Once they were the hallmark of the savvy homemaker. Then they fell into disgrace. Today leftovers are back in culinary fashion
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tir fry with veggies and rice. Stuff in an enchilada. Or when time is short just reheat and hope the kids will come down with temporary amnesia.
Finding ways to use up those leftover pieces of chicken is a culinary art of its own. Yet there was a time when eating leftovers wasn’t just the norm — it was a family’s patriotic duty. And today when according to the United Nations some 1.3 billion tons of food go to waste every year some consider consuming leftovers the ultimate foodie fashion statement.
“The Frenchwoman finds at market a division of every article of food into ‘portions.’ The smallest practicable amount per head is for sale… This is offensive to the American mind. Quantity with us is the first essential… Self-respect demands that three pounds be bought where one would suffice and then comes the question of leftovers.” (Our Continent April 26 1882)
It’s true that Americans tend to think big. But the problem of leftovers — a word that first appeared in print in the April 1882 issue of an illustrated weekly magazine called Our Continent — was not a new or exclusively American concern.
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