Perhaps not so much today, but back a long time ago in the morning the orange juice and the pineapple juice and the grapefruit juice came in small glasses. At least smaller than the water glass.
Was it the cost or the blood sugar or the norm that all you need is a small amount of juice to start your day?
I think that, in the Good Old Days, it was more common for people to make their own juice by squeezing oranges or grapefruits. It would take a lot of fruit to get more than a small glass of juice, especially if you’re making some for the whole family.
Then there’s the fact that those juices can be fairly tart/sour if they come from a can, so that a little goes a long way.
Finally, as you mention, there’s cost and sugar content. Servings of soft drinks, too, used to be smaller in the Old Days.
I remember this too. My WAG is that it was a question of cost. Oranges used to be luxury items outside of FL and CA.
I think that might be key. Back when, juice and soft drinks were “treats” - thus came in small portions. Water or milk or coffee was the beverage you drank with your meal (breakfast, anyway), and juice was an “add-on.” I think it was probably more about cost than calories.
Where?
I expect that in Finland fruit juice with your breakfast would have even be unlikely to come, way back when. In Spain meanwhile I can tell you that the idea of “a small glass of OJ” is headache-inducing and unpatriotic: Valencia orange growers would want a word with you. Within the US, I imagine that oranges used to be a lot more difficult to find in Minnesota than in Florida.
I’m pretty sure I’d read, on this very board years ago, that orange juice is a commodity. Therefore, at diners and restaurants and such places, there is no volume discount from wholesalers and restaurant supply – they might as well just by a carton at the store like you do at home and pour it out. So they charge more. So you don’t balk, they charge a small amount, and serve a small amount.
The tiny portions at home, i the bad old good old days? Who knows? Maybe the cost of glass manufacturing made people use small ones? Or just a style thing.
This reminds me of the foil-sealed plastic cups of OJ places like Hardees used to sell at breakfast. They were maybe 4 ounces.
You can still enjoy those foil-sealed cups on airplanes.
Back in the old days my dad would, on his days off, actually squeeze an orange for his breakfast juice. The juice of one orange is only a couple ounces at best - at least in my family, the small juice glasses were about the right size for holding the juice of one large or two small oranges.
Which might be the reason in other cases as well.
You can add tomato juice to the list. When in a typical restaurant, even when I order a ‘large’, it just isn’t very much.
As a kid we had a manual juicer. I remember using it once and being hugely disappointed not only in the amount obtained but also in its bland taste. I never juiced a second time.
mmm
Also in hospital, where I’ve just been. I was so thirsty…
Another reason is that orange juice has 112 calories in 1 cup or 8 oz of juice. In comparison Coca-cola Classic - 8 Oz. Bottle has 100 calories.
The vitamins, minerals don’t change the fact that both cause glucose levels to spike. As most Americans get enough vitamins in their normal food a in hospital will be concerned about empty sugar calories.
From an old American Diabetes Association exchange program: 4 oz (1/2 cup) of orange, apple, or grapefruit juice is a fruit serving. (1/3 cup for grape, cranberry or prune juice),.
4 oz was the old juice glass size.
In the old days, the SUPER SIZE ME movement hadn’t taken over. People consumed things in more moderation and obesity wasn’t as prevalent as it is now.