Why are US meal portions so big??

LOL.. Dont know about portion sizes but dress sizes differ by 4; so an American 10 is an English 14, size 12 is a 16; 8 would be a 12 etc. Dont think that is knocking the system- just saying; its the size in inches that counts x

Food portions are price proportionate to the market demand and need to make a profit. For example, pasta is cheap to make for restaurants. Because it is cheap to make the price for pasta is generally cheaper than other items on the menu b/c (1) Consumers would not pay the same price for pasta knowing it is cheaper to make than a proportionate size amount of beef; HOWEVER, pasta is generally a bigger profit margin item for an owner. So if it costs me $2 to make a half plate of pasta and you are only willing to pay $6 at most I would only make $4 profit on the 1/2 plate. However, if I double the proportion then consumers would be willing to pay twice as much or around $12 which I think is about the average price of a simple spaghetti dish. Cost to restaurant is $4 but profit is $12 - $4 or $8. However, a full plate of pasta is huge. So the proportions are not always just "we are fat slob America" type reasons but plain old business sense. In the UK your pound is worth more than the dollar hence the proportions do not have to be as large.

US portions are large because for many Americans, going out to eat is expensive. When I eat out, I'm using money I barely have, I go starving and I leave stuffed. Money well-spent. I would be equally as happy with smaller portions, provided the cost is smaller too. At fast food joints, I get a small meal for $2 and some change, but if I'm busting $10 plus tip at a restaurant, I expect $10 of food and tip-worthy service. Otherwise I'd just stay home and make ramen.

Different restaurants have different portion sizes, too. A Red Lobster will not have the same amount of food per plate as an Applebess. You went to a California restaurant and they had big servings. "Hurr durr, guess restaurants made Merica fat." Very good, you uncovered a symptom of a much larger problem. When you get right down to it, portion sizes in the United States might be larger on average than portions across the world because there is a strong consumerist element to the culture. Maybe in order to compete in the market, restaurants needed to up their portions to make up for lost quality. Maybe Americans just aren't willing to spend upwards of $10 on reasonable amounts of "meh" food.

Then again, hurr durr, maybe it's because fat Americans are fat.

I think that portion sizes have increased gradually over the years because it's good for the restaurant owners. If a restaurant increases the size of its portions by 50%, the overhead doesn't really change- doesn't take more people to serve it or to clean up, doesn't take a higher % of space in the restaurant, etc. So you can increase the price by 50% or maybe even a little less than 50% and it's still more profitable. Bonus- your staff gets bigger tips since the bill is higher, and you don't have to do a thing. (This is why typically the smaller-portion menus for kids and seniors have age limits on them- they're not as profitable.)

Added to that is the segment of the population that expects that much food, and the segment that expects leftovers to make a couple more meals, and not too many people object. I hate it when I'm traveling, though- no way to save leftovers- so I order a couple of appetizers, making sure that one is green and low-cal and the other is a reasonable source of protein.

Buffets are another matter- I try to avoid them completely. First of all, the number of seriously overweight people with overloaded plates is scary. Second, they're either inexpensive and have crappy food or fairly expensive for what I eat.

I think part of the reason, in the UK as well, is that the restaurants have to cater for the biggest appetites. Not many people want to still feel peckish after eating a restaurant meal, so the meals need to be at least the size that would make a large, active man feel full. And then us short women get the same sized portion!

A local Italian restaurant here does half portions for around half price, which is great for me, but probably not so good for the restaurant! The half portion is still bigger than I would eat at home.

I think that portion sizes have increased gradually over the years because it's good for the restaurant owners. If a restaurant increases the size of its portions by 50%, the overhead doesn't really change- doesn't take more people to serve it or to clean up, doesn't take a higher % of space in the restaurant, etc. So you can increase the price by 50% or maybe even a little less than 50% and it's still more profitable. Bonus- your staff gets bigger tips since the bill is higher, and you don't have to do a thing. (This is why typically the smaller-portion menus for kids and seniors have age limits on them- they're not as profitable.)

Added to that is the segment of the population that expects that much food, and the segment that expects leftovers to make a couple more meals, and not too many people object. I hate it when I'm traveling, though- no way to save leftovers- so I order a couple of appetizers, making sure that one is green and low-cal and the other is a reasonable source of protein.

Buffets are another matter- I try to avoid them completely. First of all, the number of seriously overweight people with overloaded plates is scary. Second, they're either inexpensive and have crappy food or fairly expensive for what I eat.

An owners food costs is often 30% of their sales. An increase of 50% would take that to 45%. And increase in cost by 50% would likely reduce traffic by quite a bit. So I disagree with you.

American size 10 for a lady is.. slim, here in UK you are 14-16 and overweight. It's a different world.

You can tell by someone's size whether they are overweight?

The meals are larger because the market responds to what the consumers want,

dear whierd, I don't think i agree with you here, and i've heard enough of 'blame the fatties for their problems' i see the restaurants that are 'pushing' large portions as just like drug dealers, tempting their customers to buy more and more. Of course nobody else puts the food in our mouth, but it's not that simple and I think there is an addictive element to processed food. I speak as one who used to eat pizza, burgers etc. daily, now that I cook all my food at home I no longer crave my old diet. I still eat a lot - but it'smore nutritious. There is a british journalist called Jacques Peretti who's made some documentaries, you can find on you tube, about 'The Men Who Made us Thin' . The obesity epidemic cannot have started because people suddenly got greedier, it has to be the environment we're living in. What do you think?

1) don't believe so-called "documentaries" on youtube
2) the explanation is simple. food is more readily available now than ever in history. most people work at desks now instead of toiling in the fields all day. the human body is still designed for the "feast or famine" cycles that were common throughout history. now, we not only don't have famine (in the developed world), but we have leisure time and we are no longer nearly as active procuring that food nor surviving. snacking is now an option. i don't think people a 1000 years ago had the time during the day to snack. so it has nothing to do with food companies or corporations or any of that tinfoil hat nonsense... it's because life is easier and we burn less calories and food is more available and we eat more of it as a result. it's that simple.

American size 10 for a lady is.. slim, here in UK you are 14-16 and overweight. It's a different world.

You can tell by someone's size whether they are overweight?

Seriously, I'm thrilled to be getting back in to a size 12. Size 10 on me means I'm damn close to my ideal weight, but sure broad generalizations apply to everybody, right?

The meals are larger because the market responds to what the consumers want,

dear whierd, I don't think i agree with you here, and i've heard enough of 'blame the fatties for their problems' i see the restaurants that are 'pushing' large portions as just like drug dealers, tempting their customers to buy more and more. Of course nobody else puts the food in our mouth, but it's not that simple and I think there is an addictive element to processed food. I speak as one who used to eat pizza, burgers etc. daily, now that I cook all my food at home I no longer crave my old diet. I still eat a lot - but it'smore nutritious. There is a british journalist called Jacques Peretti who's made some documentaries, you can find on you tube, about 'The Men Who Made us Thin' . The obesity epidemic cannot have started because people suddenly got greedier, it has to be the environment we're living in. What do you think?

1) don't believe so-called "documentaries" on youtube
2) the explanation is simple. food is more readily available now than ever in history. most people work at desks now instead of toiling in the fields all day. the human body is still designed for the "feast or famine" cycles that were common throughout history. now, we not only don't have famine (in the developed world), but we have leisure time and we are no longer nearly as active procuring that food nor surviving. snacking is now an option. i don't think people a 1000 years ago had the time during the day to snack. so it has nothing to do with food companies or corporations or any of that tinfoil hat nonsense... it's because life is easier and we burn less calories and food is more available and we eat more of it as a result. it's that simple.

Dear Brainy,

1. The documentary was on BBC but you can find it on you tube

2. Clearly you are in the 'a calorie is a calorie' camp, 'calories in/calories out'. I disagree, I find the evidence for low nutrition, high fat, high sugar, highly processed food being poisonous and addictive totally convincing. You may disagree, so let us just carry on doing what we are doing. Good luck to you.