Culturally switched sides

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Oct 13th 2011, 1:44 pm

#46

zargof

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Oh yeah another comment. Our two year old Toddler Z already asks to take her plate home so she can finish it later. I guess I'm training her well.

Oct 13th 2011, 1:45 pm

#47

tamms_1965

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Quote:

Originally Posted by nethead

But if it's leftovers at home it's usually food I haven't dished up onto a plate and eaten half of. It's usually food that was left in a saucepan or serving dish. So I'm not scraping stuff off of a plate that's already been eaten from.

I don't have a problem asking for a doggy bag (and round here they do say doggy bag or box) if it's something I know will get eaten. I would prefer a smaller portion that was cheaper though. And I wouldn't ask for a doggy bag if I was on a date Bilder, that would seem a bit cheap

I agree with the half-eaten stuff. But if I'm having a sandwich (cut in half) or chicken (usually some as two cut portions), pizza, etc., it's not a problem. I do not bother with sides like sauteed veggies, rice, etc. On the rare occasion I eat steak out I do not leave any of it or my hungrier half will snatch it up.

Oct 13th 2011, 1:57 pm

#48

Nutmegger

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bluegrass Lass

Yeah, I really don't see the reason why I can't take home whatever is left on my plate. I paid for it, it's mine is the way I see it. Ive mentioned this to my MIL and she said it's just not really that common. I don't get why. I'm perfectly of chilling and re-heating my food and if I don't, then it's my own fault.

I agree completely -- I bought it, I eat it, either in the restaurant or at home. Actually my MIL prefers to eat her lunch at restaurants that give big portions, so she can take some home for dinner! I was unaware that the practice was looked down upon in the UK. My mother could never finish her meal in her later years, and it was always packed up for her to take home -- and this was in top flight restaurants. The restaurants were obviously ready for such requests with the containers to pack the food up in, so it can't be that unusual.

Oct 13th 2011, 2:01 pm

#49

cindyabs

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Re: Culturally switched sides

I was just thinking that I'd be more put off if a guy I didn't know very well said to me, you're not going to finish that? Do you mind (as he reaches over with his fork and helps himself) before I could answer.

Oct 13th 2011, 2:04 pm

#50

scrubbedexpat097

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Quote:

Originally Posted by cindyabs

It could work the other way as well

............well it could have done when I was so greedy and could eat anything and everything without gaining a pound...

Oct 13th 2011, 3:21 pm

#51

Cape Blue

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Quote:

Originally Posted by Octang Frye

Health and ****ing safety... My parents just spent a month here (this is their longest visit.) They've been here maybe 12 times. They're finally cottoning on with the liberty/personal choice aspects I love about the US. Things like not having to wear a motor cycle helmet, etc. Sure, it's probably not smart not to wear one, but leave it up to the individual. Heck, I even got my mum to concede firearms have a place, even though she is terrified of them.

So the restaurant thinks I'm a moron who can't store and prepare food properly? I could never go back to that nannying mindset. I really couldn't. And that's what I mean. I have made the cultural switch now and British behavior is foreign, eccentric.

I was out in a bar with my ex brother-in-law and was wearing a baseball cap. I was told remove my hat. I scoffed. They told me I had to. So we left.
Sorry, I'm not buying what you're selling.

Egg n' chips, anyone?

It's the law to wear a helmet in many States.

Quote:

47 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have a helmet law for motorcyclists.
20 states, the District of Columbia, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands have a universal helmet law, requiring helmets for all riders.
The remaining 27 states and Guam require helmets for specific riders.
3 states (Illinois, Iowa and New Hampshire) do not have a motorcycle helmet law.

http://www.ghsa.org/html/stateinfo/l...lmet_laws.html

I think where you have a single-payer health service there is an argument for a degree of nannying.

Oct 13th 2011, 8:38 pm

#52

Englishman43

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Horses for courses I suppose. I've been here 15 years and still can't stand people in nice restaurants wearing baseball caps and dressing like the homeless.

You may have been subliminally mind f'ed Octang , you have to wear a helmet here in California, parallel park facing the direction of travel. pull in to spaces front ways and follow a thousand other petty BS rules that remove personal choice.....

I was once in a restaurant in Boulder and hadn't finished the bottle of wine we had, common opinion amongst US friends at the table was to leave it. I disagreed so threw the cork in and and slipped it down the front of my trousers , quite nice the next day with a slice of pizza.

God I'm so provincial....

Last edited by Englishman43; Oct 13th 2011 at 9:00 pm.

Oct 13th 2011, 8:45 pm

#53

zargof

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Quote:

Originally Posted by Englishman43

You may have been subliminally mind f'ed Octang , you have to wear a helmet here in California, parallel park facing the direction of travel. pull in to spaces front ways and follow a thousand other petty BS rules that remove personal choice.....

Speaking of personal choice, you have all these choice's except with who you can marry.

Oct 13th 2011, 11:38 pm

#54

GeoffM

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Quote:

Originally Posted by Englishman43

you have to wear a helmet here in California, parallel park facing the direction of travel. pull in to spaces front ways and follow a thousand other petty BS rules that remove personal choice.....

Pulling into spaces forwards... hmm. A driving instructor once said to me that he thinks it's safer to reverse in as you know what's around you while you line yourself up. If you have to reverse out, you don't have that visibility.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Englishman43

I was once in a restaurant in Boulder and hadn't finished the bottle of wine we had, common opinion amongst US friends at the table was to leave it. I disagreed so threw the cork in and and slipped it down the front of my trousers , quite nice the next day with a slice of pizza.

A bottle of wine down your trousers? Did anyone ask if you were pleased to see them?

Taking a bottle of wine home in the UK is, I would say, perfectly acceptable - certainly more so than food.

Oct 14th 2011, 12:53 am

#55

cindyabs

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffM

My US high school driving instructor taught us to pull forward, lining up with car in front of the empty space's side mirror and then reverse by angling back into the space.

Oct 14th 2011, 1:04 am

#56

kimilseung

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Quote:

Originally Posted by cindyabs

My US high school driving instructor taught us to pull forward, lining up with car in front of the empty space's side mirror and then reverse by angling back into the space.

All sounds very Reginald Molehusband, that's for parallel parking (parallel to the street); I think the 'pull into spaces front ways' is for those angled parking spaces (45 degree to street) and car parks (90 degree)

Edit: It is with great sadness that I report that one of our dearest cultural assets does not seem to have survived the test of time, it has not found new life in the digital age. All searchers for a Reggie video were futile.

Last edited by kimilseung; Oct 14th 2011 at 1:19 am.

Oct 14th 2011, 1:50 am

#57

Bob

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Quote:

Originally Posted by kimilseung

I listened to the same segment, and had similar reaction to yours. Overall it came across that the Brits are just too snobby, and prefer to waste and too concerned with how it would be seen by others.

Could it be that the portions just aren't as big, so you don't generally get left overs?

I certainly used to finish my meals or if I had left overs, it would only be a little bit that wasn't worth taking home for.

Around here, it can be another whole couple of meals left over, so definitely worth taking home for.

Oct 14th 2011, 1:50 am

#58

sir_eccles

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Two points:

1) the dying art of wrapping up the leftovers in foil and sculpting a swan.

2) the real test of good food, pizza in particular, is cold the next day.

Oct 14th 2011, 1:52 am

#59

Bob

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Quote:

Originally Posted by penguinbar

In NYC it's perfectly normal. I have noticed that outside NYC when I've asked for my food to be wrapped up a often box is brought to the table. Where I work and most other places I frequent it is taken to the back and packaged up. I think it depends on where you are from whether or not it's called boxed up or a doggy bag. I've been in the restaurant business a long time and I think it's is perfectly acceptable.

In Maine, they bring you a box and you do it yourself, state laws on hygiene apparently...supposed to be the same in MA, but it's hit or miss, they'll usually box it for you at the table.

Oct 14th 2011, 1:55 am

#60

Juswus

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Re: Culturally switched sides

Quote:

Originally Posted by sir_eccles

1) the dying art of wrapping up the leftovers in foil and sculpting a swan.

I rarely had leftovers in England that I can remember. It depends on what the food is whether I take it home or not. I've been at a table where after everyone else declined a box, 1 person crushed the leftovers from all the plates into one box for themselves

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