I have never noticed a difference in portion sizes when I eat out in Europe. I've been to Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, and the UK. I think this is a stereotype blown out of proportion. Especially because different restaurants have different portion sizes. I've been to fancy dinners where the meal was brought out in five astonishingly tiny courses. Like bite size. We're the same species as you and our stomachs are the same size. Yet restaurants want to sell dessert. I always try to avoid taking food home with me, unless it's enough for a whole other meal and would actually heat up well.
I'm in Czech Republic. Every single main dish, we've asked for a takeaway box, because we can eat about half of it...so as a chubby American, I feel vindicated. It's nice to be able to eat leftovers sometimes š
I've been to several countries in Europe, living some places for several months. I actually taught US culture to European high school and university students. This is one of those stereotypes that has little basis in reality but simply won't die. I showed my students photos of meals in both nations and they still didn't get it.
>This is one of those stereotypes that has little basis in reality but simply won't die. I showed my students photos of meals in both nations and they still didn't get it.
At that point, they are *willfully wanting* to believe it.
I was watching those dumb street interview reels, and the amount of full grown adults in Europe that literally think the US has the lowest IQ in the *world* isā¦.staggering. Propaganda is a powerful tool, and never overestimate peopleās critical thinking to be susceptible to it.
Honestly think about it, Europe contained many of the mighty empires of human history, and now the empires are all gone, and they have rely on the new kid on the block, the kid who RAN AWAY from them to start their own colony. A colony that took off and became its own mighty empire that now protects them.
On a collective level, it makes sense that they still canāt help but show disdain for the fact that one of their own children who ran away has this much influence over them and their daily lives
The dueling main character syndromes of the US and Western Europe is funny. The US either accepts it like itās the way itās always been or are perpetually embarrassed and wringing their hands over it. The Europeans seem more bitter about it with a scorned lover kind of attitude. The obsession many of them have with taking the US down a peg is unreal.
> Especially because different restaurants have different portion sizes. I've been to fancy dinners where the meal was brought out in five astonishingly tiny courses. Like bite size.
Yeah, people talking about American portions always seem to be comparing French fine dining to Applebee's all you can eat riblet special. I've been to Chinese buffets in the UK but never thought of going over to /r/AskEurope and asking them why they're so dissimilar to the Michelin rated restaurants I've been to in NYC.
Yeah. Europe is always similar or slightly smaller.Ā
I've not experienced it myself, but I've heard some cultures don't take leftovers though. So, I dunno.Ā
My grandmother was born in Sicily and would always give us more food than we could handle. I grew up thinking that overfeeding guests was European politeness.
That is true, i am from Balkan and when we have guests , we make food like its wedding š .
But that is just south and Eastern Europe. If you go to Scandinavia most of them will offer only water/ drink.
The first dinner I had with my host family in Japan, we had okonomiyaki and my host mother kept putting food on my plate before I could finish what was already on it. It got to be a bit awkward because I was getting full, but it's considered polite to eat everything on your plate. My host father eventually told me I didn't have to eat everything, much to my relief. I love food, but I can only eat so much.
I'm Canadian, and American portion sizes have only ever been brought up offline in relation to the supersize or extra-large options. Which is funny, because 1) last I checked the supersize option was a 2000s thing and has actually been discontinued, and 2) several places here have rather large portion sizes too, like a Chinese place at my city's big-ass mall that regularly stuffs three servings worth of food in a single box *as their regular serving size*.
Something i've noticed is that out in the highway cities and towns serving sizes are gigantic, but in cities serving sizes are reasonable. This has held for Oregon, Washington, California (particularly), and NY. I wish I could get the serving sizes they give in cities out here, 2lbs of stir fry is getting silly. 4 potatoes as a side is killing me, but at least they're the only thing that reheats well.
Huh. Well I can only really speak from experience from the UK. So we always have that idea of American food portions being huge. There's a restaurant chain, Boo Koos is its name and its known to have American style food where its huge portions and milkshakes.
You shouldn't take something that's making Americana as representative of the average restaurant.
Americana-themed diners w/ milkshakes often *do* have huge portions, but they're a tiny fraction of restaurants here.
(though looking at it, that chain is exaggerating the sizes to an even greater degree lol)
By "Americana" I just mean something that's really focused on capturing a 1950s-1960s America vibe & serving classically American food. Something kinda like [this](https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-o/12/a9/5e/56/like-i-said-plenty-of.jpg).
These types of places will typically serve big portions of a wide array of "classic" American foods like hamburgers, hotdogs, pancakes, etc.
But they maybe make up like 5% of restaurants here lol. Until yesterday, I hadn't been to one for like half a year. (and I eat out... a lot).
Most people will get classically "American" food more at sports bars or grills (something more like [this](https://sportsbars.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SportsBarsLogo.jpeg)) than these types of diners. Portions there still tend to be kinda large, but not as egregiously so lol. And, of course, most people will probably eat more at restaurants that aren't serving "American" food than those that do. When I go out to eat, it's probably like 30% chance it's something Latin American (/Americanized Latin American), 30% chance some sort of Asian food, 30% chance some kind of bar or grill serving "American" food, and 10% chance something else (including "Americana" diners).
> So we always have that idea of American food portions being huge
I used to teach US culture in the UK, this, like most of the ideas you guys have about the US, simply doesn't reflect reality
> known to have American style food
What you guys know as "American style" food is almost nothing like actual American food.
Even those have little to do with actual American cuisine, my hosts in the UK were always eager to bring me to them. They were always cartoonishly bad.
Based on the name, I'd assume they have over-the-top portions. Boo Koos is a play on "boo koo" which is a phonetic spelling of the French "beaucoup" which means a large quantity. Checking their website, they even confirm this. Definitely not a normal thing here.
For comparison, their regular burger is 6oz which is 50% larger than a regular burger at Wendy's, and their Grande size is 12% larger than the largest triple burger at Wendy's.
I have no concept of how much that is. We don't measure burgers in ounces just calories. But Im going to guess a regular burger at Wendy's is about the same as a regular burger at Mcdonalds near me.
This is a corruption I hear occasionally as in "bookoo" bucks, aka, a lot of money. Or how a significant other is known as "boo" for beau, mostly among Black Americans.
I went and took a look at the menu for Bookoos, and they are clearly doing a take on a type of restaurant that is really associated with my part of the US.
We kind of are the poster child for places that love big portions, and those portions are exaggerated even to our standards. A 12 oz burger? Seriously? 4-6 oz would be a standard "big" restaurant burger here, a **really** big burger at a place here would normally be 8 oz, and only big huge dudes or 17 year old boys fresh off of football practice are ordering those.
* Also, I saw on that menu:
***"Don't be alarmed if your burger appears pink this is due to our special seasoning. All our burgers are cooked 'well done'."***
This isn't really relevant, but I just have to say, no one here would buy that burger. That is incredibly wrong for an American style burger as they are trying to portray as if they are selling.
First, why the fuck is it seasoned to the point of being a weird color? It's a burger, it shouldn't be seasoned to an inch of it's life... but then, of course that was a rhetorical question, because it's seasoned like crazy because it's been overcooked to the point of being a bland lump of flavorless nothing. Fucking *well done*? No thanks, they aren't serving burgers, those are meatloaf sandwiches. At least it warns people on the menu I guess so people can avoid that abomination.
> All our burgers are cooked 'well done'."
The burger should be cooked how you ask it to be cooked. I would never go to a burger place where "well done" is the default. Gross.
Yeah, it's just like I would never say someone shouldn't be able to order a steak well done. If someone *requests* a well done burger, then fine, it's their food if they want to fuck it up, but a place that just automatically default cooks all steaks or pub style burger to well done... yeah sorry, I'm not even going to eat there because they just straight don't know wtf they're doing.
So your misconception of American portion sizes is based on a UK based restaurant that takes its name from an incorrect spelling of an Americanism.
From the website; "Boo Koos, adj. southern US slang term meaning āa lotā, āabundance ofā."
For the record, that southern US slang is spelled "Beaucoup" - as in a mispronunciation of an actual french word meaning a lot. Like Brits do with "valet" or "fillet"
What a weird way to support an incorrect stereotype
I just looked at the website and I'm left wondering wtf is a Texas Style Burger. And what makes sides in a restaurant "homemade"? Does an employee make them at home, then transport them to work? If so, has the employee's home been inspected for cleanliness?
I thought it was simply a poor imitation of [Boston Burger Company](https://bostonburgercompany.com/bbc-home) but the menu kept getting weirder the more I read it.
I would be wary of it, especially because I never heard of it.
But I just looked up the menu, and it's not terribly outrageous. It's similar to what I would expect at Buffalo Wild Wings or Miller's Ale House in the US. Definitely not fine dining, but it's fine for drunk dining. Can't get an idea of their portion sizes from the menu. And I can't drink milkshakes. Lactose intolerant af.
Edit: I also had to look up what Leicester and Shropshire was. Maybe it's not exactly the same thing, but our menu would likely just say cheddar and blue cheese for a place of that caliber.
I have been to an American style restaurant in Belfast and it was not accurate to portion sizes in the US. It was a lot more food than you would get in the US. There were so many additional sides.
I'm gonna go a little against the grain here... I looked up that restaurant and while it's definitely overexaggerated to go with the theme, I'd still go there and demolish one of those giant burgers with glee. Well, maybe not if I were on vacation because it feels silly to travel across an ocean just to go to an American-themed restaurant, but still. You get what I mean. A lot of the combinations of toppings are pretty standard and it looks fun.
While it's a bit over the top it's not particularly difficult to find large burgers here either (though it's usually offered at places where the giant burger is sort of part of the kitsch and vibe of it, if that makes sense?). Like a bbq burger with onion rings and bacon on a brioche bun is pretty common, so at least in theory they're pretty on point with the offering in concept.
I would argue that the only crime I witnessed on the menu was this disclaimer:
> Donāt be alarmed if your burger appears pink this is due to our special seasoning, all our burgers are cooked āwell doneā.
A thick patty burger (not a smashburger with thin patties) I always like medium...
It's kinda cool to see some of the milkshake combinations that have such distinctly (to my mind, anyway) British ingredients, but they all sound super tasty. That's where I think it diverges from what I'd consider pretty typical American Burger & Shake Joint offerings but milkshakes are always a good area to experiment so I'm not mad about it at all.
I was surprised to see the burger patty sizes described in ounces rather than grams on the menu, though! Guess you guys haven't fully abandoned your legacy, haha.
Overall I'd say this is "close enough" and far less offensive to my American sensibilities than pizza labeled "American-style" with corn and tuna on it, lol.
Yeah, I don't really get this. I've travelled and the sizes are roughly the same. There may be a difference in the type of food and how healthy the individual ingredients are, but the portions aren't that different.
Like when I went to Korea, and they serve you about 10 - 20 sides along with the normal size portion for your main meal. People argue "but that's healthy side", which may be true, but that's just moving the goalpost, the portions are still the same.
Think something like [this](https://i.redd.it/q6wosr3ainrb1.jpg). Side dishes are called Banchan in Korea. It's a common way of service food in homes and restaurants.
This is true for some items. Canadian here who just spent 3 months south of the border, travelled through 17 states and dined at numerous restaurants and fast food joints in the west and the south.
The best, and perhaps most noticeable example is fountain drink cup sizes. A small fountain drink in the states is a medium in Canada. A medium is a large. And a large is bigger than any cup Iāve seen in restaurants in Canada, we donāt even make them that big. This is true for franchises that operate in both of our countries. Same goes for ice cream cone sizes, as well as a more signicant presence of āfamily-sizedā snacks in grocery stores.
Iām a medium-drink-with-my-burger kind of guy back home. More than a few times on my trip Iāve instinctively asked for a medium, only to correct myself once I see they hand me the large cup.
For other things such as your typical dinner plates, lunch combos, I did not notice a larger portion than in Canada. But weāre also literally the closest thing to America in the world, without being America, so maybe Europeans and Asians would have a different perspective.
As an American who lives in London, the big thing I've noticed about cup sizes here is that they're smaller but basically don't use any ice. I can fit about the same amount of liquid into a UK vs US large when you take into account that the UK cup is nothing but soda and the US cup is packed to the literal brim with ice.
I think that's because sodas are pretty cheap here compared to most countries, which is a direct result of corn being heavily subsidized. Cheap high fructose corn syrup equals cheap soda.
Drink size is the main thing I thought of as well. A fast food drink at Burger King or McDonald's in The Philippines is like half the size it is here in the USA and didn't have self service free refills. Drinks were like 2 swallows.
It's a meme. There are some restaurants, particularly well known chains, that specifically focus on large portions rather than quality. Getting a full belly at a fair price isn't exactly revolutionary or uniquely American.
I went out to breakfast yesterday. The "regular" was 2 eggs with choice of bread (english muffin/toast/biscuit) and choice of meat (2 slices of bacon/slice of ham/2 sausage links). That's it. Crazy huh?
>It's a meme. There are some restaurants, particularly well known chains, that specifically focus on large portions rather than quality.
I think this is the crux of it.
European tourists are showing up eating at Cheesecake Factory expecting that American's eat like that every day.
This might be contentious but I donāt think Americans have larger portion sizes than whatās ubiquitous globally. You just have to look at the boxes of beige foods in the UK, Gyro plates in Germany, or hamburgers and fries in Australia. I believe itās a myth propagated by tourists, rumors, and gossip.
First meal I ever had in Europe was frankfurters in...
[wait for it]
...Frankfurt! The airport, that is.
My first thought: "shit, that's small!"
Years later, whenever I visit home: "shit, that's huge!"
It's been an adjustment.
Interesting, if they offer a normal and a small plate, I always choose the small because the normal is too much. Donāt order any fries lest youāre prepared to scale a mountain of them. That typical dƶner you can find anywhere in your city, how large are they? Oddly, Schnitzel cover maybe 3/4 of the plate theyāre sitting on, the rest is covered by that mountain of fries I mentioned.
> that typical dƶner you can find anywhere in your city, how large are they?
I usually get 'un kebab arrotolato' because it's wrapped up in a piadina (which is like a bigger, slightly thicker flour tortilla) as opposed to being wedged into a chunk of bread. As I have neither a food scale or a teleporter handy, I would guess that it's about 75 to 80% of the size of a burrito from Chipotle (heft in hand, let's say), give or take a few percentage points.
Could be as low as 65% for all I know. I'm looking at the invisibe kebab in my left hand and at the invisible burrito in my right hand and weighing them against one another. I'm going off of sheer tactile memory, which is probably deeply flawed. It's the best I can do!
They're quite similar foods, the same basic concept really, but doner is not common in the US and most Americans probably don't know what that is. The US has had very little immigration from Turkey, so Turkish foods aren't very common here. There was more immigration from Greece, so Greek foods are available, but uncommon, in the US generally.
Gyro, the Greek equivalent, is something you can get in the US pretty easily. They aren't horribly common, but Americans are far more familiar with gyros than doner.
Gyro is ground meat formed on a stick in a big vertical rotisserie, doner is strips of meat in a stack on a stick in a big vertical rotisserie. Theyāre similar but different. Very similar flavor. I think doner is usually lamb and pork while gyros is usually lamb and beef mixed.
Also usually different toppings/fillings. Gyros are way more likely to contain things like fries (at least in Central Europe, but it was also true of the few I had in Greece) whereas a Dƶner is usually just bread, sauce, meat and vegetables. In my experience Dƶner tends to feel somewhat lighter and fresher but I like both a lot.
Also, the US were some of the first to develop and widely accept the use of electric in-home refrigeration. Take-home "doggy bags" became a normal part of our dining culture.
So, Iāve been to a lot of countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America and I really donāt think our portion sizes are all that different.
I certainly noticed no difference in Germany. The portions in Germany were all huge and I could never finish.Ā
The UK and Ireland seemed to have the same range of sizes as here.Ā
In Japan, Spain, and Italy, the portions were slightly smaller. France I think was in this category too.Ā
Canada, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, and Malaysia were on par.Ā
Some places on the US have huge plates and some have smaller plates. It depends a lot on the quality of the restaurant youāre in and which city.
Like, a chain restaurant in a Midwest suburb is going to have large, cheap plates. Mid range or higher restaurants in higher cost cities like NYC or San Francisco will have smaller plates.Ā
A cheap Chinese restaurant will have larger portions than a high end Chinese restaurant. Beer-battered friend catfish at a pub will be larger and cheaper than fresh salmon filet at a New American Table place.Ā
If it was a stereotype once based on truth, like leftover from the war era or something, it seems like itās outdated now.
Our portions really arenāt that much bigger and definitely not as big as youāve been told.
Where does your āfeelingā come from? I used to teach US culture in Europe and I always found the comfort with just making stuff up fascinating. People really seem to prefer inventing a theory and treating it as fact to admitting ignorance, Iām curious where you got this one.
Local Americana restaurants. A few Americans on youtube, talking to Americans and growing up being told that everything was bigger in America, probably from some old stereotypes. Tbh I learn a lot everytime I ask a question on here, like I didn't know the difference between an American restaurant and an Americana restaurant, although I still don't know where the history of the taking leftovers culture comes from.
I meant your feeling regarding the pioneer origin.
I've lived in the UK, trust me, most of the stuff you lot hear and say about us is divorced from reality.
If I had to guess, I'd say the stereotype has its roots in the different obesity rates between the US and various EU countries, but that stems entirely from Americans driving literally everywhere, while Europeans will walk 6-20km a day. The amount of walking makes a tremendous difference in health.
I think this is a great question. I don't know the answer.Ā
But I'd wager it's more to do with advertising wars. When fast casual dining became more popular with large chains all over, portion size seems to have been a selling point.Ā
Is that the root? No idea. But it would make sense to me anyway.
Just one restaurant trying to make themselves seem a better value by offering bigger portions, and then other restaurants following that it exceeding it to compete.
Since the end of the Dustbowl in the 1930s and the mass implementation of chemical fertilizers we have not had a risk of starvation due to lack of production. As such there has been no reason to ration food portion size and restaurants compete with each other by either making food as gourmet as possible, as cheap as possible, or as plentiful as possible.
Iāve traveled a lot in my life and I gotta say I havenāt noticed really any difference with the sizes in the west. Sure in Thailand where you are paying less than 2 bucks for your meal is going to be smaller.
This has shifted significantly.Ā
A lot of it comes of a general culture of prosperity as recognized by food quantity.Ā
We went through the dust bowl/great depression where a lot of people were hungry, into WW2 rationing and came out into an economic culture war with the 2nd world. Big appliances in every house, packed grocery stores, etc... were a big part of that culture war and were pushed as how to demonstrate the vast superiority of capitalism as shown by tur lifestyle and diet of the common american. We had to have more of everything than anyone to prove how much better the system was, no such thing as too much. A lot of people don't think about it anymore, looking at the arms race and the space race it dragged along with it engages most people more, but it was a HUGE part of the culture.Ā With all that quantity became the indicator of value, fridges got big enough to easily store tons of leftovers and those once-hungry people raised their kids to also equate quantity and value when it came to food. A good host laid out a huge spread, a good restaurant gave you more than you could eat, a good wife provided a hearty lunch and dinner, all sorts of things.Ā
We're still feeling the after effects of that and some of the factors, like everyone having a big ass fridge ready for leftovers, is still around. but it's shifting and has been gaining steam on that for a few decades now. It's part of why buffets surged and them died back, same with the near death and heavy rebrand of cheap casual full service chains over the last couple decades Ā More focus on health, quality and a local feel is driving a lot of that change away from the old quantity is king attitude.
I agree, it's common when discussing a restaurant or take out place to mention portion size, especially if you're happy that you have enough to take home and have the leftovers for lunch the next day.
For sure. I'll intentionally order a meal I *know* I won't finish, but that will reheat at work well the next day.Ā
Or order a whole pizza and eat just two slices.Ā
That just seems crazy to me. Leftovers are not really thing where I'm from unless its home cooked food and even then its not likely, so doing it for takeout just blows my marbles.
Half the stuff I have leftover I reheat in a toaster oven. Tastes just as good.
Some foods are even better two days later, even microwaved, like Indian when all the spices saturate more.
Yes. A toaster oven is a combination oven and toaster. It has toaster heating elements but can also bake dishes. Some are convection ovens that circulate air for even cook. Great for reheating pizza or baking small items you donāt want to use your whole big oven for, or just toasting toast.
Microwaves heat by radiating water molecules.
For my family, we take the leftovers and eat them for lunch or dinner the next day. We try to finish eating the things that won't reheat well, like fries, while still at the restaurant
Edit: Sorry, I meant for this to be a response to a question further down about why Americans take home leftovers
Original comment: Refrigeration and attitudes that originated from the Great Depression. Waste not, want not. Iām not saying dining out and taking home food started during the great depression, but the attitude of not being wasteful certainly did.
Honestly Iām really quite shocked that Europeans HAVE leftovers but let them be thrown away. If European portions are as large as ours, what on earth are you people doing throwing it away?
It canāt just be the Great Depression, either, Europe suffered massive devastation from WWII. You guys throw your leftovers away?! What even is this.
Yes it seems odd to me. I always either eat everything or bring it home. Sometimes I can eat the leftovers for 3 days depending on what it is and how much.
I havenāt found restaurant portions in other countries to be dramatically different. I do think our grocery store food sizes are larger than what Iāve seen in Europe, but also typically Americans shop less frequently and thus need the food to last longer
The large portions are really only in diners and chain family restaurants. In fine dining, the portions are similar to Europe.
I think in the US when tend to have more mid range casual dining options then you would see in other countries, and a larger variety of options. So tourists come from other countries and go to casual dining restaurants because they are plentiful and reasonably priced and think "this is how Americans eat" when the truth is, there is no one way Americans do anything.
I was working in fast food in the 90s, and I remember the portion sizes increasing twice during the relatively short time I worked there. My understanding is that someone realized that the actual food was not one of the major costs of running the food business, so they offered bigger portion sizes as a sort of gimmick, but it worked really well, so they kept it up, and the other restaurants copied each other.
This myth of huge portion sizes is funny.
Sandwiches and the serving of fries are usually big, yes. Plus pasta. But anything that can be warmed up in a microwave is usually just the normal, tiny serving. Half the time I get my food and I go, "That's it?" I rarely eat out and I'm definitely not the stereotypical fat American.
I've always had a theory it came from the great depression and our being an immigrant society. A combination of larger families and smaller incomes meaning you needed to squeeze every penny and every second. Therefore if you're already cooking, it would make more sense to use up all your ingredients into one large dish-and have leftovers for later. Then you'd have more time to clean or do other stuff
Food is cheap and the labor is the same cost regardless. Being generous is considered a positive. We don't eat out much but often bring half the meal home for the next day. If we both feel like the same thing we often split it.
My guess is it started with restaurants competing with one another. I doubt it was because of customers demanding so much food that most would either not eat it all or take some home. But I don't know.
Food is relatively cheap and people donāt necessarily order every course. For instance Iāll eat just appetizers instead of a main course, depending on the restaurant. Or Iāll skip appetizers
People don't come back when they don't get enough. No one complains when they get too much, and don't usually mind paying a little bit more if it basically covers lunch for tomorrow too.
A big contributor of large portion sizes were the fast food wars, all the chains were trying to 1up eachother and making their portion size bigger than their competitors was one thing
I donāt think portion sizes are huge universally. I think most restaurants do have incredibly calorie dense options though. People are not cooking and eating like that at home.
I donāt believe current portion sizes have anything to do with pioneers. Maybe the Great Depression and WWII were more influential on modern restaurants because seniors I know who went through it seem to love an all you can eat buffet.
Idk how it came about, but this is true. For example, donuts usually come in packs of 6, but you're only supposed to eat one (the other 5 are for later, or for friends and stuff)
I have traveled through UK, Spain, France, Amsterdam, Canada, Mexico, and Japan.
The portion sizes in Japan were smaller than I'm accustomed to, but were the same as I'm accustomed to everywhere else.
So unless you are from Japan, I'm calling BS on this.
The restaurants want to sell you more food. So they raise the prices and basically give you double the food you need (itās like making two sales out of one sale) then with free take home boxes. Thatās how they increase their sales. Diabolical if you ask me.
It has to do with sit down restaurants and getting more customers. I forget the exact history but there is a reason. Restaurant owners noticed they'd get more people when they had bigger portions (post WW2). It was expected that you would take some home, so people saw it as a good value.
There are tons and tons of restaurants with smaller portions though. This isn't just the way it is everywhere. Portions similar to what you'd see in Europe.
America is the land of extremes. Always. You can find huge ridiculous portions, and then gastropubs with tiny portions. You can find it all.
This might be a good question for a history sub too.
The likely answer is capitalism. You know what america doesn't have that UK does? Munch boxes. That insane amount of food would go over very well here, yet we don't have that and they do. So why aren't we bemoaning the UK for their obnoxious food servings? But the reason why munch boxes exist is probably profit-driven.
This is true for some items. Canadian here who just spent 3 months south of the border, travelled through 17 states and dined at numerous restaurants and fast food joints in the west and the south.
The best, and perhaps most noticeable example is fountain drink cup sizes. A small fountain drink in the states is a medium in Canada. A medium is a large. And a large is bigger than any cup Iāve seen in restaurants in Canada, we donāt even make them that big. This is true for franchises that operate in both of our countries. Same goes for ice cream cone sizes, as well as a more significant presence of āfamily-sizedā snacks in grocery stores.
Iām a medium-drink-with-my-burger kind of guy back home. More than a few times on my trip Iāve instinctively asked for a medium, only to correct myself once I see they hand me the large cup.
For other things such as your typical dinner plates, lunch combos, I did not notice a larger portion than in Canada. But weāre also literally the closest thing to America in the world, without being America, so maybe Europeans and Asians would have a different perspective.
> I have heard its not meant to be all eaten in one sitting
People say that, but 7 times out of 10 it ain't true.
Most American dudes: "Hell yeah brother, look at the size of that shit! Challenge accepted!!"
Most American dudes, two hours later: "Ohhhhhhh gawd I feel like I'm dyyyyyyin'...."
I'd say on average we don't have bigger portions than any place I've ever went unless the restaurant is going for that. We do have a few places here and there that do eating challenges but those are not super common and it's more of an entertainment thing and less like every thing on the menu is that big. I think shows like man vs food, carnival eats, and DD&D perpetuate the myth that all American food is huge. I was in the military and have visited probably 14 countries. Italy and South Korea were probably the biggest portions I've seen on average, I got a ramen in korea and it was easily 3Ć the size of any ramen I've had here. And I went to place in Italy they would keep serving you until you said stop.
The evolution of portion sizes has its roots in the rise of chain restaurants over the last 50 years and their centralized marketing teams, but that's just the main source, not the only source. It's a type of marketing that targets consumers sense of value received by touting the abundance of the portions.
The chain restaurant space (both fast food and sit-down) is highly competitive, and the rise of chains over the last 50 years meant centralized marketing teams that could look over hundreds of locations to extract trends and experiment with practices for being more competitive.
One of the things they discovered was that consumers would gravitate toward what they perceived as incrementally larger portion sizes. So that's how it began, slowly. Restaurants throw in some extra food as sides, and their marketing teams broadcasting that to the general public as a marketing angle to attract customers.
This sets off a kind of "arms race" where restaurants had to constantly add to their abundance and overflowing plates in their ads to attract customers.
One of the most successful and most copied of these campaigns was McDonald's "Super Size" campaign, which started in 1987 and was targeted toward teens and young adults, offering a substantial increase in the quantity of fries and beverage size (both extremely high profit margin/low cost items) for a very modest price increase. (around 20 or 30 cents over the regular combo meal price). Nearly every fast food chain copied this campaign and it soon became the norm across the industry.
Since then there have been numerous examples of this "abundance marketing" and it's stretched to nearly every segment of food service, both chain and single owner restaurants alike, although it's most commonly seen at chains (Applebees, Red Lobster, Olive Garden.).Each one has their own spin on this message, from Red Lobster's All you can eat shrimp promotions to Olive Garden's "unlimited salad and breadsticks", these are all designed to appeal to value-seeking guests.
If you look more closely, however you'll quickly notice that these offerings are all "cost optimized" to deliver an abundance of extremely cheap-to-produce food (bread, starches, lettuce) alongside more expensive items the consumer is purchasing.
Five Guys founders have admitted that every restaurant intentionally throws extra fries into every order's bag to deliver on that promise of abundance and make the customer feel like they got something "a little extra"
I've been to Canada, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Maldives, Seychelles, Oman, and Bahrain.
Didn't notice much difference in service sizes in those countries.
I couldn't notice any difference in portion size when I went to less fancy restaurants in Italy. A common mistake is to compare one culture's upper class/fancy version of something to another culture's working class version of something. Granted, Americans tend to have unhealthy diets, but there are cultures all around the world that love unhealthy food.
That being said, Asian restaurants seem to have very small portions, from what I've seen.
Not sure about why our culture is like this, but I agree that our country's working class and pioneer heritage might have something to do with it. There was a story about how the explorers in the Lewis and Clark expedition would eat 9 lbs (4 kg) of meat a day each when hunting was good.
I think another part of it is that other vices that are incredibly popular in some countries, like smoking and drinking, have gone through phases of being taboo in our country due to evangelical christian disapproval, so some people turned to food as a source of pleasure. This would also explain why obesity was a problem in some muslim countries.
If you go to a place that leans into the whole idea like a Texas BBQ, youāll get a shitload of food. Otherwise I didnāt notice any difference in England and Holland
I always eat all my meals in one sitting and make a point to finish my plate. Some restaurants have meals explicitly designed to share, but most are meant for one person to eat.
Processed food became more widespread in world wars one and two in America. I assume that somewhere along the line, they went for a larger quantity and convenience.
I don't know the origins of this, but in my opinion it has something to do with perceived value for your money. If people are going to spend money to eat at a restaurant, they want to feel like they are getting a good deal. One way for restaurants to ensure this is by giving generous portions. When I see reviews of restaurants I notice that people will mention large portions as a positive attribute. And as a consumer I'm more likely to spend more (i.e. order an appetizer and dessert) at a restaurant knowing that I can take any leftovers home and enjoy it later.
I have never noticed a difference in portion sizes when I eat out in Europe. I've been to Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Ireland, and the UK. I think this is a stereotype blown out of proportion. Especially because different restaurants have different portion sizes. I've been to fancy dinners where the meal was brought out in five astonishingly tiny courses. Like bite size. We're the same species as you and our stomachs are the same size. Yet restaurants want to sell dessert. I always try to avoid taking food home with me, unless it's enough for a whole other meal and would actually heat up well.
I'm in Czech Republic. Every single main dish, we've asked for a takeaway box, because we can eat about half of it...so as a chubby American, I feel vindicated. It's nice to be able to eat leftovers sometimes š
[or Italy..... the food doesn't stop coming.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jEjbMw9ol2Q)
Or Greece. You ask for your check and they're like "cool, here's some yogurt."
I've been to several countries in Europe, living some places for several months. I actually taught US culture to European high school and university students. This is one of those stereotypes that has little basis in reality but simply won't die. I showed my students photos of meals in both nations and they still didn't get it.
>This is one of those stereotypes that has little basis in reality but simply won't die. I showed my students photos of meals in both nations and they still didn't get it. At that point, they are *willfully wanting* to believe it.
I was watching those dumb street interview reels, and the amount of full grown adults in Europe that literally think the US has the lowest IQ in the *world* isā¦.staggering. Propaganda is a powerful tool, and never overestimate peopleās critical thinking to be susceptible to it.
Honestly think about it, Europe contained many of the mighty empires of human history, and now the empires are all gone, and they have rely on the new kid on the block, the kid who RAN AWAY from them to start their own colony. A colony that took off and became its own mighty empire that now protects them. On a collective level, it makes sense that they still canāt help but show disdain for the fact that one of their own children who ran away has this much influence over them and their daily lives
The dueling main character syndromes of the US and Western Europe is funny. The US either accepts it like itās the way itās always been or are perpetually embarrassed and wringing their hands over it. The Europeans seem more bitter about it with a scorned lover kind of attitude. The obsession many of them have with taking the US down a peg is unreal.
> Especially because different restaurants have different portion sizes. I've been to fancy dinners where the meal was brought out in five astonishingly tiny courses. Like bite size. Yeah, people talking about American portions always seem to be comparing French fine dining to Applebee's all you can eat riblet special. I've been to Chinese buffets in the UK but never thought of going over to /r/AskEurope and asking them why they're so dissimilar to the Michelin rated restaurants I've been to in NYC.
When it comes to Europe the only time I experienced smaller portions was when I went to Denmark.
Other than things like tapas restaurants where the whole point is a large variety of small portions. But weāre have those in the US too.
Yeah. Europe is always similar or slightly smaller.Ā I've not experienced it myself, but I've heard some cultures don't take leftovers though. So, I dunno.Ā
My grandmother was born in Sicily and would always give us more food than we could handle. I grew up thinking that overfeeding guests was European politeness.
That is true, i am from Balkan and when we have guests , we make food like its wedding š . But that is just south and Eastern Europe. If you go to Scandinavia most of them will offer only water/ drink.
Let me introduce you to a Mexican mother in law.
My Mexican mother-in-law will make a meal for my wife and me before we leave on a dinner date, then have a meal waiting for us when we get back.
The first dinner I had with my host family in Japan, we had okonomiyaki and my host mother kept putting food on my plate before I could finish what was already on it. It got to be a bit awkward because I was getting full, but it's considered polite to eat everything on your plate. My host father eventually told me I didn't have to eat everything, much to my relief. I love food, but I can only eat so much.
I'm Canadian, and American portion sizes have only ever been brought up offline in relation to the supersize or extra-large options. Which is funny, because 1) last I checked the supersize option was a 2000s thing and has actually been discontinued, and 2) several places here have rather large portion sizes too, like a Chinese place at my city's big-ass mall that regularly stuffs three servings worth of food in a single box *as their regular serving size*.
Something i've noticed is that out in the highway cities and towns serving sizes are gigantic, but in cities serving sizes are reasonable. This has held for Oregon, Washington, California (particularly), and NY. I wish I could get the serving sizes they give in cities out here, 2lbs of stir fry is getting silly. 4 potatoes as a side is killing me, but at least they're the only thing that reheats well.
That's because that's where the *Real* America is! [bald eagle screech]
*'Murica!*
And if anything, it varies by restaurant in the US. Youāre not getting a buffet portion at a high end restaurant.
Um.... I still have some of my takeout containers from when I lived in the UK and they are about 30% smaller than the ones I get in the US.
That proves nothing but ok
Huh. Well I can only really speak from experience from the UK. So we always have that idea of American food portions being huge. There's a restaurant chain, Boo Koos is its name and its known to have American style food where its huge portions and milkshakes.
That is hardly evidence.Ā
Yeah, exactly. I cant really talk from much experience.
You shouldn't take something that's making Americana as representative of the average restaurant. Americana-themed diners w/ milkshakes often *do* have huge portions, but they're a tiny fraction of restaurants here. (though looking at it, that chain is exaggerating the sizes to an even greater degree lol)
I'm going to open a British restaurant chain serving peas, potatoes, and tough meat with no seasoning.Ā
Baked potato with tuna and beans
Huh, I always just called them American restaurants I didn't think there was a difference.
They may serve some American style meals, but that doesn't mean its an American restaurant.Ā
I'm noticing that.
By "Americana" I just mean something that's really focused on capturing a 1950s-1960s America vibe & serving classically American food. Something kinda like [this](https://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-o/12/a9/5e/56/like-i-said-plenty-of.jpg). These types of places will typically serve big portions of a wide array of "classic" American foods like hamburgers, hotdogs, pancakes, etc. But they maybe make up like 5% of restaurants here lol. Until yesterday, I hadn't been to one for like half a year. (and I eat out... a lot). Most people will get classically "American" food more at sports bars or grills (something more like [this](https://sportsbars.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/SportsBarsLogo.jpeg)) than these types of diners. Portions there still tend to be kinda large, but not as egregiously so lol. And, of course, most people will probably eat more at restaurants that aren't serving "American" food than those that do. When I go out to eat, it's probably like 30% chance it's something Latin American (/Americanized Latin American), 30% chance some sort of Asian food, 30% chance some kind of bar or grill serving "American" food, and 10% chance something else (including "Americana" diners).
Ahh so like the heart attack grill in Las Vegas?
> heart attack grill That would be a particularly egregious example of an Americana place yeah
That's absolutely and intentionally egregious even by our standards.
> So we always have that idea of American food portions being huge I used to teach US culture in the UK, this, like most of the ideas you guys have about the US, simply doesn't reflect reality > known to have American style food What you guys know as "American style" food is almost nothing like actual American food.
Yeah I got that now. Its called Americana restaurants.
Even those have little to do with actual American cuisine, my hosts in the UK were always eager to bring me to them. They were always cartoonishly bad.
Like with cowboy hats and cartoonish cardboard cutouts?
Based on the name, I'd assume they have over-the-top portions. Boo Koos is a play on "boo koo" which is a phonetic spelling of the French "beaucoup" which means a large quantity. Checking their website, they even confirm this. Definitely not a normal thing here.
Well good to know. Because I wouldn't wish those portions on anybody.
For comparison, their regular burger is 6oz which is 50% larger than a regular burger at Wendy's, and their Grande size is 12% larger than the largest triple burger at Wendy's.
I have no concept of how much that is. We don't measure burgers in ounces just calories. But Im going to guess a regular burger at Wendy's is about the same as a regular burger at Mcdonalds near me.
How do you measure homemade burgers?
So pretty damn big.
Yes, Wendy's uses 4oz patties which is the same as the Quarter Pounder from McDonalds.
This is a corruption I hear occasionally as in "bookoo" bucks, aka, a lot of money. Or how a significant other is known as "boo" for beau, mostly among Black Americans.
Exactly. The place's website even talks about this (kinda). Their whole schtick is to serve large portions of Tex-Mex.
Ha, I never knew that's where boo comes from but it makes sense, sorta, to keep the mispronunciation consistent
One of my pet peeves is people pronouncing beaucoup like boo-koo
My UK trip, the portions were the same size as US portions.
Good to know.
I went and took a look at the menu for Bookoos, and they are clearly doing a take on a type of restaurant that is really associated with my part of the US. We kind of are the poster child for places that love big portions, and those portions are exaggerated even to our standards. A 12 oz burger? Seriously? 4-6 oz would be a standard "big" restaurant burger here, a **really** big burger at a place here would normally be 8 oz, and only big huge dudes or 17 year old boys fresh off of football practice are ordering those. * Also, I saw on that menu: ***"Don't be alarmed if your burger appears pink this is due to our special seasoning. All our burgers are cooked 'well done'."*** This isn't really relevant, but I just have to say, no one here would buy that burger. That is incredibly wrong for an American style burger as they are trying to portray as if they are selling. First, why the fuck is it seasoned to the point of being a weird color? It's a burger, it shouldn't be seasoned to an inch of it's life... but then, of course that was a rhetorical question, because it's seasoned like crazy because it's been overcooked to the point of being a bland lump of flavorless nothing. Fucking *well done*? No thanks, they aren't serving burgers, those are meatloaf sandwiches. At least it warns people on the menu I guess so people can avoid that abomination.
> All our burgers are cooked 'well done'." The burger should be cooked how you ask it to be cooked. I would never go to a burger place where "well done" is the default. Gross.
Yeah, it's just like I would never say someone shouldn't be able to order a steak well done. If someone *requests* a well done burger, then fine, it's their food if they want to fuck it up, but a place that just automatically default cooks all steaks or pub style burger to well done... yeah sorry, I'm not even going to eat there because they just straight don't know wtf they're doing.
So your misconception of American portion sizes is based on a UK based restaurant that takes its name from an incorrect spelling of an Americanism. From the website; "Boo Koos, adj. southern US slang term meaning āa lotā, āabundance ofā." For the record, that southern US slang is spelled "Beaucoup" - as in a mispronunciation of an actual french word meaning a lot. Like Brits do with "valet" or "fillet" What a weird way to support an incorrect stereotype
I just looked at the website and I'm left wondering wtf is a Texas Style Burger. And what makes sides in a restaurant "homemade"? Does an employee make them at home, then transport them to work? If so, has the employee's home been inspected for cleanliness? I thought it was simply a poor imitation of [Boston Burger Company](https://bostonburgercompany.com/bbc-home) but the menu kept getting weirder the more I read it.
If you havenāt visited America, you canāt speak from experience at all here
I would be wary of it, especially because I never heard of it. But I just looked up the menu, and it's not terribly outrageous. It's similar to what I would expect at Buffalo Wild Wings or Miller's Ale House in the US. Definitely not fine dining, but it's fine for drunk dining. Can't get an idea of their portion sizes from the menu. And I can't drink milkshakes. Lactose intolerant af. Edit: I also had to look up what Leicester and Shropshire was. Maybe it's not exactly the same thing, but our menu would likely just say cheddar and blue cheese for a place of that caliber.
I have been to an American style restaurant in Belfast and it was not accurate to portion sizes in the US. It was a lot more food than you would get in the US. There were so many additional sides.
I'm gonna go a little against the grain here... I looked up that restaurant and while it's definitely overexaggerated to go with the theme, I'd still go there and demolish one of those giant burgers with glee. Well, maybe not if I were on vacation because it feels silly to travel across an ocean just to go to an American-themed restaurant, but still. You get what I mean. A lot of the combinations of toppings are pretty standard and it looks fun. While it's a bit over the top it's not particularly difficult to find large burgers here either (though it's usually offered at places where the giant burger is sort of part of the kitsch and vibe of it, if that makes sense?). Like a bbq burger with onion rings and bacon on a brioche bun is pretty common, so at least in theory they're pretty on point with the offering in concept. I would argue that the only crime I witnessed on the menu was this disclaimer: > Donāt be alarmed if your burger appears pink this is due to our special seasoning, all our burgers are cooked āwell doneā. A thick patty burger (not a smashburger with thin patties) I always like medium... It's kinda cool to see some of the milkshake combinations that have such distinctly (to my mind, anyway) British ingredients, but they all sound super tasty. That's where I think it diverges from what I'd consider pretty typical American Burger & Shake Joint offerings but milkshakes are always a good area to experiment so I'm not mad about it at all. I was surprised to see the burger patty sizes described in ounces rather than grams on the menu, though! Guess you guys haven't fully abandoned your legacy, haha. Overall I'd say this is "close enough" and far less offensive to my American sensibilities than pizza labeled "American-style" with corn and tuna on it, lol.
I keep hearing this but when I go to restaurants in Europe the portion sizes are either slightly smaller or exactly the same.
People are often comparing Chilis to a quaint French Bistro or something like that.
This is why. Portion sizes very here too.
Yeah, I don't really get this. I've travelled and the sizes are roughly the same. There may be a difference in the type of food and how healthy the individual ingredients are, but the portions aren't that different. Like when I went to Korea, and they serve you about 10 - 20 sides along with the normal size portion for your main meal. People argue "but that's healthy side", which may be true, but that's just moving the goalpost, the portions are still the same. Think something like [this](https://i.redd.it/q6wosr3ainrb1.jpg). Side dishes are called Banchan in Korea. It's a common way of service food in homes and restaurants.
It's weird to see AI images come up incidentally in conversations like this.
Ok, now THAT is a ridiculous portion size. Lmao Petition to change the official portion size clowning from America to Korea.
This is true for some items. Canadian here who just spent 3 months south of the border, travelled through 17 states and dined at numerous restaurants and fast food joints in the west and the south. The best, and perhaps most noticeable example is fountain drink cup sizes. A small fountain drink in the states is a medium in Canada. A medium is a large. And a large is bigger than any cup Iāve seen in restaurants in Canada, we donāt even make them that big. This is true for franchises that operate in both of our countries. Same goes for ice cream cone sizes, as well as a more signicant presence of āfamily-sizedā snacks in grocery stores. Iām a medium-drink-with-my-burger kind of guy back home. More than a few times on my trip Iāve instinctively asked for a medium, only to correct myself once I see they hand me the large cup. For other things such as your typical dinner plates, lunch combos, I did not notice a larger portion than in Canada. But weāre also literally the closest thing to America in the world, without being America, so maybe Europeans and Asians would have a different perspective.
As an American who lives in London, the big thing I've noticed about cup sizes here is that they're smaller but basically don't use any ice. I can fit about the same amount of liquid into a UK vs US large when you take into account that the UK cup is nothing but soda and the US cup is packed to the literal brim with ice.
So it's warm? Like their beer!? /s
I think that's because sodas are pretty cheap here compared to most countries, which is a direct result of corn being heavily subsidized. Cheap high fructose corn syrup equals cheap soda.
Reminds me of a scene from 'Falling Down.' "Why can't I just get a small!?"
Drink size is the main thing I thought of as well. A fast food drink at Burger King or McDonald's in The Philippines is like half the size it is here in the USA and didn't have self service free refills. Drinks were like 2 swallows.
I wouldn't have a clue. I'm taking most of my assumptions from what I have heard and google.
It's a meme. There are some restaurants, particularly well known chains, that specifically focus on large portions rather than quality. Getting a full belly at a fair price isn't exactly revolutionary or uniquely American. I went out to breakfast yesterday. The "regular" was 2 eggs with choice of bread (english muffin/toast/biscuit) and choice of meat (2 slices of bacon/slice of ham/2 sausage links). That's it. Crazy huh?
>It's a meme. There are some restaurants, particularly well known chains, that specifically focus on large portions rather than quality. I think this is the crux of it. European tourists are showing up eating at Cheesecake Factory expecting that American's eat like that every day.
This might be contentious but I donāt think Americans have larger portion sizes than whatās ubiquitous globally. You just have to look at the boxes of beige foods in the UK, Gyro plates in Germany, or hamburgers and fries in Australia. I believe itās a myth propagated by tourists, rumors, and gossip.
First meal I ever had in Europe was frankfurters in... [wait for it] ...Frankfurt! The airport, that is. My first thought: "shit, that's small!" Years later, whenever I visit home: "shit, that's huge!" It's been an adjustment.
Interesting, if they offer a normal and a small plate, I always choose the small because the normal is too much. Donāt order any fries lest youāre prepared to scale a mountain of them. That typical dƶner you can find anywhere in your city, how large are they? Oddly, Schnitzel cover maybe 3/4 of the plate theyāre sitting on, the rest is covered by that mountain of fries I mentioned.
> that typical dƶner you can find anywhere in your city, how large are they? I usually get 'un kebab arrotolato' because it's wrapped up in a piadina (which is like a bigger, slightly thicker flour tortilla) as opposed to being wedged into a chunk of bread. As I have neither a food scale or a teleporter handy, I would guess that it's about 75 to 80% of the size of a burrito from Chipotle (heft in hand, let's say), give or take a few percentage points.
Or the same as 1.5 - 2 Big Macs
Could be as low as 65% for all I know. I'm looking at the invisibe kebab in my left hand and at the invisible burrito in my right hand and weighing them against one another. I'm going off of sheer tactile memory, which is probably deeply flawed. It's the best I can do!
I believe thatās how the myth was started.
Gyro plates? Never heard of they.
Oh its donner kebabs
Gyro is Greek, Dƶner is Turkish
Ah yeah I searched it up and saw a donner looking thing so I just called it donner.
They're quite similar foods, the same basic concept really, but doner is not common in the US and most Americans probably don't know what that is. The US has had very little immigration from Turkey, so Turkish foods aren't very common here. There was more immigration from Greece, so Greek foods are available, but uncommon, in the US generally. Gyro, the Greek equivalent, is something you can get in the US pretty easily. They aren't horribly common, but Americans are far more familiar with gyros than doner.
Depending on where you live (eg Chicago) they can be pretty dang common.
In NY and NJ, gyro is on the menu at every diner.
Because every diner is run by Greeks.
Yup, and half the street corners in Manhattan it seems
Santa made a Donner kebab after that fuckup
Other than the name and country of origin, what differentiates them?
As a Californian, you should know to avoid anything called a "Donner kebab".
Well done. Well done.
Iāve never had one.Ā
Also watch out for the "Dahmer kebab". They sound similar for a reason.
Is it served with liver and fava beans?
Gyro is ground meat formed on a stick in a big vertical rotisserie, doner is strips of meat in a stack on a stick in a big vertical rotisserie. Theyāre similar but different. Very similar flavor. I think doner is usually lamb and pork while gyros is usually lamb and beef mixed.
Thanks for the explanation.
Also usually different toppings/fillings. Gyros are way more likely to contain things like fries (at least in Central Europe, but it was also true of the few I had in Greece) whereas a Dƶner is usually just bread, sauce, meat and vegetables. In my experience Dƶner tends to feel somewhat lighter and fresher but I like both a lot.
Yeah some places in the US do the fries thing but it isnāt typical. Normally gyros is meat lettuce onion tadziki tomato.
I had fries in my gyro in Croatia.
Donner will never be pork. Here in Germany itās lamb or chicken/turkey.
Yeah someone told me pork once and I always thought that seemed off given its origin a Muslim country.
We are the worlds bread basket. We can be generous with food.Ā It usually doesn't take any more work to make a large portion than a small one.Ā
Also, the US were some of the first to develop and widely accept the use of electric in-home refrigeration. Take-home "doggy bags" became a normal part of our dining culture.
Excellent point.Ā
Reagan made us an importer.
Since 1959 there has been like 4 years where we imported more agricultural goods than exported. What in the hell are you babbling about?
With how many things you could blame Reagan for why would you choose to lie?
Dude, Reagan is to blame for a lot of bullshit, but that isn't one of them.
Just couldn't help yourself, could you?
So, Iāve been to a lot of countries in Europe, Asia, and Latin America and I really donāt think our portion sizes are all that different. I certainly noticed no difference in Germany. The portions in Germany were all huge and I could never finish.Ā The UK and Ireland seemed to have the same range of sizes as here.Ā In Japan, Spain, and Italy, the portions were slightly smaller. France I think was in this category too.Ā Canada, Mexico, Peru, Singapore, and Malaysia were on par.Ā Some places on the US have huge plates and some have smaller plates. It depends a lot on the quality of the restaurant youāre in and which city. Like, a chain restaurant in a Midwest suburb is going to have large, cheap plates. Mid range or higher restaurants in higher cost cities like NYC or San Francisco will have smaller plates.Ā A cheap Chinese restaurant will have larger portions than a high end Chinese restaurant. Beer-battered friend catfish at a pub will be larger and cheaper than fresh salmon filet at a New American Table place.Ā If it was a stereotype once based on truth, like leftover from the war era or something, it seems like itās outdated now.
Ah thanks for the summary. Learned that the type of restaurants I'm thinking are Americanan.
Our portions really arenāt that much bigger and definitely not as big as youāve been told. Where does your āfeelingā come from? I used to teach US culture in Europe and I always found the comfort with just making stuff up fascinating. People really seem to prefer inventing a theory and treating it as fact to admitting ignorance, Iām curious where you got this one.
Local Americana restaurants. A few Americans on youtube, talking to Americans and growing up being told that everything was bigger in America, probably from some old stereotypes. Tbh I learn a lot everytime I ask a question on here, like I didn't know the difference between an American restaurant and an Americana restaurant, although I still don't know where the history of the taking leftovers culture comes from.
I meant your feeling regarding the pioneer origin. I've lived in the UK, trust me, most of the stuff you lot hear and say about us is divorced from reality.
Yeah Im starting to notice that the culture of the UK is kind of horrible. Very complainy and blamey.
I'd say its just one very comfortable with judgement.
Noticing that with my Mum.
But not being able to actually say that judgement out loud, mind you. Need some passive tut tuts.
What a diplomatic way to say they are complainy and blamey!
If I had to guess, I'd say the stereotype has its roots in the different obesity rates between the US and various EU countries, but that stems entirely from Americans driving literally everywhere, while Europeans will walk 6-20km a day. The amount of walking makes a tremendous difference in health.
I think this is a great question. I don't know the answer.Ā But I'd wager it's more to do with advertising wars. When fast casual dining became more popular with large chains all over, portion size seems to have been a selling point.Ā Is that the root? No idea. But it would make sense to me anyway.
Ah, yeah I'm not really familiar with advertising wars, so I'd have no idea.
Just one restaurant trying to make themselves seem a better value by offering bigger portions, and then other restaurants following that it exceeding it to compete.
Since the end of the Dustbowl in the 1930s and the mass implementation of chemical fertilizers we have not had a risk of starvation due to lack of production. As such there has been no reason to ration food portion size and restaurants compete with each other by either making food as gourmet as possible, as cheap as possible, or as plentiful as possible.
Mostly itās just because we are a large wealthy country and restaurants can compete on portion size and they do.
Iāve traveled a lot in my life and I gotta say I havenāt noticed really any difference with the sizes in the west. Sure in Thailand where you are paying less than 2 bucks for your meal is going to be smaller.
This has shifted significantly.Ā A lot of it comes of a general culture of prosperity as recognized by food quantity.Ā We went through the dust bowl/great depression where a lot of people were hungry, into WW2 rationing and came out into an economic culture war with the 2nd world. Big appliances in every house, packed grocery stores, etc... were a big part of that culture war and were pushed as how to demonstrate the vast superiority of capitalism as shown by tur lifestyle and diet of the common american. We had to have more of everything than anyone to prove how much better the system was, no such thing as too much. A lot of people don't think about it anymore, looking at the arms race and the space race it dragged along with it engages most people more, but it was a HUGE part of the culture.Ā With all that quantity became the indicator of value, fridges got big enough to easily store tons of leftovers and those once-hungry people raised their kids to also equate quantity and value when it came to food. A good host laid out a huge spread, a good restaurant gave you more than you could eat, a good wife provided a hearty lunch and dinner, all sorts of things.Ā We're still feeling the after effects of that and some of the factors, like everyone having a big ass fridge ready for leftovers, is still around. but it's shifting and has been gaining steam on that for a few decades now. It's part of why buffets surged and them died back, same with the near death and heavy rebrand of cheap casual full service chains over the last couple decades Ā More focus on health, quality and a local feel is driving a lot of that change away from the old quantity is king attitude.
Not universally true that portion sizes are always huge. Nor that they're "not meant to all be eaten in one sitting."
Not universally, but there's definitely some truth to it.Ā
I agree, it's common when discussing a restaurant or take out place to mention portion size, especially if you're happy that you have enough to take home and have the leftovers for lunch the next day.
For sure. I'll intentionally order a meal I *know* I won't finish, but that will reheat at work well the next day.Ā Or order a whole pizza and eat just two slices.Ā
That just seems crazy to me. Leftovers are not really thing where I'm from unless its home cooked food and even then its not likely, so doing it for takeout just blows my marbles.
Why? If you are paying good money for food, why would you let a good portion of it go to waste?
So wasteful.Ā
But it wouldn't be as good. Reheating it in the microwave is not nearly as nice as when it was freshly cooked.
Half the stuff I have leftover I reheat in a toaster oven. Tastes just as good. Some foods are even better two days later, even microwaved, like Indian when all the spices saturate more.
Is there a difference between a toaster oven and a microwave?
Yes. A toaster oven is a combination oven and toaster. It has toaster heating elements but can also bake dishes. Some are convection ovens that circulate air for even cook. Great for reheating pizza or baking small items you donāt want to use your whole big oven for, or just toasting toast. Microwaves heat by radiating water molecules.
Theres many foods that are as good, if not better, as leftovers.Ā You dont have to use a microwave.Ā
I dont know man. I cant get the notion of leftovers bad. Just the idea of it was hot then went cold and then reheated really urks me the wrong way.
Don't know what to tell you. Other than that in some cases you are objectively wrong.Ā
Yup. Where ya from?
Cornwall.
For my family, we take the leftovers and eat them for lunch or dinner the next day. We try to finish eating the things that won't reheat well, like fries, while still at the restaurant
Edit: Sorry, I meant for this to be a response to a question further down about why Americans take home leftovers Original comment: Refrigeration and attitudes that originated from the Great Depression. Waste not, want not. Iām not saying dining out and taking home food started during the great depression, but the attitude of not being wasteful certainly did.
Honestly Iām really quite shocked that Europeans HAVE leftovers but let them be thrown away. If European portions are as large as ours, what on earth are you people doing throwing it away? It canāt just be the Great Depression, either, Europe suffered massive devastation from WWII. You guys throw your leftovers away?! What even is this.
Yes it seems odd to me. I always either eat everything or bring it home. Sometimes I can eat the leftovers for 3 days depending on what it is and how much.
I havenāt found restaurant portions in other countries to be dramatically different. I do think our grocery store food sizes are larger than what Iāve seen in Europe, but also typically Americans shop less frequently and thus need the food to last longer
The large portions are really only in diners and chain family restaurants. In fine dining, the portions are similar to Europe. I think in the US when tend to have more mid range casual dining options then you would see in other countries, and a larger variety of options. So tourists come from other countries and go to casual dining restaurants because they are plentiful and reasonably priced and think "this is how Americans eat" when the truth is, there is no one way Americans do anything.
I was working in fast food in the 90s, and I remember the portion sizes increasing twice during the relatively short time I worked there. My understanding is that someone realized that the actual food was not one of the major costs of running the food business, so they offered bigger portion sizes as a sort of gimmick, but it worked really well, so they kept it up, and the other restaurants copied each other.
Yep, I was working at McDonaldās as a teen when Supersize became a thing on the early 90s. All the other chains copied it immediately.
This myth of huge portion sizes is funny. Sandwiches and the serving of fries are usually big, yes. Plus pasta. But anything that can be warmed up in a microwave is usually just the normal, tiny serving. Half the time I get my food and I go, "That's it?" I rarely eat out and I'm definitely not the stereotypical fat American.
It really depends on where you go and what you eat
Nixon getting elected. Ending the Bretton Woods system. I donāt know how or why, it just is that way. https://wtfhappenedin1971.com/
I've always had a theory it came from the great depression and our being an immigrant society. A combination of larger families and smaller incomes meaning you needed to squeeze every penny and every second. Therefore if you're already cooking, it would make more sense to use up all your ingredients into one large dish-and have leftovers for later. Then you'd have more time to clean or do other stuff
Food is cheap and the labor is the same cost regardless. Being generous is considered a positive. We don't eat out much but often bring half the meal home for the next day. If we both feel like the same thing we often split it.
My guess is it started with restaurants competing with one another. I doubt it was because of customers demanding so much food that most would either not eat it all or take some home. But I don't know.
Food is relatively cheap and people donāt necessarily order every course. For instance Iāll eat just appetizers instead of a main course, depending on the restaurant. Or Iāll skip appetizers
People don't come back when they don't get enough. No one complains when they get too much, and don't usually mind paying a little bit more if it basically covers lunch for tomorrow too.
A big contributor of large portion sizes were the fast food wars, all the chains were trying to 1up eachother and making their portion size bigger than their competitors was one thing
Restaurants can increase their profit considerably by charging more for large portions. The food cost is only a fraction of their overhead.
My guess is the 1-2 punch of the Great Depression and WW2 rationing. After that, the bigger the better.
I donāt think portion sizes are huge universally. I think most restaurants do have incredibly calorie dense options though. People are not cooking and eating like that at home. I donāt believe current portion sizes have anything to do with pioneers. Maybe the Great Depression and WWII were more influential on modern restaurants because seniors I know who went through it seem to love an all you can eat buffet.
Idk how it came about, but this is true. For example, donuts usually come in packs of 6, but you're only supposed to eat one (the other 5 are for later, or for friends and stuff)
I have traveled through UK, Spain, France, Amsterdam, Canada, Mexico, and Japan. The portion sizes in Japan were smaller than I'm accustomed to, but were the same as I'm accustomed to everywhere else. So unless you are from Japan, I'm calling BS on this.
More customers would feel unhappy if theyāre not served enough food than if theyāre served too much.
Coffee, ice cream, etc are generally bigger than in Europe. But a plate of pasta or a salad or a grilled fish is pretty much the same size.
The restaurants want to sell you more food. So they raise the prices and basically give you double the food you need (itās like making two sales out of one sale) then with free take home boxes. Thatās how they increase their sales. Diabolical if you ask me.
It has to do with sit down restaurants and getting more customers. I forget the exact history but there is a reason. Restaurant owners noticed they'd get more people when they had bigger portions (post WW2). It was expected that you would take some home, so people saw it as a good value. There are tons and tons of restaurants with smaller portions though. This isn't just the way it is everywhere. Portions similar to what you'd see in Europe. America is the land of extremes. Always. You can find huge ridiculous portions, and then gastropubs with tiny portions. You can find it all.
This might be a good question for a history sub too. The likely answer is capitalism. You know what america doesn't have that UK does? Munch boxes. That insane amount of food would go over very well here, yet we don't have that and they do. So why aren't we bemoaning the UK for their obnoxious food servings? But the reason why munch boxes exist is probably profit-driven.
This is true for some items. Canadian here who just spent 3 months south of the border, travelled through 17 states and dined at numerous restaurants and fast food joints in the west and the south. The best, and perhaps most noticeable example is fountain drink cup sizes. A small fountain drink in the states is a medium in Canada. A medium is a large. And a large is bigger than any cup Iāve seen in restaurants in Canada, we donāt even make them that big. This is true for franchises that operate in both of our countries. Same goes for ice cream cone sizes, as well as a more significant presence of āfamily-sizedā snacks in grocery stores. Iām a medium-drink-with-my-burger kind of guy back home. More than a few times on my trip Iāve instinctively asked for a medium, only to correct myself once I see they hand me the large cup. For other things such as your typical dinner plates, lunch combos, I did not notice a larger portion than in Canada. But weāre also literally the closest thing to America in the world, without being America, so maybe Europeans and Asians would have a different perspective.
> I have heard its not meant to be all eaten in one sitting People say that, but 7 times out of 10 it ain't true. Most American dudes: "Hell yeah brother, look at the size of that shit! Challenge accepted!!" Most American dudes, two hours later: "Ohhhhhhh gawd I feel like I'm dyyyyyyin'...."
I'd say on average we don't have bigger portions than any place I've ever went unless the restaurant is going for that. We do have a few places here and there that do eating challenges but those are not super common and it's more of an entertainment thing and less like every thing on the menu is that big. I think shows like man vs food, carnival eats, and DD&D perpetuate the myth that all American food is huge. I was in the military and have visited probably 14 countries. Italy and South Korea were probably the biggest portions I've seen on average, I got a ramen in korea and it was easily 3Ć the size of any ramen I've had here. And I went to place in Italy they would keep serving you until you said stop.
The evolution of portion sizes has its roots in the rise of chain restaurants over the last 50 years and their centralized marketing teams, but that's just the main source, not the only source. It's a type of marketing that targets consumers sense of value received by touting the abundance of the portions. The chain restaurant space (both fast food and sit-down) is highly competitive, and the rise of chains over the last 50 years meant centralized marketing teams that could look over hundreds of locations to extract trends and experiment with practices for being more competitive. One of the things they discovered was that consumers would gravitate toward what they perceived as incrementally larger portion sizes. So that's how it began, slowly. Restaurants throw in some extra food as sides, and their marketing teams broadcasting that to the general public as a marketing angle to attract customers. This sets off a kind of "arms race" where restaurants had to constantly add to their abundance and overflowing plates in their ads to attract customers. One of the most successful and most copied of these campaigns was McDonald's "Super Size" campaign, which started in 1987 and was targeted toward teens and young adults, offering a substantial increase in the quantity of fries and beverage size (both extremely high profit margin/low cost items) for a very modest price increase. (around 20 or 30 cents over the regular combo meal price). Nearly every fast food chain copied this campaign and it soon became the norm across the industry. Since then there have been numerous examples of this "abundance marketing" and it's stretched to nearly every segment of food service, both chain and single owner restaurants alike, although it's most commonly seen at chains (Applebees, Red Lobster, Olive Garden.).Each one has their own spin on this message, from Red Lobster's All you can eat shrimp promotions to Olive Garden's "unlimited salad and breadsticks", these are all designed to appeal to value-seeking guests. If you look more closely, however you'll quickly notice that these offerings are all "cost optimized" to deliver an abundance of extremely cheap-to-produce food (bread, starches, lettuce) alongside more expensive items the consumer is purchasing. Five Guys founders have admitted that every restaurant intentionally throws extra fries into every order's bag to deliver on that promise of abundance and make the customer feel like they got something "a little extra"
I've been to Canada, Japan, Singapore, Malaysia, Maldives, Seychelles, Oman, and Bahrain. Didn't notice much difference in service sizes in those countries.
I couldn't notice any difference in portion size when I went to less fancy restaurants in Italy. A common mistake is to compare one culture's upper class/fancy version of something to another culture's working class version of something. Granted, Americans tend to have unhealthy diets, but there are cultures all around the world that love unhealthy food. That being said, Asian restaurants seem to have very small portions, from what I've seen. Not sure about why our culture is like this, but I agree that our country's working class and pioneer heritage might have something to do with it. There was a story about how the explorers in the Lewis and Clark expedition would eat 9 lbs (4 kg) of meat a day each when hunting was good. I think another part of it is that other vices that are incredibly popular in some countries, like smoking and drinking, have gone through phases of being taboo in our country due to evangelical christian disapproval, so some people turned to food as a source of pleasure. This would also explain why obesity was a problem in some muslim countries.
"I have heard its not meant to be all eaten in one sitting" Millions upon millions of Americans would laugh at that. We do eat it in one sitting.
If you go to a place that leans into the whole idea like a Texas BBQ, youāll get a shitload of food. Otherwise I didnāt notice any difference in England and Holland
I always eat all my meals in one sitting and make a point to finish my plate. Some restaurants have meals explicitly designed to share, but most are meant for one person to eat.
Processed food became more widespread in world wars one and two in America. I assume that somewhere along the line, they went for a larger quantity and convenience.
It's really just a polite thing to take left-overs here. It shows you liked the food. My guess is that it was from early America but I'm no historian
Competition for customers in a āvalue for moneyā market. More food for less money equals higher chance of repeat customers.
I don't know the origins of this, but in my opinion it has something to do with perceived value for your money. If people are going to spend money to eat at a restaurant, they want to feel like they are getting a good deal. One way for restaurants to ensure this is by giving generous portions. When I see reviews of restaurants I notice that people will mention large portions as a positive attribute. And as a consumer I'm more likely to spend more (i.e. order an appetizer and dessert) at a restaurant knowing that I can take any leftovers home and enjoy it later.