The Challenge / Trivialities

[skorpionuk]

I was going to start this edit with "I've just got back from lunch", but as it turns out, I've actually been back at my desk for about half an hour. Curses to K8 and Michelle, your emails take up all my time ;-)
Anyway, I had lunch with luctamina, and it were ace. We ended up having a really excellent and useful conversation, and as a result of it, I now

Comments

[stiggle]

The problem with leaving food is that the UK throws away about 40% of the produce we buy/grow as spoilt & wasted food. Its a condition of the "more is better" mentality. Everyone seems to think that bigger portions is somehow better. Leave a larger portion and ask them to bag it up for the dog.

[kekhmet]

In the US, where huge portions are the norm, taking home your leftovers is also the norm.
Which gives me an idea for a really good way to learn portion control...
try to leave enough of various foods that are compatible with being eaten (together or separately) as leftovers later to make for a real addition to a later meal.

[kekhmet]

(which is something I've always done, but I never thought about it from the POV of intentionally doing it as away to eat less at a given meal - more as a way to have food for later. Being poor for so many bits of my life == just tossing food unless it's really *yeuuck* bothers me)

[skorpionuk]

Good points also! And that might help with restaurant meals.

Part of the problem for me is that I don't like making a fuss, so asking for things to be bagged up may be hard for me. Won't know till I try, though!

[rickbot]

After many embarrasing meals with an American friend living in London, I can reveal that she almost always managed to get a box to put her leftovers in without too much fussing from the waiter. Just ask!

[kekhmet]

*laughs*
Yes, see for us it's much easier, because it's normal where we come from.

I find it terribly wasteful to the point of being mildly upsetting to my American trained sensibilities seeing all those nice polite Brits leaving good food to be thrown away.

Occasional American behaviours are good things to emulate - this is one of them I think.

[skorpionuk]

That's a fair point; I do disagree with throwing away food on a larger scale. I don't think that leaving a small amount of food on your plate is a problem, though, compared to the damage we inflict on ourselves by trying to eat everything all the time.

I wish more places offered child portions, and didn't mind adults ordering them.

[stiggle]

The pub/restaurant used to help out at used to offer 3-4 portion sizes, and anything that was left we always asked if they'd like it to take away (less for us to clear up :-) ) Shame it closed down (in the middle of the countryside and didn't recover after the Foot & Mouth outbreak a few years.

[skorpionuk]

That is a good way of running it, definitely!

I went out for a meal last night, and actually felt obliged to check whether they minded if I just had a starter and a salad.... I evidently expect restaurants to argue over such matters. And to be fair some places have a minimum spend rule, which isn't helpful for a small appetite.

[stiggle]

We had a good relationship with the customers - most regulars - to the point where when the chef/owner was away and we kept just the bar open, some of them brought in a huge takeaway banquet to share with the staff as a thankyou. Ended up sharing it with some other customers. They originally came because we'd been recommended by some friends but didn't realise the kitchen was closed that week, so to save them a wasted trip we asked if they'd like some of the chinese as they was more than enough for everyone. They had a great time and came back the following week for a 'proper' meal. Complained because the nice crazy scouser wasn't there (I was running late).