In an Arabian Nights story, a young man, called Judar, was given magic saddlebags that provided whatever dishes one asked for. He went to his mother and asked her to wish for a dish. She wished to have hot bread and a slice of cheese, a simple meal that befitted her social status as a poor old woman. The son, however, had a surprise feast for her, more luxurious and more expensive. "O my mother, what suit thine estate are browned meat and roast chicken and peppered rice [ruz mufalfal]. And it becometh thy rank to eat of sausages and stuffed cucumbers [actually stuffed gourds] and stuffed lamb and stuffed ribs of mutton and vermicelli with broken almonds and nuts and honey and sugar [kunafa], and fritters [qata'if] and almond cakes [baklawa]" (Burton, vol. 6, 235-6).

The way the saddle worked was that after the eater had satisfied his or her appetite, the only thing to do was to empty leftovers into other dishes, (a doggy bag!) and return dirty platters to the saddlebags. It was as easy as that, no waiters to be tipped nor bills to be paid.