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: