Can onions cause food poisoning?
Rumor claims bacteria on cut onions and potatoes cause more food poisoning than spoiled mayonnaise.Onions are a huge magnet for bacteria, especially uncooked onions. You should never plan to keep a portion of a sliced onion. It's not even safe if you put it in a zip-lock bag and put it in your refrigerator. It's already contaminated enough just by being cut open and out for a bit, that it can be a danger to you.if you take the leftover onion and cook it like crazy you'll probably be okay, but if you slice that leftover onion and put on your sandwich, you're asking for trouble. Both the onions and the moist potato in a potato salad, will attract and grow bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise will even begin to break down.
Why do restaurants throw food away instead of giving it to the homeless?
Some do, Claire, below, is incorrect, and a majority are lazy.I spent a lot of time during the onset of the Recession going around among my Chef ‘friends’ telling them about a local program that picked up food for the hungry, put it into disposable hotel pans themselves and drove it away in refrigerated trucks. Few agreed to do this. “Too much paperwork” was the number one excuse, and one Chef actually said “I don’t want the management knowing how much food I waste.”Big events have to be organized and paid for around a year in advance. During the first part of the Recessions, we would make hundreds of pounds of gourmet food for parties that no one attended, as the guests had lost their jobs or couldn’t afford to travel. It was disgusting. I turned my hand to running a food bank.As per Claire’s point, it is not possible to sue the donor for food that a recipient claims made them sick. While this is a State issue, not federal, and there may be exceptions that I don’t know about, even Florida, which is extremely hostile to the homeless, allows donations with no liability.The onus of what food is good to be donated really falls upon the food banks themselves, who often have a small liability clause when people sign up. There have been no reports of any suits nonetheless, nor in my past experience.I frankly think that this idea is a restaurant-urban-myth, as it is a common belief without any examples of any such lawsuit actually happening, ever.
What's the saddest thing your child told you while you were struggling financially?
It was during the 2008 recession. I was 5 months unemployed at the time and have nearly used up all my savings. I was also a single mother of a boy whose father I've met once — the day he was conceived.As I walk pass the eviction notice on the fridge to pick up my car keys, I remembered reaching through my pockets to pull a few dollars out. I then hand those bills to my 8 year old son for his school lunch. I could see it in his face that he knew that I was barely able to make ends meet. He said, “thanks mom” and hugged me tightly. I smiled and proceeded to take him to school.After dropping him off, I went back home and opened my laptop to send more resumes. But who would want to hire a real estate agent when the housing bubble just popped? So I became desperate and started looking for any job. I must have sent 30 emails that day… yet no calls back.A few hours have passed and I realized it was time to pick up my son from school. As I am driving, I noticed that I have yet again skipped 2 meals. I guess that month I was getting used to it seeing that I needed to wear a belt for my jeans for the first time.When it was time for dinner, I opened the fridge to see the same leftovers we've been eating for the last couple of days. I warm up the spaghetti and called my son to the dinner table.He sees the plate of food that he had the day before and then suddenly I see him get all excited.“Mom, mom! We don't have to eat spaghetti today!”I was confused. He probably just wants something different.“I'm sorry Jacob, I promise you that I'll make something new tomorrow”He then runs to get his backpack and opens it to reveal the school lunch he saved.“Mom, I didn't eat it so that we could share it for dinner! There's enough for the both of us. I asked Henry who didn't want his sandwich!” he said with a big happy smile.At that moment I broke down into tears. My little boy was so tired of the spaghetti that he’d rather save his food from school. I hugged him and kept telling him that I was sorry. He brushed me off. He was so hungry that he started to take bites out of his sandwich.Things eventually got better. I found a job and I never had the same food for dinner for more than 2 days. That was also the last and only time that my son skipped his lunch. My son is now 19 and in college. He's going back to the dorms tomorrow and I couldn't help but remember this story.