Recently I was thinking about how porky I've become and how to lose some weight, without resorting to such hackneyed means as exercise. I was thinking, as is my habit, in a restaurant (I find the proximity of food helps me think). I ordered a burger and swapped halves with my friend (he had the guinea fowl), then after eating my half-burger realised that I was full.
This got me thinking - what if I just ate half of everything served to me at restaurants ? Of course that would be wasteful. What if, I continued, there was a way for me to send half my food to a starving child in Africa/India/wherever ? Then I could lose weight and gain karma points at the same time.
Hence the idea of 'Go Halves' - the charity that lets you do just that. The idea is simple - you pay full whack, but ask to 'Go Halves' and nominate the charity of your choice. You then receive a plate with your food bisected neatly down the middle (in the manner of a Damien Hirst), or just half the portion size if the former was impractical.
Half the money you paid goes direct to the charity you nominated; and you get a receipt to satisfy yourself there's been no chicanery on the part of the restaurant.
This hits several buttons in one handy package - first, our obsession with weight and diet; second, our guilt about being rich first-worlders; third, our love of conspicuous donations (vis. the Make Poverty History wristband craze); and fourth, the universal appeal of 'impulse buying' - this would be 'impulse charity'.
Finally, it should appeal because of the simplicity of the gesture - giving half of your sustenance to someone else.-- bumhat, Mar 12 2007 <starving child in Africa>"This half-burger is cold!"<sciA>-- hippo, Mar 12 2007 Of course you could just save half your lunch for tomorrow. But still (+)-- Galbinus_Caeli, Mar 12 2007 A nice concept that flies in the face of crapitalism. [+]-- nuclear hobo, Mar 12 2007 Would this apply to all-you-can-eat specials too? If so, count me in :)-- phundug, Mar 12 2007 Well known in Germany as the FdH diet plan. FdH = Friss die Hälfte (Eat half of it)-- squeak, Mar 12 2007 Or you could order a smaller meal, then send money to a charity you chose, not one run by the restauranteur's brother-in-law.-- bungston, Mar 12 2007 + I think it's wonderful. (I noticed how porky I have gotten over the winter.)... and I like the idea of *impulse charity* as I always give a dollar to beggars or street musicians which seems to always be an impulse.-- xandram, Mar 12 2007 Or you can box the other half and give it to a homeless person on the street.-- Machiavelli, Mar 12 2007 You go first [bigsleep].-- methinksnot, Mar 12 2007 "Let them eat half my cake."-- MaxwellBuchanan, Mar 12 2007 Depends how you go about it. God's Love We Deliver and other New York charities deliver the unused food from restaurants to the homeless every day of the week. Indeed, that is the basis of Pret A Manger's marketing here, that it's food is fresh bacause every night it gives the leftover sandwiches to City Harvest.
Since American portions are so big, and so much bigger than a normal person needs, I have frequently doggy-bagged my leftovers and given them to street beggars.
Whether this helps them or hurts them is open to debate, but I feel good about it.-- DrCurry, Mar 13 2007 //Since American portions are so big, and so much bigger than a normal person needs// Indeed, assuming that bumhat is in the US, this idea is a bit like a shop doubling it's prices one day and then announcing a half price sale the next.-- DrBob, Mar 13 2007 I guess the difference is that you're giving the money to the charity of your choice - not just food-related. So it could be helping heroin addicts in the inner city, cancer research or water aid, false legs for mine victims, anything.-- bumhat, Mar 14 2007 When I was a back-waiter at a restaurant in Metairie, LA, there was a man that came in to eat alone a lot for late lunch. He would sometimes ask for a doggie box with the meal and put one of his two crab cakes or half his steak in the box and give it back to the waiter.
You could just have the staff put the other half of the meal on a paper plate and hand it out the back door to anyone who may want it.
I go to Greek restaurant that has portions big enough for three people. I would love to have the option of sending the pre-munched-on food to a shelter or a community center. Beautiful idea+++-- nomocrow, Jul 15 2010 I had a conversation with a street beggar on this exact matter. He preferred money to food because if people saw him eating, or with a half eaten meal or doggy bag, etc., they didn't have the same charitable reaction. While he's begging he must be *seen* to be needy, else his income is reduced.
Giving him a meal feeds him in the moment, giving him money feeds him tomorrow too.-- Tulaine, Jul 15 2010 So do passenger flights to Africa have a special compartment on the plane where leftover food is packed and transported? I never understood that part of the logistics.-- phundug, Jul 15 2010 Not a few people here have read _Dune_ I'm sure. Who remembers the banquet scene, where the guests slop water on the floor when washing their hands, and the dirty rags, used to mop the floor, are given out as charity to thirsty beggars at the back door? Or the displeasure of the functionary in charge of handing out wet rags when the Duke ordered that clean water be substituted?-- mouseposture, Jul 16 2010 Nice analogy.-- nomocrow, Jul 16 2010 random, halfbakery