Why are US meal portions so big??

aliciap412

Pretty sure you're right. Yet that doesn't stop them from eating it anyway.

my cat will eat anything, she's a huge jerk

joshdann

Pretty sure you're right. Yet that doesn't stop them from eating it anyway.

my cat will eat anything, she's a huge jerk

haha. my wife's cat is like that. my cat (had her since I was 19... she's almost 15) regards food as a necessary inconvenience most of the time. it's not hard to guess which one is skinny and which is fat.

Makes me think of this: If we have a fat pet, we naturally think "I should exercise him more" or "I should feed him less". Common sense, right? But then we we get fat ourselves, we find a million things to blame and end up supporting the millions of fad diets, MLM schemes, and other various gimmicks to overcome that thing that "makes" us fat.

Otterluv

I love the smell of thinly veiled America bashing in the morning.

Inorite?

Nothing tempers my inherent American-born superiority complex like some bitter anonymous posts on the internet.

I can't hear your big words over the loud sound of me chewing my enormous plate of restaurant food.

Only one?

Well, clearly she's not having Mexican food.

aliciap412

I wish it were as easy as just throwing them on the treadmill, like these people

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESM3495FiZM

joshdann

I wish it were as easy as just throwing them on the treadmill, like these people

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESM3495FiZM

you are certainly full of it tonight.

by "it" I mean "funny cat videos"

aliciap412

you are certainly full of it tonight.

by "it" I mean "funny cat videos"

I'm one of those people

from the internet

joshdann

I'm one of those people

from the internet

Hello to the internet, from the US. We are all fat and arrogant.

whierd

I'm one of those people

from the internet

Hello to the internet, from the US. We are all fat and arrogant.

We also have the best looking women.

*flame shield...ON!!!*

aliciap412

some of us are just simply passionate individuals

like this guy:

joshdann

my uncle has tried and tried to get that image taken down

VBnotbitter

Dear US some of us think most of you are ok, and you have the same proportion of nice people and arses as the rest of the world. Love from the Internet x

FF43

You've heard of the 1% right? Well, they can afford to eat anywhere and out anytime they want to. The majority of restaurant goers are middle class folks who need to pay attention to the bang they get for each buck. The poorest among us eat the worst, but not necessarily at restaurants they can't afford regularly.

The middle class folks would not go out to eat as often if they didn't feel it was "worth it." In competition, each restaurant tries to appear the best, to have a perk over another....larger portion sizes? That'll do the trick because the customer gets to leave full and gets to take home extra.

When I was a single girl, I ate out all of the time. Oddly enough, that's when I was at my thinnest. lol Now, with a family of 5, it's too expensive to go out to eat. We may go out to a sit-down restaurant maybe twice a year. When we do so, it's sort of a pig-out/stuff yourself day and take home what's left for a meal the next day, which makes spending $75 not seem so bad.

The portion sizes offered have nothing to do with the obesity epidemic in America. Nobody is cramming any food down the people's throats. It's the people's lack of knowledge about the food they eat; the video games and electronics they sit behind, the spread-too-thin parents that have no time to cook who have also over-scheduled their children in their activities that makes them eat out constantly on the run, etc.

Let's face it, good, healthy food takes time and attention that the people don't always have.

smantha32

Pretty sure you're right. Yet that doesn't stop them from eating it anyway.

my cat will eat anything, she's a huge jerk

haha. my wife's cat is like that. my cat (had her since I was 19... she's almost 15) regards food as a necessary inconvenience most of the time. it's not hard to guess which one is skinny and which is fat.

Makes me think of this: If we have a fat pet, we naturally think "I should exercise him more" or "I should feed him less". Common sense, right? But then we we get fat ourselves, we find a million things to blame and end up supporting the millions of fad diets, MLM schemes, and other various gimmicks to overcome that thing that "makes" us fat.

True. It's pretty hard to make a cat go on a diet though.

I've seen cats who have their diet restricted just start to gobble their food when they do get food. Like they think that's all they're going to get now.

smantha32

I wish it were as easy as just throwing them on the treadmill, like these people

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ESM3495FiZM

That would be so awesome. Unless it's the cat's idea though, probably won't happen.

I have a cat who demands to be wherever i don't want him, so maybe I could pretend I really really don't want him on the treadmill... lol

smantha32

some of us are just simply passionate individuals

like this guy:

I've always wanted to fire one of those old timey Thompson submachine guns with the drum magazine like the 30's gangsters used to have.. oo... went off on a tangent. That picture reminded me of that. lol

EvgeniZyntx

I love the smell of thinly veiled America bashing in the morning.

Inorite?

Nothing tempers my inherent American-born superiority complex like some bitter anonymous posts on the internet.

I can't hear your big words over the loud sound of me chewing my enormous plate of restaurant food.

Only one?

It wasn't Mexican food.

chatogal

LOVE the pics of Piccadilly Circus :-)

runlilyrun

Here in Mexico it is frowned upon to have all the food on one plate. Usually the rice is served alone on a plate before the entrée, which comes afterwards with tortillas in an extra container to keep them warm. Only poor people ( who basically live of rice and beans ) and I like to have their rice touch the stew and the beans on the same plate. I can't say, but wonder if this little part of Mexican food culture has maybe some bearing on how Mexican meals are served in the US.

I figured it had to do with South Texas' proximity to Mexico and the high Hispanic population in the Valley region. I've been to a "Mexican" restaurant in Canada. They had never heard of enchiladas. Makes me wonder how far off we are on other cultures like Thai food that aren't even on the same continent.

Oh, you mean like Chicken Tikka Masala, that famous British dish? (I can't remember whether it comes from Burmingham or Leciester, but it's part of the rich palate of British 'Indian' food)

YaGigi

Its in American mindset that big =good.

America is such a biiiiiig country, and it loves everything big. Big houses, big spaces, big food, big shopping malls, big cars. Somewhere in a small town (under a million) in Midwest where the spaces are so huge, people can afford living in a huge house and driving huge cars. Parking is always available everywhere, and a single parking spot is huge. Most of the mid class people live in suburbs, where houses are really big. They feel that their personal space is big too, like 5-6 feet.
So they expect the same big sizes from their restaurants. Also they wouldn't feel happy if they come to a restaurant and have smaller portions, they feel its not worth the money they spent on it.

There are smaller spaces in big cities, it's too expensive to live in a big apartment. One bedroom apartment 600 sq f in Cincinatti would cost $700 and $3500 in NYC. Only millionears can afford to have a townhouse in NYC, it'd cost $5-7 millions for the space that would cost 15 times less in Midwest. Almost no one has big cars in a big city, it's hard to park, parking spots are tiny, space is too valuable. . Also personal space is much smaller in a big city like NYC, it's 1-2 feet at max, often less during the morning rush in the subway, it can be 0.2 feet away from another person.
And of course the food portions are much smaller in big cities, both in expensive restaurants and in cheap diners. Portions are big enough to feed the hunger, not to overeat.

Europe is not lucky enough to have so much land as the USA, countries are small, and there are still people who remember the hunger of world wars, so they're more careful about wasting food.

It's all about the cultural differences. For instance, in Muslim countries its tradition to give the BEST to the guests. Your guest is like a God. We put the best food on the table, and portions are huge. In my country we have a tradition that a well mannered guest refuses the offered food 3 times, and as a host your duty is to make this person eat. Its a tradition, a ceremony but it does affect our food behavior too. You might have not enough food at home, and you might need to leave your kids hungry but will ofer the best food to the guest and will make sure the guest will eat even if not hungry. So Arabic, Turkish, Iranian restaurants have HUGE portions because the restaurant is the host and the client is the guest. That's the reason the waiters are often too pushy in offering food, it's the tradition that got so deep in our mind we don't realize it anymore.

faely

1. The US government subsidizes food production, making food crazy cheap (but not of good quality).
2. Americans have been conditioned to think that bigger is better. Bigger and cheaper is best.
3. To get smaller portions we have to pay more. For instance, if you want your meal split with half in a box to go, or wish to share your meal with your dinner mate, there is a surcharge of $1 or more at most establishments.
4. At fast food places the surcharge for smaller portions can double the price of the meal due to the increased labor cost in a custom order. Just try getting a half-sized banana split at Dairy Queen. It'll cost you nearly $9 to buy the individual ingredients.
5. We kind of like it this way.

I'm in Texas, and I almost always go splits on food with friends and I've never been charged a buck to do it. Maybe that's specific to certain regions.

There are a couple places here though where you have to bring your own wine if you want wine and they charge you a few bucks to open it and that chaps me a little. lol

Here in Oregon, most places, even fast food joints, have a wine list, lol! We're like Napa Valley North. :drinker:

I'm in Oregon and I've never seen a wine list at a fast food joint o.0 Am I on the wrong side of the state? Pacific NW :drinker:

morticia16

Not so sure why this escalated so much in all directions. Portion sizes for sure are culturally ingrained in different backgrounds.

I live in Belgium at the moment (not Belgian by nationality) and our frittes portions (French fries, though this is misleading, since in all reality they are a Belgian invention are proudly of disproportionally big sizes. McDonalds has nothing on us in this department.

I travel a lot and have lived abroad a lot and I must say that taking, say middle class restaurants as an example, portions will be different, wherever you go.

I find American portions in this type of restaurants really big. Then again, as I said, frittes portions in Belgium are huge, portions in a German/Bavarian middle class restaurant will inevitably be bigger than portions in a comparable restaurant in Northern Italy but could probably match those in Argentina or Mexico.

So what's the big deal anyway?

Happy Sunday, everybody!

Fullsterkur_woman

Its in American mindset that big =good.

America is such a biiiiiig country, and it loves everything big. Big houses, big spaces, big food, big shopping malls, big cars. Somewhere in a small town (under a million) in Midwest where the spaces are so huge, people can afford living in a huge house and driving huge cars. Parking is always available everywhere, and a single parking spot is huge. Most of the mid class people live in suburbs, where houses are really big. They feel that their personal space is big too, like 5-6 feet.

Also personal space is much smaller in a big city like NYC, it's 1-2 feet at max, often less during the morning rush in the subway, it can be 0.2 feet away from another person.

Is *that* why everybody's all in my grill all the time?! No wonder I love living in the coolest city in "flyover country". We may not have Broadway, but at least we're not all "Make Room! Make Room!" Enjoy your Soylent Green. I'ma go eat some brisket, egg, potato and cheese breakfast tacos.:bigsmile:

YaGigi

Its in American mindset that big =good.

America is such a biiiiiig country, and it loves everything big. Big houses, big spaces, big food, big shopping malls, big cars. Somewhere in a small town (under a million) in Midwest where the spaces are so huge, people can afford living in a huge house and driving huge cars. Parking is always available everywhere, and a single parking spot is huge. Most of the mid class people live in suburbs, where houses are really big. They feel that their personal space is big too, like 5-6 feet.

Also personal space is much smaller in a big city like NYC, it's 1-2 feet at max, often less during the morning rush in the subway, it can be 0.2 feet away from another person.

Is *that* why everybody's all in my grill all the time?! No wonder I love living in the coolest city in "flyover country". We may not have Broadway, but at least we're not all "Make Room! Make Room!" Enjoy your Soylent Green. I'ma go eat some brisket, egg, potato and cheese breakfast tacos.:bigsmile:

Huh?

kewpiecyster

I personally LOVE the big portions - because I always take half of my meal from a restaurant home to have for lunch another day...LOL! Or my son and I will split a meal if it is just the two of us. Now, before I started working on losing weight, I ate more than I do now...but I still never was able to finish a dinner at a sit-down restaurant. Fast food is another story...for some reason I can just keep eating the fries.....so I try to avoid them. Would love to stop altogether...but right now our life is crazy and I find myself there about once a week still.

SkinnyWannabeGal

Consumers like to get a big bang for their buck. The economy hasn't been the greatest lately and a good deal on food is sometimes hard to pass up. If an eatery is selling a large amount of food for a very low price, they will most likely gain business from doing so. I think it's cool that sometimes I can get 2-3 meals out of one serving of food in a restaurant. Heck, if that dish cost me $9 and I can split it into 3 good size meals, then I'm a happy camper who just paid $3 for my dinner 3 days in a row. Saving money rocks!

jen_zz

In some American chain restaurants in Hong Kong, there's a sign on the menu that says "WARNING: we serve American portions".

SpleenlessGal

I find portions are pretty similar in every country I've been in... and I've been to a lot of places. It's going to depend somewhat on how cheap or expensive a restaurant is. I have been to the U.S. several times and did not notice a big difference. Same with the UK when I went. Don't base portion size off of one meal.

stumblinthrulife

nationalistic thread is nationalistic.

i know it's popular in Europe to take potshots at the USA whenever and wherever possible, but just because you ate one meal in one restaurant and got a dumb explanation from one friend, does not mean that such an assertion (as found in your thread title) is universally true.

go to an expensive foo-foo restaurant in NYC and you'll find much smaller (and more expensive portions).

go to a pub in rural England and you'll find large portion sizes.

there is no government agency in either country that enforces a mandatory minimum portion size for restaurants. every restaurant and chef is different and has different standards.

I'm English, and moved to the States aged 26, nine years ago.

I will say that on average you are more likely to get an 'oversize' portion in an average American chain restaurant (i.e. excluding haute cuisine). English restaurants really aren't far behind, however.

As another poster said - it's simply the market responding to demand, and picking an easy to market aspect of your food. It's hard to market flavor, you can't put it in the advert. But you can easily market the quantity of food on the plate.

More and more American (and presumably British, I've not been home in a while) chain restaurants have 'healthy portion' choices on their menu now. I read these as 'normal human' portions - around 500 - 700 calories a plate, as opposed to 1000 - 1500.

cadaverousbones

Where I live (Bahrain) the American restaurants like Friday's and Chilli's do very large portion sizes, but that's fine by me, I eat until I'm full in the restaurant, then take the rest home in a box and have another one or two meals from it. I get two or three meals for the price of one.

I don't think it's just the USA though.... most British curry houses do huge portion sizes, plus it's not really going out for a curry unless you have a large pile of poppadoms as a starter and at least two side dishes with your main course..... and one curry house in Birmingham sells naan breads the size of a table. No exaggeration. And they're advertised as naan bread for four. Naan bread for 2-3 families more like! But anyway, the USA does not have a monopoly on large portion sizes.

I want to eat there...

BrainyBurro

German pretzel:



American pretzel:



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