The comments about British food are as dated as stereotypical comments on American beer.
Anyhow, this is all interesting. When I worked in a restaurant in Scotland, we had one sink with hot water and soap for soaking and cleaning, and then we’d dip it onto a sink full of plain cold water to rinse.
Personally, I wash dishes with a soapy sponge under a running tap. But yes, washing in a bowl of soapy water without rinsing is the “standard” way in the UK. The dishes don’t taste soapy – I guess towel drying wipes off the soap residue. But it doesn’t seem that hygeinic to me (sort of like bathing vs showering).
As a prior restaurant owner, we had to have a 3 section sink by law. Soap, Rinse, Sanitize.
Moved Cafe Society --> IMHO.
I’ve never before heard of the alleged non-dish-rinsing practices of Brits and frankly, it sounds pretty gross. But I bet if you replaced “shower” with “bath” in that question (perhaps a better analogy to dishes washed in soapy water), a lot of them would answer in the affirmative.
Thanks. I wasn’t sure where to put it. I figured that it’s about plates, and food goes on plates, and food threads go in CS.
You can get it in a tin if you want.
http://www.blogcdn.com/www.slashfood.com/media/2008/09/cafeteria-5.jpg
Shipping might be expensive though if you’re in the UK.
As a former pizza delivery person, I can say we had that too. And that for most of my lazy-ass colleagues, in practice this consisted of:
And then stack each slippery, disgusting “clean” pan onto the greasy grime-covered drying rack.
Bon appétit, pizza lovers!
And we don’t use ‘soap’ on them either.
I an British. My American ex-wife thought I was weird for taking the trouble to rinse all the soap off dishes when I washed them.
In other words, as a generalization about the difference between British and American culture, this sounds like total bullshit to me. I dare say this has been known to happen in Britain, but it is not a cultural norm. I dare say some Americans (like my ex) fail to rinse the soap (/detergent) off too, maybe even some American restaurants.
Thank heaven for 500-degree-Fahrenheit pizza oven temperatures: at least the baking kills what the “cleaning” doesn’t remove.
I’m British, and I agree that a worrying number of my countrymen have this weird habit. My wife inherited it from her family, but I’ve mostly beaten it out of her now. 
I have no idea why people do this, because it just screams bad hygiene. If I am using a single sink, I will wash in hot soapy water, then give each item a quick rinse under the hot tap before putting it on the draining board. What is so hard about this? Whenever I visit my in-laws and help with drying-up duty, I find the teatowel quickly gets covered in little manky food bits that were sitting there in the soapy water. Sometimes I just can’t help barging in to the sink to rinse things off! :o
I have always insisted on having a dishwasher. Similarly I would have thought that almost all restuarants have a dishwasher.
Now I will say that a lot of my contemporaries wash dishes, even when they do have a dishwasher - but when they are washing up they use fairy liquid usually so I dunno what all this “soap” is about.
Try googling “British not rinsing dishes.”
It’s just a colloquialism: what you call fairy liquid or washing up liquid is usually referred to as dish soap (or some similar) in the US.
I noticed older Australians didn’t rinse either.
My parents are English but I am Australian. I have never heard of the no-rinse thing until now. In fact, I have been meaning to ask Dad whether English soap of yore was carcinogenic or something because he is madly obseeeeeesssiiiiiive over every last bubble of soap being rinsed off in several gallons of water. My parents have always had a split sink and use the second sink for rinsing method.
But now I am intrigued! The only place I wash up is at work. We only have a single sink and my workmates are mainly of Australian background (I think). Roll on Monday because I will be observing with keen interest who the rinsers and non-rinsers are.
(FTR, at work I put the plug in, soap items, then rinse them under the still-running water).
eta: AND I work in a nursing home so I have a ready supply of older Australians to quiz about their dishwashing practices. Only two more sleeps til Monday!
I’m from a Commonwealth country, and I’m going to step in and admit that there is truth to the notion. My mother washed the dishes in a sink filled with mildly soapy water and then dried them off with a tea-towel without rinsing. I never tasted any soapy flavor on the dishes though.
I don’t know where she learned to wash dishes, but ever since I had my own place I always rinsed my dishes after washing - it just makes sense to me even though I learned how to wash dishes from my mum.
On a related note, Japanese people by and large think that westerners who wash themselves in a soapy bath without rinsing themselves off in the shower later, must be covered in horrible soap scum. Food for thought.
An accurate analogy. Those of us who use a bath don’t get out, stand shivering, and run a second bath within to rinse.
Ok, maybe I’m an anachronism here in NZ. Its never occurred to me to rinse dishes after washing them in the sink. But really, soapy dishes have never been a problem. You only need a little dishwashing liquid and if there are copious bubbles then you’ve overdone it.
To be fair, glasses are an exception: if there are soap bubbles then a quick rinse under the tap is normal.
I can perceive the mental picture some of you have regarding dried bubbles but for me its infinitesimal - the cutlery plates and pots are cleansed of food, wiped with a tea towel, and clean for the next meal. If it were otherwise entire generations would have expired before we reached this enlightened age. 
The point of soap, is that it makes the germs slide off of the surface and onto the soap. When you use a towel, you are leaving a film of germ covered soap on the utencils and plates, that wouldn’t be there on a rinsed plate or utensil. Thus the method might be more water saving but less hygenic.