For me, it’s the weird unsaid rule/expectation that you shouldn’t finish your plate of food at a restaurant.

I always clears my plate. If I’ve paid for it, I don’t know why I wouldn’t fully enjoy my meal. (Also, I grew up poor and find it very wasteful to not finish my food.)

But there has never been a time the people I’m with haven’t commented on this. Yesterday, for the first time I stupidly decided to only eat half of my meal and take the rest home to enjoy it in peace. Got home and the restaurant had given me the wrong doggy bag. -\_-

EDIT: Some people know the rule in the above example but many don’t.

Some have also asked where I’m from, I’m a born n bred Londoner (and 28). Older folks and some ppl from N Ireland seem to know this rule so it isn’t a thing I’m making up. Perhaps, it isn’t a UK thing, I dunno.

48 comments

  1. I’ve never heard of this rule, ever.

    Why wouldn’t you eat what you paid for? Lol.

  3. Would be more likely to finish my food in a restaurant, never heard of this rule! I thought everyone did

  5. I have never heard of this either. Were you raised in close proximity to someone with an eating disorder? I had problems like this and it sounds like the kind of thing I’d have made up to make it look acceptable/expected/normal how much food I left.

  7. I, like every one else here, have never heard of this “rule”. You are just eating with weirdo’s, OP.

  10. Really surprised no one seems to have heard of this.
    I grew up in a lower income family in NI, definitely heard that leaving just a little food on the plate in a restaurant is giving compliments to the chef.
    Not talking about leaving half your meal, literally a forkful of food.

    The idea of it is to say they fed you just the right amount of food and that you’re not hungry for more.

  11. That’s a really old fashioned rule that people don’t use anymore. Haven’t come across it in many years. Think it died out 2 generations ago at least.

  14. I finish my food and keep a bit of bread back to wipe it with, even at Michelin star restaurants.

  16. Holding a door open for people entering a premises behind you. Yes, I get it if they’re right behind you. Often, tho’, I find I’m 10 feet or more behind them, carrying a heavy suitcase or something. I mean, just let the door close in that case: I can open it myself.

  17. Im with the rest of the comments, never heard of this rule and it makes no sense.

    If anything I would say the opposite is a social convention, you must finish your plate to be polite. Which is silly, dont overeat.

  18. Guessing you’re Chinese, because they’re the only nationality I’m aware of that follows this ‘rule’. It’s certainly not a British thing.

  20. I hate “How are you” as a greeting – you don’t actually want to know how they are.

    This practise might seem friendly, but it’s harmful.

    ​

    You’re asking me – but you don’t care.

    If I answer you may act like/tell me you don’t actually care.

    So then I learn that people don’t actually want to hear about how I am, so I’m less inclined to talk about my problems and more inclined repress it etc.

    ​

    Also I find when I genuinely ask someone how they are, cause I really want to know, they assume I’m just being polite/friendly and give me a short, vague answer.

    We’ve become so uncomfortable with talking about how we’re feeling, it’s a big problem.

    At the same time, we’ve normalised not caring about others/faking caring.

    ​

    If you don’t genuinely want to know how someone is, if you don’t care, don’t ask.

    Say hi, hello or any other neutral greeting.

  21. The food rule is definitely a thing.

    I worked in catering (in Northern Ireland) and it wasn’t uncommon.

    Kind of irritating, clear plates are so much easier to stack and carry.

    ​

    I’m surprised how few people have heard of it.

  22. I have literally never heard of not finishing your food in a restaurant here! I know that’s a cultural thing in other countries but I always thought that we were mostly a country of plate clearers.

    Nothing infuriates me more than food waste, particularly when you go out with people who order 3 or 4 things for variety but eat 1/3 of all of them 😡

  23. Legit it depends the culture on that one, in England when buying food out please eat it all/only buy as much as you can eat. Makes life easier for the servers and pot washes.

    Legit if you leave half and don’t want to bring it home, my opinion of you will drop out the floor.

    Anyone who grew up after the war will think the same. We are not all posh French snobs.

  24. Think this is only a thing in China? Possibly somewhere else in the East.

    Only know this from that old advert which might have been for a credit card/bank.

  25. Dress codes.

    Sorry but wearing uncomfortable shoes, trousers and a shirt and travelling on public transport for an hour to sit at a desk and work in a call centre all day is stupid as fuck.

    One time a manager walked past me and interuppted my conversation and told me to tuck my shirt in and I was fuming. Some bratty little 19 year old speaking to me like I was a school kid.

  26. Not heard of this one but it does irritate me that you’re not supposed to begin eating until everyone has their food. I don’t want mine to be sat there going cold.

  27. I’ve literally never heard of that lol why wouldn’t you eat all the food you want?

  28. I’ve never heard of this either, in fact I have a small appetite and servers always seem to find it very weird I didn’t finish my 72 inch pizza and always ask if the food was okay

  32. That’s definitely not traditional British etiquette. To be honest I think the opposite is more common – people will clear their plate even when they don’t want to or are full.

    However, when I was young we lived in Singapore and my dad travelled throughout Asia for work, and he was sometimes advised not to clear his plate – can’t remember which country that was in, possibly China? It was apparently considered a challenge to your host to buy you more food. Leaving a small amount of food was how you say “I’ve had enough”.

  37. My parents grew up during the second world war when food was scarce and the butcher might get bombed the next day so I kind of understand why they wanted me to eat every morsel put out for me.

    To be honest I struggled for a long time with this, eating quickly, so I wouldn’t feel full too soon, forcing food down I didn’t want to eat long after I was satisfied, well into adulthood.

    Right now I can’t see any reason why anyone should feel obliged to eat more food than they want to, and that goes double for portions determined by someone else in a restaurant.

  38. Yeah I’m more used to the post-WW2 etiquette of not wasting any food to the extent that you always finish your meal.

  39. Thanking traffic that stops at a zebra crossing.
    I shouldn’t have to thank you for not killing me.

  41. >For me, it’s the weird unsaid rule/expectation that you shouldn’t finish your plate of food at a restaurant.

    That’s the most unsaid rule I’ve never heard of.

  42. For me it’s this:
    You’re out with friends, it’s the end of the night, you say goodbye and leave.

    Then after you’ve left and you’ve already said bye, everybody starts sending messages to each other to say bye, or all the usual niceties like it was a great night blah blah blah….

    We already did this, it’s all been said in person, this Is unnecessary.

  43. My mum said my granny was a big fan of this rule growing up but they were very middle class and that was the fifties.

    Apparently it came from the idea that finishing your food showed you were greedy and “poor” as middle class people didn’t need to eat everything on their plate because they could afford food easily. Imagine shitting on people for being hungry!

  44. I was bought up to eat everything, leave any morsels and I got –

    “There are people starving in <insert 3rd world country of choice> so eat it all”

    Never understood why me eating everything on my plate was going to cure world hunger

  45. Never heard this rule in the UK, I’ve been to some places that react awkwardly if the plate isn’t empty because they aren’t sure you’re finished.

    Reminded me of when I was a kid and a waiter didn’t know if I was finished and panicked because my knife and fork weren’t together. The plate was empty.

  46. Handshakes.
    I absolutely despise them. I don’t want to touch a strangers hand – no idea where it’s been or when it was last washed. The sweaty palms, crushed fingers or worse a sort of limp handshake that feels like you are shaking a dead fish.

    One of the small wins from the pandemic was the lack of handshakes and at least people washed and sanitised their hands frequently.

  47. Honestly just “hi how are you?” I hate small talk and I hate this robotic thing you have to do when you say “good, you?” and they say “i’m good thanks”. Its just pointless routine words that I find really difficult getting out of my mouth. It never changes, no-one says anything different. We just do it because we’re told we have to.

    I love speaking to people. Ask me about a recent event, how I feel about my work, a sad childhood memory, i’ll talk for hours. I cannot do small talk at all.

  48. Handshakes, hugs, fake kisses when greeting people.
    I’m so glad covid has reduced that to a fist bump at most.

Leave a Reply
You May Also Like