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Why are portion sizes in the US big? (lemmy.world)

submitted 7 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) by War5oldier@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Coming from Europe & Asia, the amount of crap fed in America is just crazy: like "is that for ONE person?" (more like an entire table of 4) since what is considered "normal" is just beyond what my stomach can handle, whenever I see their portion sizes: it makes me puke. (No wonder why they have a higher rate of obesity...)

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[–] Wxfisch@lemmy.world 3 points 6 hours ago (2 children)

There is, I think, a few things that contribute here.

The US has a very stupid “bigger is better” mentality. So if you go out you expect a large portion because that translates to better (and more value). This is of course not true, but culturally it’s very embedded.
almost everyone I know takes home some portion of their meal from a restaurant. So that single portion is really two, or maybe three.
IME people don’t usually have giant portions at home, they sometimes do of course, but things tend to be more sane for home cooked meals for your family. They also tend to be a lot more balanced, with more veg and grain.
what you see on TV is often sensationalized, and not fully indicative of normal here.

[–] uuj8za@piefed.social 1 points 2 hours ago

We're a huge country I guess. I've experienced pretty much the exact opposite as you.

almost everyone I know takes home some portion of their meal from a restaurant. So that single portion is really two, or maybe three.

Most people around me have the waiter take their half-eaten plate away. Apparently, food waste is considered polite or something around me. If you actually try to finish your plate, you get made fun of. (I've been made fun of.) I guess it makes you look poor or desperate or starving or something?

IME people don’t usually have giant portions at home, they sometimes do of course, but things tend to be more sane for home cooked meals for your family. They also tend to be a lot more balanced, with more veg and grain.

The dinner plates my family and my wife's family (and extended family) have for dinner are quite large and they usually get filled up. Usually meat is the biggest portion of that plate, followed by carbs, and then veggies are the smallest (if present at all). My wife's family in particular always, always, always, has ice cream or cake or cookies after dinner.

My wife and I use smaller dinner plates, and again, surprise, get made fun of because we're eating such "tiny" (normal) portions.

[–] Know_not_Scotty_does@lemmy.world 1 points 6 hours ago

The anount of people I see wasting food from these giant plates is equal to the number that are obese and finish the whole plate. Both of those are higher by an order of magnitude vs the people who share a plate or bring leftovers home. Before we had kids, my wife and I could usually share a meal and still have leftovers.