Photo Courtesy of Untitled Blue of Flickr under Creative Commons License
I recently posted the question here, on Twitter, and Facebook: “You Tell Me – Energy Drinks in the Kitchen, Good or Bad?”
I was surprised at the response. All the avenues responded, with majority of people telling me to my face. (I guess I will have to be careful of what I post about people that I work with!)
All in all, the response is 50/50. Half of the people like them, half don’t. Interestingly, the professional kitchen is split 70/30 for. I guess that shows you we are a bunch of strung up, Hyped-out freaks. What did you expect though? The pace in the kitchen can dazzle anyone fortunate enough to peek their head into a busy kitchen during the dinner rush.
Surprisingly, most of the people who stated the hated the drinks opted for coffee instead. Is coffee, (the original energy drink,) any better?
It is understandable why there would be a bit of a hate-on with energy drinks, as there is not a lot known about them. Back in our all night D&D sessions, Jolt cola was all the rage. “Same amount of sugar, twice the caffeine.”
Today’s energy drinks boast about the boost you get from the drinks, but they are chocked full of ingredients and extracts that we have no idea about. Perhaps that is what scares people about them.
Even more interesting is the size of cans. When I first saw energy drinks in the kitchen, they were in small little cans. Today we have monster cans that resemble tall boys.
Finally, working in a kitchen leads to excess. While the average guy or gal drinks one or two a day, I have seen people pack back 6 or 7 in a service. I am undecided about these drinks. They could be harmless, on the other hand, I hope I never see the day where something bad happens on the line because of consumption of energy drinks.
