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PARIS

Reader Question: Do Paris cafés really charge extra for ice?

A viral tweet has many convinced that Paris cafés charge extra for ice in your drink.

Reader Question: Do Paris cafés really charge extra for ice?
(JEAN-PIERRE MULLER / AFP)

A rumour has been buzzing across social media that café patrons in the French capital charge extra for ice in your drink.

The discussion around expensive glaçons began when a tweet by the account ‘AlertesInfos’ was published on Monday, allegedly showing a bill from a Paris bistro charging the recipient €72.80.

It included four 12cl bottles of Perrier (mineral water), charged at €15 each, as well as 16 ice cubes, at €0.80 a piece.

The tweet gained traction when former French politician and presidential candidate from the Socialist Party, Ségolène Royal, shared it. 

However, despite the tweet’s popularity, having been viewed over one million times as of Tuesday evening, it is actually a fake, as reporting by Le Parisien established.

The bill was likely falsified from an original image shared on Twitter in 2019 by journalist Nora Hamadi. The true image showed a receipt for €30, with five mineral waters adding up to €27.50 and five lemon slices, equalling €2.50, charged.

Iced drinks

While ice in your drink will not cost you extra, you do need to specifically request it.

Soft drinks in France are usually served without ice, so if you want your beverage iced, you need to request the drink avec glaçons – with ice – when you order.

While you will not be charged for ice, it is possible you could be charged for lemon slices – especially if you are in a café in a tourist area of Paris. This is not common, but be sure to double check. 

Mineral water

While ice cubes are free, water can be surprisingly expensive – especially in tourist hotspots of Paris.

The original tweet, which was later doctored, was a complaint about the high cost of mineral water at a Paris café.

If you simply ask for d’eau (water) you will usually be brought mineral water – and it’s not uncommon for this to be more expensive than wine or beer.

One simple way to avoid this is by ordering tap water, which is free (and entirely safe to drink) – specify une carafe d’eau or un pichet d’eau when you order and you will be brought a jug of tap water.

The French government passed nationwide legislation in January 2022 requiring bars, cafés and restaurants to offer free tap water to customers. The text of the law says: “Food and beverage establishments are required to visibly indicate on their menu or on a display space the possibility for consumers to request free drinking water”.

The city of Paris is also encouraging people to drink tap water when they are out and about, rather than buying plastic bottles of mineral water.

One of the biggest uses of single-use plastics is water bottles – across France 8.7 million plastic bottles of water are sold each year and only half are recycled.

In fact, the city of Paris launched a campaign called Je choisis l’eau de Paris (I choose Paris water) in 2022 to encourage people to avoid single-use plastics, by instead buying a bottle and refilling it with tap water. Bars, cafés, shops and restaurants that display the l’eau de Paris logo will refill your bottle for free, even if you don’t buy anything.

Soft drinks vocabulary

Une carafe d’eau (or un pichet d’eau) – a pitcher of water. This is what you should ask for if you want regular, tap water. In some parts of France, people might instead say pot d’eau or cruche

Avec glaçon – with ice

Eau non potable – Non-drinking water. If you see a sign that says this, do not drink the water as it is likely used for cleaning or other purposes. 

Eau potable – drinking water

Citron – lemon

L’addition – the bill

L’eau minérale – mineral water

Gazeuse – fizzy/sparkling

Plate – flat

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PARIS 2024 OLYMPICS

No French fries but lots of lentils for Paris Olympic athletes

There will be no French fries but plenty of lentils on offer to athletes attending the Paris Olympics, with organisers unveiling a Games’ menu that combines eco-minded recipes with French gastronomy.

No French fries but lots of lentils for Paris Olympic athletes

The 3,300-seat restaurant at the Paris Olympic village, which will welcome athletes next month, was given its first test-run on Tuesday by a hungry crowd of sports figures, officials and journalists.

Based in a vast former power station, the food hall includes six dining areas offering meals from around the globe, with half of the 50 dishes available each day being 100 percent vegetarian.

“People are going to meet here in France, with its culture, its heritage but also its gastronomy and so there are expectations,” chief Paris 2024 organiser Tony Estanguet told reporters.

Although many athletes would stick to their usual nutrition before competing, they will also be offered the chance to discover France’s famed food, with several Michelin-starred chefs taken on as advisors.

“We’ve allowed ourselves to put French gastronomy in pride of place so that curious athletes from around the world can try French culinary excellence,” Estanguet added.

The giant warm-food buffets will not include French fries, however.

McDonalds, a long-time Olympics sponsor, had its own fast-food restaurant in the Olympic village until the Rio Olympics in 2016, but athletes wanting a hit of junk food will have to look elsewhere.

“For technical reasons, we can’t offer fries,” said Estelle Lamotte, deputy director of village catering at food group Sodexo, told reporters.

She explained deep-fat fryers were not allowed in the temporary kitchens at the site, which is usually used as a film studio.

Gregoire Bechu, head of sustainable food at the Paris organising committee, stressed the quality of the ‘delicious’ lentil dahl recipe that has been developed for athletes.

“One of the major commitments by Paris 2024 was offering vegetarian meals in order to halve the carbon footprint of each meal on average,” he said. “We wanted vegetarian meals everywhere.”

At sports venues, 60 percent of food offered to fans will be vegetarian and the temporary stadium hosting skateboarding, BMX and breakdancing at the Place de la Concorde in central Paris will be entirely meat-free.

In a further bid to lower carbon emissions, only two of the six restaurant areas at the village will be air-conditioned, with the rest in outdoor courtyards sheltered by fabric sun shades and ventilated with overhead fans.

Tuesday’s test event, held under fierce sunshine and in 27C heat, saw some people visibly sweating.

“I think we’ve found a good compromise between offering the right temperature but also reducing our carbon emissions,” Estanguet said. “It’s one of the main challenges of the Paris 2024 edition.”

In a break from Olympic tradition, the 2,800 apartments at the village do not come with air-conditioning as standard.

But many Olympic teams have decided to install portable coolers at their own cost.

Paris has suffered a number of record heatwaves in recent years with temperatures peaking above 40C in July and August, but 2024 has so far been wet and cool.

The Paris Olympics run from July 26th to August 11th, followed by the Paralympics from August 28th to September 8th.

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