I went to lunch with friends yesterday and as is almost always the case, I didn’t finish my meal. Restaurant portions are almost always more than I can eat, so I usually take what I don’t eat home so I can eat it later — or — as is often the case, throw it out in a few days.
But anyhow, yesterday I asked for a doggie bag — usually I just ask for a box. I don’t know why I said “doggie bag” yesterday, but for some reason I did. The waiter looked at me like I was speaking Greek or some other foreign language. I said to just bring me a box.
When I was growing up and you went to a restaurant, and wanted to take the food you hadn’t eaten with you, you asked for a doggie bag. That seems to have been an American thing. From what I can gather, the phrase was used to mask the social awkwardness of taking leftover food home from a restaurant. The idea was that you could request a bag “for the dog” — even if you didn’t have a dog or you fully intended to eat the leftovers yourself.
I remember my parents were big on not wasting food — probably because of a lot of World War II and post-war food conservation efforts. If I remember correctly, some restaurants even had bags that said things like ”For Fido” or “For Your Pet” to normalize taking leftovers home. All this probably led to the term “doggie bag.”
Today, younger people, like our waiter yesterday, don’t know what you’re talking about if you ask for a doggie bag. Why? Today it’s no longer seen as embarrassing or unusual to ask to take leftovers home. Now people usually just say, “can I get a box?” or “can I take this to go?”
I did some checking, and in the 1940s and 50s some restaurants had specially designed packaging for taking home leftovers.
Hotels in Seattle provided diners with wax paper bags labeled “Bones for Bowser.” reinforcing the notion that leftovers were intended for dogs, even if the diners planned to consume them later themselves.
Many restaurants began offering “Doggie Paks” to patrons allowing them to discretely take home uneaten portions.
Some restaurants even had doggie bags printed with whimsical poems or messages, adding a touch of charm and further normalizing the practice of taking leftovers home.
So “doggie bag” hasn’t totally vanished, but it’s become a bit dated or quaint — kind of like saying “icebox” instead of “refrigerator.” You’ll probably hear it sometimes, especially from older people like me, but it’s no longer the go-to phrase.
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