To Eat or Not to Eat, part 1

Like many people in the Bay Area these past couple weeks, I recently had a power outage for more than 24 hours due to the storm and high winds. I’m grateful for friends who offered to house me during that harrowing time, as it’s a reminder of how much we’ve come to rely on modern comforts like electricity and fast wifi.

As a result of the power outage, I was debating what, if anything, I should dispose of in my refrigerator. The initial estimate for the outage was more than 48 hours so I thought I’d have to throw everything away, but since it only lasted a day I wasn’t sure if I had to get rid of anything at all. After polling a few friends the consensus seemed to be: depends what it is.

“You’re rolling the dice on meat,” Jason said, “but leftover pizza can survive a nuclear war.” I was hoping I could salvage the raw fish I bought a few days prior, but alas, I didn’t have time to cook it so it went to the trash.

It is interesting to see how different people observe different food safety protocols. On the day of the power outage, Karen commented that she would take the “risk” of leaving her lunch leftovers on the counter and having it for dinner, versus putting it in the fridge. I laughed and told her I did that regularly, and earlier in the week I had baked salmon I left out overnight (mainly out of laziness).

In my defense, I used to be stricter about putting leftover food in the fridge, but then I had this interaction with my grandma in Taiwan when she said to just cover the leftover dinner and leave it out on the table overnight. I remember thinking that was odd, but figured she grew up without a refrigerator and has plenty of experience storing food safely. From then on I became more relaxed about always putting food away in the fridge, especially if I’m going to eat it the next day.

On a related topic, I have also noticed that I may have a different standard towards expired food than other people. Although I do not recommend eating expired food, I am okay with it because I do not want to waste food, and expiration dates are more like guidelines anyway (as long as you apply the smell test).

Having said that, I do wonder if there are benefits to eating expired food and baked salmon left out overnight that we may not be aware of. For example, parents expose their children to germs and allergens at a young age because they want them to build immunity and be less likely to get sick later in life. Similarly, one could argue that “expired” food works in much the same way. A friend told me once that he occasionally ate slightly spoiled food so that his stomach/body would get stronger. I wouldn’t go that far, but perhaps eating expired food is akin to locals developing immunity toward eating street food, and is that such a bad thing?

To go one step further — isn’t this how vaccines work? Maybe not the latest mRNA vaccines, but according to the WHO, traditional vaccines “contain weakened or inactive parts of a particular organism (antigen) that triggers an immune response within the body.”

So the next time you’re debating whether or not to eat that leftover pizza or expired yogurt, think of it as a potential vaccine or immune booster. Of course, make sure you’re not being lazy and apply the smell test. But if you’re still not sure, just order some takeout and avoid the risk altogether. Because let’s face it, I can’t afford the liability of your getting food poisoning, even if it could be the best thing for your immune system.

Additional information:

• According to the CDC, you should throw away food in the fridge if the power has been out for more than 4 hours. This seems too conservative to me, but what do I know?
• Only in 1925 did half of all homes in the U.S. have electric power. (Source: NPS)
• Commercial refrigerators have been around since the 1850s, but the first refrigerator for home use was introduced in 1911. (Source: Apartment Therapy)
• Refrigerators became more commonplace in the 1930s after the invention of Freon in 1928: almost half of American homes had one by the 30s, and by the end of the 40s they were in most American homes. (Source: Apartment Therapy)