# How do Australians wash dishes? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2010, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963 "2010-10-04T01:33:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![NetTrekker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nettrekker/32/2909_2.png) [@NetTrekker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NetTrekker)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/21 "2010-10-04T03:17:24Z")
Related issue: With a double sink, my mom would use one side for washing in soapy water and the other filled with just water for rinsing. But once you start rinsing, you leave some soap in the rinse water which defeats the purpose, right? I imagined everything being put away with a thin soap film on it and some soap being ingested with the next usage. Eventually I decided it’s better to leave the rinsing side empty and just lay the soapy dishes in there after washing, then rinse them under running tap water when finished washing. Maybe a little more water usage but no soap on my dishes. ---
**Author:** ![cuberdon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/45deac/32.png) [@cuberdon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cuberdon)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/22 "2010-10-04T03:21:49Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Slight hijack: what’s best to put vegemite on? Toasted white bread with lots of butter. And then use only a very thin smear of vegemite. I thought it was pretty tasty though one of the waiters confessed to loathing the stuff. ---
**Author:** ![UDS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ecae2f/32.png) [@UDS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UDS)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/23 "2010-10-04T03:23:32Z")
People don’t rinse dishes because it isn’t necessary. It’s possible that if you use a heavy concentration of detergent and have very sensitive taste you can taste soap off unrinsed dishes, but for most people this isn’t really a problem. It’s also possible that if you share what appears to be a common American belief about this you will _think_ you can taste soap if you know or believe that the dishes have not been rinsed. But, beyond that, this belief is on a par with the belief that you mustn’t swim for an hour after eating, or two hours after a full meal, in case you get stomach cramps and drown; it was an article of faith when I was a child, and my mother still insists on it, but there is no foundation for it. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/24 "2010-10-04T03:27:06Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > You don’t really have to if you dry them off with a dish towel. The soap is in the water, so if you get rid of the water you get rid of the soap. Sure you do. Bubbles lift dirt, that’s how soap works. So, bubbles become dirty. If you wipe off the bubbles, the dirt stays in the towel and/or gets rubbed into whatever you’re trying to wash. Soap is not a disinfectant. So, if you rubbed liquid soap into an open wound, it’s still dirty until you rinse the soap out. Soap that doesn’t bubble doesn’t clean. ---
**Author:** ![J.D.G](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@J.D.G](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/J.D.G)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/25 "2010-10-04T03:33:17Z")
Superhal! As an Australian I feel I have some valid opinions to make to this most important of philosophical debates. First; Noel Prosequi is right. Most Australian houses don’t have two sinks fitted as standard. In my experience if you have two steel sinks then you generally also have a large plasma TV, 2-3 kids, a Labrador, and live in a large, new “Mc-Mansion” in our new middle to outer suburbs with an equally large Mc-Mortgage. I have never lived in any of these types of houses and hence have always used a one-sink-with-suds-and-drained-on-a-rack method for washing the dishes. I have never ever been able to tell the difference between dishes that were air dried or towel dried with or without rinsing the suds off before hand. And I usually get a wee bit ticked off with anybody who throws a tantrum with me for not washing the suds off claiming that I will spoil their food. As one of our wonderful comedians who makes a living out of impersonating Mark “Chopper” Reid would say; _Harden the f_\*\* up Australia \* (apologies for the French) Second; the best way to have vegemite is to spread it onto a slice of bread, place vertical strips of cheese on it and then cook it under a grill for about 2-3 minutes. Mmmm, yummy. Mother always called it “Tiger Toast” but I have heard it called “Little Soldiers”. Quite good. Enjoy ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/26 "2010-10-04T03:40:02Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > Sure you do. Bubbles lift dirt, that’s how soap works. So, bubbles become dirty. If you wipe off the bubbles, the dirt stays in the towel and/or gets rubbed into whatever you’re trying to wash. Nope. If you are actually getting the dishes dry with the dishtowel, you are removing the water _and_ the soap from the surface of the dish. So if the dishes are dry, they have neither water, nor soap, nor dirt on them. But in any case, the small amount of residue remaining is usually negligible. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 3:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/27 "2010-10-04T03:42:18Z")
> [@J.D.G](#): > > Most Australian houses don’t have two sinks fitted as standard. Neither do most American houses. I have never in my life seen a kitchen with two sinks. Seriously, why do you think there needs to be two sinks in order to rinse off soapy dishes? 😕 ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/28 "2010-10-04T03:49:39Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > > [@J.D.G](#): > > > > Most Australian houses don’t have two sinks fitted as standard. > > Neither do most American houses. I have never in my life seen a kitchen with two sinks. Seriously, why do you think there needs to be two sinks in order to rinse off soapy dishes? 😕 It’s pretty common in the US to have a double sink. Not universal, but common. Having said that, I have a single sink, put in on purpose, and it’s not big deal to rinse the dishes. I never fill up the sink in the first place-- I either use the biggest pot or bowl as the main washing pot or I just put a little dish washing liquid directly on each dish. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/29 "2010-10-04T04:04:58Z")
I have a single sink. I wash them with a pad, then rinse them under the faucet. The dipping method should only be used for double sinks. ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/30 "2010-10-04T04:11:02Z")
My wife had a question: after you soap up in the shower, do you immediately towel off and dry? ---
**Author:** ![sisu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/df705f/32.png) [@sisu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sisu)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/31 "2010-10-04T04:21:05Z")
ummm dishwasher most of the time, but if it was a very dirty wash I would rinse them after suds but normally don’t. ---
**Author:** ![Renee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/renee/32/287_2.png) [@Renee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Renee)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/32 "2010-10-04T04:27:52Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > > [@J.D.G](#): > > > > Most Australian houses don’t have two sinks fitted as standard. > > Neither do most American houses. I have never in my life seen a kitchen with two sinks. Seriously, why do you think there needs to be two sinks in order to rinse off soapy dishes? 😕 I think he’s talking about a[double-bowl sink](http://www.plumbingsupply.com/images/enex-undermountsinks-ec-3208SL.jpg), which is pretty standard in the US, although I don’t think that has anything to do with building codes. Two separate sinks are also becoming more common, but the wouldn’t be used together in a dishwashing situation, because one would be a prep sink or bar sink and wouldn’t likely be near the clean-up sink. We have a single-bowl sink in our US house, but the only time I ever wash anything by hand is when I have a pot too big to fit in the dishwasher. In that case, I squirt a bit of soap in it and scrub, then rinse before drying. ---
**Author:** ![Thylacine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thylacine/32/1143_2.png) [@Thylacine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thylacine)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 4:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/33 "2010-10-04T04:37:55Z")
I have come across soapy tasting glasses at work but figured that was someone who had grown up with a dishwasher and didn’t realise how concentrated most dishwashing liquids are these days. If my dishes tasted soapy or of last night’s curry I would rinse them, they don’t. I do not understand why you care if some of us do stuff differently. If it didn’t work for us we wouldn’t do it. Certainly I am unlikely to do anything under a running tap without a plug in the sink and a use for the water. We are now encouraged to keep our household water usage under 155 litres per person per day. We are usually well under that target despite a garden to water. However, this was how I learned to wash dishes when those in metropolitan areas didn’t really need to think about water usage. ---
**Author:** ![Grateful-UnDead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ccd318/32.png) [@Grateful-UnDead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grateful-UnDead)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/34 "2010-10-04T04:51:53Z")
No! No! No! You have it all wrong! Australians are very practical and economical people; the whole dish washing thing is just one manifestation of this. They don’t rinse their dishes because they like to keep a soap residue on their plates. This is an effective and economical way to have it absorbed into their food and ingested with their meal. When the soap passes through, it cleans everything out, and their insides are squeaky, lemon fresh clean. None of that colonic irrigation stuff in Australia! Remember they also have a unique and very creative way of getting rid of toxic waste: they smear it on toast and feed it to their kids. (See above!!!) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 4:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/35 "2010-10-04T04:56:04Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > My wife had a question: after you soap up in the shower, do you immediately towel off and dry? I have a question for your wife. If she has a bath does she then have a shower to rinse off? ---
**Author:** ![Superhal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Superhal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Superhal)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/36 "2010-10-04T05:03:47Z")
> [@don\_t\_ask](#): > > > [@Superhal](#): > > > > My wife had a question: after you soap up in the shower, do you immediately towel off and dry? > > I have a question for your wife. If she has a bath does she then have a shower to rinse off? In my wife’s culture, she washes before entering the bathtub. The tub is only for soaking, not washing. Does this mean Aussies don’t rinse off lather? ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/37 "2010-10-04T05:07:42Z")
> [@Superhal](#): > > My wife had a question: after you soap up in the shower, do you immediately towel off and dry? No. I’ve found that towelling works best after you get out of the shower. Following \*\*don’t ask’s \*\*lead I licked my towel and it doesn’t taste of soap ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/38 "2010-10-04T05:17:42Z")
No wonder Australians have a reputation for bad-tasting food. Yes, you really can taste the soap when dishes aren’t rinsed off, and I know this from experience. Maybe all you folks who grew up in non-rinsing households just got so used to a little soap flavor that you don’t even notice any more, but to those of us who grew up with rinsed dishes, it tastes terrible. ---
**Author:** ![penultima\_thule](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/penultima_thule/32/3833_2.png) [@penultima\_thule](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/penultima_thule)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 5:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/39 "2010-10-04T05:27:41Z")
Fom the land that brought us spray-on cheese! Maybe we use a lot less detergent. Maybe the plates have less deep fried foods on them Maybe we use a lot hotter water. Maybe the detergent has a quite a nice lemon flavour ---
**Author:** ![Cazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cazzle/32/75_2.png) [@Cazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cazzle)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2010, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963/40 "2010-10-04T05:41:14Z")
No, we don’t rinse them after we wash them, and I don’t imagine we’ll take up rinsing dishes in this water-saving age. > [@](#): > > My wife had a question: after you soap up in the shower, do you immediately towel off and dry? What a moronic question. If I apply dish-washing liquid directly to the dish then I rinse it off before drying it, in the same way that I rinse soap off after directly applying it to my body. As **don’t ask** points out, we don’t shower after bathing to wash off soap residue that was in the water. > [@](#): > > My British great-aunt did this as well. Sometimes you could see flecks of the old food on the plate. Not washing the plates properly has nothing to do with not rinsing the plates. If the water is too dirty, you change it. Your great-aunt’s lax dish-washing skills are unrelated to whether or not she rinsed. Americans who believe that unrinsed dishes cause diarrhea, a note for you: Don’t ever laugh at South Koreans and their fear of fan death. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-australians-wash-dishes/555963.md?page=3)