It’s not for the dog
The best leftovers deal with the immaterial.
The tendency to over-order food when in a group of more than four is probably an offshoot of our culture of hospitality. We don’t want to appear stingy. ( Yes, two more orders of the steamed lapu-lapu, please.) So, the need for wrapping up leftovers is almost presumed. Anyway, this is part of the service — sir, would you like those fish bones wrapped?
When dining in more advanced countries, you realize that what we take for granted locally is considered almost inappropriate, and definitely an imposition on the waiters. The request for bagging leftovers after ordering too much is met with a frigid demeanor, complete with raised eyebrows — do I have broccoli between my teeth? The server takes his time to come back with a do-it-yourself kit of a bio-degradable box and plastic bags for the customer to shovel in his leftovers. Can you also do the dishes?
As a digression, the phrase “doggie bag” is an Americanism. It referred to steak bones being requested for taking home… for a real dog to chew on. The content of the bag, as well as the container itself eventually expanded to include fare for diners who don’t even have a pet turtle.
Is the bagging of food a function of economic status where the idea of leftovers seems obscene? Does it offend our parsimonious culture when fast food outlets just throw away unconsumed food? Donating leftovers to orphanages is an option. Still, the possibility of food poisoning can be a PR disaster that a restaurant would like to avoid.
Anyway, in our culinary culture, leftovers occupy a sacred place.
Certain dishes, adobo for one, do not seem as tasty freshly cooked, achieving a kind of culinary ascendance, after being stored for two days. The flavor (mostly vinegar) seeps through and marinates the now even more tender meat to offer a higher level of gustatory delight.
Some dishes require leftovers to serve as main ingredient, like the lechon paksiw. For this particular dish, only a recycled version exists as one cannot go straight to the saucy concoction without going first through the roasted stage. Even the inferior lechon with a tough skin achieves redemption in its more chewable and pliant state after being boiled and vinegared.
Leftovers from a hosted party can challenge the homemaker. What does she do with all the unconsumed food from guests who did not show up? The practice is to parcel out the buffet table in doggie bags, for guests who showed up, as if bringing home raffle prizes from the feast. Did you specially like the lobster thermidor? (Here, take home half a portion. I’ll keep the rest.)
Leftovers need to be labeled by their consumable life, a bit before the meat starts to host a colony of new life forms and give off a distinct smell. Clearly, the longer lasting leftovers ( like ham and cheese) can be consumed later, until the next FIBA world cup. These ones are kept by the host and not distributed as takeaways. Leftovers do not only refer to food. How many umbrellas, stationeries, ball pens, leather folders, and candy trays that will proliferate in the coming season are actually used by the gift recipient? Some traditional giveaways are no longer even in the gift list to valued customers. Appointment books and diaries using actual paper have been made obsolete by their digital counterparts on the smart phone.
The problem of leftovers arises only out of abundance.
That there is left in a meal an unconsumed portion, even if meager, only points to an excess, whether of food or any other possessions. Those in the opposite situation of not having even enough to satisfy their needs do not deal with leftovers at all, but only being left out. While this simultaneous situation of the have-too-much and the have-too-little seems a perfect match, the ideal symmetry of balancing need and availability seldom takes place.
The best leftovers deal with the immaterial. Warm memories of happy dinners and trips abroad linger in the mind and heart, long after they have been experienced and posted on social media. Nostalgia does not need to be put in a bag, only in a corner of the mind to be consumed more than once.
As for the leftovers of heartaches, lost promotions, and broken promises, these need to be put in a bag… and thrown to the dogs.