Taking home leftovers from restaurant dinners, an American habit that many thought would never find a home in France, is confounding expectations.
While new French laws designed to cut down on France’s food waste require restaurants to provide them, skeptics believed that French diners wouldn’t take up the offer, partly because they’re used to the idea of eating everything on the plate. However, they’ve proven quite popular.
The law applies to restaurants that serve more than 180 meals per day, and is part of a campaign to end the waste of 7 million tonnes of food a year. EU statistics indicate that 14% of that is from restaurants.
Packaging companies have gotten on the bandwagon, too, with specially designed bags and boxes, including one for unfinished wine. TakeAway, a company, founded by students at Lyon University and maker of the box in the picture, has sold about 360,000 boxes to 800 restaurants in 18 months; another company has signed agreements with hotel operators to distribute the packaging.
Why would anybody say that the habit was “despised”? Disdained, perhaps, but most of the French are quite frugal. If anything, they have always been embarrassed by leaving leftovers, if they had to do so. I had a great aunt in Moselle who always kept plastic bags in her purse for stowing away extra food at restaurants.
Your great aunt is not so different from some of my American relatives who did the same before it became “acceptable,” even “expected” to ask here. I always enjoyed the wonderful rolls one of my uncles brought home in his pockets when he took clients to fancy restaurants…