Is there any danger in eating stale food?

No there shouldn’t be.

No harm in stale food aside from it being not the greatest tasting meal. Just make sure, with things like bread products, that they haven’t gone mouldy.

Bisotti is a twice baked, dried out bread. They dried out bisotti so it wouldn’t spoil on a trip, like on the road to take over England. They were considered to be a nonperishable item, that would last for centuries. Stale foods are eatable. And while the process is different then drying, it acts in a similar way. Stale breads have had culinary uses for centuries, sometimes serving as bowls and plates. It is a flavor difference. But do check for mold.

Since you mention tortilla chips specifically, then the oil they’re cooked in is a potential issue. Vegetable oils break down as they age and they oxidize. “Oxidation of oils not only produces rancid flavours but can also decrease the nutritional quality and safety by the formation of oxidation products, which may play a role in the development of diseases (Staprans et al., P1996a, b; Kanazawa et al., 2002).”

Interesting. Thanks for the references @MarthaStewart and @everephebe.

Yes, projectile vomiting.

Yes, I came home drunk one night and ate some bread that was turning a little green. In the morning I had one hell of a sore head.

Green bread =/= stale.

Yuck.

The alcohol may have played a part as well.