How soon until NYC is NOT a food destination?

[GLC]

Bravo! We're fat because we eat too much. Plain and simple.

Don't worry about carbs or fats or proteins in your diet because they are carbs or fats or proteins. Worry about them all because they bring calories to the party.

And it's really just a matter of energy in and energy out. If you were to work every day like a 19th century farmer or a working cowboy, you'd have a hard time becoming obese if you tried. They had to pack in the fat just to get enough calories, pouring on the gravy and being lavish with the lard. Of course they were both pretty crippled up by work by middle age.

Or we could go back to hunted-gatherer routine, where to catch it and prep it burns up as many calories as the food.

But along the same line, people got a double whammy after the 1950's or so. At the time, you just didn't have much to keep you glued to the couch. Fast food, portion wars, and saturation television all began and increased along the same timeline.

I really think, though, that the most certain and realistic solution is to work at making small portions of good food the trendy thing, the thing that kids and adults want to emulate and the thing that a hostess wants to show off.

Some favor warning labels:

Or, I wonder what would happen if meal sellers had to serve food in packages or on plates color coded to the calorie range of the food in or on it. Let those "salads" be shown for what they really are when they have to be served on a bright yellow plate. I guess it would get pretty bad in Chili's, with all those meals coming out on plates striped dayglo orange and green with flashing warning lights and little sirens blaring.

 

[Andy M.]

...I guess it would get pretty bad in Chili's, with all those meals coming out on plates striped dayglo orange and green with flashing warning lights and little sirens blaring.

...and there would be a table full of idiots who would cheer and order two each as a sign of their manhood.

 

[taxlady]

...and there would be a table full of idiots who would cheer and order two each as a sign of their manhood.

Only laughing 'cause it's true.

 

[Aunt Bea]

I really think, though, that the most certain and realistic solution is to work at making small portions of good food the trendy thing, the thing that kids and adults want to emulate and the thing that a hostess wants to show off.

Reminds me of the Nouvelle Cuisine craze.

I hated going into a restaurant and being served two scallops and three pieces of asparagus for $29.95!

I do think that you are right though, sheep love to follow sheep!

 

[GLC]

I think you were being conservative. THAT kind of place would charge even more, and it would only be one scallop and two spears, but they would be on a bed of two arugula leaves and be surrounded by a thin drizzle of chef's mystery sauce.

But I think that might even help get the movement started, since lesser culinary lights could serve lighter and could very likely serve a higher grade of food. The ideal would be if they were no longer trying to one-up each other with portion size but were trying to serve a more accurate size portion.

The 30th bite of chicken fried steak tastes exactly like the first bite, or maybe not even quite as good as the first bite. The difference is that, with the correct portion, you pay more attention to each bite and experience them more fully. The 32nd ounce of Coke tastes just like the first ounce.

It's like eating an Oreo with a knife and fork. You experience the Oreo for a lot longer that way than just popping it into your mouth.

 

[CWS4322]

Maybe this is what people need to do, regardless of their ages:

What French Parents Do That Americans Don't : NPR

 

[taxlady]

Maybe this is what people need to do, regardless of their ages:

What French Parents Do That Americans Don't : NPR

Interesting article. I can see a whole lot of that in how I was raised, and my mother was a worry wart.

I have a friend who had several foster children. None of them were fussy eaters. When there was a food that kids are fussy about, she would say, "I want you to taste this. You don't have to eat it if you don't like it. I want to know if you are old enough to like it yet."

 

[CWS4322]

The author was interviewed on NPR. It was quite interesting. She had moved to France with her 2 young children and they had to learn to stop eating beige (the kids) and eat the food offered at school. I don't eat snacks--could this be why I still wear the same size I wore in high school????

 

[TATTRAT]

Once you get hungry enough, you WILL eat it.

My mom was of the mindset that if I didn't like what she had prepared, A) I would be reminded that I could cook something myself(though I couldn't at the time), B) that is what is for dinner, and if you aren't going to try it, you can't say you like it, or C)well, if you aren't going to eat it, you can go to bed hungry.

I think nowadays, kids would call the police, and the police would come lock up the parent for some stupid, nonsensical, "politically correct" trumped up charge...

I can certainly relate to the wonderful article referenced by CWS4322, and I agree. My mother is a Swed, and a graduate of the Culinary Institute Switzerland, my pops is a Brit that has never turned down a meal that I know of, and as a kid it was a simple matter of eat, or not. I ate all sorts of stuff, and never had McDonalds until I was almost 12, iirc.

Food is one thing in life that everyone can enjoy. Just try it. The worse that can happen, asides from a deadly allergic reaction, is you spit it out.

 

[taxlady]

I wasn't a fussy eater. However, I detested (and still do) canned peas. One day my mother noticed that I was more than happy to eat fresh peas. After that, she never served canned peas, just fresh or frozen.

 

[TATTRAT]

I wasn't a fussy eater. However, I detested (and still do) canned peas. One day my mother noticed that I was more than happy to eat fresh peas. After that, she never served canned peas, just fresh or frozen.

One of my faves as a kid was Mushy peas. SO GOOD. But, I can relate on the canned peas. While some mushy Peas are indeed from a can, they taste nothing like the canned peas I am sure you are referring to.

I think it is strange too that kids seem to gravitate towards strange colored foods. . . I am not sure that they still have it, but the rage like 15 years ago for kids was ketchup that was green, or purple. kids LOVED it. Kids eat purple things, florescent looking things(think Cheetos), and just some strange things based on just the color.

 

[PattY1]

This kind of "the government will protect you from yourself" mentality is not just New York. Here on the West Coast we associate this kind of thinking with San Francisco. If anything I think NYC is just becoming more like SF, or maybe vice versa, or both.

When it comes to food I think of it is "mommy-state" run wild. Eat slowly and chew your food carefully. We'll protect you from the evil fast food franchises.

When it comes to smoking in public I don't know. I did smoke about 30+ years ago and I quit. I'm sorry I ever started. It appears that it didn't totally wreck my health but it could have, and does for many--particularly those who can't or won't quit. Back when I smoked I never smoked around people who didn't like it. I understood that restaurants were not good places to smoke. Even when I was a smoker I couldn't condone smoke while I was eating.

Unfortunately not all people are considerate. If something isn't illegal then they take it as their right to do it whenever they want, and if somebody else doesn't like it then tough sh**. Those are the people who made it inevitable that smoking would become outlawed in the workplace and in public spaces. Fine, if you won't be considerate because the law doesn't require it, then we'll just change the law and now it's illegal for your inconsiderate behavior.

In my recent experience of temporary residences I've resided at places where charcoal barbecues and smokers would get you thrown out.

I still think people should be free to eat what they want and restaurants should be free to serve up whatever poison their customers want. I like the idea that restaurants must furnish dietary information. Let the customers decide.

If we're going to legislate healthfulness then we should prohibit all tobacco and alcohol. Yet we already tried the illegalization of alcohol and the experiment failed. Currently many sates are experimenting with legalization of pot (with IMO poor results).

This leads me to wonder that maybe the government is a poor choice when it comes to controlling our behavior. Maybe we've reached the point of having too much government...

Patting yourself on the back?? I and everyone I know smoked in public because it was always excepted. No one ever thought not to because it was not a issue.

Your shoulder should be hurting by now with all that "patting yourself on the back".

 

[taxlady]

Patting yourself on the back?? I and everyone I know smoked in public because it was always excepted. No one ever thought not to because it was not a issue.

Your shoulder should be hurting by now with all that "patting yourself on the back".

I remember when it was normal for people to smoke in elevators!

 

[Dawgluver]

I remember when it was normal for people to smoke in elevators!

And on airplanes!

 

[buckytom]

or airplanes? man, can you remember the stench of that recirculated air? or being seated in the last non-smoking row?

strangely, i always liked the smell of cigars or pipes.

 

[CWS4322]

In the interview on NPR, the author explained how her kids moved from eating "beige" to eating the foods (the kids get a 4-course meal) offered at school. Parents in France cannot send a packed lunch--the cost for the lunch at school is .20 to $7.00.
Parents who can afford it, pay something like $7/lunch, parents who can't, pay as little as twenty cents. Part of the curriculum is teaching kids about the value of the foods they are eating.

And, could it be that obesity has replaced smoking?

 

[taxlady]

Elevators didn't have a "no smoking" section.

BT, I never noticed the smell. I was making it.

 

[PattY1]

The author was interviewed on NPR. It was quite interesting. She had moved to France with her 2 young children and they had to learn to stop eating beige (the kids) and eat the food offered at school. I don't eat snacks--could this be why I still wear the same size I wore in high school????

What is Beige?

 

[TATTRAT]

What is Beige?

I am pretty sure it is just a term, like when people say "oh, it's so vanilla", meaning, meh, run of the mill, neither bad, nor exciting. . . basic, almost boring.

 

[buckytom]

norwegians eat a lot of white or off-white food. they can have an entire feast of just whitish things.

you'd think in a country that get loads of white snow they might think about a caprese salad now and again, but nope. ole and sven ain't going for it.