“Edibles & Potables” is F&D’s Sunday space for peering beyond our metropolitan Louisville coverage area—or not, as the case may be. Setting the table, legendary travel guru Rick Steves writes about tipping in Europe.
Here’s a tip: Don’t stress over tipping. While tips are appreciated no matter where you travel, tipping in Europe isn’t as automatic nor as generous as it is in the US, and in many countries, tips aren’t expected at all. The proper amount depends not only on the country you’re in, but, just as in the US, on your resources, tipping philosophy, and the circumstances.
Steves adds: ” If your bucks talk at home, muzzle them on your travels. As a matter of principle, if not economy, the local price should prevail. Please believe me — tipping 15 or 20 percent in Europe is unnecessary, if not culturally ignorant.”
But, emphatically, and trust me on this one, the USA is not Europe. American exceptionalism reigns in a great many ways, and gratuities are among these cultural differentiations.
Robin Garr, dean of Louisville “foodie writers,” recently dove into the deep end of “the way we tip.” No one does it better ’round here, so click through and absorb the entirety of...Read more
