Did someone say “Doggy Bag?”
© Meredith Mullins & Charlie Meagher

How Different Cultures Look at Leftovers

Are restaurant leftovers going to the dogs?

That depends on to whom and where you pose the question. Different cultures have different approaches to taking restaurant leftovers home. The history of the doggy bag is a bit furry . . . er, blurry.

The First Doggy Bag

Some say the idea dates back to Roman times, when food was often taken home in a napkin from multi-course, recline-while-you-eat meals.

We can trace the first doggy bags back to the U.S. during WW II when food was scarce and waste was unthinkable.

The idea was to give diners a way to bring leftover meat and bones to a canine best friend waiting eagerly at home. The dog was sometimes just a pretense, as the doggy bag was also a way to stretch food a little bit further in struggling households.

The first marketed doggy bag, created by the Chicago-based Bagcraft Corporation, included a poem written by the wife of the co-founder, as well as a diverse range of friendly dog faces (equal dog opportunity).

Oh where, oh where have your leftovers gone?
Oh where, oh where can they be?
If you’ve had all you can possibly eat,
Please bring the rest home to me.

The doggy bag evolved from there, into containers of all shapes and sizes, as well as creative art made by upscale restaurants.

The modern doggy bag takes many forms.
© rimglow (L)/design56 (M)/liopt (R)

Sometimes the dog got the leftovers and sometimes the food became the next meal for the humans in the family.

Large portions in the U.S. lend themselves to doggy bags.
© Monkey Business Images

Doggy Bags Around the World

In addition to the U.S., where portions are so generous that doggy bags have become standard practice, many Asian cultures seem comfortable with “take home” requests. Restaurants have the requisite containers—from India to China to Singapore to Hong Kong.

The familiar Chinese doggy bag
© Medioimages/Photodisc

The doggy bag concept, however, has been a bit slower to come to Europe.

You Can’t Take It With You

Years ago in France, the idea of even asking for a doggy bag sent fear through the heart. When diners finally conjured the courage, they were met with scorn, as only a French waiter can muster. An eye roll. A smirk. A “Ce n’est pas possible.”

Sometimes the waiter relented, but continued the theatrical production through public embarrassment or intentional torture of the food in question.

The dramatic sweep of a plate of choucroute, en masse, into an empty lard bucket—the only container that the kitchen staff could spare.

Why not take home leftovers in an empty lard bucket?
© Meredith Mullins

The rolling of a salad into a tight aluminum foil cigar. The offer to allow the diner to take the casserole dish home and bring it back the next day. The stories are endless.

Even the best restaurants, anxious to please customers, had difficulty finding containers for the take-home food.

Doggy bags just weren’t part of the culture. They were an affront to dining etiquette. Portions were correctly sized so that diners were expected to savor every bite. Presentation, freshness, and impeccable timing for each course were priorities for the chef.

The idea of food being jostled, jarred, and rearranged by transport—or eaten or reheated hours later—was a well-sharpened knife to the heart of the French chef.

How could such a beautiful presentation be packaged “to go home?”
© Meredith Mullins

Oh, I See. You Can Teach an Old Dog New Tricks

In January 2016, life in France changed forever. A new doggy bag recommendation took effect.

No more waiter scowls when you ask to take your leftovers away. No more eye rolling. No more smirking in the kitchen about the “crazy Americans.” No more furtive searching for an appropriate container. When you ask for a doggy bag, you get one. A new era has been ushered in.

Why?

The French restaurant industry accounts for nearly one million tons of food waste annually. The government vowed to reduce food wastage by 50% by the year 2025. The doggy bag promotion was a first step.

Salad smashed so beautifully into a tight aluminum foil roll
© Meredith Mullins

Other European countries are also tackling food waste reduction. The UK’s Sustainable Restaurant Association launched a “Too Good To Waste” campaign in 2011, giving out 25,000 recyclable doggy bags/boxes to participating restaurants—from Michelin-starred to fast-food chains.

Sweden also has a campaign called “Do Not Throw Away Your Food,” which educates the public on the effects of waste and promotes the use of doggy bags.

It may take awhile to change dining etiquette, especially when thinking about restaurant leftovers, but the wheels are in motion in several different cultures.

An artistic approach to the doggy bag
© Meredith Mullins

The restaurant industry in France is already promoting a change from “le doggy bag” to “le gourmet bag.”

Soon, everyone will want one.

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