"Doggy Bags " come to Italy

Two years ago I had dinner in a pizzeria in a small town in northern Italy with my Italian cousins who live nearby. I ate only half of the pizza I had ordered and the server actually offered to pack it for me to take 'home' as if this was completely normal. So it seems that 'doggy bags' aren't all that new, at least not in some pizzerie.

The locals usually don't waste food, by ordering what they will consume. Tourists might have a hard time knowing portion sizes in advance.

I had the same experience as Susan: a box was offered to me for the half pizza I was ready to abandon in support of proper etiquette. I never asked. That happened a few more times during my trip this summer, and I saw leftover boxes offered to "real Italians" too. So I guess that myth is now busted!

I, so far anyway, have never had the issue in Italy of what to do about leftovers because with the groups I travel with there never is anything leftover!

Also, I do recall the to go boxes being called "doggy bags" when I was growing up, but have not heard that term in many many years except on the BBC. The containers are always referred to as "to go boxes" now in the places I go.

We usually share an appy & salad, have separate entrees then share a dessert. Depending on the menu we might do it the other way - separate appy & salad, share and entree but almost always share a dessert.

That keeps the leftovers to a minmum

The owner of a restaurant in Sorrento offered me a doggy bag when he noticed that I wasn't eating much of my dinner. I declined because I didn't have the means to heat up left-overs in our room. He pretended to be upset, "What am I to say to the cook when he sees that you didn't eat his meal? He'll think you didn't like it!"

Doggy bags aren't a sure thing tho. Il Brincello in Florence won't let me order steak -- because they "know I won't finish it and there's no doggy bag for steak."

My hometown Amaseno (Frosinone, Lazio) has No concept of doggy bag even tho I ask for it. They throw out all leftovers, even homemade pasta, infuriating but I get around that by communicating I want tiny portions of this and that, makes me happy, I get what I want and no waste!

So I don't ask for doggy bags. If I want carry out I go to a deli that specializes in doggy bags!

Well, a doggy bag is more elegant than the big-purse-with-Ziploc-bags method (which I have used on many occasions.)