If you drop your delicious takeaway on the pavement do you pick it up and carry on eating it?

Answer 1

if it land the right way up i do. but not the other way. i remember once a bird pooed in my chinese just as i walked out the shop... i cried all the way back to school.

Answer 2

All depends on how long you leave it on the ground before picking it up...

Food rule

The rule states that foods—particularly sweet foods like cookies—that have fallen to the ground will not contract any germs until five seconds have passed. The rule provides a convenient rationale for eating food off the floor, and is usually invoked when a group of people are present (as a polite fiction). Thus, for example, a person might drop a dry jelly bean, pick it up quickly, tell his friends "five second rule" and then eat the candy.

The five-second rule is seldom invoked in the case of sticky foods, such as ice cream, cold cuts, or jelly beans which have been moistened, particularly if visibly dirty. It is also rarely used in cases of toast landing buttered-side-down. The five-second rule is rarely applied to other people's food, although many instances have been documented. The origin of the five-second rule is unknown.

In reality, it is usually safe to eat food from a relatively clean floor (see "Research" below). However, the notion that germs from a dirty floor will not reach food for at least five seconds is false. For this purpose, cleanliness is a matter of bacterial or parasitic contamination rather than visible dirt, although the two often go together. For example, sick people attend hospitals, with the result that a hospital floor which has not been decontaminated properly can appear to be relatively clean, while actually being more contaminated than the dirty street outside.

No data exists for the use of the five-second rule in restaurant kitchens; nonetheless, the practice is thought to enjoy a frequent use by cooks in a hurry. Although the idea of the five-second rule being used in fine dining establishments as an official policy is absurd, its use is not limited to restaurants of lower standards.
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Variations

The five second rule is sometimes called the three-second rule, 10-second rule, or the 15-second rule, to some extent depending on locale, the quality of the food involved or the intoxication level of the individual quoting the rule. For example, in American college dormitories the ten-second rule is often quoted as the "drunk version" of the five-second rule. In addition, there is the 17-minute rule, a humorous observation that the transferrence of dirt and germs takes place regardless of how short a time the food is in contact with the ground.

Answer 3

No and there is no 5 second rule that applies consider it as a loss and move on --- go back buy more or just do without --- you have no ideal what was on the pavement before you dropped it and why take a chance its not worth it besides that is unsanatary --- i am a chef would you want a restaurant to server you this --- i think not

Answer 4

Mr Grinner..I'm often that pissed of an evening that eating my preffered takeaway from the pavement is the norm and not an unfortunate accident.

However I draw the line at "Pavement Pizzas".. even my own... all topping and no base make Gent a miserable sod.

Answer 5

Hello Grinner,

No you didn't ought to do it innit. U will be getting germs and gravel, causing lower intestinal problems and tooth gravel decay. If you must drop it, do it where people don't flob a gob or chuck a loogy. Drop your delicious medley of magnificent mealiness on the clean kitchen floor, ummm unless the dog is there. errrrm bye

Answer 6

Why waste it? How about somebody elses discarded takeaway though.....I mean if it is still warm, surely it would be a shame to see that go to waste too?

Answer 7

Five second rule. But don't eat the bottom where it actully touched the ground. Unless it's cheap enough to just buy another.

Answer 8

As long as it was there on the floor for less than 5 seconds.

Answer 9

I wouldnt because people spit on the floor and animals use the pavements as their toilet,,,,, do I need to go on......but when youve got ten pints of beer down your neck,,,,,, you seem to forget all that........enjoy your curry where ever you decide to eat it.

Answer 10

I say leave for the birds, ants, bugs, and mice.......
they deserve delicious takeaway too...