11/25/09 | Leftovers: More Fried Rice
[ Currently Eating: Rice Balls ]
Happy Th’Day.
As in th’day that we all ingest dumptrucks full of food.
I’m not going berate people for overlooking the “true spirit of Thanksgiving”. I know this is just the way it works. I’d be more of a hypocrite than usual if I said that for this Th’Day post, instead of pteranodonic turkeys and gigantic bowls of mash-po, I’m going to go with simple Leftovers for Lunch.
Well, I’m going to do it anyway. That’s how I roll, and idealistic droning.
Long time readers (the eleven of you) may remember that I’ve posted about fried rice many, many times previously. It’s just difficult to get away from because it’s a great money and time saver for lunch.
To me, Leftovers for Lunch represents one thing we should be thankful for as far as food goes. That is, there is actually leftover food to eat. Most people waste a ton of food every year. I’m as guilty as the next person of that. I’m probably even worse, because I buy a lot of junk food at the dollar store just to review it, and I end up chucking half of it.
I’m not really the type of person who goes down and volunteers at the soup kitchen. That’s just not me. But I guess I’ll try not to waste food and to re-incorporate leftovers into meals whenever possible.
How noble.
Anyhow, this Th’Day Fried Rice is actually made up of two different types of leftover rice. The first is leftover portion of Spanish Rice from a dinner at a Mexican restaurant. The second is a leftover portion of rice from a takeout lunch of Beef Stroganoff (I know, weird, it comes w/ rice instead of noodles). I cut up the beef into pieces, cut off some of the corn on the cob that came with the Spanish Rice, added leftover onions and bell pepper pieces and fried up the whole thing with an egg scrambled into it.
I know, I know – tomorrow I’m going to go eat turkey, stuffing, ham, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie until I burst just like everyone else. It’s hypocritical, stupid, lame and a downer to post about eating leftovers before the big meal in order to make other people feel guilty.
But hey guvnor, I’m just a right bastard.
[Editor's Note: Actually, if you would like to feel even guiltier this Th'Day, you might investigate what Thanksgiving represents to many Native Americans groups.]
November 25th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
Wow! That looks delicious
Spanish rice is my favorite too! I really love it…
November 25th, 2009 at 8:04 pm
I don’t celebrate Thanksgiving because it’s not a holiday in Japan and I don’t have access to traditional food (turkey in particular) anyway. That being said, I have no problem with people indulging on special days. People all over the world do this for their particular holidays. There’s no reason for Americans to collectively feel guilty about it. Feasting wasn’t invented in the U.S. and it’s a custom that spans human history. When we celebrate, we eat, often to excess.
The thing is that I hope people who waste food are feeling guilty about the right thing. Wasting food wastes resources and hurts the environment, but it doesn’t have a connection to starving people around the world. Even if we never wasted one morsel of food, people would still starve. We aren’t taking food out of their mouths. That food would never reach them even if we offered it. There are too many political, military, and logistical impediments to transfer the contents of our ample larder to those with an empty pantry.
Like you, I sometimes throw out edible food that I buy at stores for Japanese snack reviewing because that food isn’t tasty and is nutritionally lacking. It’s hard for me to do this because of the packaging, but also because I grew up poor and was taught never to waste anything. However, I can’t treat my body like a garbage disposal. Whether I joylessly consume empty calories or toss them in the trash, the impact on the environment has been made at the moment I make the purchase.
Happy Thanksgiving!