Take-out standards

New York has take-out down to a science. When you purchase food to take with you for immediate consumption, you can be sure of three things when it is handed to you:

- your food will be placed in a paper or plastic bag
- plenty of napkins
- and if you purchase a cold, non-alcoholic beverage, a straw

In other parts of the country, straws are seldom distributed, napkins might be the customer’s responsibility, and you might get stuck with an unwieldy styrofoam container. In NYC, you get all three, all the time, no matter where you go.