Don’t be shy about asking for a doggy bag: you deserve a round of applause

The government may soon force restaurants to offer takeaway leftovers – a sensible solution for a nation that wastes 10.2m tonnes of food every year

I still remember the fluttering heart and dry mouth the first time I plucked up the courage to ask a waiter for a doggy bag, after 20 fruitless minutes chasing some deliciously spicy boiled peanuts round a plate in a Sichuan restaurant. They looked at me oddly, but the nuts duly appeared in a takeaway box, for me to gleefully hoover up with my fingers on the bus home.

These days, on the odd occasion when I don’t finish everything in sight, I feel no shame at all in asking, or indeed in wrapping stuff in a napkin and shoving it in my bag – which is as it should be, given that we waste 10.2m tonnes of food a year in this country, and every little helps.