Doggy bags or meals to go

Thanks Bill. That makes things easier.

As Bill said... albeit, to be honest, I've seen that -done myself too- with food, never with wine, but I suppose it shouldn't be a problem PROVIDING you've ordered anything else BUT house wine. If you have, you can drink as much as you like, but you're not supposed to ask to take the bottle with you.

Btw Bill... "per emportar" would be the correct way in Catalan :))

Also to mention that you can encounter some places that are not too cooperative on this issue and will claim "sorry, ma'am, but don't have any suitable recipient".

In any case, we drop the hypocrisy here in Catalonia as everybody knows it's not for the "doggy", LOL!

Yeah, there was a time, some decades ago, in which "appearances" and "social status" were much more "important" to many and we also had the same expression "per emportar pel gos" (=to take for the dog). Fortunately, society has moved on and has left this behind and now (almost) nobody uses that expression anymore, just "per emportar" (=to take). Actually, you'd say something like: "em vull emportar les sobres, m'ho posses en una fiambrera, si us plau?"... kind of "I would like to take the left overs with me, can you please put it on a container please?"

Incidentally, you'll also see the sign "Menjar per emportar" (food to go, or simply, take-away) in many shops in major cities here in Catalonia, as buying home-cooked style food to go is quite popular. This is especially true for many people working far from home and at lunch time, instead of spending 10-14€ at a restaurant each day, for 6-8€ you can get a decent home-cooked-like meal to go.

Thanks Enric. Recipient? Receptacle, perhaps? As in 'container'? Regardless, I am sure I will notice a negative reply. Clearly I will need a little notebook for useful Spanish & Catalan phrases particularly as I haven't started my Spanish refresher tapes yet let alone Catalan.
I realize I am now 8 weeks minus 1 day from departure. Woo hoo!

... yes indeed, sorry, a slip... recipient is Catalan for receptacle/container :)))

Fiambrera, used above, would be a (sort of) "Tupperware" (https://s.thestreet.com/files/tsc/v2008/photos/contrib/uploads/tupperware131-large_600x400.jpg) or, in the case of being in a restaurant, something more like this: http://www.istockphoto.com/es/foto/arroz-frito-de-pollo-china-comida-en-una-bandeja-de-metal-para-llevar-gm171305620-21274569?esource=SEO_GIS_CDN_Redirect

Funny enough, we also have adopted the English word "container", but for a very specific usage.... https://www.steltenkg.de/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Container-Stelten.jpg and I doubt you'll ever have that many leftovers for needing one, right?

Girl, sometimes language is something complicated because the uses given to some words on "daily speech" are not necessarily the meanings they're supposed to have, ha!

And to wrap up this post... the English word "recipient" (someone who receives something) is "destinatari" in Catalan.

PS: Start here: http://wikitravel.org/en/Catalan_phrasebook

Yes, as I was typing 'container' your jumbo size one came to mind. Words are confusing and often interchangable. Then add idioms and it is more confusing. Maybe I'll just pack one of the friambreras in my purse.
thanks for the phrasebook link.

Street markets and supermarkets often have cooked meals for carry-out, with no pretence of walking the dog.

... call me a pain in the a... (ahem!)... but plural forms in Catalan end up in -es, thus, fiambrera (one) fiambreres (many). Same than in, say, La Rambla (one) and Les Rambles (many) :) ... for those unaware, a 'rambla' is a semi pedestrianised tree-lined boulevard, very typical in these shores, where people stroll, sit on one of the terraces along it for a drink, etc

Btw, packing a fiambrera in your bag is not a bad idea at all, noting that I've even seen "collapsible containers" too You can get them for ridiculous prices at the dollar shops, which we over here refer as "Tot a 100" or simply "als xinos" (literally 'at the Chinese', because these shops are nearly always run by Chinese residents). There are plenty across the city, easy to spot too.

Southam, thanks for the suggestion. I am looking forward to grazing some of the markets. I don't always agree to the markets being turned into food courts, but there is one, I think in Madrid, where you shop your olives, then your cheeses, then your breads, etc. lots of line ups, but easier for me trying to make up my mind and allows for a few picnics or dinners - feet up, wine in hand and guide book for next day's planning.
Enric, language lessons are always good :-)
The thought of this post all started with wanting a good paella but reading so many only provide for 2 persons. I appreciate it may not be good warmed up, but it would be better than a serving for one at a bad tourist restaurant.

Mercado de San Miguel in Madrid?? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1kh_cNooL3s but this is no longer a market but a food court these days.

Maria, if you're a fan of picnik(ing) around the city, you have to ways to go: either buying fresh food at the markets and/or supermarkets and prepare your tupperwares, or, if feeling lazy, get it ready-to-go in one of the shops I was mentioning earlier. Many are mom&pop stores, some are chains. Among the latter, one locally based chain, in particular, is rather popular: NOSTRUM (Latin for "ours"). They have quite a lot of shops around the city. See their dishes, organised by type here: http://www.nostrum.eu/en/dishes/ I don't see they offer paella, but they offer fideuà (under rices&pastas) which is also a way of tasting another dish very local to Catalonia and, particularly, Barcelona (https://www.carolinescooking.com/fideua-catalan-pasta-paella/) I gotta say though that, to me at least, it's an option for the odd moment when I'm not home and in which I haven't felt like fixing me something, but one has to understand that, despite being "home-like cooking"... it's not home-cooking... by a long shot! :))

Yes, that is the market. So it has changed since 2014 (when a number of YouTubes were filmed)? I see from the website that it possibly has. I just won't get my hopes up too high.
No fideua for me. Wheat is a problem as is a lot of tomatoes.

Paella would only be ordered fresh at a restaurant with extra taken away if I had to order for 2.

Ah ok... sorry you can't enjoy fideuà. Yet, you know tomato is also an ingredient of any decent paella, right? As per types, there is no a unified practise about that, some use cor de bou, others use roma, others the pera Girona variety... there are many varieties used http://www.acgn.cat/project/el-tomaquet-en-la-gastronomia/

I don't remember noticing it in Spain last year, but this year paella was much in evidence at weekly French markets. It was prepared in huge pans and looked fresh.

acraven, come to think of it, I think I saw it at a market in some town in Normandy a few years ago....but it was overshadowed by the whole roast pig being served up near by. I can't believe the last place I had it was Florence (Enric, avert your eyes). My mom used to make arroz, but usually arroz con pollo from when we lived in Cuba for a few years. She said the rice was never right in Canada. I doubt any decent saffron was available there in the '60's.

LOL!... ah no Maria, I'm beyond that stupid "territoriality" thing. You can eat a good, for example, fideuà (typical and almost unique to Catalonia) ANYWHERE in the world where you can find a good cook that's capable of following a recipe comme il faut... and, grant it, if the raw ingredients are available, of course. Same goes for any other regional dish anywhere in the world. Take paella, while it's not "originally" from these shores -but from our neighbours the Valencians- this day and age it has become part of our cuisine, both at home and at restaurants, and there are plenty of places in Barcelona offering very good paellas.

And the opposite also applies: not because you're in a country eating one of their typical dishes prepared by a local cook it means it has to be any good. There are plenty of mediocre cooks out there, everywhere. Girl, haven't I found unpalatable fideuà, or escudelles, or arroç caldós, or suquet de peix, or etc... around in my own region!