Old tradition from where I live (rural south US):
Big meal is at sunday noon or so (after church). After meal, plates, bowls, etc left on table. Then covered with tablecloth. When evening meal time arrives, remove tablecloth and eat.
These are the same people who eat sausage 'n biscuits 'n gravy 'n fried eggs 'n molasses for breakfast daily. Then full day of work on the farm. Some live to be 100. What is their secret?
Mmmmm. Sun-brewed potato salad.
You’re already revealed their secret. “Full day of work on the farm.” Physical labor (not that I know anything about it) and thus exercise is a boon to health that sedentary living does not provide.
Not that bad, really:
http://www.fhradio.org/fm/archives/1994/1752(FM).html
“Mayonnaise has gotten an undeserved bad reputation. Food poisoning has often been blamed on contaminated potato salad containing mayonnaise. The potato salad can be the source of several types of food poisoning, but it is due to improper food storage or handling, not mayonnaise. In fact, most brands of mayonnaise contain some vinegar that makes it more acidic and, therefore, less likely than most foods to develop food poisoning. The most common cause of food poisoning at picnics is actually improperly prepared or stored meats.”
http://cetulare.ucdavis.edu/news/n0998may.htm
“Commercially prepared mayonnaise may offer some slight protection against food poisoning. Studies conducted nearly 30 years ago at the University of Wisconsin’s Food Research Institute in Madison found that the high acid content of commercially prepared mayonnaise, not the variety made at home with fresh eggs, killed strains of salmonella and staphylococcus bacteria.”
Old meat that’s turned bad. 
Alright, I already have issues with taking the guts out of the bird and you go and have to describe it so colorfully?
I don’t mean to insult anyone but my goodness some of you seem picky. Food left out for a day or so unrefrigerated is okay (unless you keep your houses at tropical temperatures!). How do you think people managed before the days of fridges? Most people then couldn’t afford to throw food away.
I remember my mother telling me a family tale about before I was born when they were given a joint of meat for Christmas, when she came to cook it (this was before they had a fridge) it had maggots on the surface. There was nothing else to cook, so she washed the maggots off and cooked it. It was fine. I guess people probably did have more immunity in those days - maybe we’re not doing our immune systems any favours by being so fastidious.
I also remember when I was a kid, we had a dog, if and when I dropped any of my food on the kitchen floor it would be picked up, the dog hairs brushed off it and it would be put back on my plate!
I am of course a lot more careful when cooking for others - probably less so when it’s just me. e.g. last night I had a piece of steak that was 3 days beyond best before date - it had been refrigerated - and it was fine.
I have never had food poisoning.
Considering the growing problem we have with resistant bacteria (caused by things like overprescription of antibiotics by physicians and regular feeding of antibiotics to farm animals), I don’t think that risking food poisoning unnecessarily is worth it. We do have modern conveniences now, and not using them properly and promptly to ensure that food is handled safely just seems silly to me. I would personally rather throw out a certain amount of food than risk getting sick, but that’s probably because I have gotten ill from eating improperly prepared/stored food.
Sparrow, you may not have ever had serious food poisoning, but most people have had mild food poisoning some time in their lives. Some of those times you get a stomach upset 12-24 hours after eating, it was food poisoning.
Refrigeration came about as a way to keep food longer and safer. It wasn’t invented just because we liked cold pizza.
Like I pointed out, my husband made it through his entire childhood without a serious incident of food poisoning, but that doesn’t mean that his mother’s treatment of food is healthy. It just means that he has a good immune system, and they were lucky.
Some food poisonings can cause permanent kidney damage or death. Why risk that when a refrigerator is right there?
People had iceboxs, in those days, or else they ate everything before it could go bad. Or they smoked it, preserved it, or whatever.
But common sense says you don’t eat dairy or meat that’s been left out.
Sheesh. And if someone served me food that had formerly had MAGGOTS crawling over it, I’d be fucking pissed.
What’s for dinner, mom?
Maggot meat, dear.
Mmmmmm!