Welcome to The Lazy Doctor’s Leftovers!
- Aug 13
- 3 min read
Updated: Aug 20
What’s your philosophy on leftovers? When we really think about it, it’s a complex issue. Some people eat leftovers out of necessity. Some people actually fear leftovers because of prior experiences with illness or food poisoning. Some people can eat leftovers no matter where they’re from or who cooked, while other people…(raising my hand slowly) - can appreciate a meal with humble gratitude and loosen their preferences on its taste but will only partake in leftovers that meet a certain threshold of delectability. At any rate, one thing that has seemingly been true across the board when I reflect on life is that: everyone eats leftover pizza . Whether your favorite pizza place is a national brand or a local mom and pop restaurant, we usually eat our leftover pizza; even if it was accidentally left out all night. …Ok …so you’re vigilant about putting anything with cheese in the fridge? Fair enough, but I can’t be the only person who managed to survive high school and the beginning of college and didn't put pizza in the fridge until Google showed me the way! As a side note, it’s usually best to refrigerate anything you eat once it’s not piping hot anymore. This includes pizza 🙂
No matter how similar or different we are as people, isn’t it remarkably beautiful that we have shared experiences? Whether it’s the end of the week and we’re buying pizza for convenience or we have a late night craving - we all love pizza! That notion made me consider this: we often put so much emphasis on how food tastes and seldom stop to reflect on how food makes us feel. Pizza makes me think about all the things that feel like home, and it also makes me mourn what I no longer have.
In my hometown when I was growing up, there was a pizza place called Elizabeth’s. It was an unassuming eatery that wasn’t a hole in the hole, nor was it top tier Italian cuisine. But when I think about the fish tanks that used to line the tables and how I would trace my fingers to follow the fish as a kid, when I think about how my mother would put extra virgin olive oil on the crusts of the leftover pieces, when I think about how no other restaurant had pizza like Elizabeth’s - I grieve. You see at some point in the last decade maybe, Elizabeth’s had hurricane damage and insurance issues, so they closed down. It’s a bittersweet reality to cherish the numerous memories of eating there with family and concurrently understanding I’ll never have the opportunity to create memories anew. So when I think of pizza, that’s often how I feel. I feel a deep satiation in my body and spirit from its taste, and I also feel grief. Elizabeth’s Pizza is gone, Pizza Hut stores changed the dough they used when I was a kid and it’s been crappy pizza for at least 20 years, Dominoes didn’t deliver to my college dorm etc. There’s a lot of pizza that I grieve for. Food has ties to our emotions whether we realize it or not.
So consider this, be more intentional with assessing how food makes you feel. Take note of any patterns you may have e.g. what are you eating when you’re happy? When you’re sad? When you're disappointed? When you’re tired? You’ll likely come to discover some new information about yourself and the relationship you have with food. Be graceful with yourself if you recognize that you may need to make some wellness changes as it pertains to food. Now this is my opinion only, but there’s nothing wrong with treating yourself to something occasionally while you’re on a wellness journey. So in honor of the pizza places of the past that you may be mourning, I hope that you find somewhere tonight with great pizza and even better tasting leftovers. We may not be cooking on pizza nights, but we’re opening those boxes with love for those around us.
“There’s no greater act of love than to cook for someone"
-Chef Graham Hornigold
“I’m not cooking, you’re having pizza.”
