That doesn't sound weird at all. Seems perfectly normal to me.
> but it's not like you can show up to a restaurant and say "here, use my tupperware for my to go order."
Have you ever tried it? You might be surprised, especially for a to go order. It works at coffee shops. If they don't want to do it they might throw some health-code BS at you and you can add it to your list of places to boycott, if you wish.
> There's no middle ground in America between bringing lunch from home every day so it's in reusable containers and throw away packaging for anything that's not immediately consumed on premises.
My office's lunch room also has plastic spoons and forks. On the rare occasion that I haven't been able to track down metal silverware I've washed and reused the plastic multiple times.
Actually I'm with them that there's no guarantee my tupperware has been properly sanitized, nor do I trust the general public to sanitize theirs when you have so many people who will gladly double dip into communal foods.
EDIT: The "health-code BS" bit is from my experience once, requesting a restaurant to refill my water bottle when I was leaving. Unless they're dipping a water hose into my bottle to fill it, thus bringing water in my bottle into contact with their hose, I fail to see the health issue.
There's no middle ground in America between bringing lunch from home every day so it's in reusable containers and throw away packaging for anything that's not immediately consumed on premises. I would gladly pay another dollar or two for someone to give me tiffin-style lunch packed in a reusable container.