I went to lunch with friends yesterday and as is almost always the case, I didn\u2019t finish my meal. Restaurant portions are almost always more than I can eat, so I usually take what I don\u2019t eat home so I can eat it later \u2014 or \u2014 as is often the case, throw it out in a few days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But anyhow, yesterday I asked for a doggie bag \u2014 usually I just ask for a box. I don\u2019t know why I said \u201cdoggie bag\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When I was growing up and you went to a restaurant, and wanted to take the food you hadn\u2019t 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 \u201cfor the dog\u201d \u2014 even if you didn\u2019t have a dog or you fully intended to eat the leftovers yourself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I remember my parents were big on not wasting food \u2014 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 \u201dFor Fido\u201d or \u201cFor Your Pet\u201d to normalize taking leftovers home. All this probably led to the term \u201cdoggie bag.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Today, younger people, like our waiter yesterday, don\u2019t know what you\u2019re talking about if you ask for a doggie bag. Why? Today it\u2019s no longer seen as embarrassing or unusual to ask to take leftovers home. Now people usually just say, \u201ccan I get a box?\u201d or \u201ccan I take this to go?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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 \u201cBones for Bowser.\u201d reinforcing the notion that leftovers were intended for dogs, even if the diners planned to consume them later themselves.
Many restaurants began offering \u201cDoggie Paks\u201d 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So \u201cdoggie bag\u201d hasn\u2019t totally vanished, but it\u2019s become a bit dated or quaint \u2014 kind of like saying \u201cicebox\u201d instead of \u201crefrigerator.\u201d\u00a0 You\u2019ll probably hear it sometimes, especially from older people like me, but it\u2019s no longer the go-to phrase.
\u2014 30 \u2014<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I went to lunch with friends yesterday and as is almost always the case, I didn\u2019t finish my meal. Restaurant portions are almost always more than I can eat, so I usually take what I don\u2019t eat home so I … Continue reading