The list of things America has given the food world is substantial: Velveeta, the Hard Rock cafe, the list goes on. But now one of our most widespread contributions has finally gained purchase on English soil: the doggy bag.
So simple a concept. After your restaurant meal that you’ve paid for, you take home what you haven’t eaten to enjoy later. That might mean having yummy leftovers after a late-night drinking binge, say, or for breakfast when you just fancy some fajitas or beef and broccoli instead of Wheetabix. Now chefs Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall and Thomasina Miers are championing the use of goody bags and even some high-end restaurants are offering them.
I know what most Brits are thinking, because it’s what my husband thought the first time he visited my hometown: “Why are all these waiters urging me to take home a box of food I didn’t eat the first time round?”
In America it’s simple – because there’s no possible way (unless you’re dining in a trendy NYC eaterie with minuscule portions) that you could eat your entire entree.
The food is piled high to gravity-defying proportions. The mashed potatoes evoke Richard Dreyfus’s mountain, the enchiladas hang off the edge of the plate. And don’t forget the two side dishes that come with your entree and the free trip to the dessert bar.
But we don’t have those Grand Canyon portions here. Isn’t taking home a box of food on the Tube just too embarrassing and un-British?
From experience I can definitively say: Maybe.
The Brit in my life still finds it amusing in America when our waiter Tad asks not if we want a box but how many (and reacts with confusion if we decline).
But slowly over time, after seeing the kids happily chow down on second-time-round pizza or avoiding cooking one evening as we combine (thoroughly) reheated chicken with fresh veg from the crisper drawer, he’s come around.
We won’t request a doggy bag from Claridge’s (although we could!), but nothing’s wrong — and a lot is right — in not letting food go to waste.
Totally agree in not letting food go to waste, and that people shouldn’t be too embarrassed to ask for a doggy bag, but maybe there should just be smaller portions in the first place….!
I agree. My brother and his wife regularly do the “one starter and split an entree” thing because so many dishes are just too big.
I totally agree with the concept, but esp at Mier’s restaurant, Wahaca, the portion sizes are tiny tapas. Really unlikely you’d have anything to put in a doggy bag.
Ha! Claire, I know what you mean. When I leave Wahaca there is absolutely nothing left over because I love the food so much.
So true!
I’ve just come back from lunch with my American mom and she didn’t let me eat all the food to make sure she could take home a doggy bag?!
Nice to come across a fellow US/UK blogger.
Jo x
I couldn’t resist commenting. Very well written!