"John W." <worthj1970@yahoo.com> wrote in message

> It rarely takes me hours to eat, and usually I go home after the
> restaurant

When you're rushing, you lose a lot of the pleasure of going out. Sometimes
I eat out just to save time or to avoid messing my kitchen but that's not
*going to the restaurant*.

>so whatever food I have isn't going to spoil. Add some home
> cooked veggies or some rice and I'm good to go.
>
> But I've noticed that a lot of folks, particularly Japanese, don't
> understand the concept of taking food home and eating it later.

They do. It is common practice in Osaka. The difference is the omiyage food
is the not the leftovers of what was served but something else
prepared/packaged in order to be taken home. That can be different than what
you've eaten, so your next meal is more pleasurable as you can enjoy another
dish.
It's easy to understand that if the restaurant roasts a duck for your
couple, you'll eat 2 cuts and have the rest packed. But I don't get the
point of going back home with cooled fries, cooled pizza, salad blemished by
the sauce, Mexican food that has become a weird mixture, half melt
dessert...I've also seen all that together stored in the same box, with
sauces mixing to everything : roommates have eaten happily. I don't get it.
You cannot make that look and taste nice again, that's worse than any frozen
junk from the supermarket. The worse is that spoils the memories you had of
your dining experience when all that was served in good conditions. Even if
I spent 1000 years in the US, I wouldn't get it.

>To me
> it's wasteful to leave a half-eaten meal on the table.

I agree. It's wasteful to go to restaurants that serve you (and therefore
bill) more than what you want.  If you find the portions small, or your
appetite bigger than expected, you can always order some more. The shop can
propose free refills like the tonkatsu shops in Japan.

Kuri