🚀 go-pugleaf

Elmo <DoNoSpam@NoSpam.org> wrote:

>
>Portion sizes contribute to the problem by providing more calories than
>any reasonable individual should consume which interacts with the ingrained
>edicts to "Clean Your Plate!" [1] and "It's a sin to waste." so that we
>consume more calories.  Where really upscale restaurants charge a lot for a
>plate containing a relatively small portion, carefully prepared and very
>carefully presented "for your dining enjoyment", it's more common to see a
>family-oriented place providing much larger portions.  I think that some of
>it has to do with the economics of the restaurant business.  You need to get
>a certain amount of money over and above what the cost of the food to cover
>overhead -- building, heat, taxes, owner's profit margin, etc.  If you're an
>upscale joint, your clientele is paying a premium and knows it.  If you're a
>local beanery or a franchised operation (like Friday at Applebee's in the
>Outback or Chili Tuesdays with Ruby etc.) your clientele needs a more practical
>reason to part with more money than the food is "worth" and if you give them
>a big portion they won't feel so bad about paying for it.  So you load them
>up with low-cost calories in the side-dishes.  French Fries, pasta, nacho
>chips, and the like.  Price the individual sides high but include 2 or 3
>with the platter specials at a price that's lower and you get people who
>buy the special and eat the extra calories.  Worse, they come to accept that
>as a "normal" portion size.  And I don't even want to think about the kind of
>specialty foods that you can buy at entertainment venues (sporting events,
>fairs, and the like).  Huge funnel cake -- about 6 pancakes worth of batter
>fried in oil and dusted with sugar.  Deep fried Twinkies (frozen, dipped in
>batter and deep fried) for Fud's sake!  And Doughnuts!  How many workplaces
>have a Doughnut Day where when it's your turn you're supposed to bring in
>2 or 6 dozen of those delightful fat pills.  Oink! Oink! OINK!

Some restaurant chains (Bob Evans) have a few choices with more
reasonable portion sizes, but then they manage to jinx that by
labelling them "for our friends 55 and over".  Nice touch!  If I
choose a reaonable size, I'm labelling myself as an old fart.  I also
hate the giganormous soda sizes many places offer.  "Small" is 20 oz.!
That's obscene.   Taco Smell is a good example.  Get one of their
combos and they give you a cup that could satisfy a family's thirst.
At least I learned that I don't have to fill the friggin thing up. The
national "vegetable" is french fries.  Once again, you can choose your
poison - small (already too big), medium, or large.   A 1/3 lb. burger
is now considered small.  Heck, go for the 2/3 lb. or 1 lb. thick
burger.  And don't even get me started about steak houses - 32 oz.
steak?!  That's piggery at it's ultimate.