When considered on a scientific level, ordering a lemon with a glass of water at a restaurant is disgusting. Because most restaurants rinse but don't scrub (while others may not even rinse) and because bartenders typically handle the yellow garnish with their bare hands, lemons host all types of bacteria from a variety of unsavory human body parts, according to the Huffington Post.
When considered on a practical level, however, ordering a lemon is still disgusting, but something patrons can mostly choose to ignore, for its chances of causing sickness and disease is faint. Better to focus on the quality of the meat.
"The usual course will probably result in no infection, but there is a possibility," Philip Tierno, a clinical professor of microbiology and pathology at NYU, told the Huff Post: "You can't live in a bubble. Your immune system is usually pretty good."
Tierno has conducted several experiments documenting the so called contamination of lemons in water.
"We found in every single group of specimens from different institutions, representations from the three body sites that men usually impart their flora," Tierno told the Huff Post.
Thus, consider this nugget of insider knowledge from Tierno and the Huff Post a handy, but unessential truth of restaurant life. If you only mildly prefer the accompaniment of a lemon with your water and possess a more than mild imagination when it comes to the behavior of bacteria, consider ordering your water ungarnished. If you really love lemon water (with the aforementioned imagination) perhaps bring your own lemons. Tip-minded waiters will probably even praise you for your ingenuity. Concerned about the mixing of salad dressing in my college mess hall, I began bringing my own bottle to dinner, a practice that earned me quite the reputation among my group of friends.
