letting go of leftovers

If I record here the background of this post, you might conclude that this whole issue is "a tad petty," as one responder has already judged.  So I'll skip to the broader ethical issues.

This post's etiquette quandaries involve leftovers.

1. The big one: Who owns the leftovers--the person who ate the original meal; the owner of the refrigerator storing the leftovers; the person who paid for the meal; or someone else?
2. How long does that ownership remain or does that depend on the food, e.g., 2 days for liver but 10 mins. for fried chicken?
3. Can you gift your leftovers to a specified recipient, which precludes anyone else enjoying it?
4. If no one wants the leftovers, must the person who made them dispose of them?  Out, demon!
5. Just to seem like you're going to eventually eat someone's cherished food gift, how long must you wait until you can pitch Grandma Bessie's lasagna with impunity?

Sadly, I could continue recording etiquette questions revolving around leftover food.  But I'm already impressed that this is more than "a tad petty."  After all...one of the synonyms for "leftover" is "scrap."  Says it all.

So go ahead and eat my leftovers.  I'm letting it all go.  Total Zen of me.

Except, of course, fried chicken.  Hands off.