Claire
Master Chef
I went to Applebees the other day. Ordered a half-salad. We go there maybe a couple times a year because it is near some shopping we need to do, or to drop stuff off at Goodwill, and the flavors and portions agree with us. The half salad was way more than I could finish, and I had other stuff to do so didn't want to lug it home with me. Out of curiousity, I asked our waitress if anyone had ever finish a "whole" salad. She replied not in the year or two she'd worked there.
One solution used to be to split a meal. But now (have not asked at Applebees) they charge a plating fee ... when I was younger it would be a dollar or three, so it was still worth it not to throw away food. Some of us were raised, not only to clean our plates, but that throwing away good food was somewhere between criminal and sinful, certainly immoral. Now the plating fee can be higher than the second meal would have been.
Very few people I know, certainly my family, are light eaters. We all like our food and my husband and I resent buying more food than we want to eat when we go out and cannot take the food home for some reason. Now, I've been out with acquaintances who pick at an expensive meal and push it away, then don't take a "doggie bag" because it's beneath them or they "don't eat leftovers" (trust me, when a gal visiting ate one bite of a perfectly good, hug porterhouse and didn't like the crab leg appetizer she ordered because the crab legs had been split for her and they don't do that where she lives), you bet your patootie that I had it all bagged up and hubby and I ate it for days.
But, really, I cannot explain why restauranteurs do this. That said, I've never asked any of the restauranteurs I know fairly well why they do. If I think about it next Friday (my day to go out), I'll ask. It just seems they'd rather charge more and throw the food away (and, yes, I've worked in restaurant service and saw what got thrown out many moons ago, and food portions have gotten ridiculously larger than in those days, in the late 70s) rather than charge a little less and give you the food you want.
One solution used to be to split a meal. But now (have not asked at Applebees) they charge a plating fee ... when I was younger it would be a dollar or three, so it was still worth it not to throw away food. Some of us were raised, not only to clean our plates, but that throwing away good food was somewhere between criminal and sinful, certainly immoral. Now the plating fee can be higher than the second meal would have been.
Very few people I know, certainly my family, are light eaters. We all like our food and my husband and I resent buying more food than we want to eat when we go out and cannot take the food home for some reason. Now, I've been out with acquaintances who pick at an expensive meal and push it away, then don't take a "doggie bag" because it's beneath them or they "don't eat leftovers" (trust me, when a gal visiting ate one bite of a perfectly good, hug porterhouse and didn't like the crab leg appetizer she ordered because the crab legs had been split for her and they don't do that where she lives), you bet your patootie that I had it all bagged up and hubby and I ate it for days.
But, really, I cannot explain why restauranteurs do this. That said, I've never asked any of the restauranteurs I know fairly well why they do. If I think about it next Friday (my day to go out), I'll ask. It just seems they'd rather charge more and throw the food away (and, yes, I've worked in restaurant service and saw what got thrown out many moons ago, and food portions have gotten ridiculously larger than in those days, in the late 70s) rather than charge a little less and give you the food you want.
. No need to find the article...I read that as well.
