Kurt D

I thought this should be carried over from the Curb Your Enthusiasm Season 11 Thread:

If you take a friend out for dinner, your treat, do you own any leftovers your friend might have - left over? Do you get to say whether they can take the leftovers home or not?

My opinion: no. What, are you high?

What do other Otters think?

Vibiana

I cannot think of a single person on this planet whose leftover food I would want to eat. And I weigh 300 pounds.

Kurt D

I think the crux is whether your guest to dinner should be ALLOWED to take the leftovers home. If they don't finish, they need to leave it there, since it doesn't 'belong to them'.

Sonic

RichC2

If you take someone out for a meal they get the whole meal. What they do with it is on them.

Now if the person paying asks for it, I'm not going to say no, but I would think they're funny, just not Larry David funny.

story

I think everyone here should take me out for a meal so we can find out.

Bronkster

It would be like any other gift you gave someone; you gave it - it's theirs.

kd5

Unless it was my wife, who would most likely choose to take her own leftovers home, I think it would just be weird to even consider taking someone else's leftover food home. Although, if I bought them a $50 filet mignon and they didn't touch it, I would probably think about it but in the end I'd probably leave it. I would however hate that person until the day I died for leaving such a scrumptious (and pricey) steak behind.

Nick Danger

If you bought them food at a restaurant, it's a gift. They get the leftovers. It's not even a discussion.

If you bring potluck food to their house, the leftovers are open to negotiation. When we have parties at our house, we pressure people to take a plate of food home with them.

jpcamb

Only the twisted mind of Larry David would think he owns the leftovers from someone else's meal.

milo bloom

I’m from the south where feeding others is almost like a religious ritual. I can’t fathom the thought of taking someone else’s leftovers unless they specifically couldn’t.

Kurt D

The setting does come into play! In the Curb thread, someone used the example of inviting someone to your house for pizza. Of course the invitee shouldn't pack up half the leftover slices to take home, but the host could offer to send leftovers home with them, same as at Thanksgiving.

I can see now that there is probably only one DVD Talker who would vote yes, though, so this poll is a dud!

TGM

depends, is it s Schnitzer's Rye?

Kurt D

Chocolate Babka ...

story

The food is mine. I paid for it. Every bite they take is one which I allow, because it is mine. Mine.

Edit: I posted that as a joke and then read the Curb thread and people seem to actually think that way. No, I do not! Enjoy your meal, take your leftovers, enjoy them, holy cow!

cultshock

I think HBO does.
.

Josh-da-man

The question is, do you want to consume their half-eaten food yourself, or are you just going to take it home and throw it in the trash because you just don't want them to have it?

I'd say that if I buy someone food at a restaurant, then the food is theirs to eat or take home. Grossness aside, I wouldn't even consider taking it home for myself.

However, in the case of inviting people into my home for pizza that was my treat, I'd say that I get to decide what happens to any uneaten slices of pizza. If I want to keep it for myself, I will. If I want to give it away, I will. Pizza is a communal food, whereas a plate of food at a restaurant isn't.

Actually, with the pizza, I would go so far as to say if I did give it away or allow my guests to divvy it up, it would probably lead to some conflicts, where someone thinks they deserve to take home more than everyone else -- they have kids, they didn't eat as much as everyone else, whatever.

People go nuts over free food. When someone would bring boxes of donuts to work, it would lead to open warfare.

Kurt D

Free food is another subject entirely!

But if you are in your own home, yes, you can make the determination about leftovers. There are so many variations there: did you make it? Is it take-out? Are they finger-food portions (more-or-less) like slices of pizza or sandwiches? Or something you serve out of a dish?

If you're in someone's home, you shouldn't ask for leftovers, but they can certainly offer.

Nick Danger

Mrs. Danger

We offered leftovers from the catered buffet to our wedding guests. A couple of snooty east coast relatives were offended at being offered leftovers, but everyone else eagerly took what we handed them.

TomOpus

If you double-dip, you keep the chip dip.

story

You double dip the chip to keep the chip dip!

TomOpus

That strategy might also lessen the party invites. Which might not be a bad thing.

GoldenJCJ

You double dip the chip, you get a fat lip!

tonyc3742

Hosting a party, we also ask people to take whatever to-go plates they want. There's usually more than enough food.
When we go to a party, we bring our stuff in disposable plateware so we can just leave and leave it, not having to worry about "Can I get my tray back?" when it's still got food on it.

At a restaurant, though - each person takes his own meal's leftovers (or leaves them on the table), regardless who paid. The only exception I can think of is offering a bone or something to the person who has a dog, or if something wasn't actually touched and the orderer doesn't want it, offering it to someone else (like 'free dessert with meal', and they don't want it, so ask to make it to-go and give it to someone else.)