Our last trip to Italy was a few years ago, and we weren't so conscious of our food "intake", so to speak! We're in final planning for our September trip, and it occurred to me that I haven't read anything about the custom -- prevalent here in Calif. - of taking uneaten portions of food home from a restaurant.

In Italy, I suppose this would only work with possibly the second course and contorni. What is the custom in Italy regarding this practice? Is it any different from one region to another? Has anyone had any interesting experiences with this?

CeCe

It just appalls Italians.
If I ate something boney, I do ask for the bones for the neighborhood dogs and cats. Sometimes they make an embarrassing deal out of it, telling everybody at neighboring tables that I have five cats, sometimes I get a huge sack of everybody's bones. I prefer the latter.

I was raised a European. The French uniformly find this American habit revolting and very ill-mannered. I never saw anyone do it until some time after I came back to the States when I was 17.
   I have never seen anyone do it in Italy, although once (and once only in my life) I was given a free dessert as a take-home by the owners of a restaurant who'd known me for several years and with whom I am on very friendly terms. The dessert was not something I had ordered, and the little gift came as a surprise to me straight from the kitchen.

No donkey-bags in Europe, sorry!

In Venice it is usually OK to take a pizza home if the pizzeria offers take-out, because they already have the box.

Otherwise it is verboten. You aren't suppose to order more than you can eat...

Donkey bags? I thought they were "doggy" bags, because originally they were to take the scraps home to the dog! Is it different in other areas?

It's not by accident that the original poster mentioned California.

The expression usually heard, yes, is "doggy bags", but that's a corruption of "donkey bags". The term dates back to the California Gold Rush of 1848, when miners would come into town flush with money after living in squalor out on their stakes. After spending some of the money on the spot, when they left the city they'd pack up the biggest lunch they could, in bags, on their donkeys. Has nothing to do with feeding dogs.
   (The tipoff: how often do you feed a dog out of a bag? and how often do grownups refer to a canine as a doggy?)

Thaks for the info Bill....I had no idea about the origins of that expression. And the bottome line of this thread is still.........Don't ask to take home leftovers! As our landlady in Assisi, Rebecca, told us, the Italians can't understand WHY anyone would want to eat OLD food when they can have FRESH at every meal!

Hello,
Just returned from a sojourn into the murky depths of the google to donkey V doggy .......... what an interesting ride. No, no dissertations on the attributes of either but as far as I know in Oz its the rule rather than the exception to ask for and receive a doggy one ........ Mind you I think that there is a cut off point where it becomes 'not nice' to ask and that is in the higher class restaurants......this is where people wrap their leftovers in a tissue come serviette and sneak out.

The clean plate flatters the cook/chef no end.

If you think about it, it makes good sense. Saves the food preparers the problem of disposing of unwanted portions, which mostly end up in the rubbish. Solves the problem of feeding the dog or cat for the night while letting it/she/him find out what they missed out on while mast/er/ress was out.

On the serious side some bakers and other kind restauranters channel their days excess to nursing homes, pre-schools etc. Maybe even make more than they know they are going to need for this reason.

Carole

We travelled with eight children, and only once did we ask to take food home - there was just too much left over and it was too, too good to leave bbehind.

Nobody in the entire restaurant spoke English, yet they completely knew what we were talking about. So they gave us a couple of pizza boxes and let us box it up ourselves.

Maybe travelling with eight kids (three families) they thought we were crazy anyway. But I was sure happy to have that pasta the next day for lunch!

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As a professional in Long Term Care, I must say that I have NEVER seen a nursing home that would accept leftover food from bakeries and restaurants.
The nursing home industry is more highly regulated than even nuclear energy. There are probably at least 10 federal regulations (never mind the individual state regulations) that prohibit the acceptance of donated left over food.

There's a difference between excess and left over........left overs sound dirty.

Carole

If I'm given too much then I'm taking it home, I don't care where I'm at. They even have doggy bags at the fine dining restaurants here. (They put 'em in cute little pieces of tin foil shaped like animals.) When I'm in Italy can I say that I come from America and make that my excuse?? I can't eat a huge portion. I eat kid portions, like a cereal bowl size, and no more. I would never want to gorge myself no matter how good the food is. I hope I'm not obligated to eat the whole plate, that's unhealthy especially if the portions are large. I guess I have to know what European portions are. They must be smaller than American portions. Do they have many courses? Do they have 1/2 orders there?? Do they allow plate sharing?? What else do Italians or Europeans think is rude when it comes to dining out?

We always learn so much from Slow Travel.

All the time, we routinely take home bones and meats and chicken for our Maremmano dog and three cats. In fact, several of the restaurants we frequent, pack up extra portions for our animals, even when we forget to ask. We never knew we shouldn't be asking.

We had a group last week in Florence and ate at Sostanza where we adore the pollo al burro. Our regular waiter - one of the owners - packed up some of the uneaten portions without even being asked and gave them to us as we departed. Our cats never saw the bag that night.

While it is not really the custom to ask to take home the left-overs, we see it happen many times, even with the Italians - and quite frequently at higher end restaurants.

Don't worry about it - just pretend to be an American and nobody will care.

The chicken from Sostanza was soooooo good that night for dinner.

Hi all,

Yes, I think we've got it right........far better than waste don't you think?

Carole

Ya'll got it right: Carole, and Bill & Patty.

Ask for "posso portare via?" = can I take away? They'll wrap it up in foil or put it in a pizza box.

It's perfectly okay to do this at the local trattorias, family style restaurants and pizzerias, if you ordered too much, especially the expensive meats. I would not take the bread or salad, I think that's pushing it. But seriously, here (Siena Prov.) it's never been frowned upon to take leftovers home, you don't even have to explain it's "per il cane". Italians are frugal, they hate to see anything wasted (please do remember to turn off those lights when you leave your rental for the day ,THAT truly upsets the Italians! )

Personally, I would think twice about asking to take away leftovers at the finest establishments. Although it makes a difference if they already know you, and so on. Reasonable people know where to draw the line.

Wasting food is terrible. My mother got that into me for near one twenty years: she lived thru most of WWII without meat, and in fact that's how she met my father -- at an official dinner there was this thin young American two seats away who left half his veal chop; my mother, an aide to a French general at the time, finally couldn't stand it any more and reached diagonally over the table with her fork, "You don't mind, do you? I haven't seen a chop in years." --
   I've inherited my nerve, appetite, and hips from my Mom...

I have little experience with donkey-bags; this donkey is hungry, and woe betide you if you try to take my plate away before I've mopped up the sauce; more or less discreetly depending on the poshness of the restaurant.
   I'd think that with the tiny portions in Europe (France the worst offender by far) the question would never arise!

Interesting comments! Specific to Italy, Shannon says nix for Venice, Bill has provided some donkey bag trivia as well as negative indications, the Sutherlands have seen it happen, Decobabe says it's appalling to Italians, and Zak basically supports a common sense approach -- depending on the restaurant.

I think I'll opt for the common sense plan (except in Venice!), and when in doubt, "....do as the Romans do"!

CeCe

BYOB---bring your own bag..
I do agree that the "Posso portare a casa"....works in many places..but just in case..a few ziplock bags in your purse work well, much better than the napkin..

Also, it is considered normal to eat several course meal here...so if you are a small eater..try appetizers.

When you can speak some Italian it helps...
"non posso finire"..I can't finish....

In Venice they generally don't have take out containers - I have a friend who eats often at the same restaurant and she brings food home (because she knows them, they often give her MORE than she asks for.) The restaurant puts it on a real plate with foil - she has to return the plate. Venice has to bring in what goods are necessary - that is why people eat cichetti in bars rather than go to a tavola calda and buy prepared food to take home. Little metal trays and paper plates aren't truly necessary.

It is absolutely OK to take pizza home.

I was with my mother once and she wanted to take her leftover food to-go. I was mortified. Of course we ran into everyone I knew on the way home, and then she didn't even eat the stuff. The best policy is try to order only what you will eat - hard I know when faced with so many delicious options.

Leaving food on my plate in Italy is never a problem. As noted above gorging yourself is perhaps not healthy, and I am more reasonable when at home, but the food is usually so appealing to me and so delicious, "healthy" is the last thing I think about. Rather getting the next forkful in my mouth!

I always have ziplocs in my purse when we travel, hand for so many things, so suppose I could use one if the problem ever arose. However, because I love Italian food so much I doubt that it ever will.

Great mixture of experiences in this thread!

Just one more to add- we've had staff offer to box up uneaten food when we've been in trattorias with the kids. I don't think I'd expressly ask for it... but I made sure to appreciate the thoughtfulness of the waiters who have offered.

Fine dining, I won't ask for a doggy bag. But for other places, if their servings are large and I can't eat it what would be more rude? To leave a plate half finished or to say that the food was very delicious but I'm so stuffed, 'Can I take the rest home?" I plan to eat out a lot for my 3 weeks there, that's a lotta pasta. I want to be recognizable when I come back to the states!

The Italian sensibilities about the dining experience are cultural and not limited to "fine dining". I believe that the propriator of a simple country cucina would be just as offended as the propriator of the fanciest linen-and-crystal Ristorante to be asked for a doggy bag.

But, that said, you probably won't be the first tourist to ask. And if you don't mind their dissappointment in you as a customer, go ahead and ask.

Tell us how to find La Torre. It isn't easy to find a good meal in Siena.

La Torre is on our restaurant list - it is one of David's favorite:
http://www.slowtrav.com/italy/restaurant_list/siena.htm

It is just off Il Campo - the middle of the side with the tower.

Pauline -
You will be so happy - we finally followed your requests and instructions and submitted a review - we even did it exactly as you specified on the main website.

Trattoria La Torre
Via Salicotto, 7-9
Siena
tel - 287548

It's always been difficult for us to find a good meal in Siena - especially in a small simple trattoria. La Torre was exactly what we had been searching for.

Stand facing the bell tower in the Campo. The little street immediately to the left of the tower is the one you are looking for. La Torre is just about 30 yards down this street on the left.

The trattoria is small - only about 10 tables - you might want to stop by earlier in the day and make a reservation. Inside the kitchen is open to the dining area. There is a menu in the window, but our waiter simply recited each course to us. He told us of a number of different pastas, then gave a list of sauces for us to choose from. Later he returned and recited the meat course. We had leg of lamb(the best I remember anywhere) and osso bucco (equally delicious). There was also a half roast chicken, veal chop, and steak.

La Toree reminded us more of a small family owned bistro in Paris than the normal trattorias in Tuscany. Everything was cooked to absolute perfection.

Total price for 2 people was 43 euro. We will definitely be back and happily recommend it to anyone.