No 'Doggy Bags' in Iran or France, a photo from Yazd, East

Photographer's Note

This is my first epicure shot from my Iranian sojourn and it is in response to an article I read.

When I read a recent article from the London Telegraph about the 揹oggy bag� being possibly promoted in France, I remembered the food wasted in Iranian restaurants. It was apparent to us visitors that in a typical Iranian restaurant one is served copious amounts of rice and large quantities of meat, so much so that often we saw locals leaving the table with dishes only half finished. Rest assured, it is not because the food lacked flavour- it抯 just that the serves were unreasonably generous.
We attempted on several occasions to prevent waste on our table by asking only one serve of something, instead of four (since there were four of us), but inevitably we could never do justice to the amount served.
We never saw anyone looking sheepish about leaving so much food behind nor did we see anyone asking for a 揹oggy bag.�

DOGGY BAG-Leftovers from a restaurant meal may either be left behind to be discarded by the restaurant, or taken away by the diner for later consumption. In order to take the food away, the diner may make a request for it to be packaged. The container used for such leftovers is commonly called a doggy bag or doggie bag. It is speculated that this derives from the euphemistic pretence that the food will be given to the diner's pet, rather than eaten by a person. Wikipedia

Paris: France is to swallow its gastronomic pride and finally embrace "le doggy bag" amid plans to cut food waste that costs the country up to €20 billion ($27 billion) a year.
A report to the French government this week warned that wasted food cost the average French household €400 annually. Globally, a third of the world's edible produce is binned every year.
The problem was a "sign of a system of [food production] and consumption in crisis", said Guillaume Garot, the MP who drew up the report.
Among his 36 proposals, Mr Garot suggested promoting "le doggy bag" � until recently an unthinkable practice in French restaurants.
To many French, parting with the remains of a meal in a bag is associated with the view that "Anglo-Saxon" eateries favour quantity over quality. In France, the traditional message to diners has been "love it or leave it".
Admitting that France faced a "cultural obstacle", Mr Garot said "most customers don't dare ask for the remains of their meal, and restaurateurs can see it as 'degrading' their dishes". But wastage had reached such levels that "it must be used as a springboard" to change the "almost automatic" habit of restaurants throwing away leftovers.
It appears, however, that mentalities are changing. A recent poll conducted by a regional food and farming state body in south-eastern France found that 75 per cent of French diners would be prepared to use a doggy bag.
One aspect of the doggy bag that the French found hard to stomach was the name, said Jean Terlon, a chef and union vice-president. His union had opted instead for the franglais term of "le gourmet bag".
Telegraph, London

Porteplume, holmertz, abmdsudi, No_One, worldcitizen, ourania, kasianowak, Gigidusud, Praetzer, jhm, BennyV, shevchenko, ChrisJ, macjake, delpeoples, omid266, aliabazari has marked this note useful

Critiques | Translate

holmertz (102104) 2015-04-19 7:24

Hello Klaudio,
The photo is quite attractive and the meal looks good, but honestly the note is more interesting. Ridiculously oversized, wasteful meals is a real problem in many countries, not least on the Balkans. I remember a nightmarish lunch in Montenegro when I could only eat maybe one third of what was served, and I really had to force myself far beyond pleasure to even squeeze that much down. The waiter was clearly upset and asked me suspiciously what was wrong with the food.
I had to laugh at the "gourmet bag".
Best regards,
Gert

Mikas-2011 (401) 2015-04-19 7:59

Foto bem conseguida, pese embora, a nota seja muito interessante e pedag骻ica,
TFS
MD

abmdsudi (95869) 2015-04-19 8:18

Salam Klaudio
Food Glorious Food, A lovely colourful image and mouth-watering of such good looking food, the pin sharp focusing has allowed me to have a rather uncluttered and intense view into this exciting spread out easily can fill for six hungry adults. That saffron rice is always my fav! tx to your lengthy fascinating background story! Great travel shot, Well done
Best wishes

No_One (4) 2015-04-19 9:29

Hi Klaudio,
That's one mighty and impressive many of food, and it all looks really good too, you did a great service to your host generosity with this great pic of their work. I imagine if this qty of food this good was served in Ireland, people would finish it and we would all end up very fat :)
Excellent note on the dog bag too, I had never heard it was so frowned on in France, but in saying that, it's very rare to see it in Ireland too. When you see the value and quantity of food wastage, it really is scary. Excellent gastro photo.
Cheers
Noel

worldcitizen (15982) 2015-04-19 10:22

Hello Klaudio,
Your note is interesting, and your photo is mouthwatering. :-) I'm about to have lunch myself, and would love to sample some of the items on this table. The dish of rice is particularly appealing. I like all of the different colors, too.

ourania (51103) 2015-04-19 10:48

Hello Klaudio,
it was the same in Greece before the crisis, people couldn't control their order and tables often looked still loaded with food at the end of a meal. Things have changed now, restaurants offer what's left on the tables and in the kitchen to people in need and the "doggy bag" has ceased being embarassing long ago. Your picture offers a wonderful, appetizing spectacle, textures and colours are mouth watering. "Gourmet bag" is totally opposite to and equally funny with "doggy bag". Congratulations and thank you!
All the best, have a great week,
Ourania

kasianowak (17672) 2015-04-19 11:41

Zdravo Klaudio
Fascinating note, I never thought about those cultural differences. I'm not even sure whether people use doggy bags in Poland.
Great photo too, kind of "bird's eye view" of beautifully prepared food presented in a very nice way.
Srdacni pozdrav
Kasia

Gigidusud (21679) 2015-04-19 13:17

Hello Klaudio,
A pretty colorful photo to illustrate this very interesting story. Indeed there is too much waste of food, the principle of "doggy bag" is not bad. Beautiful foto and a very interesting note.
Best regards.
Gigi

adidas5nb (5743) 2015-04-19 18:35

i really love the colorful exotic spread and the way you have framed it and the composition is so balanced.it looks amazing.
regards
dwaipayan

jhm (211734) 2015-04-20 4:34

Hello Klaudio,

Thank you very much to your interesting note I learn something new everyday on TE.
I know not much of food, my wife is a good cook, but everything what I can see very luscious and nice
Very well composition, nice sharp and clear presentation.
Nice done, TFS.

Best regards,
John.

Nicou (193806) 2015-04-20 6:15

Hello

Cela donne faime quelle vue plongeante et compo sueprbe iamge avec ces plats de grandeur diff閞entes et la nourriture � l'air excellente � nous mettre l'eau � la bouche sueprbe.
Bravo et amiti�
Nicou

sabermonajati (11537) 2015-04-20 21:07

hi klaudio
i like it. and your note is interesting.
regard
saber

BennyV (34746) 2015-04-22 4:36

Hello Klaudio

Great shot, Klaudio. And your long note certainly is food for thought :)

Also in Belgium we tend to associate 'doggy bags' with Anglo-American eateries, rather than with quality restaurants.

Yet, recently those bags seem to be becoming more popular. Part of the problem is in its rather unappealing name, so language people are doing their best to come up with a more appetizing name for it, though.

And Iranian cuisine...looks yummy to me!!

Benny

shevchenko (20560) 2015-04-22 20:42

Hi Klaudio,

Good frame to show a set of meal on the table, nice to see different type of local foods, I like those colorful plates too, distinct photo, interesting composition, good shoot.

As I read your note about the food wasting, then I found there is a theme on wikipedia discuss about the food wasting issue, and also the same topic in this Asian Country that discussing the food wasting in their country in detail.

At some restaurants, when their customers did not take away the surplus foods, the owner of the restaurant will order their workers to collect and recook those foods leftover by the previous customers and serve it to customers coming in later, especially in Chinese restaurant, even in Chinese Restaurant at Europe. Last time I have friend working in this type restaurant.

Ally

ChrisJ (171392) 2015-04-24 2:34

Hi Klaudio,

I like the wide angled distortion and downward pov. The meal looks delicious! Good sharpness and in a world with an increasing population and growing pressure on available resources, it makes sense to eliminate waste of food. What is in the bottles? Yoghurt perhaps? Tfs.

macjake (98262) 2015-04-24 13:19

Hi Klaudio
great story and report for TE, and its something that I can relate to so well as I just traveled through India - experiencing the exact same thing.
so much food is waisted.

Lets hope France can get their "gourmet bag" lol

wonderful post and note
cheers
craig

delpeoples (60342) 2015-04-26 2:07

Ciao Klaudio

Nor in Italy. I didn't know about Iran though. There's a lovely Iranian lady who comes down to support the Aboriginal Tent Embassy, I'll have to raise this pressing topic with her. A beautiful shot of this delicious food. The colours, presentation and textures are quite marvellous and I like the "bird's eye POV". A fascinating note about something I never gave much thought to, but is very relevant in today's times of scarcity.

Un abbraccio
Lisa

omid266 (6814) 2015-04-26 6:17

Salam dear Klaudio,

this is a very delicious shot from the very popular and almost expensive food in my country,

excellent work , excellent note and Thanks!

Best Regards,***

batalay (41261) 2015-04-26 8:41

Hello Klaudio,

Most of these dishes look familiar, with the lamb kofte on a spit (shish kofte) especially beckoning. The pilav with safron (even in the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul they claim Iranian Safron is the best) I would prefer with a spoon or two of yogurt. This photo is frustrating at lunch time (it's 11:40 am in Washington).

Warm regards,

Bulent

dekanski (9289) 2015-04-29 5:38

Oooo, ovo izgleda vrlo ukusno!

Divno!

Sa歛

sayeed_rahman (6461) 2015-06-03 0:04

believe it or not, i could eat that all in a meal, maybe half the rice and the rest of it for sure, this typically could be ordered at any good indian restaurant. Indian cuisine has had its fair share of influences from the time of the Mughals to Rulers in Hyderabad who in turn were directly influenced from turkey and iran (the royalty from hyderabad used to marry turkish princesses for centuries)..

i see a table served for two, you wife had a bite, did you eat all that ?

;)

sami48 (86) 2015-06-17 9:07

Salam Klaudio

This photo is really delicious!

The "note" is so true. most of the people don't dare ask for remains of their meal. shyness is a big obstacle!
Moreover, some thinks that they can show their generosity in this way!!!!

regards,
Samira

fds (9963) 2015-09-13 5:07

Caro amicop australiano essendo io un gran culture della cucina sono rimasto affascinato da questa tua foto con cibo iraniano...molto belli i colori e la presentazione e a questo punto non rimane che mangiarli....