Buffet Breakfast

So do I shysal - but do you take a bowl home in your handbag? Sure you don't.

We know it's not "free" Granjura. We've paid for it. Why not enjoy food when on a holiday, or a weekend away? Food is one of life's main pleasures. Or it should be. Ridiculous to call taking the odd item from a hotel buffet 'stealing'!

I love the breadsticks at Pizza Hut, but the dratted kids have usually got there first and scoffed them all.

I never dare taking anything away with me from a breakfast buffet I always think the waiters will 'arrest' me as I try to leave and then there will be a horrible struggle when food falls out of my bag and everyone says 'isn't she fat enough without stealing more food'. I wouldnt dream of taking a lot from a carvery either (you see some people with piled high plates surely they don't have such large portions at home do they) in case someone snorts and does piggy impressions as I pass by their table.

To be fair, in places like Toby Carvery, it is mostly the different varieties of veg on offer that people pile high on their plates.

Ooh, I could just do with going there now. But the kitchen beckons.

A couple on the table next to us on a cruise actually ordered from the waiter
Soup
Pâté
Fish
Main dish
Two desserts each and ate the lot
Warner hotels evening meals used to be buffet style. They've stopped that now, probably for the above reasons.
I can't eat a lot in one sitting. I usually have cereal then scrambled egg on toast followed by a cuppa. I've certainly never taken extra away with me.
When we went to Switzerland our coach driver warned us not to take food away from the buffet as it was a major no, no.

DD and I, a few years back, had a weekend in London to see the Pet Shop Boys at the O2. It was an icy, snowy weekend, and on the Sunday morning we ordered just about everything from the breakfast menu via room service, and spent the time in bed eating our way through it all until close on checkout time. The waiter who brought it to the door didn't bat an eyelid. It as great. We ate nothing for he rest of the day.

Just one hotel we were in actually had a notice saying no taking food away. I'm sure they all think it though. The secret is to not eat a heavy evening meal so you are good and hungry at breakfast time.

When I was in Egypt with a friend a couple of years back- we were truly shocked at the amount of waste. Some people, whole famillies- would pile their plate so high, then do it again and leave most of it. It was shameful, shocking, Especially as we knew the staff were really poor and truly struggled to feed their own families back home (most of them had their families back in Cairo or Alessandria- and saw them only twice a year). As we were snorkelling all day, without lunch- we did have a really good breakfast and late dinner - and often had 2 servings as we were ravenous after swimming all day- but we never wasted any food.

I really like the idea of buffet restaurants charging people extra on the bill for leaving food on the plate- to stop people piling it on high and then just leave it.

I've never done it, but I know some people put ham and cheese into a croissant and take that for their lunch, I expect the hotel would not really mind that, especially if asked. What really left me open mouthed was attending a wedding in Israel where the guests didn't bother to watch the ceremony, they were too busy reserving tables closer to the buffet. Once the food was put out, they quickly got up and removed whole plates of food onto the tables they were occupying, leaving the buffet table rather bare for everyone else!

I've seen the true artists at work with 'stealing' food from the table. It's at the Masons ladies night.

Yes, I think I do find it disgraceful!

Why is it disgraceful? I can't quite see that.

Would you rather the food went in a waste bin?

On holiday in Tenerife many years ago, my late husband and I quickly realised that one of the dessert options at dinner, 'fruit', was always bananas (they grow them on the island). It never varied and we used to order them and take them back to the room to have with our breakfast next morning. It did mean we went without pudding at dinner but we were happy with that.

Would you put food from your dinner or lunch into your bag for the next day?

It all has to be costed, and the amount has to take into account the fact people do take from the buffet. As said, I see it a bit like shop lifiting- it does cost us all. Just because you buy one t-shirt does not mean you can take another for good measure. Find it bizarre, I have to say.

Lizzypopbottle- I say fair enough as it was your pud and you chose to 'defer' it.

No it is NOT like shoplifting, Granjura that is something else entirely and yes, it is very common to take an unfinished part of a meal home. In France restaurants are now obliged by law to agree to " le doggy bag".
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/11537970/Sacre-bleu-French-restaurateurs-asked-to-hand-out-doggy-bags.html

Food is provided is for the meal paid for and not for any other future meals. It has been paid for by the business owners and makes the business unprofitable at the price charged so the price charged to everyone has to be increased

Yes, but what if you can't eat that much in one go, especially in the morning:
we used to have fruit juice, cereal, yoghurt, croissants with ham and cheese, followed by a very large full English, finishing off with toast and honey, and three fresh coffees!
I may have some yoghurt with fruit, scrambled egg, bacon and mushrooms with a piece of toast and tea. So if I have picked up a banana which I couldn't manage I would take it for elevenses.
(but I have seen people making up rolls and sandwiches for their lunch!)

When we were overseas we ordered lamb shanks for an evening meal. When they came we were served two each!!
They would have gone into the bin and we couldn't possibly eat both, so we did ask for a doggy bag. DD's doggies enjoyed them immensely. However, when I asked for a doggy bag for the ends of a carvery joint to take home for the dog when we were out in the UK we were refused.

ps the lamb shanks were for dinner, not breakfast!

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
Some of the comments remind me of the times I took DC to parties where there were some children who just couldn't handle the fact that so much food was available to them and so they tried to eat as much as they possibly could - and spoilt the event for themselves as they were sick or just had to sit down because they were so full. I suppose some never actually get past that.

Taking the comments at face value however I would say that surely if you order/take food to eat and enjoy it really doesn't matter if you don't eat as much as some other people or can't manage to eat some of absolutely everything that is available. If you can afford to pay to stay at a nice place, be it hotel, guest house or B&B you really don't need to behave as if the meal is the last you will see for a long time because we all know that is not so. I feel that I have to say it like it is in that it smacks of sheer greed. It does mean that when people behave so badly and cannot control themselves then measures have to be put in place to protect jobs and livelihoods. To think that you have paid to eat in that manner is a gross distortion.

I agree that doggy bags are a good idea as once food is served to you it will only be binned if not eaten.

We were In Portugal last summer at 3* hotels. You won't believe the breakfasts, from full English and Chicken soup [popular with the Chinese apparently], to the usual cold fare and cereals. The puddings!!! There were about 7 different ones, from their "flan" to fruit jellies, via creme brulee etc. and champagne! Some people ate some of everything, DH ate a cooked breakfast as we never have it here and I was boring, just had some fruit and some cereal... One chap offered DH a glass of the champagne, just because it was there.