# Do Restaurants 'Recycle' Uneaten Food? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 20, 2002, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-recycle-uneaten-food/104691 "2002-04-20T18:07:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-recycle-uneaten-food/104691/61 "2002-04-24T21:13:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by astro \* > \*\* > > Why is this so tough to believe? It falls directly into the category of re-using breads and rolls which is SOP in may smaller restaurants and would be even more difficult to detect as bread will go (usually) stale faster than chips. \*\* My apologies for doubting you, and thanks for the verification. Although I won’t repeat this story to anyone (if I did, it’d be FOAF status), you’re close enough to it to be reliable. All the same, it seems that most restaurants don’t do this, from what folks are posting; I wonder if it’s just more common in your area. And I admit that I’m a little sensitive to it, having had the displeasure of dining with one too many tweakers who giggle about the dog in the local Chinese food. Charges that restaurants of a particular nonwhite ethnicity uses subpar or nasty food prep practices raise my suspicions. (Incidentally, before this message board, I’d never heard the rumor that black BBQ restaurants use opossum or raccoon in their meat; I’d love to see a cite on that one :rolleyes: ) But I figure you’re probably telling the truth. Thanks, and apologies! Daniel ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-recycle-uneaten-food/104691/62 "2002-04-24T23:39:23Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Attrayant \* > I have been told by several friends who work in Thai restaurants that they often re-use the garnish. By garnish I mean the hunk of carrot or radish that’s been intricately carved into a flower. Since the garnish isn’t meant to be eaten, does this really qualify as _food_ recycling? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Lisa\_Ann](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/bc79bd/32.png) [@Lisa\_Ann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lisa_Ann)\ **Post date:** [April 24, 2002, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-recycle-uneaten-food/104691/63 "2002-04-24T23:58:52Z")
My husband and I saw a worker at Taco Hell pull condiment packages _out of the trash_ and put them back in the condiment bin two summers ago. Yuck! We immediately told the manager who threw the whole bin out and reprimanded the worker. It may have been for our benefit, but the manager did seem pretty repulsed. ---
**Author:** ![glilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/48db29/32.png) [@glilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glilly)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-recycle-uneaten-food/104691/64 "2002-04-25T01:53:35Z")
I know a guy in Iowa who will not eat at the local Bonanza because he witnessed the following: An old woman went through the buffet line carrying her plate. But instead of getting food, she had come back with her soiled plate RETURNING uneaten portions BACK INTO THE BINS! Older generations really don’t like wasting food. ---
**Author:** ![Phlip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed8c4c/32.png) [@Phlip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Phlip)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 11:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-recycle-uneaten-food/104691/65 "2002-04-25T11:32:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by JohnBckWLD \* > \*\* > Next time you go to a steakhouse, ask if you can see how they age the steak. If they oblige you, you’ll see a molding side of beef hanging in a wooden walk-in refrigerator box. The butcher chops off the green mold before preparing it. It sounds gross, but the best tasting steaks are all aged that way. > \*\* What the fuck is an “aged” steak? You must be kidding me?!? ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-recycle-uneaten-food/104691/66 "2002-04-25T12:32:36Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by rjung \* > \*\* > Since the garnish isn’t meant to be eaten, does this really qualify as _food_ recycling? 😉 \*\* I eat the garnish ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-recycle-uneaten-food/104691/67 "2002-04-25T19:05:33Z")
I pity the poor waiter/waitress who has to get the garnish out of your digestive tract for recycling, then. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![GopherGod72](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f0a364/32.png) [@GopherGod72](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GopherGod72)\ **Post date:** [April 25, 2002, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-recycle-uneaten-food/104691/68 "2002-04-25T19:31:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phlip \* > \*\* > > What the fuck is an “aged” steak? You must be kidding me?!? \*\* Its fucking beef thats be fucking “aged”. The best and most expensive steaks have been cut from aged beef. Sometimes aged for 30 days iirc. The chef with then cut off the dried out outer protions and butcher the beef normally. Its said to give the best flavor. I poor so I dont know for sure. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-restaurants-recycle-uneaten-food/104691.md?page=3)