What's the oldest meal you've ever eaten? While most of us stick to a few days of leftovers, imagine tasting a 60-day-old stew or a 49-year-old beef noodle soup. This is the "perpetual stew" — a dish that is never finished and never taken off the heat. As portions are served, new ingredients are added, making today's meal the basis for tomorrow's.
Recent examples have captured the public's imagination. This year, Annie Rauwerda's 60-day stew became a social media sensation, and a Bangkok restaurant claims its beef noodle soup has been simmering since the 1970s. The tradition likely dates back to Medieval Europe, when the immense effort required to start a fire meant hearths were left burning all day with a pot always atop them. One New York Times article even describes a stew in Normandy that reportedly cooked for 300 years.
However, modern food hygiene raises questions about its safety. Experts are divided: some maintain that as long as the stew bubbles at temperatures high enough to kill pathogens, it remains safe. Others warn that meat left in the pot too long can become dangerous. There are also concerns that certain vegetables, like potatoes or those containing nitrates, could become toxic through repeated reheating.
Advocates of slow cooking believe the best food takes time, but even they might be surprised by a meal that has been cooking for decades.