No matter how long I live in the north I won't understand some of the oddities I encounter as a child of the south. I Recently attended a conference at a hotel in Vermont and once again I wondered how in the world something so simple is so foreign in this land!
When I first visited Vermont with my then boyfriend we went out to lunch at a fairly nice restaurant. I was always an iced tea drinker so I ordered "tea" with my sandwich. The woman showed up with a little hot pot and tea bag. I looked confused and said, "oh, I meant iced tea!" She made a funny face and said, "this isn't iced tea season." She said this with a very straight face. After she left I looked at Bruce and asked what that meant. He said he'd never thought about it but people in Vermont didn't really drink iced tea. When she returned I asked for a glass of ice so I could make my tea iced. I believe she thought I was from another planet. She brought me a little highball glass and 2 small cubes of ice. This is when I realized I was in a foreign land.
If you are reading this and are from the north you may not understand why this was all so confusing to me. In the south you are never far from glasses filled with ice and topped with the beverage of choice -- coke or iced tea. We like a little beverage with our ice. It is just the opposite in this foreign land I now call home. I sometimes order water and am asked if I'd like ice. Hell yes I want ice! I realize the water comes out of the tap ice cold but you still need ice cubes to make it a beverage.
Back to that conference. At lunch time they put out a beverage service with pitchers of coke, diet coke, lemonade, and "iced tea." There was no ice to be found and the pitcher didn't contain any ice. I returned to my table ranting, "how can it be ICED tea if it doesn't have ice?" My colleagues kind of laughed but didn't see the importance in my whining. I found an employee and asked if it was possible to have a container of ice so we could truly have ICED tea. She smiled and brought out a container of ice. I believe I was the only person in the room to FILL a glass with ice and then cover it with tea. It was good tea (what a relief) and my afternoon could continue.
There have been over 35 years since my first tea experience in the north and the recent one. I have noticed more infiltration of southerners in Vermont and a fascination with the culture which means a bit more understanding of iced tea as an option. McDonald's started serving fresh brewed tea that is served in a tall cup with a full measure of ice. I am guaranteed a great cup of tea if there is a McDonald's in the area. In restaurants I still have to be sure to order ICED tea or I get one of those little pots of hot water and a tea bag. I also have learned to ask if it is brewed or fountain. The stuff that is served from the fountain is pretty nasty and I always have to stick to water at places that believe this is tea.
In most ways I have adjusted to life in the north but that incident last month reminded me that the Mason Dixon Line was drawn for a reason and I believe food and beverages may have been one of the reasons. That boyfriend who brought me to visit Vermont has been my husband for over 35 years and still puts up with my rants when it comes to ICED tea.
I have made one beverage concession in order to fit in more easily and that is I have learned to say "soda" when referring to carbonated drinks. I'm careful when I visit my relatives because a slip of that term will get me labeled "Yankee" faster than ice melts under hot tea! Any good southerner knows that the term "coke" refers to any carbonated beverage, but that's another story!
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