The anthropologist Mary Douglas has pointed out that, for the English, the kind of meal and the kind of food that is served relate to the kinds of social links between people who are eating together.

What's more, if people do not balance their snacking by eating less at meal time, that between-meal "grazing" could help pack on the pounds.

Or, separate your meal before you start eating so that you create a distinction between what you are going to eat in the restaurant and what you want to take home.