Last week I happened to be in Victoria Street and hungry. So I went to Itsu. My choice was salmon teriyaki. I don’t know the meaning of the word teriyaki but I liked the look of the cooked salmon pieces on top of rice, sprinkled with sesame seeds. The price on the shelf was just under £4 and I thought it was a good deal in Central London. When at the till I was asked if I would it in, I said yes as sitting at the oval shaped tables looked very attractive to me after my long walking that day. This raised the bill to over £5, but  my need to sit down was so urgent, I accepted it with no hesitation. What annoyed me was that there was no indication on the price tags at the shelves that there will be different prices if “take away” or “eat in”. When eating in you use some plastic cutlery, a few drops of condiment and the shop assistant cleans the table after you, so, fair enough, you be charged 1.50 for it. But, the next thing which also annoyed me, they don’t give you a plate, you still eat from the packaging, which is meant for the “take away”. This used to be the meaning of paying different for “eat in” in the cafes from the good old times in London, I still remember. So, the raised price of “eat in” used to include the washing of your plate. When you buy a pack of food and eat from the same pack, then you throw it after you finish eating in the bin provided and the assistant only just wipes the table after you.

Well, I am not completely “ last century”,  I am used to eating sushi from cardboard packaging, which I usually buy from an outlet in Canary Warf for just under $4. The box is dark green inside and when I poor the strong soy sauce over the pieces of rice, covered with salmon, I always fear that some of the colouring of the box will get in my mouth together with the food. This is why I eat it very fast, trying not to think much about it. Besides, as much as I like sushi I can’t have it as often as I would like. This is because the salmon in sushi is not cooked and there is always a thought in the bottom of my mind,  that something wrong could happen after eating it.

The teriyaki is a portion of rice, on top of which there are some pieces of cooked salmon. Finishing my portion took some time and a surprise was waiting for me on the bottom of the cardboard box! A printed advertisement, starting with the slogan: Eat beautiful, eat lighter, eat Itsu! Followed by the description of some healthy meals and promoting the Itsu restaurant in Chelsea. This advert occupied the right half of the bottom of my box, on the left, there was an advert of the Volleyball England Beach Tour, which Itsu sponsors proudly. There is a picture of a half-naked male athlete, who’s armpit is in plain view! This is exactly what I needed for desert!

More than twenty years ago when I first came to this country and started learning English first, I worked for a while in a Burger King “restaurant” as the manager used to call it, to my dismay. It looked to me as a canteen for fast eating, but….As a former advertising executive in my then already post-communist country, I was very impressed by one inventive method for advertising: we were placing pieces of printed advertising/promoting material on the trays, which clients would use for taking their food and drink to their table. This way, they would see it and read it while having their burger, “meal” as it was then called. I was impressed from point of view of advertising and promoting, but I still think that covering the tray with a serviette would be better, or, just a tray, well cleaned with antibacterial spray and dried afterwards, would be best from hygiene point of view.

Anyway, in Burger King’s case, the printed material was not in direct contact with the food. But apparently nowadays, Itsu and other companies have taken it further and they think nothing of the direct contact the food they offer with the dye of the printed material their packaging is made of.

What do you think? Should somebody tell them to stop doing this?