Asking to take someone's else's food at a restaurant

Mrhuth

So, I was eating at a restaurant and have seen a group of people beside me leave their plates half full. I was still hungry after eating my food and I was wondering if it's normal or if someone else has asked for their food to be put in a take away bag and brought home. Would save me some coin if I could take the untouched part of the food which otherwise would be thrown away and wasted.

padd b1975

I'd rather starve personally, but each to their own.

Mrhuth

padd b1975 wrote: »

I'd rather starve personally, but each to their own.

I am not talking about half eaten burger here. More like a completely untouched hot dog. I know it's untouched because I was spectating. I guess our health and safety bs laws prevent this.

AllForIt

Don't like seeing food wasted to be honest. Especially if it's meat cause some ppl don't seem to be aware that meat comes from a once living creature.

AllForIt

I worked in restaurants for many years gone by and I absolutely would eat food that was untouched. For example I worked in a Spanish restaurant where it was all tapas and ppl wouldn't touch half the food they ordered. Eyes bigger than their appetite. I used to especially love it when ppl would leave behind the grilled goats cheese mushrooms. If they were still warm by the time I got my hands on them, even better.

bertsmom

Wouldn't do this even if I thought I'd never see food again!!! While people eat saliva gets on cutlery and then transferred back down onto the plate and food that's on the plate not to mention any hairs/dandruff falling from them or skin or worse.
When I was waitressing I would never have encountered a stranger asking for people's leftovers and to be honest I wouldn't have been packing it up for another person to take what somebody else has paid for.

Mrhuth

bertsmom wrote: »

Wouldn't do this even if I thought I'd never see food again!!! While people eat saliva gets on cutlery and then transferred back down onto the plate and food that's on the plate not to mention any hairs/dandruff falling from them or skin or worse.
When I was waitressing I would never have encountered a stranger asking for people's leftovers and to be honest I wouldn't have been packing it up for another person to take what somebody else has paid for.

Oh so it's better to throw it away rather than give it to someone else for consumption. Sorry but that's one of the stupidest things I have read today. Animal had to die for this to be on your plate and you would prefer to waste it.

Peregrinus

Is it normal? No, no normal at all.

Can you do it? Yes. It's not illegal. The person to ask, though, is the diner who has bought the food and is leaving it untouched; it is his to dispose of. (Plus, he's more likely to say "yes" than the restaurant is, because they might think that it is or might be illegal or improper.)

As for saliva exchange; the risks of infection are actually fairly low - otherwise teenagers would be dropping like flies. There are some infections that are transmitted this way - glandular fever is a well-known example - but in real life far more disease transmission occurs as a result of handshakes, exchange of money, etc than results from saliva exchange.

Sam Quentin

No disrespect.
But do you want a lend of a fiver?

Sam Quentin

AllForIt wrote: »

Don't like seeing food wasted to be honest. Especially if it's meat cause some ppl don't seem to be aware that meat comes from a once living creature.

Your sympathy and empathy (tho meaningful)was wasted the moment the poor animal past.

bertsmom

Mrhuth wrote:

Oh so it's better to throw it away rather than give it to someone else for consumption. Sorry but that's one of the stupidest things I have read today. Animal had to die for this to be on your plate and you would prefer to waste it.

The thing to remember is that when you look for opinions on a public forum you get just that...other people's opinions and shockingly they might just not be identical to your ownðŸ˜.
No need to apologise. You may need to read my post again I never mentioned an animal having to die for my food. However I'm not entertaining this notion any further or engaging with you. Fire ahead and help yourself to strangers food, enjoy the cold sores and skin particles and whatever else you get.
Consider paying for your own food like an adult.

Irish Guitarist

I met a friend for lunch the other day and I ordered a 10 inch pizza. Half way through I started feeling full but there was no way I was going to waste food so I forced it down. If someone had come up to me and asked if they could eat it I would have been delighted.

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

Doltanian

There once was a stingey thread, this belongs there.

freshpopcorn

A lot of restaurants food go to farmers who collect the waste food for animals. So, it doesn't go to waste.

Irish Guitarist

DunnoKidz

I've gone hungry a good half of my life. It may not be ideal or proper to eat or request a random strangers' food, but looking back, I can certainly sympathise with craving even a morsel. When you're that hungry, sharing someone else's leftovers would be a Godsend. Food is a necessity and I can't give out to anyone wishing for some of the excess.

My friends and I have no problems sharing (untouched food) amongst ourselves. At the end of a restaurant meal, we generally ask who wants to take what home, or if not, someone usually says something like "are you gonna eat that? if not, I'd love to take some home to dad." Sharing is caring.

Wanderer78

We are over producing, overselling, overeating, over wasting our food, this is unsustainable!

OldMrBrennan83

This post has been deleted.

evolving_doors

Doltanian wrote: »

There once was a stingey thread, this belongs there.

---》 https://touch.boards.ie/thread/2057136862/351/#post106867597 still going strong

DunnoKidz

Patww79 wrote: »

This post has been deleted.

Haha, it's not like that at all! It's fun! Never been awkward and I never self-sacrificed anything, lol. If I like my plate of food, and I want to take it all home, I do. "I am gonna enjoy this for lunch tomorrow, mmmm" ...simples! (altho it's much more fun to be generous and/or switch)... We do it all the time, and no one ever goes home empty handed... unless they freely offered it all in the first place, and even then they go home with foooood, cos we are like that with each other ...Guess it depends on how close your friends are.

evolving_doors

Mrhuth wrote: »

Oh so it's better to throw it away rather than give it to someone else for consumption. Sorry but that's one of the stupidest things I have read today. Animal had to die for this to be on your plate and you would prefer to waste it.

Animal .... he ded bruh... you ain't gonna do no Dr. Frankenstein on that hot doggy.

Graces7

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

I met a friend for lunch the other day and I ordered a 10 inch pizza. Half way through I started feeling full but there was no way I was going to waste food so I forced it down. If someone had come up to me and asked if they could eat it I would have been delighted.

The rare occasions I have eaten out, I have requested a "doggy bag" it take the remaining portion home. Portions are too big for me.

DunnoKidz

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

I met a friend for lunch the other day and I ordered a 10 inch pizza. Half way through I started feeling full but there was no way I was going to waste food so I forced it down. If someone had come up to me and asked if they could eat it I would have been delighted.

love this!

Mrcaramelchoc

Anytime that happens in a takeaway particularly with chips.id discreetly take them and feed the birds with them.i hate seeing wasted food.

razorblunt

Are we talking about another table or people at your own table?
Your own table? Go for it.

Chancer3001

A "restaurant" selling hot dogs

Post at 3am...

Me thinks the op didn't have enough cash for the chipper and wanted to eat their chips

Mrhuth

razorblunt wrote: »

Are we talking about another table or people at your own table?
Your own table? Go for it.

Not my table, 2 people were eating on the table beside me and left whole pieces of food worth around €15

sbsquarepants

No need to embarrass yourself by asking - simply nip around the back and retrieve the €15 worth of food from the bin.

Seriously what goes on in some peoples heads - asking for a strangers left over dinner - Jaysus Christ!

Mrhuth

sbsquarepants wrote: »

No need to embarrass yourself by asking - simply nip around the back and retrieve the €15 worth of food from the bin.

Seriously what goes on in some peoples heads - asking for a strangers left over dinner - Jaysus Christ!

Oh, look at me, I am so posh.

sbsquarepants

If you consider an unwillingness to eat random strangers discarded food at 3 in the morning posh, then yea, I suppose I'm posh. :rolleyes:

Now, jeeves my man, fetch me some more foie gras and a snifter of brandy like a good chap would you, chop chop.

Mrhuth

sbsquarepants wrote: »

If you consider an unwillingness to eat random strangers discarded food at 3 in the morning posh, then yea, I suppose I'm posh. :rolleyes:

Now, jeeves my man, fetch me some more foie gras and a snifter of brandy like a good chap would you, chop chop.

Of course, sir.

grogi

Sam Quentin wrote: »

Your sympathy and empathy (tho meaningful)was wasted the moment the poor animal past.

I tend to disagree.

We should use the resources we need - but should acquire them in an ethical way and not waste them afterwards. This equally applies to meat, fish, cloths and cobalt.

jester77

Mrhuth wrote: »

So, I was eating at a restaurant and have seen a group of people beside me leave their plates half full. I was still hungry after eating my food and I was wondering if it's normal or if someone else has asked for their food to be put in a take away bag and brought home. Would save me some coin if I could take the untouched part of the food which otherwise would be thrown away and wasted.

Or alternatively, cooking at home would save even more coin

Tell me how

45% of all food produced never even makes it to a plate. What we are doing is unsustainable.

It still would be a bit weird to do what the OP is suggesting though. The risk of someone passing on a disease either accidentally or (heaven forbid, intentionally) would make restaurant lawyers break out in a cold sweat at the thought of liability.


Be nice to see a marketing campaign promoting food efficiency and to not order something you're unlikely to eat. Restaurants could support this with "peckish" menu choices which ate smaller portions but then of course the whole price justification comes in to it.

Fann Linn

When I first worked at sea I was put into the restaurant on the ship to learn the trade. I worked alongside a waiter from Southport who had no qualms in eating the leftovers from customers plates as he was walking away from the table and heading for the galley.

I put in for a transfer to a different department on the day I saw him sucking on the bones of a lamb chop.
There are some mingers out there.

Mrhuth

Fann Linn wrote: »

When I first worked at sea I was put into the restaurant on the ship to learn the trade. I worked alongside a waiter from Southport who had no qualms in eating the leftovers from customers plates as he was walking away from the table and heading for the galley.

I put in for a transfer to a different department on the day I saw him sucking on the bones of a lamb chop.
There are some mingers out there.

Where do I apply?

NickNickleby

Fann Linn wrote: »

When I first worked at sea I was put into the restaurant on the ship to learn the trade. I worked alongside a waiter from Southport who had no qualms in eating the leftovers from customers plates as he was walking away from the table and heading for the galley.

I put in for a transfer to a different department on the day I saw him sucking on the bones of a lamb chop.
There are some mingers out there.

Mrhuth wrote: »

Where do I apply?

Hahaha, best post I've seen in quite a while, of course context is everything.

frag420

Mrcaramelchoc wrote: »

Anytime that happens in a takeaway particularly with chips.id discreetly take them and feed the birds with them.i hate seeing wasted food.

Have you any respect for women at all? :pac:

seamus

While one can go on about "health and safety bs", when food has been sitting on a plate in front of someone, they've been breathing over it, coughing on it, shedding skin and hair over it, etc etc. So it's not the wisest of ideas to be taking food off some stranger's plate.

In terms of a restaurant, if they're giving you someone else's food then it means that you're going to buy less food. So why would they give it to you?

But along with the ongoing drive to force supermarkets to dispose of waste food properly, I do think restaurants likewise should be brought to task. Taking stuff home is not generally the done thing in Ireland, but I don't know why. We should be compelling restaurants to facilitate this and to make it clear to patrons that not only is it possible to get your stuff wrapped up to take away, but it's perfectly acceptable and encouraged.

Teyla Emmagan

I got salmonella once from eating someone else's leftovers (someone I knew). Imagine what you could catch from a randomer!!

Fann Linn

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

I got salmonella once from earring someone else's leftovers (someone I knew). Imagine what you could catch from a randomer!!

AIDS

grogi

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

I got salmonella once from earring someone else's leftovers (someone I knew).

Technically you might be right. But how did the bacteria get there?

Teyla Emmagan

grogi wrote:

Technically you might be right. But how did the bacteria get there?

From the digestive system of the other person I guess? Grosssss

Dial Hard

Irish Guitarist wrote: »

I met a friend for lunch the other day and I ordered a 10 inch pizza. Half way through I started feeling full but there was no way I was going to waste food so I forced it down. If someone had come up to me and asked if they could eat it I would have been delighted.

Why didn't you just bring it home?

grogi

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

From the digestive system of the other person I guess? Grosssss

Why would you eat the pooh ?!

Graces7

seamus wrote: »

While one can go on about "health and safety bs", when food has been sitting on a plate in front of someone, they've been breathing over it, coughing on it, shedding skin and hair over it, etc etc. So it's not the wisest of ideas to be taking food off some stranger's plate.

Which is why I never buy bread, cakes etc that are on open unwrapped display in shops . )sorry;;slightly off thread..)

topper75

Teyla Emmagan wrote: »

I got salmonella once from eating someone else's leftovers (someone I knew). Imagine what you could catch from a randomer!!

I'm not a microbiologist, but I don't think people are carriers of salmonella as such. It more likely resulted from the storage/cooking.

Graces7

freshpopcorn wrote: »

A lot of restaurants food go to farmers who collect the waste food for animals. So, it doesn't go to waste.

AFAIK< this is still banned Eu wide after the foot and mouth outbreak?

CruelCoin

AllForIt wrote: »

Don't like seeing food wasted to be honest. Especially if it's meat cause some ppl don't seem to be aware that meat comes from a once living creature.

Or in the case of that hot dog, from 15 different species.
Anyway, If you've paid for it, then i think you should be free to do with it as you will. Eat, waste or otherwise.