I studied abroad in Perth, Australia, while an undergrad at Wisconsin, and the English friend that I met there (she was from Nottingham) didn’t rinse her dishes. I don’t remember about my Australian flatmates - perhaps I was never around when they washed dishes. I did think it rather odd, but figured that nothing much would come of not doing so.
Wow, the things you learn on this board.
I would never dream of not rinsing my dishes. And I hand-wash them, since I don’t have a dishwasher. Wash and rinse, then stack in the drainer to air-dry. I never hand-dry; I turn the ceiling fan up to high and let them air-dry.
I know I use more water that way, but they’re supposed to be rinsed.
I mean, there’s a rinse cycle on automatic dishwashers, right? Dishes get rinsed then. And there’s a rinse cycle for clothes in the washing machine.
You rinse yourself off in the shower, right? And rinse shampoo out of your hair?
I can’t even wrap my mind around the idea of washing dishes and not rinsing the soap off. :eek:
No offense to anyone who doesn’t rinse, but - wow.
Like I said. The things you learn.
I think the difference is that Brits tend to dry their dishes, as opposed to letting them air dry. Notice that most of the posters who don’t rinse mention drying. To me, drying is tons more work than rinsing, not to mention air drying is more sanitary.
This is probably another arguable point. If the cloth is clean, what’s unsanitary about drying dishes? Seems to me preferable to leaving them draining, lovely & warm & damp, just like bacteria have a liking for…
Growing up in New Zealand
Rinsing? Not a chance. Things were dried immediately rather than being left to air dry. Washing and drying the dishes was definitely something the kids did. Mum and Dad never did it that I can recall.
Those double sinks so much in use here in the US were something I did not even see until I was well into my twenties either (so sometime in the late 80s or early 90s) and they would still be a novelty in NZ I suspect.
Canadian here.
I rinse.
Everyone I know rinses (if they wash dishes at all, but that’s another discussion).
We towel-dry as well, if in a hurry. If we are not in a hurry, we make the rinse water as hot as we can stand, and let the warmed dishes air-dry. But ususally we towel-dry and put away, just because we need the space. 
I live in a lower-middle-class bachelor apartment with construction and decoration issues, and it has a double sink.
I remember watching some news magazine show (Dateline or 20/20) where they explained why air-drying is better. It was one of those “If you knew how filthy your house really was…” episodes.
If you do use a clean towel each time, it’s fine, but many people use the same dishtowel for days on end, drying their hands over and over, after touching raw chicken and the like, and then (without even thinking about), using the same towel to dry their dishes. Yuck.
I remember the point being made that you should start each day with a clean set of dishtowels, and always wash them in hot water, and if you do dry your dishes, always use new (clean) towels.
There was nothing at all wrong with leaving dishes to air-dry. As long as they’d been thoroughly washed (and rinsed! 
), leaving them damp to air-dry wasn’t a breeding ground for bacteria.
Not so fast, GorillaMan. According to a study on dish contamination (conducted in the UK, no less)*:
“E. coli, and to a lesser extent Salmonella, survived towel- or air-drying on dishes and after towel-drying the cloth became contaminated on every occasion, regardless of the test organism.” From http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=12878380&dopt=Abstract
I also found this: “Use the dishwasher to sanitize dishes, glasses and utensils; if you must wash dishes by hand, air-drying is better than towel-drying.” from here:
http://stl.gwla.com/newsletters/healthsenseSP/2.asp
I also found several US and one Australian site with regulations specifying that dishes be air-dryed in restaurants and nursing homes, but since we are talking hime use here, I didn’t cite them.
- I was amused to see that the British researchers rinsed the dishes.
Ok. In the interests of research, I shall rinse my dishes for one week, and report back on any differences I may notice.
Anyone prepared to take on the counter-research?
Wow, there certainly won’t be any detergent left on them after that! 
So how do Brits take showers? Hop in, get wet, soap up, hop out and towel off?
Showers? Dear boy, we’re British. We bathe. Once a month, whether we need it or not.
Like Lionel Hutz, I contacted Palmolive, only I did it over the phone, using the 800 number on the back of the bottle. The customer service lady seemed baffled by the concept of drying without rinsing. She said that would leave a film on the dishes.
For you folks without a double sink, plastic dishpans are cheap. Get one.
I don’t just rinse my dishes I practically boil them in the process. I have to wear gloves when I do dishes or I’d have 3’rd degree burns.
First I soak the dishes for 10 minutes in soapy water, then a quick pass with rough plastic scrubber followed by sponge followed by a rub test to make sure nothing is clinging followed by extremely hot rinse. I use to rinse dishes off from the dishwasher until I gave up and just washed them myself.
Felix Unger has nothin on me when it comes to washing dishes. I think it stems from my early years in college when I let them pile up for weeks at a time.
When I was assigned the duty of washing dishes in my teens, I asked my mother why do we rinse dishes when they don’t on TV. She said that was just TV fiction. :dubious:
No.
I don’t get why us not rinsing would bother you. It doesn’t bother us.
In other news, in day one of my experiment, I’m about to try a cup of coffee made in a previously washed and rinsed mug.
Sips coffee, with a certain sense of trepidation and fear
Well, it’s too hot. But I can’t say I’m aware of any difference in the taste. Maybe it’ll take a little longer to get past 27 years of dish detergent conditioning.
I will continue to not rinse if that helps (except for glasses) ?
Dishwashers are wasted on people like you! Maybe that is the reason you are so fixated on the issue. I have never lived anywhere with a dishwasher. We wash and dry after as quickly as possible because it is a boring job that just has to be done. Are your electrcity bills through the roof??
No one I have ever known has died or even got the sniffles off washing then drying.
Rinsing wastes time 
By the way, I also wear gloves because the water is VERY hot. VERY hot water plus scrubbing=clean dishes.
I lived in Scotland for several years, am married to a Scot (who now rinses, btw), and have Scottish in-laws.
The lack of rinsing bothered me to the point that I would offer to do the dishes for them when I was visiting, or, if I could get away with it, surreptitiously rinse whatever cutlery, etc, I was about to use. When my in-laws visit (and I love them dearly), I encourage them to please leave the dishes in the sink and I’ll take care of them, because they’re guests and shouldn’t be washing dishes!
The other thing that drives me nuts is this – there is only a lack of rinsing under running water when soap is used. When they don’t use dish soap, they just quickly run the dish under the water and scrub briefly with their fingers before putting it in the dish drain. Granted, these items are usually only lightly used – a spoon used to stir a cup of tea, a plate that had a piece of toast on it, a bowl that had ceral and milk (i.e. nothing greasy) – but I still go back and give them a quick re-wash. Ugh.
As for not wrapping things before they go in the fridge – be thankful they go in the fridge at all. I’ve seen bowls of gravy and mashed potatoes left out on the counter all night to be had for the next day’s supper. And don’t even get me started on the national trend of not refrigerating eggs.