[HN Gopher] The Secret Life of Leftovers
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The Secret Life of Leftovers
Author : samizdis
Score : 45 points
Date : 2022-08-09 08:38 UTC (2 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.thenewatlantis.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.thenewatlantis.com)
| paulpauper wrote:
| Freezing leftovers makes them last a lot longer. This is what the
| article seemed to be suggesting.
| EricE wrote:
| Reminds me of this Dirty Jobs episode about recycling the scraps
| from the Vegas buffets at a local pig farm:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eKTQtNuJ_0w
| goatcode wrote:
| This seems overly pessimistic, and perhaps very myopically
| metropolitan. I can't imagine wasting food from a restaurant -- I
| always have taken my leftovers home and eaten them later. Even at
| home, stuff gets used or I feel shame, and unusable scraps go
| into the compost.
| GoodbyeMrChips wrote:
| > I can't imagine wasting food from a restaurant -- I always
| have taken my leftovers home and eaten them later.
|
| Is this a thing where you are from?
|
| I suggest here in Blighty, the waiters would be rather confused
| by such a request; not to mention something of a social faux
| pas.
| pertique wrote:
| It's very common in the US, at least the parts I've been. It
| depends on the restaurant, of course, but most places will
| provide a takeout box to take home uneaten food if you ask.
|
| In fact, it's not uncommon for the waiter to offer a box
| unprompted if you have a fair amount of leftover food.
| GoodbyeMrChips wrote:
| > in the US
|
| Ah, this makes sense.
|
| I recall eating in US restaurants and being given
| ridiculously large portions... something we half-joked -
| half-seriously suggested was down to the size of some of
| the patrons. Presumably is it instead the expectation that
| some of the food is taken home.
| asdff wrote:
| For some types of food if I order takeout and I finish
| the entire portion in one go, I'm extremely disappointed
| MrManBooks wrote:
| elefantastisch wrote:
| Genuinely curious where in the world taking home leftovers
| from a restaurant is _uncommon_.
| sithadmin wrote:
| It's often frowned on in Japan.
| tmnvix wrote:
| Almost unheard of in Australia and New Zealand.
| crazygringo wrote:
| It's absolutely normal in the US at restaurants which
| emphasize food quantity, which is a lot of them.
|
| If you're dining at a trendy spot in NYC or SF or LA, then
| you won't be taking leftovers home simply because portion
| sizes are small, or you're headed to a bar afterwards, etc.
| It's a different lifestyle.
|
| But if you go out for dinner in most of the country where
| portions are supposed to be massive, it's pretty normal that
| after a round of appetizers, you won't be able to finish more
| than half your entree. After eating, the server will ask if
| you want to "take it home" (sometimes using the phrase
| "doggie bag") and the answer is almost always "of course,
| it'll be great for lunch tomorrow", and they wrap it up for
| you. You're just driving straight home anyways.
|
| If it's a business dinner or a fancy first date then maybe
| you wouldn't... but also maybe you still would. Leaving half
| of a delicious steak uneaten is pretty wasteful and can be
| kind of a bad look.
|
| Feel free to browse the Cheesecake Factory calorie contents
| if you don't believe:
|
| https://www.thecheesecakefactory.com/sites/default/files/202.
| ..
|
| Their chicken katsu entree, for example, is 2,520 calories. A
| regular teriyaki chicken plate is 1,550 calories. Of course
| you're taking it home.
| bonney_io wrote:
| The ultimate troll in that, after _all that_ , it's a blog post
| leading up to a recipe.
| notacoward wrote:
| I don't think I'll go dumpster diving any time soon, but I do
| take significant pride in using up leftovers. In fact, the
| poutine example is particularly relevant to me. Just the other
| night I made a kind of poutine from old pasta, random bits of
| cheese from the drawer, and leftover KFC gravy. It was delicious.
| "Daddy casserole" made from whatever I can find in the fridge is
| not only tolerated but eagerly consumed in my family. I find more
| joy in doing much with little than in creating extravagant (and
| often labor intensive) meals.
|
| I think it's a shame that so many young people don't know how to
| cook _at all_ , and when they do learn it usually tends toward
| haute cuisine made with only the very freshest ingredients. To
| the first part, I still remember the early days of the pandemic
| when many of my Facebook colleagues were panicked about how
| they'd eat with the company cafes unavailable. The response was a
| slew of tutorials from the cafe staff (every blessing to them for
| that) and internal groups devoted to the topic. To the second
| part, I think there needs to be more teaching of how to cook
| _every day_ food and not just "occasion" food. Improvising from
| random things on hand, instead of exhaustively searching for
| specific ingredients in recipes. A lot of people would be
| healthier, happier, and less of a burden on the planet if they
| just had more of the _confidence_ that comes from experience of
| whipping things together.
| euroderf wrote:
| At our grade school, "Cowboy Shortcake" was what they called
| Leftovers Surprise.
| EricE wrote:
| I have helped a few friends kick start their kids love of
| cooking by sharing some free meal coupons from Blue Apron. It's
| a great way to ease someone into cooking who has zero
| experience since they provide recipes with easy to follow
| directions and provide the exact quantity of ingredients needed
| which keeps waste down. It really helps break down the
| intimidation barriers and get people *started* on cooking on
| their own. I stay with it for the convenience, but most of them
| have since moved on and now do their own recipe planning and
| shopping; but they probably wouldn't be where they are if they
| hadn't at least started.
|
| As a single person the biggest thing I like about services like
| Blue Apron: I can have a wide variety of fresh ingredients but
| without the waste of buying things like family sized bundles of
| herbs where I end up throwing half or more out before I can use
| them all.
| Benlights wrote:
| Reading about food waste has always bothered me. Growing up in a
| Jewish orthodox household wasting food was verboten. There is
| even a mitzvah (commandment) regarding wasting food and or
| resources[1].
|
| I think that mindset drove me to be named the "leftovers king" by
| my extended family, as I repurpose leftovers into delicious
| meals.
|
| There are a couple techniques that can help turn fridge leftovers
| into really good meals besides for soup. You can make an amazing
| Frittata using whatever leftover veg and protein you have.
|
| 1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bal_tashchit
| EricE wrote:
| Leftovers are awesome. I just got done recycling some leftover
| In 'n Out fries in an omelette this morning (and for those
| wondering how you can have left over fries - I intentionally
| bought an extra serving yesterday so I could have leftovers
| today)
| nyc_pizzadev wrote:
| Yup, I would say a lot of families are very conscious about not
| wasting food. These habits are still being passed down to
| future generations. But as this article points out, the biggest
| sources of waste are producers, distributors, and sellers. Not
| sure what can be done to remedy that waste.
| EricE wrote:
| Awesome article. If there is one takeaway for everyone from it is
| the myth of the "expiration date". Boggles my mind that food
| banks routinely reject *canned* food that is even one day out of
| date.
| GoodbyeMrChips wrote:
| > the myth of the "expiration date"
|
| We (UK) have _use by_ dates, and _best before_ dates.
|
| They mean exactly what they say.
|
| i.e. Raw chicken will have a _use by_ date, eat it beyond this
| and you risk getting the shits. On the other hand all fruit,
| veg, tins and most dairy simply have _best before_ dates....
| meaning use your eyes and nose to see if it is OK.
| euroderf wrote:
| Foods' resilience vis-a-vis expiration dates varies. For
| example: yogurt seems unaffected even a week after
| "expiration". Manufacturers by law have to set a date, but it
| ain't a law for end-consumers.
| Arrath wrote:
| This is a fight I am still waging with my girlfriend, who feels
| that an expiration date is law.
| ValentineC wrote:
| I feel like I'm constantly at loggerheads with many of my
| friends too because of this. It's silly how so many of them
| unquestioningly obey expiration dates.
|
| The silliest though are people who do so, but happily leave a
| pack of opened UHT milk in the fridge for _months_ because
| _it wouldn 't expire for another year or so_.
| ethbr0 wrote:
| The nomenclature was severely fucked up. "Expiration" never
| should have been allowed.
|
| If it had started as "Best by" then we'd have substantially
| less stigma around it.
| slfnflctd wrote:
| One of my earliest jobs was dishwasher. I saw so much waste. Part
| of my work involved jumping into the dumpster and
| stomping/hopping around to pack down the garbage so it wouldn't
| overflow before pickup time.
|
| This is an impressively detailed piece and I agree with most of
| it, but changing the culture around these things is very hard.
| There are people salvaging food which would otherwise be wasted,
| and on many occasions I've been one of them... it makes me glad
| to know there are backchannel options for those who are
| struggling or can put the food to good use. Sadly, the social
| stigma is still very high, and that will continue to be a major
| barrier.
|
| As the author points out, we are never going to give up the
| current system voluntarily. If it is to happen at all, it will be
| a result of some kind of crunch. I guess the silver lining is
| that there's still plenty of slack in the system to feed the most
| desperate among us right now. In any case, my parents taught me
| to fold leftovers into casseroles or stews and I'm glad for it--
| you never know when those skills might be more than just an
| ideological preference.
| helpfulmandrill wrote:
| As someone who has sometimes used "food waste" as an excuse to
| overeat, I find the concept of "metabolic food waste" useful.
| That is, food that you _over_ eat is still wasted food. If you
| bought or cooked too much food, _that_ was the point at which you
| made a mistake, and that mistake cannot be undone by proceeding
| to stuff your face.
| [deleted]
| mc32 wrote:
| So what about people who overeat just to work off the calories
| later? Is that food waste too?
|
| In other words is leisure exercise above that which helps keep
| the body fit, exercise that leads to food waste?
| bsedlm wrote:
| nope, they're just people with a larger carbon footprint; to
| put in some way, point being they're using more energy.
| keeping in mind that these people are usually healthier thus
| look good.
|
| I think of this a bit like tiying your shoes and untying them
| over and over, or maybe it's like putting a lego set
| together, taking it appart, then back together...
| xboxnolifes wrote:
| Its not overeating if they worked it off.
| triceratops wrote:
| According to an another article I read on here a few months
| back, "working off calories" is basically impossible over the
| long term. The body will adapt to the work and become more
| efficient in how many calories it expends to do it. Or you'll
| injure yourself and be unable to do as much work.
| spudlyo wrote:
| Not sure the body's adaptation is a significant factor, but
| it only takes a few moments to consume a calorie dense
| food, and perhaps an hour of sustained exercise to burn
| burn it off. If I've already done my daily exercise, I'm
| not interested in doing any more. Seems a lot easier not to
| eat it in the first place.
| ciphol wrote:
| Or as I heard it, "better to destroy your food than destroy
| your body".
| MarkSweep wrote:
| Or "better to go to waste than go to your waist".
| uoaei wrote:
| Better to save your food, maybe...
| k__ wrote:
| But what about Africa?!
|
| But seriously, you can just put it in Tupperware and keep it
| for later.
| onenite wrote:
| Not to mention that to overeat to the point of feeling sluggish
| is possibly a waste of energy and time.
|
| Even worse is when it negatively affects your sleep and body's
| restorative processes.
| JumpCrisscross wrote:
| > _but still I couldn't have that delicious poutine_
|
| You're in New York. It is perfectly acceptable to offer your
| undrunk wine and uneaten poutine to another table. Similarly,
| asking a random table to doggy bag something for you is unusual
| but also fine.
| ThePadawan wrote:
| Shout out to my college cafeteria that used to serve "Toast
| Surprise" on some Fridays.
|
| That's "whatever we couldn't get rid of during the week, served
| on bread and with grilled cheese on top".
|
| If the original meal was something like overcooked, underseasoned
| vegetable stew, that made it 300% better.
| ethbr0 wrote:
| NASA kid's Space Camp (circa ~95) staff would intercept you on
| the way to the trash can and say "I'll do that for you."
|
| Tray and person would subsequently disappear into the back.
|
| We always assumed today's meal was yesterday's extras.
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