One could say that this could be the atmosphere in any bar, but I beg to differ.  There’s just something about an Irish pub that makes you want to keep going back.

In France, I noticed a great eagerness to help me when I entered boutiques and pastry shops, despite the misconception Americans believe about the rudeness of the French.  Granted, I know a bit of French and was able to get around well. They find it absolutely adorable when a wee American girl messes up her French but is still trying really hard to speak the language properly. Still, the French were incredibly hospitable to me, an American stranger.  My friends and I visited the same pastry shop in Paris each morning for five days, and the woman working there lit up as we would come in.  She would give us a new treat to try each day, and she bid us a kind farewell during our last goodbye.

Italy is another culture that embraces eating meals and sharing wine together.  Most of the restaurants in Italy charge a “sitting fee,” which is an additional cost to the meal, the purpose being that the Italians expect their guests to sit down for an extended period of time after the meal, eating dessert, sipping on wine, talking, and enjoying the company of each other.  We found the service to be extremely slow and relaxed, the same as the Italian atmosphere.  One morning, my friends and I entered a pizza shop to a smiling chef screaming, “Mamma mia!…”  We laughed out loud!  The exuberant woman, the second time we went to her shop, gave us all some free stuffed pizza rolls just because she recognized us and wanted us to come back to her shop.  The family feel of the culture was so refreshing to me as a visitor.

The hospitality of the European culture is absolutely lovely.  Americans provide hospitality in a bit of a different way, which is fine.  But it’s so enjoyable to see families and bakeries and pubs in a different culture and see how the people treat one another in a completely different context than the one where I grew up.  Next time you invite someone over to your home, have a go, offer some coffee or even better some slippers!