Having never seen a doggy bag at any restaurant in France, ever, I have no illustrative photo to launch this edition. However, I do have dozens of pictures of Mr Sacks (pictured left), who will be our sac à toutou standin today.
TODAY'S WORD
Le doggy bag (franglais)
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En France, le doggy bag, pratique américaine qui consiste à emporter dans une barquette les restes de son repas au restaurant, a du mal à s'imposer à cause d'une certaine gêne des consommateurs… -Le Parisien
In France, the doggy bag, an American custom that consists of taking away, in a container, the leftovers of one's restaurant meal, is having a hard time gaining acceptance owing to a certain customer embarrassement… Comments welcome here.
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A DAY IN A FRENCH LIFE… by Kristin Espinasse
One of the first cultural differences I encountered after moving to the land of bistros was this: they don't do doggy bags in la France!
In 1990, in Aix-en-Provence, a plate of egg rolls separated me from my future husband. Egg rolls in France are different from those in the States. In France, Asian restaurants serve the fried rouleaux with sprigs of mint and leaves of lettuce in which to roll them. Les Nems, as they are called, are Jean-Marc's and my favorite entrée, and we usually order so many that by the time the main course arrives we are too full to finish it.
At the end of that first shared meal in the restaurant chinois, we had leftovers. I explained to Jean-Marc that les restes in America go into doggy bags. Jean-Marc was amused by the term and his sensible side was quickly won over by the frugal concept. But when he tried out the idea on our waitress, asking her to box the food that remained on the serving platters, she showed neither amusement nor sensibility. In fact, she looked a bit put out by the request.
After Jean-Marc persisted, the waitress returned with an empty plastic tub which, according to the label, had once held pistachio ice cream. She pried open the container and slid the contents of both platters—and the side-dish—inside. I watched wide-eyed as the sweet-and-sour shrimp was poured right over the canard laqué, and the riz cantonais was heaped directly on top.
"Ça ira?" As the waitress scraped off the last grain of rice from the plates, her exaggerated gesture embarrassed me, cheapening an otherwise romantic evening.
Walking down Aix's winding cobblestone streets after the meal, I suggested to Jean-Marc that maybe it wasn’t a good idea, after all, to ask restaurants to wrap up food. It was too awkward for everyone involved when the servers had to go scavenging for odd containers in order to be accommodating.
Jean-Marc disagreed. It was a very good idea, he assured me—no more wasted food. The French would do well to adopt the practice of asking for a doggy bag!
"But they are not doggy-bag equipped here, so there's no use trying to save the food!" As I argued my point, I walked right into a beggar. “Oh, pardon. Pardon, Monsieur!”
The homeless man, who sat on the ground beside another SDF, looked up.
"Bonsoir, Monsieur," Jean-Marc offered a warm greeting.
I watched my date, who smiled as he crouched to the ground, offering the homeless man the "useless" invention: le doggy bag.
The homeless man nodded in appreciation. After what seemed a very long pause, we said goodbye and walked on. Arm in arm, I pulled my boyfriend close. This one was a keeper.
***
(Today's essay is from my book "First French Essais")
COMMENTS
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French Vocabulary
le rouleau
roll
le nem
a kind of fried egg roll
une entrée
starter, hors-d'oeuvre
le restaurant chinois
Chinese restaurant
les restes (mpl)
leftovers
le canard laqué
Peking Duck
le riz cantonais
fried rice
ça ira
will that do?
Bonsoir, monsieur
Good evening, sir
SDF (sans domicile fixe)
homeless person
Jean-Marc and his faithful sidekick, Monsieur Sacks. See more of this endearing sacoche, and the story here.
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One reason the doggy bag is not used in France, in my opinion, is that generally the quantities of food served at a French restaurant are reasonable for the meal, not these gigantic quantities US restaurants, and US customers, demand. I generally find I finish meals in France and have no need to cart anything away because I have eaten it all. One of the major reasons for the weight problem in the US is the quantity of food people insist on, and restaurants insist on serving up, at every meal.
Eat reasonably and well and you will have a better meal and a better figure–and you will have no need of a doggy bag
I’m pleased to note that restaurants are becoming more used to doggie bag requests and more accommodating. Also more agreeable to sharing a meal – which used to be a big no-no as well. L
I agree with Jim about the enormous servings in American restaurants, but it can happen in France as well. If one orders sensibly and stll gets too much food there are 3 choices, eat until you are uncomfortable, waste it, or take it home and enjoy it later. I’ve tried to convince my British friends that the last is the only answer, and very gradually it has become possible to get a .”doggie bag” here in the U.K. Often wrapped artistically in foil.
I recently noticed that in a Paris restaurant that they gladly gave an American couple two doggie bags. They also charged them 15 euros for each bag!!
Sweet story! Thank you for sharing!
What a cute post! And I love nem!!! I believe they are Vietnamese, called cha gio. I’ve always thought it funny that they’re only found in Vietnamese restaurants in the States — but in almost all ASIAN restaurants in France 🙂
Two photos of Jean-Marc’s back today. The first one makes me wonder, “How many bags does one person need?” The second is one of my favorite photos ever. I hope it’s framed and hung in your house somewhere.
Dear Kristine,
I am a faithful follower of your wonderful blog and have never dared to comment on anything in fear of offending someone, as I respect the opinions of others even if I don’t agree. But I think I have to mention about your “sac a toutou” just incase you didn’t know that it doesn’t mean restaurants’ “doggy bags” but instead they are bags distributed in public areas for picking up dog poop. If you knew already, then please excuse my intervention. Another little thing is that, egg rolls in the states are actually “spring rolls” and are wrapped with wrappers made from wheat, and have different stuffing as the “nems” which are wrapped with wrappers made from rice. The nems can be eaten deep fried and hot or steamed and cold. I hope you don’t mind this info…I am an asian who lived for many years in the states and now in the south of France, married 41 years now to a french.
Bernard, Yikes ! Thanks for the info. Might be a good idea to ask about the fee before requesting a take-home bag.
Ann and Khimmie, Thank you very much for the additional info and correction. Always appreciated and helpful.
Enjoying reading the comments to this post. Has anyone ever been tempted to bring along a Tupperware? I know I have. Now to find the boldness to follow through.
Thanks, Bruce. Good idea. I need to frame it. And then give another one to my mother-in-law!
Good post Krisin. I agree that portion sizes are considerably smaller here. And a chesse round is an oppotunity to sample, not to gorge. Having said that, on occasion we have found that not asking for a bag would be wasteful as in your story. The first time this happened I struggled to use the right term. I was sure that any reference to a dog was not going to go over well. Once I made myself understood, the serveuse said “of course, a sac emporter” and returned with our food wrapped in foil in the shape of a swan. We have used the term since with good success.
Dear Kristi,
Your post today brings back childhood memories. It was 1957 and my family had dinner at a steakhouse located In the middle of an old city stockyards. After the meal, when my dad asked for a doggy bag, my brother and I looked at each other and giggled. We thought he was taking scraps and steak bones home to our two dogs. That is exactly what he was doing! Happy dogs!
P. S. And here you are, 25 years later, with a son grown into a young man, in the same city, following in his father’s footsteps with the same kind gesture~
Thanks, Chris =-)
Love this story. I agree and object. A couple people stated “huge portions demanded by americans”. Who demands this? No one i have ever dined with. We always are amazed and wonder how this got started and why restaurants pile on enough for three meals!!!!! Yes i doggy bag, after paying for it, it wil serve me for two more meals and save me time. In fact i think ill have some of that delicious mexican food for breakfast this am before running off to work! (I do wish tho that they’d bag it in the back like the old days, i hate the scraping at the table! I think its my knowlege that this is frowned upon in france, it does seem rather uncouth) tammy
Kristi, where was that last picture taken? Paris? I remember this story from your book but enjoyed rereading it.
Lovely post. So different from what I expected, as my original thought went to the bags that Khimmie described. I laughed out loud at the way the mind works when I discovered the post was much different.
Loved the heart leaf photo! And, Kristin, my thoughts also went straight to the tupperware idea (though I have never done so … yet). (BTW, have I missed something? Where is Jules these days? Or have I just overlooked her posts?)
And, thanks, Chris, for making that sweet connection and bringing it to our attention.
It would disgust us in America to have DOGS in restaurants.
Nous ne gaspillons pas les restes de nos repas. Beaucoup de gens sauvent leur repas pour le manger chez eux “demain.” On est servi souvent trop de la nourriture; pourquoi pas sauver la partie qu’on n’a pas même touché avec la fourchette?! Beaucoup de nous ne sauvons pas le repas pour nourrir les animaux.
Can you tell me where you took the photo of the street stairs filled with flowers? It is so charming. Thanks!
When I first saw this article, having stepped around, over and sometimes regrettfully through various doggy messes in France, I of course thought the article was going to be about the doggy bags we use for those purposes and wondered what it would be called (probably not sac enporter). I hate to think how the French would react to the other kind of “doggy bag” if they have trouble with the leftover kind. From personal history, the former would also be a welcome addition to the culture, although of course not to give away! I wonder what it would be called? Doggy bag #2? sorry for any offense and/or vulgarity
Kristin,
A delightful ending to your story, and Max has followed in his parents’ footsteps — I’m referring to Max cooking up a plate of pasta for the homeless woman!
Sandy
Our solution to the doggy bag problem was to bring our own. We did a home exchange in Nîmes las summer, so we had a house to go back to. The first night there, we stumbled on a boulangerie that sold ‘take-out dnners’. We got two delicious meals that night and two empty containers that would fit in a purse or man-bag. Who cares if we look like ugly Americans, scrping the leftovers into those handy containers. Just heat, eat, wash, and re-use.
Your post could not be more timely for me Kristin!Feeling lazy,I had lunch/dinner,at a small bistro across the street from my son’s apartment in Paris.I ordered pasta,and when it arrived,the waitress and I laughed at the size of portion. I thought of the doggy bag idea immediately because I knew I couldn’t finish the entree.
Since I knew, I would be returning during this stay,I didn’t ask!
Paris is catching up with America…
I am absolutely certain that Paris,and,France have no need for “doggy bags”! While the U.S. Has many worthwhile things worthy of borrowing, doggy bags are not one of them!
In Oklahoma, USA I have not heard the term doggy bag in years. ‘Go Box’ seems to be the preferred term now. If I have leftovers I usually get a go box; I paid for it and if good food will eat it later. However, in Europe (seven weeks this past summer, 2014) I cannot remember having leftovers to worry about, I believe because portion size is reasonable. Between the exercise, better food, and more appropriate portions I also lost 20 pounds. Suppose that partly means I have poor control over how much I eat when presented with what I probably know is too much food?
Feeding the hungry and homeless!…what a wonderful idea! So often the food we bring home and reheat for another meal just doesn’t have the same taste or crispness as the night before! Kudos to Jean-Marc for thinking of those less fortunate.
Your story raises another language difference across the Atlantic and it drives me crazy. One sensibly enters into the meal with the “entrée” but in the U.S. the word is used for the main course or “plat.”
as for the other themes, I agree that French restaurants are usually much better at portion control. and I loved the loop with your two men giving food to the SDFs. And didn’t you lose a potential doggy bag tupperware container in the last one?
I am in love with Mr. Sacks! Every time he appears in a photo, it makes me smile. He outshines the competition in the first photo and makes the flowered stairs (and his transporter!) even more charming.
I find that asking for a doggie bag crude and impolite.
If one is so stingy that he need to take the food home to the dog, it is possible they should not eat in a restaurant.
It is offensive to see this disrupting the meal of others.
Perhaps the leftover food is being given to a charitable source by the restaurant…..who knows! But it is a definitely low class habit to ask for a doggie bag!
I find it very distasteful to see! Annie
Our portions here in the U.S. are very big for me. I try hard to pick something that is small enough portion but when I am unable I ask for a box to take home. Most restaurants ask if you would like to take home the leftover. I am not embarrassed by this, better to take home than have the restaurant throw it out.
Like father like son – I recall the recent story of your son giving away your Tupper container with its contents to a homeless person…..Max’ll be a keeper as well 😉 .
Not too long ago, TF1 and France 2 had a segment on doggy bags. It seems some cafes and bistros in Paris provide doggy bags. The proprietors and diners interviewed liked the practice.
I do enjoy this site so much! My husband is American and speaks French as he learned it from attending the Lycee in Belgium as a youngster, and then living in South Africa as the son of a missionary there. He is a retired Psychiatrist.
I struggle along as best I can. You articles a photos are very helpful to me.
I find it is never to old to learn new things!
Thank you for helping me along in an interesting way!
Ann Broadhead
Hilarious! Restaurant portions in France are tiny compared to those in the U.S. Who would have leftovers from any French meal?
Here in the U.S., especially in Texas where I live, the waiter will offer a to-go container without the guest even having to ask because the servings are way beyond what one healthy person should consume at one sitting.
Bonjour Christy,
We have been taking our own plastic bags to save leftovers for another meal when traveling in France.
Merci,
Julie
Hi Kristin,
I love the photo of Jean-Marc on the stairs with the flowers. How pretty! We were just out the other night and the waiter asked if I would like a “to go box”. I hear this more often now. I never remember needing a “to go box” when we lived in Europe. Although the portions in Germany were large and if we couldn’t finish, we would just leave it.
What a beautiful story! Yes he is a keeper.
I love the picture of the flowers on the steps. Are they planted or placed there?
Haha these comments are hilarious! Don’t get so bent out of shape people about different customs! I live in Florida and we had the most lovely French foreign exchange student. She is now my second daughter!! Anyway, she LOVED to-go boxes (no one calls them doggy bags for at least a couple decades). She thought it was the best idea ever. The other idea that took her by surprise? Was that if they did not make the meal correctly (she had ordered a sandwich w no mushrooms and it arrived with them) you could send it back. She said she could not do that at home. We had such fun together!
I am a very non-fat American (haha) happy with the practicality of take-out as I have three nibblers for children who don’t eat much after I have spent a lot of money on a restaurant. Grateful they can take it home and take it to school for lunch the next day. Hooray for different customs!! How boring globe-trotting would be if we were all the same!
Ps I live next to disney world and see quite a few over weight people from quite a few European countries. Nice try pretending it’s just the Americans!! I’m looking at you, UK and Germany!! 😉
My roommate and I go out for dinner a couple of times a month and we always have left-overs (we’re in California). We always bring our own plastic containers to take left-overs home, tho (they are reusable rather than the foam stuff that doesn’t biodegrade for thousands of years). The waiters love it. :o)
A couple of years ago I was eating alone at an outdoor restaurant in Lyon and struck up a conversation with the French couple next to me. I had several chunks of wonderful cheese left from my cheese plate. They thought it was an excellent (and non-wasteful) idea to take it home with me, and helped me ask the server for a box. The server came back almost instantly with some aluminum foil with which to wrap my leftovers. Maybe because this was in touristy Lyon, where food is pracically a way of life, the idea of a to-go box was not seen as strange?
On our first of 3 trips to the Luberon–in 1999–we ate at a Pizza place in Menerbes. We each ordered “small” individual pizzas. They were about 14-16″ each, thin crust which being from Chicago you must state as deep dish is a big favorite here. Topped with guyere cheese and carmelized onions, lardon….exquisite. My problem was that I did not feel well stomach-wise that evening…so just ate a small slice. The other 5 of us too were just too full to eat it all. The waitress asked us if we wanted to take it home with us….and we all said “no” as we were instructed that it was not a thing that you do in France….so don’t embarrass yourselves. The tragedy was that there was so much food left over and the next morning…a slice of cold pizza would have been great…as I always eat my leftover pizza for breakfast the next day. By then, the stomach was back in good shape and I had to settle for less.
By your photo, it looks as if Mr Sacks has siblings? Do they have names too?
I disagree that it is rude to ask for a “doggie bag”. I paid for the meal and I should be the one to decide what to do w/ my leftovers, whether eating it next day or giving to homeless person or my doggie. I think bringing a small plastic dish if doggie bags are not provided is great thing to do. Why should we waste food or let restaurant decide what to do w/ it or, more likely than not, throw it away , if we paid for the food!
Fine edition:
1. explains doggy bags (DB) had yet to occur to the frugal French.
2. explains in enough detail how DB was explained to a French waitress, her reaction, and how she filled the DB. Must have thought you had a barn animal back home to feed
3. Provides French in context.
4 Appeals to list people and compulsive collectors by ending with a list of vocabulary.
Economically written and doesn’t talk to itself.
A couple of months ago my husband and I had a pub lunch in England with aged 90-something relatives. Tony, the husband, ate only half of his sandwich, so my husband said “Why not take it home? We do that all the time.” Tony really wanted that half sandwich, but wife Vera demurred, offering assorted reasons until finally: “We cannot! They would think us so poor that we can’t buy our own food.”
Always a good topic, Kristin. I remember hearing of one person (could it have been on this blog) saying that she had asked for a doggy bag and when she got open she opened it and found it contained kitchen scraps for the dog! I like the term “sac emporter” so I might begin using it. The French do NOT always serve tiny portions. If you are eating at a relais or ordering some kind of comfort food like boeuf bourgogne the portions can be large because they assume you will share with others at the table. If I go to a brasserie for lunch and order a salad, they are frequently as large as the table. Because they can cost 10 euros or more I force myself to eat most of it and then feel horrible after. If they had sacs emporter, that salad could have also been dinner. There is one Italian restaurant that does dine-in or take out, so they always have containers to take food home. I frequent it often.
When my husband and I eat at expensive restaurants that end the meal with all kinds of sweets (truffles, petits-fours, etc.) I always shove them in my purse because we’ve had so many courses I can’t stuff in another thing. For my next trip back to France I believe I’ll dig out at least the smallest of my Tupperware and take it to dinner so I will have lunch for the next day.
Kristin, your post brought back so many wonderful memories. I’d brought my teenage son along on one of my first trips to France. He was a French honors student and had been there before with his school, so I thought I could count on his language skills. We planned to drive from Paris to Avignon, so I really needed his skills. I was barely beyond ‘merci’ and a smile to get by.
I forgot he was 15.
We had stopped in a little village to walk around and the kid spotted a pizza restaurant. I gave in, thinking he could live on the leftovers for a few days. At the end of our meal, I asked him to ask the waitress to box up the rest of the pizza. Unfortunately, the waitress was cute and my 15 year old was suddenly mute, leaving me to sort things out.
As my language skills were negligible, I proceeded to pantomime that I needed a box for the pizza. I pointed to the stack of boxes near the pizza oven, I pointed to the leftover pizza, I mimed the walking gesture with my two fingers, all the while nattering away in English and broken French that I wanted to take this food with me to the car. The waitress first looked perplexed and then burst out laughing. I looked at my son, who had turned several shades of red. “What? What did I say?”
With his head down he mumbled, “I think you just asked her to sit on the pizza in the middle of the street.”
“Oh my God!” I gesticulated wildly. “No! No! Pardon! Excusez-moi!”
We had now exhausted my French. It was ok, though. Apparently extreme embarrassment translates well without words. As does graciousness. With a smile she returned with a box and packed up our leftovers. Since then, I try to do as the natives do. If I see that no one has asked to take leftovers home, I don’t ask either. If I see others packing up leftover food, then I do too.
I’ve never asked for a doggy bag in France because I know it isn’t “done.” And to tell the truth, I’ve rarely been tempted, since portions in France are generally of a reasonable size, and I usually finish what’s on my plate.
But my husband and I were traveling with some American cousins a few years ago. They wanted to save some leftover pizza. I told them about French attitudes towards doggy bags, but they insisted. (Who am I to insist they waste food? I thought. Besides, it may be interesting to see our waitress’s reaction…)
Well, our previously pleasant waitress was shocked, SHOCKED at the request (which I had to make since I was the only person who spoke French). She saved the leftover pizza but glowered at us until we left. I was a bit amused at what felt like an overreaction.
And my cousins finished the pizza over the next couple of days. My only objection was that they were passing up a lot of fresher, more interesting food! But that was their choice.
Kristin, I see you posted that you might take your own container. This was what I was going to say. While here in Oz, doggy doo bags are OK, I sometimes take my own container, especially if I expect to have leftovers. I surreptitiously do the deed myself and it saves all the hassle.
I agree with other posters that I have paid for the food, it is my food, so I should be able to do with it as I wish, reasonably. I saw recently on a Brisbane restaurant’s web page they don’t do doggy doo bags for health reasons. So I would not go to this place or definitely take my own container. Often I prefer matured leftover pizza reheated over several days as the flavours are richer.