r/AskEurope • u/MrLongWalk • Jun 15 '26
Food How common are leftovers?
We have a new coworker from Europe who insists that nobody that side of the Atlantic would ever have leftovers for lunch. How true is this? For clarity he is referring to home cooked meals reheated for the next day’s lunch.
Edit: for clarity, we knew he was full of it, thank you, he owes me $5
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u/StanleyHasLostIt Netherlands Jun 15 '26
I purposely cook more so I can have leftovers for lunch the next day. Nobody thinks that's weird
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u/Rikudou_Sage Czechia Jun 15 '26
Is this called "leftovers"? Like, if you purposely cook for two days, you cook enough to have two full lunches, doesn't sound like a leftover. Leftovers always sounded like you unintentionally cooked more than people ate so you eat the leftovers the other day.
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u/PandaDerZwote Germany Jun 15 '26
I don't know how many times one can cook too much "unintentionally" before I'd just say they cook more than they eat in a day with the intent of eating it another day.
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u/lullaby225 Jun 15 '26
Clearly you haven't met me yet! 15 years of cooking and I still can't figure out how much I gotta make. And now I have two kids who some evenings eat an entire pizza each and some evenings eat a spoon of rice and are full, I give up.
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u/Capital_Public_8145 Jun 15 '26
It's a bit strange in swedish, now that I think about it... we'd say we're making matlådor. Matlåda = food container, like the ones with lids you get from IKEA or whatever. I'm making matlådor means I'm purposely cooking extra food to put in food containers which I will put in the freezer or bring to work for lunch.
Sounds weirder in english, maybe, to say "I'm making food containers", but it sounds normal in swedish. Just cooking whatever meal that will go into containers. Not necessarily leftovers, but of course it could be – "I made too much... det blir matlådor!"
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u/Kiwi1234567 Jun 15 '26
Is this called "leftovers"?
Yes
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u/Rikudou_Sage Czechia Jun 15 '26
Okay, yet another instance of English being fucking stupid, then.
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u/Ok_Material9377 Jun 15 '26
I feel like a lot of Europeans interpret the word "leftovers" as "food scraped off the plate you were eating from last night", and that was the conversation OP didn't realize they were having.
OP just meant food cooked the day before, (never plated or poked with forks that went in your mouth) stored in the fridge overnight
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Jun 15 '26 edited Aug 16 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/Team503 in Jun 15 '26
EH, it's a matter of argument. The implication is that leftovers are what was left over after a meal. It's original use certainly meant that you cooked too much (regardless of whether that was on purpose or not) and you were eating the food that was left over from that meal.
Meal prepping is a recent thing and post-dates the term. So technically, is meal-prep eating leftovers? Yes and no. You did cook too much to eat, and the food that is left over is what you're eating. However, you did it on purpose, so is it really "left over" food?
On the other hand, when I cook I almost universally cook for four, and there's only my husband and I eating. Is the food really leftover when I made it intentionally? Personally I call those leftovers. Would everyone else? Who knows.
It's a colloquialism. It means whatever people using it want it to mean, and language will adapt to those uses as it always does.
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u/TheNortalf Jun 15 '26
Like, if you purposely cook for two days, you cook enough to have two full lunches, doesn't sound like a leftover.
Exactly, leftovers sounds like something that LEFT after a meal, not intentionally cooking for few days.
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Jun 16 '26
When your single having dinner, there are leftovers because you can't cook such a small amount. And I wouldn't go on eating when I had enough. Call it planned, but in reality you have no chance if you don't want to force the food inside yourself.
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u/TheNortalf Jun 16 '26
I simply wouldn't call it leftovers.
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Jun 16 '26
Ok, you don't call it leftovers when someone stops eating 'cause he had enough and will have it later. Fine. OP meant even cooking more the day before. Sooo, I guess when it's OP's question we only give correct answers when we use OP's definition. Don't you think? Meal prep is preparing in advance for several days. Btw.
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u/TheNortalf Jun 16 '26
you don't call it leftovers when someone stops eating 'cause he had enough and will have it later
This case, yes. But leftovers like this aren't common.
OP meant even cooking more the day before.
That's what I wouldn't call leftovers. And I know what OP meant, I did asked them.
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u/Coolpabloo7 Jun 15 '26
I have a theory there is also a class divide. Admittedly from a small sample size (study design n=1). When eating at my rich friend (really big house and fitting cars) I was astonished they threw away all the leftovers. Their argument was that tomorrow they would cook a new meal, so they had no need for leftovers.
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u/Optimal_Clue3747 Norway Jun 15 '26
That is just a sign of having money, but no class.
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u/_Red_User_ Jun 16 '26
Nah, that's a sign of too much money and a lack of respect (for nature, food and the resources required for producing food).
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u/Fit-Building-2560 Jun 16 '26
No, it's a sign of ignorance, not understanding that often, food tastes better on the second day. The flavors have more time to blend. Throwing away good food makes no sense.
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u/Sensitive_Tea5720 Jun 15 '26
In Sweden that hypothesis would be false. I know plenty of well off people who eat leftovers.
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u/ConflictOfEvidence in Jun 16 '26
I was thinking the same. On average richer people are more politally left would be more environmentally concious.
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u/Illustrious-Wolf4857 Germany Jun 15 '26
In Germany, throwing away leftovers (or food in general) is widely considered a sin.
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u/MashRoomBog Jun 15 '26
But why? So things taste better the next day, and it's a waste of time to cook each day. I guess different strokes.
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u/elisettttt Netherlands Jun 15 '26
That was exactly my train of thought. I don't hate cooking, but I wouldn't call it a hobby either. I always prepare bigger portions so I can just refrigerate / freeze the leftovers and have an easy meal when I don't feel like cooking. If I had to cook every single day, it would become a chore so fast. And as you said, a lot of things taste better the next day.
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u/pannenkoek0923 Denmark Jun 15 '26
Those people are idiots. I was taught the importance of food growing up. All my friends who came from well off families also didnt waste food.
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u/DEADB33F Europe Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26
In the UK it'd be a bell curve. People who are poor so need to use leftovers to keep costs down ...and that probably blends into the middle class now as well. Upper Middle class "new money" types who almost see wastefulness as a point of pride and think "fuck it, I can afford it", and the old-money wealthy lot who have more of a "waste not, want not" kinda attitude so religiously make use of leftovers (although probably by turning into a completely different dish rather than eating it as-is).
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u/ginger_lucy United Kingdom Jun 15 '26
I’m much more “new money” but thankfully I don’t know anybody in my circles who’d have that attitude. Not so much a frugal thing as such, but it’s much more fashionable in the middle classes to be all eco friendly so food waste is a big no.
I often have leftovers for lunch the following day and also love creating meals out of whatever random bits are left in the fridge at the end of the week.
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u/Masseyrati80 Finland Jun 15 '26
Living in one of the 46 countries in Europe (one of the Nordics), as I make a meal, I'll also make the decision of either making the right portion for dinner, or enough to carry over for the next day, in which case I have zero issues eating last nights dinner in the role of lunch.
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u/JumpyOne5907 Jun 15 '26
Cooking dinner and next day's lunch at the same time is literally what the domestic labour high priestess organization (Martat) recommends to streamline the workflow
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u/Ara92 Finland Jun 15 '26
To me it feels wasteful to just make a single meal's worth unless it's something that's awful when reheated or expensive like a steak. Otherwise better to just make like 2.5 meals of food and not cook every time and have an easy cheap lunch
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u/melli_milli Jun 15 '26
Calling it "left overs" instead of just food is already weird attitude.
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u/Status_Ad_1761 Jun 16 '26
I think it's a language/culture thing. It's leftovers in norwegian too. "Rester". It means food you cooked for a spesific meal, but did not manage to finish. It's that food you miscalculated the amount if.
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u/sashahyman Jun 15 '26
Leftovers doesn’t have a negative connotation in American English. It seems like a few people in the thread are offended by the word, so maybe there’s a cultural aspect that’s not aligned.
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u/Sea-Ad9057 in Jun 15 '26
I always cook extra so I do have leftovers they are weird af
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u/TheYoungWan in Jun 15 '26
If I may ask, what is it like in the Ivory Coast? Similar to Europe where leftovers are common?
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u/Sea-Ad9057 in Jun 15 '26
damn my flag is wrong
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u/TheYoungWan in Jun 15 '26
Guess I'll never know 😅
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u/Sea-Ad9057 in Jun 15 '26
I have multiple kitty cats they are always changing stuff on.my screen... one of them turned a show off on my.laptop because they didn't like it , another turned the screen upside down so I would pay attention to her. While I was trying to correct my flair I because a temporary member of many nations 🤣
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u/MrLongWalk Jun 15 '26
Yeah all the Euros I know eat them just as much as we do but he’s not trying to hear me on this.
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u/Ok-Factor-7188 Jun 15 '26
Is he saying we don't eat leftovers (aka toss them) or is he saying the warm meal is served in the evening and lunch is a smaller quicker meal?
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u/MrLongWalk Jun 15 '26
He’s saying that leftovers are either tossed or that no leftovers exist from home-cooked meals.
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u/Ok-Factor-7188 Jun 15 '26
That's insane. Lol. If anything I'd argue European cultures are more likely to be anal about food waste. Not less.
The last big famine is only 2-3 generations back. I still remember getting yelled at by my grandpa for "wasting" the crumbs of bread on my plate because I wasn't scooping them up at the end of a meal.
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u/omnihash-cz Jun 15 '26
If you are not cooking by yourself, then it's true. I know a bunch of guys ordering takeout all the time. Mostly IT related...
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u/cptflowerhomo Ireland Jun 15 '26
Ask what jobs his parents have, I indeed think we're on a class divide rather than on a country divide
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u/LimJans Sweden Jun 15 '26
Eh.... If you take a look in my lunchroom at work, like 85% are having a box of reheated leftovers from yesterdays home cooked meal.
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u/Leather_Lawfulness12 Sweden Jun 15 '26
And like 50% are in a used ice cream container.
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u/Ok-Factor-7188 Jun 15 '26
Nono, they're all single cooked meals they made the night before in addition to cooking the dinner /s
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u/McCretin United Kingdom Jun 15 '26
They are talking crap lol. Nothing better than having a delicious meal without the effort.
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u/PM_ME_VEG_PICS United Kingdom Jun 15 '26
Especially if it is something with some spice in, gives it a chance to develop.
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u/generalscruff England Jun 15 '26
I make a lot of curry, leftover jalfrezi for lunch is a bit of a statement piece but it really does mature a richer flavour
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u/radoslove Jun 15 '26
Nah, it's bullshit. People eat leftovers all the time
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u/TulioGonzaga Portugal Jun 15 '26
I even cook more than I need to have leftovers when I'm planning to have launch at the office.
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Jun 15 '26
So they've never heard of batch cooking or is that somehow excempt?
Anyway, we do this a lot. Almost daily, to be honest.
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u/Different_Plane_7438 Spain Jun 15 '26
Literally what. It's very common here, it's even common to always make extra of certain dishes so that you'll have leftovers
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u/0oO1lI9LJk Spain Jun 15 '26
Yes as a matter of course I always cook double what I actually need for my family.
Nobody ever goes hungry, worst case scenario I have a week of easy lunch.
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u/Different_Plane_7438 Spain Jun 15 '26
And some dishes even taste better a day later, like lentils and stews
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u/Frequent_Ad_5670 Germany Jun 15 '26
He probably meant that he doesn't have any leftovers because he always eats everything up.
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u/ProfDumm Germany Jun 15 '26
Yeah, I often cook more to have leftovers for the next day and in the evening I am hungry again, so I eat the leftovers.
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u/Nox-Eternus Belgium Jun 15 '26
Belgian here, myself and colleagues from me regularly warm leftovers from the day before for lunch. It's pretty common here I would say.
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u/olagorie Germany Jun 15 '26
Your coworker is definitely messing with you
Very normal in Germany
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u/Anaptyso United Kingdom Jun 15 '26
I literally had leftovers today for my lunch from a BBQ I did at the weekend.
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u/perplexedtv in Jun 15 '26
Yeah, anybody that insists that nobody on a continent would ever did something is just a liar.
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u/oskich Sweden Jun 15 '26
Very common in Sweden, you cook a lot of food for dinner and bring the leftovers for lunch to work the following day.
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u/ett_garn_i_taget Sweden Jun 15 '26
Your coworker is weird as fuck. I would say at least 50% of people in Sweden bring leftovers or some kind of homemade meal for lunch. Can't speak for the rest of the continent though.
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u/FigureSubject3259 Jun 15 '26
There exist even meals that are designed to "refurbish" leftovers in europe and will not work without.
Many onepot dishes require a warmup on next day to get real tasty.
You cannot cook good "Semmelknödel" without old semmeln.
Best potatoes fried in a pan are cooked the day before.
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u/LuckyLoki08 Italy Jun 15 '26
I mean, you generally cook for what you expect go eat. So you don't generally have leftovers, unless you intentionally cooked extra food with the intention of eating it the day after. But I wouldn't call that leftovers, since it's intentional.
But I would disagree that "nobody would ever have leftovers for lunch". If some food is left after meal, I put it away to finish the next day.
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u/_Darren Jun 15 '26
It's more common in large families, cooking enough for 6/7/8 people isn't easy to get exactly correct.
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u/FlakyAssociation4986 Ireland Jun 15 '26
Im from ireland maybe its different in other countries but its common in ireland to do that maybe more common to have it as next days dinner as some one who loves alone I will often cook something in big batch and get 3 days out of it
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u/Deep_Pepper_5405 Finland Jun 15 '26
I cook 2 portions on purpose so I can have it for lunch the next day.
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u/Anna-Livia France Jun 15 '26
Not a widespread custom but it happens.
Home cooked dishes are not always office friendly or practical. You are also not supposed to eat at your desk.
Here in France largish workplaces often have a canteen. Most of the time it is real food and the staff discount makes it rather affordable so quite many people eat there.
Otherwise, people tend to eat something like a sandwich or a pasta salad.
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u/Fearless-Mark-2861 Finland Jun 15 '26
I didn't know some people didn't eat leftovers. Sounds insane
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u/Serena_Sers Austria Jun 15 '26
Eating leftovers from home is completely normal. The only difference is in how common leftovers are at restaurants. When I was in the US the portions were insane, so it was totally normal to get leftovers. At least in my country it's 50/50. Sometimes the portions are really big and you take leftovers at home, sometimes the portion size is normal and you eat everything there.
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u/fitacola Jun 15 '26
Most people I know cook in excess on purpose to have leftovers for lunch the next day 🤷🏽
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u/Partiallyfermented Finland Jun 15 '26
Who the hell eats anything else for lunch, as long as they have a microwave at the workplace?
I mean, yeah, I sometimes get a microwave dinner from the grocery store if I've been lazy but half the time the point of cooking for me is cooking something I can heat up at work the next day.
My guess is they work at a place with meal benefits and of course no one reheats leftovers in that particular workplace because they basically get a percentage of their pay as lunch at a restaurant.
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u/Ok-Factor-7188 Jun 15 '26
I do do salads or sandwiches that are specifically made for lunch quite a bit as well.
I also have a colleague that will literally never have leftovers for lunch because they always eat a cheese sandwich. Cooked food is for the evening meals (and they definitely have leftovers then)
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u/OllieV_nl Netherlands Jun 15 '26
Not all food is okay as lunch so sometimes we incorporate it into dinner.
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u/Bruggilles Hungary Jun 15 '26
Stupid generalization. It depends entirely on your upbringing, same way as in any country
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u/Ok-Factor-7188 Jun 15 '26
The most common sentence we heard from my mom when we were kids was "that was supposed to last until tomorrow". Lol
I'm usually happy when I get rid of my leftovers within two days now that I'm by myself. I've also been known to freeze leftovers for later when I couldn't take eating yet another meal of the same thing. Lol
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u/Spirited-Ad-9746 Jun 15 '26
When i cool, i cook enough food for several days. I don't even call it leftovers. I call it food.
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u/Silver-Machine-3092 Jun 15 '26
We had a roast yesterday, as we generally do on a Sunday.
Today, it's leftovers warmed up in gravy. I make extra roasties and gravy specifically for this. It's one of my favourites.
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u/ManWhoIsDrunk Norway Jun 15 '26
It's true in Norway.
We make our matpakke fresh every day.
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u/MrLongWalk Jun 15 '26
So nobody in Norway would bring last nights dinner in for lunch?
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u/ManWhoIsDrunk Norway Jun 15 '26
Rarely, it would be used for next days dinner in that case.
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u/Leather_Lawfulness12 Sweden Jun 15 '26
Actually, a friend worked in Norway for awhile and everyone at work could tell she was Swedish because she brought leftovers for lunch. (Also, because she spoke Swedish).
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u/sleepyotter92 Portugal Jun 15 '26
Leftover are very common and a lot of people cook stuff in advance so they can then just reheat it for the next meal so they don't have to waste time cooking. Sounds to me like maybe your friend grew up super wealthy and so every meal was a new meal
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u/Curious-Term9483 United Kingdom Jun 15 '26
If there are leftovers they will be eaten tomorrow. No point wasting the food. 🤷
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u/MrOtero Jun 15 '26
Lmao. Absolutely not true. Very common everywhere in Europe (at least in my country and in the other three I've lived in)
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u/Few-Ad-139 Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
That doesn't make any sense. I would say that no country in Europe as such a taboo. And I've been to most of them.
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u/Evening-Classroom823 Jun 17 '26
I'm Norwegian, and every week I get three meals from Hello Fresh. I cook one day, and eat half that day and the rest the next day. Does that count as leftovers?
Growing up I learned to save leftovers and eat them either for lunch or dinner the next day, and as far as I know, all my friends learned the same thing.
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u/Nemesi19bis Italy Jun 17 '26
To be honest, where I’m from leftovers aren’t a big part of the eating culture. Generally you cook what you eat and you normally cook fresh. If there are leftovers, they are often transformed into something else altogether. I’m from north east Italy.
I emigrated and eat leftovers like a king now btw.
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u/Ok-Blackberry8086 --> Jun 17 '26
I usually purposefully cook too much the evening before and eat leftovers for lunch. Absolutely super common.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Sun7418 Spain Jun 15 '26
I cook and eat leftovers on purpose. I think people call it batch cooking but it’s what my grandma, mother, etc have been doing always in Spain
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u/Wafkak Belgium Jun 15 '26
For me nit at all, as im alone. But growing up, it was very rarely a thing. Thoughny dad would often find a way to incorporate leftovers into the next meal. But a meal thst just leftover was maybe a once a month thing if my parents miscalculated more than usual.
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u/SubparSavant Ireland Jun 15 '26
I'm a single guy that lives alone. If I cook a chilli or a lasagne or whatever, leftovers could be lunch and dinner for the next 3 days.
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u/Riser_the_Silent Netherlands Jun 15 '26
I do leftovers, but not for lunch. I am living on my own but used to cook for 3 people for 2 days, so I just make what I would usually make, freeze my leftovers and have them for dinner.
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u/fonk_pulk Finland Jun 15 '26
I routinely cook enough food for 4-5 meals at least. Is this somehow uncommon?
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u/LaPasseraScopaiola Jun 15 '26
Of course we eat leftovers, at home and in the office!
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u/Puzzled_Caregiver_46 Jun 15 '26
Yeah, that's bollocks. I've just finished eating a curry, the rest of which I'll take into work for lunch tomorrow.
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u/Vigmod Icelander in Norway Jun 15 '26
I live alone, and the smallest package of ground meat I can find is at 400g. That's too much for only me in one sitting. And I think a 600g pack is cheaper (in terms of NOK per kg), so it kind of makes sense to me to get that and have enough for a couple of days.
So it's very common for me to bring some leftovers for lunch the next day. Although I suppose someone could argue that I'm not actually eating leftovers but doing some sort of meal prepping, because the intention was always to make enough for a few meals in the first place.
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u/Own-Perception-4262 Jun 15 '26
Do u know there are several independent countries in Europe with different languages, cultures, currency, etc... the term European is very broad
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u/AzulaThorne Jun 15 '26
Leftovers like; you made more than you could eat the first day and had to have it for the second day? No.
Leftovers like you made more than enough because you know you would want it for the second or even third day? Yes.
At least for me. We make pasta for three days worth to enjoy.
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u/bastian_1991 Spain Jun 16 '26
Has that man never heard about badge cooking? Literally everyone in Europe does this
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u/lucylucylane United Kingdom Jun 16 '26
This person is lying and hoe could they speak for the 40+ countries
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u/Legitimate-Start-639 Czechia Jun 16 '26
Some meals, like goulash, taste even better the day after they are cooked (or even two days).
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u/HopeSubstantial Finland Jun 16 '26
I often make large enough meals for myself so I don't have to cook in 2-3 days.
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u/cashmerered Germany Jun 16 '26
I am German and I would absolutely have leftovers for lunch, thanks.
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u/the_Chocolate_lover Jun 16 '26
Your coworker is full of shit, most people in Europe eat leftovers and in fact, there are plenty of traditional recipes to use or repurpose leftovers (one example for all, panzanella from central Italy).
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u/Impossible-Ruin3214 Portugal Jun 16 '26
I eat leftovers pretty much every day for lunch, apart from the weekend
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u/crazylegscrane75 Spain Jun 16 '26
There is a whole cooking tradition based on leftovers: croquetas de cocido, ropa vieja, pringá, things with leftover bread (migas, salmorejo, torrijas...). And in general, if you cook at home you eat leftovers. Fine and wonderful.
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u/thanatica Netherlands Jun 16 '26
I can't speak for the whole country, but for me it's quite uncommon. When I cook dinner, I cook for 3-4 portions (I live alone). I eat what I want, and freeze the rest. Those "leftovers" get eaten for future dinners.
If I have actual unquoted leftovers, I'll reuse them the next day or two, and process them in something else I'll cook. But almost never lunch. For me, lunch food has to be different from dinner food.
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u/KintsugiExp Jun 16 '26
That is ridiculous.
If you can cook, there will come a time when you eat your leftovers a couple of days later.
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u/german_witch88 Jun 17 '26
I'm german and always cook in a way that we have leftovers for one or two days. I don't always have the time to cook fresh with work and my child, so that's easy, takes away work and is healthier and cheaper than take out
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u/Misty_Pix Jun 17 '26
Europe is not one country, so which country he actually is refering to?
I am from Eastern Europe now living in UK.
Eastern Europe it is common to use leftover as you cook on batches.
UK is a mix and depends on socio economic status, workers will likely have lower income so cooking in batches and eating leftovers is common. Middle class and above, will likely cook for a sitting meal and will unlikely have leftover. However, take this UK assessment with a pinch of salt, as it is just based on my experience encountering different people and did have a large proportion who frowned on leftovers but it could have just been their own preference and not a country specific as I also have several colleagues who eat leftovers at work.
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u/Random_Dude_ke Jun 17 '26
Very few people here in Europe would have a leftover from a restaurant where they ate the evening before. Portions aren't that big in our restaurants, companies often have canteens / cafeterias where you can get lunch for a relatively low price (sponsored by the employer). Most of my coworkers go out (to the restaurant) for lunch, because our company is too small to have cafeteria. In our restaurants we have "lunch menu" - a much cheaper meal that is cooked in advance and you can choose from 3 or 4 pre-cooked meals (that they rotate throughout the week). It still costs about 8 Euro, so I bring my own lunch.
I personally often have leftovers for lunch. I cook a large meal and eat it several days for lunch and/or supper. That alone is enough for you to win that bet 😉.
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u/toonlass91 Jun 17 '26
Brit here. Used to purposefully batch cook so that I had left overs to take for my work lunch.
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u/annekecaramin Jun 17 '26
I live alone and cook for myself most of the time. Cooking for one person sucks so I usually make at least two portions and take the second one to work for lunch the next day. It's a win-win, I get to have nicer dinners and better lunches!
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u/Specialist-Sea-638 Romania Jun 18 '26
always my lunch at work is the leftover dinner from the day before. I normally portion the food in 9 lunchboxes so that everyone in house has cooked meal everyday.
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u/StrikingTonight150 Jun 18 '26
What? Stupids. Of course we do have leftovers for lunch. Unless you are royalty aristocracy I don’t know what they do. But we common people? Leftovers for lunch.
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u/mikroonde in Jun 18 '26
Not only is it great to not have to cook from scratch for every meal, but also, when you do have leftovers, are you supposed to just throw away perfectly good food? I live alone so it's impossible to not have leftovers, when I cook I usually make two portions at once (because ingredients or recipes are not available for just one portion).
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u/Original-Mongoose866 Iceland Jun 19 '26
Sure I know a person here in Iceland that didn't eat leftovers but she had rich parents her boyfriend also had rich parents but well I cook really good food I'm not throwing out the leftovers I'd rather eat tehm
Iceland here
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u/Scorpion1105 Jun 15 '26
Not that common. People have things they eat for dinner and separate things they eat for lunch generally. Leftovers would be more likely to be reused as dinner again.
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u/kimmeljs Finland Jun 15 '26
Maybe he's French? I have had some fantastic lunches in France. Some of them took half a day.
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u/just-visiting-3955 Jun 15 '26
The French do lunch well. Before Covid they had that law making it illegal to have lunch in “the workplace”. I checked and it’s article R4228-19 of the Labor code. Canteens are allowed apparently but not your office.
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u/atchoum013 -> Jun 16 '26
Yeah but those are not every day’s lunches in France either except maybe if you have one of those jobs where you have lunch with clients. Regular office workers will usually either have leftovers in a break room or get some take away, maybe once in a while actually eat out.
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u/TuffGnarl United Kingdom Jun 15 '26
Revoke his EU citizenship please- of course we have left overs .
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u/MrLongWalk Jun 15 '26
That’s a bit rich coming from a Brit, but yeah he’s full of it and just won’t admit it
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u/_x_oOo_x_ ☭ Soviet Union Jun 15 '26
Typical cross-Atlantic misunderstanding happening under this post.
If course people in Europe eat "home cooked meals reheated for next day's lunch"
That's not really what "leftovers" are though, be honest OP
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u/Izzystraveldiaries Hungary Jun 15 '26
I know men like that. I live in Hungary. Their mothers catered to them and never told them to suck it up and eat it. Now their wives have to cook every day after work.
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u/Cloisonetted Jun 15 '26
There's a whole pattern of leftover food made from the remains of a roast chicken dinner, in the UK. Very common to use leftovers as reheated meals, or sandwiches, or in pies
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u/GovernmentBig2749 North Macedonia Jun 15 '26
Well, our sarma gets better with every day it passes-if it can survive (tasty AF!) not being eaten 3 days later
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u/Particular_Run_8930 Denmark Jun 15 '26
That is a silly and obviously false claim. I ofthen reheat leftovers for next days lunch, i did so today and will do so tomorrow again. It’s a very normal thing to do in Denmark.
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u/LvdT88 Jun 15 '26
Where is your coworker from? And are we talking about work lunch or home lunch?
In Italy most people wouldn’t be caught dead eating leftovers at work, but at home it’s fairly normal.
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u/geleisen Netherlands Jun 15 '26
Which country is he from?
Of course, I think it is wrong to say nobody would do it in any country, much less the whole continent, however it is less likely in some countries for sure.
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u/xander012 United Kingdom Jun 15 '26
Not super common for me as we don't have a microwave at work but otherwise pretty damn common lol.
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u/No_Entrance_1755 Jun 15 '26
We cook at home and usually make enough to have leftovers that we take in tupperwares to work the following day for lunch, rinse repeat with a few variations in menu and such.
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u/Rocabarraigh Sweden Jun 15 '26
That's an insane take. In Sweden it's extremely common