"Today is the last day..."
I have a theory I've developed over time. Amongst famous Pippingisms is the proclimation, "Today's the last day" to eat fill-in-the-blank leftovers, with the assumption that surely on the dawn of tomorrow they will no longer be edible. This phrase was quite commonly used at Saturday lunches, where leftovers from the past week cumulated and were forced upon us. Actually, that's probably not accurate. I'm not a huge sandwich fan (unless I can have yummy extras on it, such as lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, etc.) and I generally would volunteer to eat said leftovers. I'm quite certain that I ended up eating quite a few leftovers where the following philosophy applied:
~~Yesterday was probably the last day, but as fill-in-the-blank leftovers are still in the fridge, and seeing as how we need to eat lunch today, why don't we just eat it and pretend that today is the last day before said food will expire.~~
The phrase, "When in doubt, throw it out" did not apply in our home. It was more like, "When in doubt, at least eat several mouthfuls before making a decision." Also influencial, the lack of obsene smells or growths. If you don't really notice anything amiss, you're fine.
According to my own personal philosophy (currently not endorsed by the CDC, or really anyone for that matter--except my sisters, who also were subjected to the aforementioned Saturday leftovers), I do believe that over time, one's stomach gets more used to foods that have a higher bacteria count in them, and thus decreases the chances that one will get food poisoning. I think that my parents scoff at my philosophy as they would never have intentionally put us in any sort of harm's way. They insist that they never subjected us to anything "too old" to eat. There was a great value placed on the comsumption of leftovers for several reasons: first, as not to be wasteful (definately high up on the stewardship scale) and second, to not buy more food than necessary (also making an appearance on the stewardship scale, but more importantly, high on the thrifty/penny-pinching scale). The possible side effects of the leftover-eating were lower on the importance scale than the inherent value of leftovers. Incidentally, the CDC notes that 5,000 people per year die of foodborne illnesses. Of course, these include people not washing their hands after handling raw meat and other such silly behaviors. I don't think that leftovers fall into the same category of raw meat--I would generally guess that one could get much sicker, or get sick more easily from raw meat rather than leftovers. And frankly, all three of us Pipping girls were rarely sick as children. The only time I remember being off school for a significant time period was when I got strep throat in 3rd grade.
Interestingly enough, I still thrive on leftovers. As a thrifty/penny-pinching person myself, I embark full-steam ahead on the use of leftovers. Fortunately for my stomach, I usually consume any leftovers well within the readily accepted 3-4 day window of time, given that I don\'t have much other food in my house at any given time. And I still rarely get sick. Thus, the proof of my philosophy. :)
~~Yesterday was probably the last day, but as fill-in-the-blank leftovers are still in the fridge, and seeing as how we need to eat lunch today, why don't we just eat it and pretend that today is the last day before said food will expire.~~
The phrase, "When in doubt, throw it out" did not apply in our home. It was more like, "When in doubt, at least eat several mouthfuls before making a decision." Also influencial, the lack of obsene smells or growths. If you don't really notice anything amiss, you're fine.
According to my own personal philosophy (currently not endorsed by the CDC, or really anyone for that matter--except my sisters, who also were subjected to the aforementioned Saturday leftovers), I do believe that over time, one's stomach gets more used to foods that have a higher bacteria count in them, and thus decreases the chances that one will get food poisoning. I think that my parents scoff at my philosophy as they would never have intentionally put us in any sort of harm's way. They insist that they never subjected us to anything "too old" to eat. There was a great value placed on the comsumption of leftovers for several reasons: first, as not to be wasteful (definately high up on the stewardship scale) and second, to not buy more food than necessary (also making an appearance on the stewardship scale, but more importantly, high on the thrifty/penny-pinching scale). The possible side effects of the leftover-eating were lower on the importance scale than the inherent value of leftovers. Incidentally, the CDC notes that 5,000 people per year die of foodborne illnesses. Of course, these include people not washing their hands after handling raw meat and other such silly behaviors. I don't think that leftovers fall into the same category of raw meat--I would generally guess that one could get much sicker, or get sick more easily from raw meat rather than leftovers. And frankly, all three of us Pipping girls were rarely sick as children. The only time I remember being off school for a significant time period was when I got strep throat in 3rd grade.
Interestingly enough, I still thrive on leftovers. As a thrifty/penny-pinching person myself, I embark full-steam ahead on the use of leftovers. Fortunately for my stomach, I usually consume any leftovers well within the readily accepted 3-4 day window of time, given that I don\'t have much other food in my house at any given time. And I still rarely get sick. Thus, the proof of my philosophy. :)
posted by beth at
4:03 PM
2 Comments:
Uh...rriiiiight. Your self-evident theory is interesting. Now if you were going on a second week for those leftovers I would be listening. But really, just a week? Bah, that's nothing.
sounds like you may have developed your own little pharmacy in your body. :)
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home