Leftovers

I don't think I've ever taken leftovers with me while in Europe, but I have taken packaged things like, crackers I didn't have with my soup, etc.

It's fine to take your open bottle of wine, if you bought it as a bottle. House wines are more often sold by the glass or the carafe, usually very cheaply, with different sizes of carafe available, so you can try to order just what you want. I can't imagine taking those "home" but Rick has written about carrying his "last glass" of wine to a more scenic viewpoint, in which case he would return the actual wineglass to the restaurant.

I have never seen anyone take food or wine away from a restaurant in Europe. Portion sizes are more sensible than in the US so having left over food is less of an issue.

Yes, European portion sizes seem dainty compared to the usual American portion sizes. Here in Oregon a comment that the food is good at a restaurant may refer to quantity, not quality.

Interesting results if you do a search on "food waste in America".

I have gotten quite full from meals in Europe, but not because of quantity of the serving rather, it was the number of different dishes you go through, especially in Italy, what with the antipasti and pasta and meat and all that. Granted, I'd much prefer to get full from eating this way than from one enormous single entree.

You can certainly take home a bottle you purchased. We have taken food home from restaurants in Italy- after all you have paid for the food. No one has ever said anything bad to us about it. We have lived in Florence and Rome.

Yes. I just recently returned a vinyl cork to IL Brincello Osteria, at Via Nazionale 110, Firenze. A waiter had used it to cork a big beer bottle so I could walk it back to my hotel and put it in the fridge. They were thrilled that I returned the cork.

Only I tried using the vinyl cork in wine bottles and it didn't work. I'd find the cork someplace in the fridge, and the wine bottle corkless.

Just yesterday in Orvieto I saw a couple take their wine bottle with them - the waiter recorded it and put it in a wine bottle-sized gift bag.

Doggie bags are another issue, although I occasionally see a tourist ask for one, and the waiter will put leftovers in a container. Some places don't keep takeout containers on hand, so it's not always possible. Why no doggie bags? During the days of the Roman Empire (and possibly even earlier), multiple-day feasts were provided by the wealthy office-holders. The poor were allowed to take sacks of food home with them. So there may be a long-standing identification of taking home leftovers with poverty. Just an idea.

I often ask if I may take away the leftover pasta. Only twice did I get the actual leftovers. Most of the time the kitchen piles on the pasta and I can eat on it for a whole week. That is so odd.

The tradition of "doggy bags" is not as common or established as in the US. I have never seen it done. But have seen more than one tourist stuffing their purse with bread and crackers from the table. And we never had left over wine.

"And we never had left over wine." <--- now that's a real vacation

One thought I had was bringing my own plastic containers like tupperware or gladware. Not an entire set of course, but one or two common sized ones. On the trip over you can use it to hold/consolidate your smaller items in your luggage, and once settled in you can use it as a doggy bag at restaurants. We've done this and have used it to hold snacks and pastries when having picnics, etc.

Another use for the ubiquitous zip-loc bags! Especially if paired with a big handbag.
FYI, restaurants in Austria are quite happy to wrap up the remainder of the giant portion of schnitzel... even make an aluminum-foil swan out of it.

FWIW, in 2011 we tried to bring a 1/2 full bottle of wine into our taxi in Siena; the driver wasn't having it! It was well-sealed with a rubber cork (brought from home) but may have had more to do with the open container, etc. Next time, that bottle goes into the backpack/daybag ;-)

Just be very discreet ;-)

(And don't cry for us - we made a small dent in the wine supply on that vacation!)