Big Portions

~ Clarissa

Does anybody know why portions are so enormous in American restaurants? This is supposed to be a simple lunch but look how huge it is. Even I can’t eat more than 20% of it.

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Published by Clarissa

16 thoughts on “Big Portions”

  1. They’re trying to make more money by selling you more food but there is a limit to how much you can eat in the regular number of meals so the new marketing strategy is a fourth meal so folks can pack on even more calories. Check out the commercial:

    http://youtu.be/hT-TmdPKDZo

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    1. I would have gladly paid the same $8 for 1/3 of that portion. It was very delicious but too huge. I almost didn’t manage to enjoy it because the size was too daunting. And I’m Ukrainian! We eat A LOT!

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  3. The idea behind a big portion (why I like it) is either ask to pack 1/2 to take home or to go as a couple and order only 1 portion.

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  5. I can’t really tell how big that sandwich is from the picture, but to the extent that I can it actually does look like a simple lunch to me.

    I eat lots of food though.

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    1. You are right, the picture doesn’t transmit the size. I love food and I’m a very heavy eater but the size of this plate was out of this world.

      The BLT had phenomenal real sun-dried tomatoes. The restaurant is run by two well-known chefs and the food is great. There is just too much of it.

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  7. Portions started getting really huge in the 80s, when people started to have a lot of money to spend and “gourmet” food wasn’t just for rich snobs any more. The worst offender was The Cheesecake Factory. I have only eaten at their restaurants a few times, and each time they brought way too much food — basically one person’s meal was enough to feed a family of four. I’m a big eater too but they were ridiculous — the plates were the size of platters!

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  8. When I first came back to the U.S after having spent a month in Japan, the first place my parents took me to was a chain American restaurant, I can’t remember, I think it was either Chili’s or Outback Steakhouse. Either way, after a month of tiny Japanese portions, the big American plates were way too much for me, and I only managed to take five bites of my dish before I felt too full and had to stop.
    It didn’t last though, four months later I was back to American-size portions… and an American waistline to match. 🙂 So much for the twenty pounds I lost in Japan.

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  9. Looks like a normal lunch to me. Anyway, what’s wrong with large portion sizes? If you get too much food at a restaurant, that is what doggie bags and sharing with friends are for. If you get too little, you either go home hungry or go home broke.

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  10. That actually looks pretty good, and that really is a typical American “lunch”. I think it’s because us Yanks demand a lot of food for our money and restaurants that have tiny portions are seen as something for wimps or effete losers, it’s this weird pride some folks have in being able to eat a ton of food. It’s for the men of course, us women aren’t supposed to eat that much because we’ll get fat, OMG! They should have seen me the other day when I was at a bar and had a big platter of spicy chicken wings washed down with a few beers, I don’t eat like that every day of course and I know it’s not good for you, but hey, it’s my body and I’m fat already 😉

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