The other night, as my friend realised he was too full to finish his meal - and mourned that he could not take the delicious homemade pesto offered for the bread at the start of the meal home for a little nosh in a couple of hours, when he was sure to be hungry again - I made my usual suggestion. "Just ask for it all to go." He replied, "I'll be too embarrassed", but then caught himself (with my encouragement) at wondering why that would be. After all, if we didn't take it, the pesto, bread, half of my main course and some of his were all going straight in the bin. Why on earth, if you know you are going to eat it later, if you have already ordered and paid for it, should you be worried about how it might look to take it with you? In an age where we are all wasting too much of everything, where food production is an energy intensive process exhausting our planet, where the UAE has an outsized carbon footprint, when people everywhere are going hungry and broke, would we be ashamed to signify our intention to consume all that we asked for? When dining out, eating half now and half tomorrow is an excellent way to diminish the calorie and fat burden, too. There are just too many reasons in favour of asking for a doggie bag, if you want one, that one cannot fail to do so out of fear of a sideways glance from one's server. We got a sideways glance the other night, when we asked for our leftovers, as well as a few slices of bread and the pesto, to be put in a doggie bag. Then it was over and we were gone, glad that we had bothered. So ask for the doggie bag. Just remember to take it with you. Otherwise you really should be embarrassed for making such a production.