Can teetotalers be tiki-philes?

Once again at my tiki bar, I was pondering the galaxy of infinate questions and asked myself "self, can someone be into all things tiki and not drink?".

I mean most everything we are into involves drinking - tiki bars, mugs, drink recipies etc... So can someone be a hardcore tiki-phile and not imbibe?

(I guess this is like the question can someone be Gay and be a virgin?)

Sure they could, if they are enchanted by a dark, cozy, mysterious, plant-filled place with the trickling sounds of a waterfall to keep them company. Okay, not having the hooch might suck a little...

As a confirmed Tiki-totaler, I say resoundingly yes. Just as long as whatever beverage you order can be had in a groovy mug with lots of umbrellas, cocktail monkeys, fruit, etc... :)

Sure, tee-totallers can be Tiki-phobes. All they have to do is develop an obsession with all things Polynesian and/or Hawaiian, particularly if they come from a country like Canada with severely cold winters.

Dear Cuisson/Rosemary

I think your response to my question is interesting in light of the fact you authored a book entitled 'Aloha and Mai Tais'.

Also, I think you included a freudian slip by stating "sure Tee-totallers can be tiki-phobes" and not philes.

[ Edited by: Tiki_Bong on 2002-06-19 18:02 ]

Of course a Tiki-phile could be a non drinker. Tiki is much more about exotic atmosphere than exotic libations. There's probably quite a few Tiki fans who don't drink for one reason or another. I'd guess there's even collectors of cocktail ware and books who don't drink 'cause I used to be one of them...I started my cocktail book collection (not vast by any means) in my early twenties and didn't start drinking until my early thirties. Even when we are talking Tiki tippling I think there's far more to be said about the subtle balance of exotic flavors than the wham of the booze. In late July I'm throwin' a Tiki bash for my sister's 30th and as it's on a public beach and as this nation was started by a bunch of puritans there's no alcohol allowed. So I'm getting creative with the booze free drinks...Planning for them to taste exotic, look swell, and be garnished to the point of ridiculous (2 gross of paper umbrellas have already been procured).

I have 7 hand carved TIKIS, 50 hand poured cement tikis, that I poured myself. My lic. plate is TIKIFRK. I have a tattoo of SHAG art on my arm. I have fish net, lobsters, bamboo, a TIKI mantle at my fireplace, floating glass shelves at my TIKI bar, glass balls, every TIKI and SHAG coffee table book signed, everybody that comes to my bar can drink whatever they want, anytime they want.
I have not been to one 12 step program, but have not had a drink or a smoke for 8 years. I don't preach drink or no drink to anyone. It is easy to drink and TIKI but can you TIKI with out it. TIKI is a way of life to get a way from reality. Drinking should not be the same.

As with finding the answers to all of life's intriging mysteries...

I'll have to check in with my Magic 8 Ball...

Let's see....

Oh Magic 8 Ball, Can teetotalers be tiki-philes?...

AHA, now the answer is now before my eyes...

Hhmmm... "My sources say NO"

Well there you have it, the answer is NO! Teetotalers can NOT be tiki-philes :)

So sayeth the Magic 8 Ball, So it will be

[ Edited by: tikimug on 2002-06-20 09:04 ]

I'm currantly managing a nightclub and when I manage I become teetotal and I still pursue Tiki with all my might, Tiki has allways been for me about a style and music and atmosphere than the booze. But then again my weddings coming up and thats going to be tikified and I doubt it'll be a dry afair.
How about Kava-Kava for the ultimate alcohol free tiki drink :)

Of course we can!!! Have umbrella, will drink.......something. Ya know, everything tastes better with an umbrella in it! See you all tonight.

Trustar
(Paul)

Late response to this thread, but I thought I should weigh in...

I drink. Maggie doesn't. She's at least 50% responsible for the way Castaway Cove turned out. She's into the atmosphere and the swank attitude. Ditto for me, but add the cool coctails to my list. When I make pina coladas, I pour the first one for Maggie, THEN I add the alcahol. I'm experimenting with a non alcaholic mai tai, as well as other tasty NA recipes. Woofmutt, would you be so kind as to jot down some of the successes from your sister's birthday party so I can prepare them for Maggie? It'd be great if we all could share our NA recipes - most of those of us who drink probably have friends who don't, so it's handy to have something to offer those folks at the next shindig.

Hey there, Maxton! I just have to compliment you on the NA daquiri recipe, the addition of NA wine was perfect! Delicious!

I say no. Of course there's always an exception (i.e. Baxdog). Okay, so maybe that means yes? Oh whatever. I just wanted to bump this thread.

Íts about the atmosphere..and escapism..but without the tiki drinks you loose a dimension..

On 2002-06-19 11:05, Tiki_Bong wrote:
(I guess this is like the question can someone be Gay and be a virgin?)

Will a hermaphrodite meet you half way?

No disrespect for the Magik Eight Ball, but I say yes.

Drinks and bars are but one facet of all things Tiki.

And, if a teetotaler cares to join me at a Tiki Bar I will gladly enjoy their drink for them.

Of course they can. I know more than a few: ipso facto.

My wife is a teetotaler and she's married to a tikiphile. And we're still happily married. Does that count? She claims it's all MY stuff, but deep down I know she loves it. At least that's what I keep telling myself...

Oh yeah, my 12-year-old son is a teetotaler too. :) And he's a BIG tikiphile.

Just because being half lit at Disney World makes it funner doesn't mean it isn't fun sober... But then, there aren't special cocktails served in Mickey's head at every kiosk either.

The cocktail is the raison d'etre of the Tiki Bar. If Don hadn't made such awesome drinks, we would not have Tiki Central today. It wasn't decor that made his place so popular, nor food. It's a very large part of the picture.

The original Frisbee was a pie tin, but I never cook pies in any of my Frisbees. Just because tikiphilia might have started behind powerful rum drinks doesn't mean that drinking rum is a requirement any longer, if it ever was.

Besides, what purpose does the classification or our opinion serve, anyway. I suppose I really don't even understand the question.

If you like tiki you are a tikiphile. Ones likes and dislikes aren't really affected by any external validation, you know - just how you feel about them. Maybe it's just me and my personal confidence or satisfaction with my own aesthetics. (and the non-judgmental application of them)

Can teetotalers be tiki-philes?

On 2008-02-27 11:50, TimboTiki wrote:
I'm already trying to come up with my own ideas for non-alcoholic drinks.

Being a gnomon, I'm always creating...er....um....potions. It's just that some of them turn out to also be tropical drinks.

Anyway, try this on for size, but be sure to strap yourself in first. Get a decent juicing machine and make yourself a batch of watercress juice.

The dainty, little, unobtrusive, innocent looking watercress kicks some serious ass when you extract its juice. A shot of watercress juice has more of a kick than overproof rum. Of course, it takes a lot of watercress to end up with a shot's worth.

It's a brown drink, but one of my favorites for years is simply a glass of pure carrot juice (Odwalla saves you the mess of making decent carrot juice) and about 3 oz of watercress juice.

Start trying out various botanical substitutes for alcohol. I use lavender, for example, in many of my non-tiki concoctions. If anyone gives you crap about it. Make them drink a shot of watercress juice.

La Verandah can't quite recall which of his tomes they were in, perhaps more than one, but The Master (aka Vic Bergeron) has always included nonalcoholic drinks among his recipes.

If Trader Vic himself did not believe in the absolute necessity of alcohol to enjoy things tiki, than I would think the question was settled long ago...

To me, Tiki begins and ends with taboo intoxicants in the form of alcoholic concoctions. Like many, my first exposure to tiki culture was images of fanciful drinks in Polynesian cocktail menus. I was way too young to drink, but even to a young pup who had yet to experience an alcohol buzz tiki drinks and their accompanying aesthetic promised deliverance from the mundane state of daily affairs. I can't shake the influence those formative exposures to tiki to see it as anything else than a culture of artificially exotic hedonism.

That said, while culturally-acceptable hedonism was the original raison d'etre of tiki culture, I suppose that perhaps its current embodiment as kitsch aesthetic enables prudes and teetotalers to engage on a certain level. But their participation must be analogous to that of Jane Goodall in chimpanzee society: they live alongside us, enjoy our company and respect our culture, but they are incapable of experiencing tiki to its fullest. At least, they can't experience it any more fully than I could as a young kid, full of curiosity and wonder, perusing mysterious and tempting polynesian drink menus.

Way back when I was a kid in the 70's a waiter in Hawaii was taking my parents drink orders and someone joked about what cocktail I wanted. The waiter promptly offered to make a "Virgin Chi Chi". I loved it and it was an early entrance into tiki culture.

Reading this thread, begs the age old question. What is Tiki? As a lifestyle, is it not what you want it to be, individual to each person. Alot of things make up tiki, fashion, music, food, art, history, drink is only but a part of it. And while it is a large part for some, does it really matter if for some, drink is not a part at all?