Buffet Breakfast

It all sounds like greed to me .
I wouldn`t eat any more than I do usually and wouldn`t put food in my bag.
Actually we did take left over meat from our plates out of a restaurant in Paris last week to feed a hungry looking stray dog we had seen earlier !

I don't think I have strong feelings either way , its not something I have done but a piece of fruit seems fairly harmless to me.

What does drive me nuts it people who visit a buffet , take a full plate and don't eat it ! We have always taught our children in a buffet situation , take a little , eat it , go back for more. I'm not a fan of saying eat everything on your plate but we do say if you take it - you eat it.

The only exceptions are when I take the grandchildren to one ( usually on holiday) and then if they see something they haven't tried , they are allowed a small sample ( Grampy does an excellent job of eating leftovers) so they can test it.

I was once astonished to see a party of people in a hotel with a lavish breakfast buffet, putting a mass of food into bags. A whole plate of Danish pastries, yogurts, rolls, butter, fruit, you name it. It was all arranged - one or two would return to the buffet, and then oh so casually pass whatever it was to the woman with the big (evidently lunch) bag. As she slid it all in, she kept furtively glancing around to see whether any staff were watching. This was not a cheap hotel and judging by their clothes and general appearance they were not exactly hard up. I could hear them talking and was v relieved to gather that they were not Brits! I would have been heartily ashamed of them.

In another hotel abroad later (not upmarket) there were actually notices telling people not to put food into bags! After the previous incident I was not remotely surprised. I have heard of hotels that stopped serving buffet meals, since certain nationalities in particular were liable to take mountains of food, only to leave much of it, but this was something else.

OTOH we have asked at a small family hotel in Greece whether it was all right to make ourselves sandwiches from the firmly basic breakfast buffet, since we were going to be out all day on a boat. They were fine with it, but I would never have done it without asking.

Synonymous I entirely agree with you.It's greed on a grand scale quite often.

DH and I enjoy going on short breaks and we enjoy a good brakfast,buffet or served. DH always has a fry up if available and I love fruit,yoghurt eggs on toast and pastry but I would never take food away. Why would I? We always fill up on breakfast and I find it puzzling why people take food away to have for lunch, especially things like ham and cheese which gets warm while carried around. If you can't spare money to buy a snack or lunch than maybe there is no point even going on holiday?!

That should have been 'fairly basic' above.
Off to piano lesson now.

antjexis I agree entirely with you. I think some people are like children around a sweetie jar, they can't stop themselves taking more.

Quoting Synonomous " I suspect that some of the comments on here must be mere attempts at being provocative as surely nobody would want others to know how badly they behave IRL"

If you're referring to me, and you probably are, I can assure you I'm no glutton. Neither am I badly behaved. And my postings on this thread are simply meant to illustrate the pleasure I get when away from home, from a very different, and delicious breakfast! It is an enjoyable part of my holiday, and so it should be!

I NEVER actually take food away with me. I much prefer to buy fresh from the tempting pattiseries they seem to have everywhere on the continent! DD takes a croissant, which usually ends up a bit squashed but is still enjoyed at lunchtime in the staff room the next day. (Something psychological perhaps - a reminder of her lovely bit of time away from the usual stress?)

So, come down off your high horse if you please, and don't preach to me. Thank you.

God! Some of you on here are so up your own arses stuffy! You are (almost) unbelievable.

patisseries. Not pattiseries. (for the eagle-eye school marms amongst you)

When DH and I went to Bruges for a harpsichord festival we stayed in a fairly basic hotel. We got a breakfast of rolls, butter and jam plus coffee or tea included in the price. Between us we ate all the rolls on the table we say at. After two or three of those mornings, a waiter would bring us a plate of cheese each day as well at no extra charge. We were clearly starving students!

The rest of the time we lived on bread, spread and fruit. It was the peach and tomato season and the local markets were good.

One afternoon when we were resting between recitals, someone (a member of the hotel staff) with a smattering of English called our room to ask if they could have a couple of the tomatoes that someone had seen us carry up for our lunch earlier. "Yeah, sure" and gave them some.

I wonder of hotels like this exist any more in Europe.

PS Someone had ordered a tomato omelette, or something and they had none in the kitchen.

sat not say

I wouldn't be surprised actually, in Bruges. We went there for the first one of the city breaks I have got it into in my later (! ) years, and the hotel was nothing if not quirky. For one thing, we were told by the owner to always stand well to the back in the (tiny) lift as otherwise it was very likely to get stuck between floors! We mostly used the stairs after that. It was a lovely little hotel though. Breakfast by a roaring fire in the tiny basement dining room.

Last year we stayed in a hotel in Austria where guests were positively encouraged to take food for a packed lunch from the breakfast buffet. In fact, they even supplied polythene bags for us to fill with the food of our choice. The only trouble was, the breakfast buffet was so lavish we often hadn't room for any lunch!

Its just sheer greed whichever way you look at it.

We've never been to an 'all inclusive ' holiday for the fact of seeing people scrum down at mealtimes. I believe a meal especially when you are away should be an occasion to be enjoyed. Watching people shovel food down themselves and falling down drunk on the free alcohol is not for me .

We go all-inclusive. I do most days eat breakfast, but usually not very much, maybe some fruit followed by an egg and some toast - tends to be too early for me!!! Hubby has plenty cos he loves a big cooked breakfast and doesn't ever get it at home. Then we go to the pool, and I don't go in for lunch, so I take a single piece of fruit with me from breakfast (absolutely openly as I have nothing to be ashamed about) to have at lunchtime when hubby goes up and eats a full lunch. We pay a considerable sum for the ease of having all-inclusive meals, drinks, etc, and I eat maybe a third of what my husband eats. I think it is pretty petty to regard my banana as stealing, or somehow as 'not quite cricket', when I could stuff my face until I was sick or pile my plate high, pick at it twice and leave the rest - in both those cases lots of perfectly good food would have been wasted, and I only ever put on my plate, or take for lunch, what I will eat. Perhaps you ladies who pay so much attention to what other folks are doing should stop being so nosy, wind your necks in, and mind your own business. And I bet you are all keen members of your neighbourhood watches, binocs at the ready and a little notepad. God you make me sick.

Oh dear...

On a holiday recently in Italy we always found there were never any bananas left for our breakfast, but looking round the tables other holidaymakers had two or three on their tables for their mid-morning break! I think it is pure greed, you have only paid for your breakfast not for elevenses and lunch as well.

princesspamma That's us told then.

Exactly Youngeil- it would be nice to have the input of hôteliers or B&B owners here.
Just like shop-lifting costing us all as it has to be factured in prices- so is people who believe they pay for ... as you say, elevenses and lunch too- and not just breakfast.

It's normal in the US and in many restaurants here, to be given your leftovers to take home with you. If we go to a local Turkish restaurant, and order a meal for two, we have at least enough for lunch the next day as well.
I regard my banana for elevenses as my leftovers from breakfast, as I don't eat much breakfast.
In fact the cost of the food is a very small part of the overheads of a hotel or restaurant. The biggest costs are the premises, staff and energy.

I was away recently for a couple of days with DD2 in Oz and we paid the equivalent of £10 each for a continental brekkie with lots to choose from. Neither of us are large brekkie eaters so we took a couple of pastries and some fruit with us to have later. Why not? It was well paid for and in that heat (40*) would probably be binned within the hour. I tend to agree with * princesspam*. It's watching people pile their plates high and stuff their faces and go back for more that annoy me. They often leave half of their 3 or 4th plateful which goes straight in the bin.......(and most of them look like a heart attack waiting to happen!)

all inclusive, makes me think of Benidorm, the TV series, not the actual place. My sister always carries new plastic bags into breakfast so that her and DH can make their lunch, in my view a very German thing to do but as they are then that is okay