AMany well-to-do households in India offer leftover food to the poorer (labourers, orphans, street-kids). In here, there was this well-to-do family the protagonist was staying with. Across the wall was a washermen's colony. The leftovers were passed on for their consumption. This system avoids wastage of food while simultaneously feeding the poorer.Yet, in actual practice, it would not be very nice to offer food from the same plate one has eaten in. Usually, leftover food is collected in separate clean vessels and offered to the poor.