Dining in a restaurant is one of those perennial pleasures in life, made exponentially greater by the fact that you don’t have to shop for the food, prep it in the kitchen, serve it or even clean up any of the mess – just dig in and eat your cares away! For those who are really shrewd about managing their food intake when they have the chance to nosh on a restaurant-prepared meal, they can even enjoy the extra-added bonus of taking their leftovers home at the end of the evening. Ohhh, but apparently I’m one of those odd birds who doesn’t subscribe to the widespread eat-and-chuck philosophy that has pervaded all corners of our global culture.
My parents are surely to blame for my apparent food-hoarding ways, but I’ve got to admit that I had a light bulb moment many moons ago when I first realized that I could enjoy that restaurant-like experience not one but two days in a row. In my world, that was (and still is) the absolute best thing since glow-in-the-dark macaroni and cheese (sorry, arteries). Eating-half-and-saving-the-rest became as much a part of my personal philosophy as greening the world has now become to me as a mature adult, and yet friends and complete strangers have long raised eyebrows while witnessing me squirreling away half-eaten piles of mashed potatoes, somewhat picked-over chicken legs and dilapidated mounds of veggies.
What’s it to them, I’ve thought rather loudly to myself? Someone tell me what’s SO offensive about saving restaurant-prepared food to enjoy later in the week – food that is already paid for…by yours truly? I’m not pilfering cast aways from my friends’ plates (as much as I’d love to) or covertly depositing floor-flattened French fries into my own partially hidden Ziplock bag (as much as I’ve…oh, don’t worry…just kiddin’). You’ve heard the numbers, though…it’s estimated that roughly 96.4 billion pounds of totally edible food is discarded every single year in the United States, presumably due to the lack of cool factor and ability to score cheap new eats at every turn. Even Japan is guilty of ditching 23 tons of food annually, but for decidedly different reasons. It turns out that food poisoning concerns are high on the list as well as cultural self-consciousness and the widespread notion that toting leftovers could quite possibly be offensive to restaurant proprietors.
Founded in 2009, Japan’s Doggy Bag Committee (DBC) is now galloping onto the scene in an effort to help local diners take a real bite out of their restaurant leftovers. Interestingly, the concept of toting leftover food home has been virtually nonexistent in the Japanese culture – in fact, there’s never even been a word in the Japanese language to describe “doggy bag” until now. The non-profit organization has been trying to give leftovers as much positive PR as possible, starting with the promotion of reusable leak-free containers made out of one sheet of origami-folded plastic.
Following the launch of a widespread promotional campaign, they’ve managed to get 30% of the public to recognize what doggie bags actually are, up from just 1% in 2008, and though many restaurant proprietors are still resistant to allow their patrons to bring leftovers home (due to potential food poisoning issues that may harm their reputation), DBC is determined to keep plugging away. Offering restaurant patrons “waiver cards” that can be filled out (accepting any potential illness is an understandable risk of keeping perfectly edible food out of their burgeoning landfills) as well as panels on food waste and “designer” doggy container styles, patterns and colors, DCB certainly has their work cut out for them, but I applaud their dedication and believe that other countries (especially the US) should pay attention.
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