Mountain Ash asked:

Hi Mountain Ash,

Wow! This is an interesting cultural question. I guess you are saying that your restaurants don't routinely offer "doggie bags" if you can't finish a meal?

Here -- at least in the Midwestern part of the US -- our restaurants are always serving meals that are way too big to be eaten by health-conscious people in one sitting.

I think they do this because it looks bountiful.

Just recently we have started to see a few of the nicer restaurants offering "half plates," which are just that, half the normal serving, provided on a smaller plate.

But I've only seen a couple restaurants doing this so far...

For the rest of them, they allow you -- no actually encourage you -- to take home your leftovers...

This is so common here that I can't think of a (non-fast food) restaurant we eat at that doesn't have the wait staff immediately inquire before clearing the plate from in front of you as to whether you want to take home the leftovers...

All the restaurants now seem to have "clamshell" style styrofoam containers which they put the extra food into.

Some restaurants bring you the containers to do it yourself, others take the food back to the kitchen and package it for you.

Others just give you the container, while another option os for them to put the container into a plastic bag for ease of carrying.

There was one very expensive "fine dining" style restaurant Steve and I used to go to in our previous community which would wrap the leftover container in foil, and style the foil to look like a swan...

Sometimes we take our leftovers home, sometimes we don't.

But the laws say that once the food server puts the plate in front of the patron, if e or she doesn't eat it, they have to throw it out. Which essentially wastes the diner's money and the establishment's food.

Thus "doggie bags" become a form of recycling.

Anyone else have any thoughts on taking home your leftovers?

Thank you Anne...
I am wiser now!
we do eat fish and potato chips from containers..years ago they were wrapped in greaseproof paper then newsprint...usually at the shore..Sometimes the container these days is printed to look like newsprint.a throw back to the earlier custom.
When the same meal is eaten in the establishment we can have bead and butter and a teapot of tea..its then called a fish tea...
Fish and chip shops were introduced to UK by Italian immigrants as were ice cream shops..I always think Italian ice cream is the best.

Mountain Ash,

I LOVE Italian ice AND fish and chips.

There is an Irish pub within walking distance from our house, which serves them, and they serve it on a plate with the wrapping made to look like newspaper.

Maybe I will have to tell the owner about the concept of "fish tea." He is quite an entrepreneur and I am sure he would give that a try...

After all, the local lore has it that his hotel and the pub inside it were actually built in Ireland, dismantled and shipped over here to be rebuilt. I am not sure this is actually true. But who knows. Here's a link to see what the place looks like: Frank O'Dowd's Irish Pub

Now back to food - and recycling:

We have a whole food industry that is based on "take out," the concept of going to the restaurant, picking up a prepared meal and taking it home to eat.

This is slightly different than food delivery, which started out with pizza shops delivering pizza to your home -- and has progressed to the point where you can call many restaurants on the phone, order any of their meal off the menu and have them deliver it to your door in boxes or bags.

Then at fairs and outdoor events, of course, they serve food in disposable containers, like your fish and chips. The concept is to eat the food while you visit the booths at the fair, while you watch the sporting event or while you walk through the amusement park or zoo, etc.

A recent trend which hasn't reached all communities, is food trucks. These are trucks equipped with kitchens, which drive to certain venues, park, and dispense food from a window of the truck. Often there will be many food trucks at the location, so you can go there, and everyone gets to pick their favorite type of food. Then, I think, you eat it outdoors.

But the concept of "doggie bags" is merely to take home and eat later the leftovers from a meal you order while dining out at a restaurant.

"Who woulda thunk" we would have so many ways to choose how and where to eat? Especially since home cooked meals eaten at your own table the are probably the healthiest and cheapest!

Restaurants here in Western NY and even in the southern part of Canada ask if customers want to take the leftovers home. And we do. Many restaurants also offer smaller portion meals and lower those prices a bit. But we've been taking home restaurant leftovers ever since I can remember. And that would be for decades.