This is not Ice Advice

Ice (da) is an issue in Vietnam.

It's hot here most of the time. There's not enough fridge space. The power's dodgy. In summer, even drinks that come out of the fridge only seem cold for a minute.

It's a dilemma on a number of levels. Is the ice clean? Is it produced from bottled water? Is it boiled water? Is it right to put ice in beer? Will my mates in Australia ever find out? Where can a stubbie holder be got? Ok - so the last three are my personal dilemmas!

Seriously though, for some, ice reassurance is just as important as going on the Halong Bay boat trip. It's a perfectly legitimate question; impossible to answer, except to say that it depends on your stomach and whether you want your drinks cold or not, particularly when you're on the road, out of the major tourist centres or eating and drinking at a street stall. At such places, if there is a fridge, it could be turned off (to save electricity), it could be being used as a cupboard, a shoe rack or a bread roll warmer!

So, this is what beer looks like with ice in it.

And, while we don't want to pontificate, here are some facts upon which a decision about ice consumption could possibly be based.

1. In general, the ice in Vietnam is clean.
2. It is handled by human hands.
3. On the odd occasion, the hands have been up the nose or grappling the dish rag.
4. Properly cleaned glasses are a good indication that hygiene is around.
5. Ice is generally commercially produced and delivered, even to the tiniest street vendors.
6. Hanoi is an oven in the summer.
7. Beer is great with ice. It rehydrates!
8. Stickyrice does it with ice.
9. Lots of other people don't.

You decide.

Comments

[Carlos Hernandez]

Eww I would never touch ice that's been in contact with human hands.

[helen]

i had ice all over laos, cambodia, vietnam and thailand (including in remote corners) from street vendors and resturants alike.. and i didn't get sick at all over those 3 months of travel.

[Robyn]

As far as I'm concerned it's a no-brainer: in tropical heat ice goes in beer. Otherwise you're drinking warm stuff within 2 mins.

Hey Sticky, if you're a beer drinker give this Mexican 'cocktail' a try! Frost a tall glass in freezer then salt the rim. In goes a tsp. of Worcester sauce and a Tbsp of lime juice. Then ice, then beer (not Guiness or similar dark - I like La Rue). Stir and add more lime if you like. Don't wrinkle your nose, this goes down easy when it's hot outside.

Cheers!

[foodcrazee]

went once to Hanoi during summer at 39C and my beer went warm within 5 minutes...in that case its better with ice..

[omih]

I always found ice to be no problem. I seem to recall the Pieman writing something about this. The water is so bad in Vietnam that no one can drink it and every needs it purifying or boiling. So it's not as if we have to stomach water, in any form, that the locals have got used to.

I think the ice in drinks thing is a myth popularised by the lonely planet. So human hands touch ice. So what? They touch our food too. Should we give up eating and drinking completel?

[Phil]

Ice in beer just serves to point out how thin and watery the beer is to begin with: when you can add about half a cup of water, and there is no appreciable change in flavour, there is something wrong. But then again, it's a whole lot better than a warm one.

As for the safety, I haven't had any problems at all anywhere in Cambodia with ice. In the richer suburbs of Phnom Penh (i.e. where they've replaced the pipes from the French colonial era), I'm told that the tapwater is safe enough to drink, but haven't been willing to risk my own bowels to test it.