Reading about breakfast doughnuts, and the size of muffins “now” and “then” made me think. What else has been supersized to a ridiculous extent?
My muffin pan, which is the same sized muffin pan my mother used to make bran muffins, makes muffins with about a two-inch across base. (I just measured: two inches and a smidgeon.) These pans produce muffins which look nothing like the muffins for sale at the grocery store or bakery: giant, overflowing, monstrous muffins, which are really just cake with nuts and fruit, sometimes dusted with icing sugar, even.
My mother’s bran muffins were little things with honey and raisins for sweetness. A different creature all together.
When I first drank pop at a restuarant or fast-food place, I would get a small serving of pop, the size of a tallish drinking glass at home. Now, it looks like it’s served by litre.
What else do you remember when it used to be a reasonable serving size, but is now insanely large?
Most American food is too big, in my opinion. I can’t remember the last time I ate everything on my plate in a restaurant. If you look on packaging, they’ll tell you that a serving is about 1/2 of what looks right to you, but I don’t know too many people who actually eat like that. We’re a society of “More is Better” and I think we’ve come to expect it. I truly get overwhelmed when I order at places like The Cheesecake Factory or Maggiano’s. Their servings are freekin’ enormous!
The NIH “portion distortion” quiz. Lets you compare and guess the caloric value of “yesterday’s portions” vs “today’s portions”. Interesting and a little nauseating
This is the reason why nowadays you can not teach your child to finish everything on his/her plate. Because while you are teaching little Timmy to finish off his green beans, you are also teaching him to eat the last half of that Big Mac which he really didn’t want to finish. Big food companies understand this and they capitalize on the very fact.
I like big food. If I go to a restaurant and buy a meal, I expect to be full when I finish. If I’m not, I’ll be pissed and I won’t return. It’s better business for the restuarant to give me more than I want…food cost is not a big deal to them.
Not only is stuff bigger, but it’s taller to the point that you have to unhinge your jaw to eat it. Really, who thought of this? How is pissing people off with food that is messy and inconvenient to eat a business plan? BTW, I’m looking at you, Cheeburger Cheeburger. For that matter, look at Burger King’s Whopper. Although not too tall, it has the opposite problem: too large in diameter. Sorry, my hands are not the size of catcher’s mitts. I can’t pick up the damn things without half of the stuff falling out of the bottom edge. Now I cut them in halves or quarters. But why do I have to?
And what the fuck’s happened to burritos and pita wraps, etc? Usta be cheap, small, convenient, and easy to eat. You could even eat them in the car while driving (although I am loathe to do so) if you were in a hurry. Now they’re huge. The way I see it, they eliminated the whole reason to buy one instead of a sandwich in the first place. Ya take a bite and half of the stuff inside falls out (I’m looking at you, Chipotle’s) or the weak wrapper tears and falls apart (I’m looking at you, Wendy’s. Yeah, I know they’ve been discontinued, but I’m still angry). Notable exception: McDonald’s Sausage Burrito. Grrrrr…
The drink thing I get, though. With free refills, the servers have to make less trips.
A few years back, I took my boyfriend out to Red Robin for his birthday (he looooves the burgers there). I spent like, half of my time watching this booth near us with disgusted fascination. The two adults there bought two appetizers* and finished those. Then they got their ginormous burgers and plate full of fries and finished those completely, with thick chocolate milk shakes. Then they both got these huuuuuuuuuge desserts and completely finished THOSE too!
My stomach felt full just watching them!
which, like in many restaurants, are basically enough to be a meal for someone on its own.
I think the Black Eyed Pea sells a chicken fried steak so big it needs a plate all of its own.
And they make sure to tell you that on the commercial for it too.
I went to go see “Ghost Rider” the other day at the movies. I ordered a MEDIUM COKE and a MEDIUM POPCORN. My god! The coke had to easily of been a full liter. I can only imagine what a large would be. I ate so much of that frick’n popcorn I completely skipped dinner.
I stopped at Carl’s Jr./Green Burrito yesterday as I was driving through Oregon. (One thing I miss in Washington is Carl’s Jr.) I ordered a fish taco (which was surprisingly good) and a medium drink. The girl at the counter brought out a cup that I would consider a ‘large’. A fairly generous large at that. ‘Is that the medium?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘I think I’ll have a small.’ The ‘small’ was, I think, 20 oz. – a ‘medium’ in days gone by.
I would complain along with everyone else here but I love the super-sized portions. Mainly because the bar I work at gives us ½ off meals during work hours. At the end of the night, I always have some cheap and delicious for the next days dinner.
When I go to Wendy’s I’ll order a combo meal, but I’ll specify a child-sized fries. The regular sized ones are too much. And even when I specify child-sized fries, they always ask if I want to ‘Biggie Size’ my order.
As far as going to proper restaurants, it’s a good think I like leftovers (or ‘Bachelour Kibble’, as I call them). It used to irritate a former coworker to no end when we’d go to a certain Italian restaurant for lunch. Though it was an Italian place, I usually got the prime rib sandwich. Lunch that day: the salad, two slices of garlic bread, and the three onion rings. Other meals out of the same lunch: 1) Fries. There were enough for a whole dinner. 2) Cole slaw and small red apple 3) The sandwich itself (which could actually be two meals). Four or five ‘meals’ out of a single eight-dollar lunch ain’t bad.
When my wife and I went to America the year before last, we adopted the strategy of ordering whatever looked smallest, then splitting it between the two of us. We still ended up stuffed.
Sadly, it’s spreading here. McDonald’s just started advertising the Mega Mac with 4 patties. It looks like just a temporary promo item, though.
I’ve heard about McDonald’s locations outside the US selling “bigger” versions of the Big Mac, but AFAIK they’ve never sold anything like that here (though I wouldn’t mind trying one). A few years ago they sold a triple cheeseburger for a while.
They had a TV report about Ruby Tuesday’s in light of some survey of the thousands of calories in their meals, and the reporter couldn’t fit the burger in her mouth. Maybe a third of the height fit in her mouth. Here is a picture, on a relevant website.
Now, see…that’s pretty disgusting if you ask me. Why would someone even order that except to get his 30 minutes of attention whoring in for the day? That could feed a family of four fercrissakes!
