Calories on menus everywhere

galgenstrick

I ate at IKEA a couple weeks ago. The menu listed the calories. It stated a chicken breast stuffed with cheese, mashed potatoes, gravy and veggies sautéed in butter was 470 calories. If I were to take a guess I'd say they were off by at least a factor of 2, maybe even 3.

Regardless, I ate that + a second entree, a slice of chocolate cake, milk, string cheese and corn bread. I love bulking

Alatariel75

ndj1979 wrote: »

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SusanMFindlay wrote: »

ndj1979 wrote: »

SusanMFindlay wrote: »

ndj1979 wrote: »

however, if you get grilled chicken and roasted vegetables that will be less calorie dense; why is the restaurants fault that people don't care to make that connection?

So you, as a customer, can tell how much oil was used to roast those vegetables? And how much oil/butter is on that grilled chicken? Sure, it's a lower calorie choice than the fettucini alfredo - but it may still be a 1000 calorie plate. Restaurants add a *lot* of hidden calories that are not obvious to the consumer. Requiring them to 'fess up to that is a good thing. Basically, it's a "truth in advertizing" argument.

Never said that..I just know what is going to be a heavy meal vs a light one. Do you really think adding the calorie count is going to make every meal magically equal what the calorie count is?

No, but it'll put it much closer to the right ballpark. And, for example, the requirement to publish nutritional information has shown me that there are zero reasonable choices for me at a particular chain that my kids like - even though some of the salads sound fine from the menu descriptions.

so you want to make every single restaurant post this information on their menus even though it wont make the calorie counts any more accurate, just because? So when you go to your restaurant and their menu prices go up 10% because they had to implement this ridiculous requirement are you going to be OK with that? What about high end restaurants that don't have a set menu? They would have to re-print their menu almost every day at tremendous expense.

If you don't want to go to a restaurant that chooses not to post the calorie counts, then vote with your wallet and don't go. But don't say that your standard should be imposed on every single restaurant in the country, just because it might make the calorie counts somewhat more accurate.

how about people use common sense for a change, and stop expecting big daddy government to help them in every single life decision they face...?

I agree that it's completely senseless to expect every restaurant to post calorie counts. It's one thing for the big chains and franchises to do it - they generally have strict guidelines on food preparation, suppliers, ingredients etc to fit in to the budget - cheffing at one of them is more a production line than anything.

But independents, high end restaurants etc - no flippin' way. I love my degustation restaurants, and places with menus that change according to what the chef found at the markets that day. Food can be an art-form and requiring them to put a calorie count on every menu is not only prohibitively expensive, it's a complete suppression of the creativity that results in amazing dining experiences.

I'll be honest - I love to eat at really high end restaurants. I have worked at many of them. I have spent as much on one lunch as most people would spend on a weeks holiday. And the furthest thing from my mind during any of those experiences is how many calories are in whatever it is while I'm eating, and that's how it should be.

salembambi

I think that may be the best thing about living here in Ontario lol

Wa at Harvey's the other day and saw the calories for everything which was so awesome

vanmep

I just got a flyer for Mandarin in the mail. It includes all the calories and I'm shocked. There is a combo platter for one that has 2590 calories. That is my calories for TWO DAYS! I think my estimates in the past have been off.