Dictionary Definition
leftovers n : food remaining from a previous
meal; "he had leftovers for dinner last night"
User Contributed Dictionary
English
Noun
Translations
- Alabama: oolimpaɬahka
- French: restes p
- Italian: avanzi ''pl
- Neapolitan: remmasuglia
Extensive Definition
Leftovers are the uneaten edible remains of a
meal after the diner has
finished eating. Food
scraps that are not considered edible (such as bones or the skins of some vegetables and fruits) are not regarded as
leftovers, but rather as waste material; any remaining
edible portions constitute the leftovers.
The ultimate fate of leftovers depends on where
the meal was eaten, the preferences of the diner, and the
prevailing social culture. Home cooking leftovers
are often saved to be eaten later. This is facilitated by being in
a private environment, with food preserving facilities such as
airtight containers and refrigeration close at
hand. Some leftover food can be eaten cold from the refrigerator,
while others may be reheated in a microwave
or a conventional oven, or
mixed with additional ingredients and recooked to make a new dish
such as bubble
and squeak.
New dishes made from leftovers are quite common
in world cuisine, and many were created in the days before
refrigeration and reliable airtight containers existed. Besides
capturing nutrition from otherwise inedible bones, stocks and
broths make an excellent base for adding leftover morsels too small
to be a meal themselves. Casseroles,
paella, fried rice,
and pizza can also be used
for this purpose, and may even have been invented as a means of
reusing leftovers. Among American university students, leftover
pizza itself has acquired particular in-group significance, to the
extent that the USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service offers,
as its first tip under "Food Safety Tips for College Students", a
discussion of the risks of eating unrefrigerated pizza, which are
considerable
Leftovers from a restaurant meal may either be
left behind to be discarded by the restaurant, or taken away by the
diner for later consumption. In order to take the food away, the
diner may make a request for it to be packaged. The container used
for such leftovers is commonly called a doggie bag or doggy bag;
the name comes from the euphemistic pretense that the
food will be given to the diner's pet, rather than eaten by a person.
Doggy bags are most common in restaurants that offer a take-out food
service as well as sit-down meals, and their prevalence as an
accepted social custom varies widely by location. The term "doggie
bag" is now obsolete in (at least) much of the USA. While it is
understood, a diner is more likely to request a "takeout box," a
"to-go box," or just a "box." Another possibility is that the term
"doggy bag" has origins in rural Cambridgeshire, England, where a
"dockie bag" is what the lower-class farm hands historically used
to carry their lunch each day. That term came from Victorian times
when workers were docked pay while they ate lunch; lunch time was
therefore "dockie time," and your lunch was carried in a "dockie
bag."
Some cultures regard the leaving of some uneaten
food by dining guests as a symbol of satisfaction with the meal,
while others consider this to be rude. In some cultures, it is
polite to leave a half-bite on the plate in the manner of a
libation. This is not a
leftover, since it will not be eaten. It also serves the purpose of
indicating that the food provided by the host was sufficient in
quantity. Wiping one's plate clean indicates the opposite, while
leaving more food uneaten may be interpreted as a dislike to the
food; both are potential signs of impoliteness to one's
hosts.
At some holiday meals, such as Christmas in
Western countries and Thanksgiving
in the USA, it
is customary for the host to prepare much more food than can be
eaten, specifically in order to send leftovers home with the
guests. Cold turkey
is archetypal in the United States as a Thanksgiving leftover, with
turkey meat often reappearing in sandwiches, soups, and casseroles
for several days after the feast.
The word "ort," meaning a small scrap of food
left after a meal is completed, is not commonly heard in
conversation, but is frequently encountered in crossword
puzzles.
See also
References
leftovers in Afrikaans: Woefkardoes
leftovers in Hebrew: שאריות
leftovers in Chinese: 二手食物