[Sca-cooks] Leftovers, questions and discussion [long]

David Friedman ddfr at daviddfriedman.com
Tue Sep 7 23:55:48 PDT 2010


>  > Now as to peasant diets and leftovers, I am afraid I see this as two
>>  questions.
>>
>>  Who had leftovers? The status of leftovers?
>>
>>  If you start with leftovers, and look in OED one is instructed to look
>>  up leave (verb) and that leads to:
>>    e. leave over. trans. To allow to remain for future use; to let
>>  ‘stand over’ for subsequent consideration. Freq. in pa. pple. left
>>  over, remaining, not used up.
>>
>>  1887 Times (weekly ed.) 14 Oct. 3/2 He thought the matter might be
>>  left over for the present.
>>
>>  1892 ‘MARK TWAIN’ Amer. Claimant xii. 107 Irish stew made of the
>>  potatoes and meat left over from a procession of previous meals.
>>
>>  left-over, a. and n. shows up as
>>  B. n. Something remaining over; esp. a portion of some article of food
>>  left over from a meal. Freq. pl. Also transf.
>>
>>  1891 Cassell's Family Mag. May 374/1 They all like change of diet, so
>>  I provide all sorts of things, with the result that the ‘left-overs’,
>>  as I call them, are appalling.
>>
>>  So the term is 19th century.
>>  ---
>>  They may have dined on the remains of a previous meal, but they didn't
>>  dine on a left-over.
>>
>
>I wish I had your vast store of knowledge about this subject.  I want to
>be you when I grow up!  So it is with some trepidation that I mention that
>I believe I have read German recipe(s) that specifically are for food that
>is left over.  The lack of a concordance is driving me crazy.  I'll no
>doubt find it when I least expect it, so please bear with me in my search.
>  I don't expect anyone to take this statement without the backing evidence
>so I will look and post it when I find it again.  This doesn't add
>anything to the pasties discussion, but I do suspect the Germans at least
>had the concept and linguistic articulation of food left-over.  Now just
>to find it!

There is a reference somewhere to one of the 
Caliphs, I think Muawiya, having the leftover 
food from the previous evening's dinner for 
breakfast.
-- 
David Friedman
www.daviddfriedman.com
daviddfriedman.blogspot.com/


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