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Leftovers
简体
Leftovers
残羹剩饭

Infinitives and Gerunds

Date: Jan 18 2012

Themes: Food

Grammar: Verbs with "-ing"

Intro

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Eating out can be expensive. Cooking at home can be a lot of work. But leftovers are both cheap and convenient.

Any time you have more food than you can finish, and you decide to save it for another day, that’s leftovers. Leftovers can come from something you cooked yourself, or they can come from a restaurant. If you can’t finish your dinner, you can always take the leftovers home by asking the waiter for a to go box or doggie bag. Hear Marni and Ella talk about leftovers.

出去吃饭非常贵。在家做又非常麻烦。但是残羹剩饭则既经济又方便。
每当你的食物多到吃不完,并决定保存起来第二天吃,这就是所谓的残羹剩饭。残羹剩饭可以是自己亲自烹饪的食物,也可以是从饭店带回来的。如果你不能吃完自己的晚饭,随时都可以向服务员要一个外卖餐盒或“打包袋”,将残羹剩饭带回家。听听玛尼和艾拉谈论残羹剩饭。

Dialog

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Marni

Marni

Ella

Ella

Marni:  Ella, I am so full, and yet I still have like half of my meal on my plate.

Ella:  I know, what are you going to do? You don’t want it to go to waste.

Marni:  You’re absolutely right. Hello! Leftovers!

Ella:  Woo! I love leftovers.

Marni:  Me too. I mean, I don’t like to let anything go to waste.

Ella:  I find myself wasting leftovers a lot. I like having them there, because then I don’t have to go buy food. But then sometimes I just don’t eat it because I didn’t like the food already at the restaurant, but I felt obligated to take it home. But it usually goes to waste and I end up throwing it away.

Marni:  That’s too bad. That is a big waste of food. I don’t know, I always tend to eat them, because I’m pretty particular and I usually order something I like. Or if I’m somewhere at an event or something and there’s a bunch of food, I’ll always ask if I can take some home, because I’m kind of a fan of free food, or leftover food.

Ella:  Sometimes leftovers are looked down upon.

Marni:  You know, that’s true. I was in Venice, and I asked for a container to take my delicious pasta back to my hotel room, and the woman just looked at me like I was crazy. And I guess the entire city just doesn’t…They don’t take anything to go.

Ella:  I can’t imagine that.

 

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Discussion

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Marni and Ella are out to eat. Marni is full and can’t finish her meal. She and Ella agree that she should take the rest to go so she can have the leftovers on another day.

Both Marni and Ella like leftovers. But Ella often lets her leftovers go to waste. She forgets to eat them, or takes leftover food home from restaurants even if she didn’t really like it.

Marni, on the other hand, hates letting food go to waste. She always takes leftovers home with her if she can’t finish a meal at a restaurant. But in some places, this is unusual. When Marni was in Venice, a waiter was very surprised when she asked if she could take her leftovers back to her hotel with her.

Do you like eating leftovers? In your country, is it normal to take your leftovers home with you when you can’t finish your meal at a restaurant?

 

Comments

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tumbili

Germany

I take leftovers home with me and it’s quite usual in Germany. Especially if you go to a restaurant with children they often don’t finish their meal, because it is too much for them and I think food shouldn’t be wasted.  When we throw food away we should think about other countries where many people starve. Food is something we really need. We should appreciate to have enough to eat and we should’t think that this is normal. Everybody should recognise that all people who have enough to eat are very lucky. And this is why I think that throwing food away is not moral. But in Germany a lot of food is thrown away. People go to shops and buy to  much food, so many of them can’t eat all this food. However I think that the situation is worse in some other countries. When I was on holiday I recognised that many people took a huge amount of food from the buffet and then they left more than half of it on their plate. This made me really angry.

10:45 AM Nov 09 2013 |

Justirina1

Russian Federation

In my country it’s not common to take food you not finished at a restaurant home. But our portions are normal so we usually always finish our food.But in America portions are HUUUUGE.  OMG, I can eat those portion for 3-4 times.It is ridiculous ! Of course waiters always offer to take it home:-)

03:42 PM Jun 21 2013 |

saeedshin

saeedshin

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

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02:15 AM Aug 16 2012 |

saeedshin

saeedshin

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

I am disagree with a2020 and Elisabethvogler …. I think something which is belong to you is BELONG TO YOU!


when you put your extra-food in resturant nobody has duty to call you “please pich it up for left over!!”


I mean in iran or turkey everybody ashame of theirself to call the waitress or waiter for left over! If something is for you You have to prepare it for leftover!

10:02 AM Aug 15 2012 |

1 person likes this

Elisabethvogler

Turkey

in my country, it’s not common to take leftovers.
İf you haven’t finish your meal, waiter never ask do you want to take your leftover.
İ agree leftover is a good result of wasting food.
İ’ll encourage the restourants from this time.

09:37 PM Jul 22 2012 |

kukuka

kukuka

Ukraine

No, in my country it’s not normal to take the food you didn’t fininsh home, but it’s ok to buy take-out-food at resaraunts. The waiter will put it for you in a blister.


I think americans and europeans have different food traditions which don’t only apply to the food itself but also to the way we’re used to meal. As we can see from Marni’s adventure at an italian cafe that’s can be funny sometimes.

09:35 AM Jan 23 2012 |

goodmahsa

goodmahsa

Iran, Islamic Republic Of

since I am personally a frugal person, I always try not to let anything go to waste.but unfortunately taking your leftover food home is looked down upon in most parts of my country.I guess this behaviour should be rooted in economic conditions of people in ancient times which nowadays people are still used to them.

10:13 PM Jan 21 2012 |

tilwayne

tilwayne

Morocco

People who look down upon leftovers are usually nothing but a bunch of snobbish folks who believe that leftovers are peculiar to the poor layer of the society. How pathetic …

11:19 PM Jan 20 2012 |

CatcheR

CatcheR

Iceland

I don’t like to eat leftover, It’s very common here to keep leaftover after eating :D not from te restaurant.

03:07 PM Jan 20 2012 |

ola33

ola33

Japan

Julissita, I agree there’s some dishes that’re getting better for the next couple of days. Like Ukrainian borsch. It’s getting rich with all those flavours and with this, tastier.

04:02 AM Jan 20 2012 |

1 person likes this

Angelaaaa

Angelaaaa

China

yeah.


but the plastic containers are bad for the environment…

02:22 AM Jan 20 2012 |

1 person likes this

Risk

Costa Rica

we rarely take leftovers home because  i ussually eat everything that’s in the plate, but when it happens it’s normal to ask for a  leftover box available in almost every restaurant in my city.you can easily take leftovers with you without any concern

05:19 PM Jan 19 2012 |

Olga_Alina

Germany

It’s really unusual to take leftover with you. I’ve never don it.

12:57 PM Jan 19 2012 |

1 person likes this

 julito

julito

Argentina

GORA.      WELCOME.

12:19 AM Jan 19 2012 |

gora610930

Mexico

I liked the conversesion, my name is Alejandro, is my fisrt time here in ebaby

10:09 PM Jan 18 2012 |

Gobsmacker

Germany

Leftovers are okay…it depends really. Sometimes if you mix leftovers together, add a few spices and shove it in the oven you can get the best of results! Eating leftovers can be really nice but sometimes it’s plain annoying: Some things just don’t taste the same when heated up in the microwave and some leftovers you get to eat for several days because the portion cooked was simply far too large. This in my opinion ruins the meal no matter how nice it may have tasted before. I just hate eating the same several days in a row. I’m a person that needs difference.


I live in Germany and most people here don’t take their leftover food home from restaurants: It might be considered as a slightly weird thing to do. Then again it totally depends what kind of restaurant you are eating at and whether the staff are friendly etc. But I think I have only taken my food home from restaurants once when I was really little and couldn’t manage big helpings of food yet. I had barely touched it so it would’ve been a waste to throw it away and the waitress suggested we take it home with us. So all in all I would advise tourists in Germany not to ask to take their leftovers home especially if the restaurant they are eating at is posh. And anyway: I always finish my food at restaurants! :D

08:21 PM Jan 18 2012 |

bienemaja

bienemaja

Andorra

nowadays I cook more than I need for the day and I keep the rest in tupper ware in the freezer . it is very practical but one should melt the food in the fridge and not in the microwave…

07:55 PM Jan 18 2012 |

1 person likes this

aisalkyn//sijia

China

in china,it’s ok to do this especialy in very formal occasion ,and most chinese are thrift in daily life,so when you ask the waiter to pack the food you didn’t finished ,they are willing to help you,,,,,,,,,i think,if doing this will be looked upon down in your country or your city,you shouldn’t ask too much food and you won’t face the situation,,,,

07:42 PM Jan 18 2012 |

 julito

julito

Argentina

Lucas Silva, I was in Sao Paulo and one thing that I liked and it was new to me is that at some places  you choose the food and after they  put the platter on a scale and charge you  according to the weight of the food.

07:02 PM Jan 18 2012 |

Maria del Alba

Spain

I dont like a lot eating leftovers because they don’t taste the same when you have to heat them up in the microwave. But i have to own up that there are very useful, especially if like me you dont like cooking or do the shopping.


In Spain it is very unsual that, in fact, i’ve never seen or heard from somebody who has taken his leftovers back at home. It’s kind of looked down upon. But I wish i lived in America just for being able to do that wihouth any strange peek.

06:46 PM Jan 18 2012 |

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