A plastic container with one minute useful life..

We chanced upon a wonderful restaurant in romantic little B&B town in California this past weekend. It overlooked a beautiful vista point. The view from the restaurant was gorgeous, and the life music... wonderful. I was enjoying the saxophone and keyboard when the waiter brought the couple next to us their bread and olive oil. And then my evening was ruined...

The olive oil came in a small disposable plastic container, whose whole purpose in life (in this case) seems to be to carry the small dollop of oil from kitchen to table. Its content was swiftly emptied onto a ceramic plate, and it disappeared into the trash. My jaw just dropped. I could not believe it. Later, we had our bread, and I confirmed with the waiter that the plastic container was indeed discarded, not reused. I did a quick mental calculation and realized that recycling would not be practical since to wash off the oil would require too much soap and water compared to the amount of plastic saved. The only phrase that came to my mind was... "how sinful it is to waste so copiously".

I think they may be putting the olive oil in the small container in order to have the right ratio of garlic to balsamic vinegar to oil, but there MUST be a better way! We did end up having a good meal. The cooking is definitely good but I just can't support a business that is as irresponsible. I won't name names publicly since such practices are unfortunately still common so it is unfair to them, but I can say I will not go back to the restaurant.