Should restaurants have to say how many calories

[Miss Chicken]

Should restaurants have to say how many calories each of their meals are?

When I buy a meal from Subways or another fast food joint calories and other details are is given on the napkin.

When I buy are microwave meal from the supermarket such info is on the packet.

However I have never seen such info given on a restaurant menu.

 

[RoJoHen]

Have to? No. But I don't think it would be a bad idea to have that information available in case someone asks.

 

[darkwing_duck1]

Not only calories, but the entire nutritional breakdown. For some (like diabetics) it's not just how many calories but where those calories come from.

There is one mall-favorite snack (some sort of carmel pecan roll) that clocks in at over 1600 grams of carbs (mostly sugar) for just ONE of the things. On my food plan 15/1 carb consistent at 5/meal that's an entire WEEK's worth of meals in one pastry.

 

[RJDiogenes]

I was under the impression that restaurants had that information available upon request.

 

[Jadzia]

ingredients I think are important, for someone like myself who won't consume any animal derivatives, I like to know exactly what is in my food. People don't always know what constitutes an animal derivative, and can be quite flippant about it if they have no problem with it themselves.

But to be analytic of calories and nutrition, I think is over the top. You don't go to a restaurant for a chemistry lesson. You can get a rough idea of the nutritional quality from an ingredients list I think.

Also, if things are made to order, there is no fixed recipe, so you can only roughly estimate it's nutritional information. So much so that to tag some options with a "low calorie" icon, and other icons for "diabetic safe", or whatever, seems more realistic than a load of numbers.

 

[Geckothan]

They shouldn't have to. People should just know better than to eat things which are obviously full of fat/sugar. It's not hard to figure out which things are bad for you. People will still eat unhealthily regardless of how good the labelling is. The nanny state is bad enough as it is.

 

[wew]

I was under the impression that restaurants had that information available upon request.

She's located in Australia. I don't know if they've adopted the rules that in effect in the US regarding calorie counts, etc.

 

[snakespeare]

I think some balance needs to be achieved between caveat emptor and nanny state. Both are too extreme. I don't need to know how much cholesterol is in my butter, but I would like to know which food has butter in it. I would also like to know if lard is used or beef stock, as I am a vegetarian.

I read recently that New York City has such a requirement.

 

[Peach Wookiee]

In Seattle, I believe calorie count is required as well, now. And I can't eat at many restaurants now because I'm on an extremely strict diet (stupid ulcer).

 

[Shaytan]

Should restaurants have to say how many calories each of their meals are?

No, fast food and microwaved meals are something you can have everyday and it's useful to know this kind of information.
Usually, you go only occasionally to the restaurant and this is a place where you can break the rules a little
Now, if it's medically vital, you know what you're not allowed to eat and I don't know a single waiter who wouldn't explain the composition of your meal.

 

[Mr. B]

No, I don't. That would be an absurd hassle and expense for independent restaurateurs. If chains did it, that would be nice... but mandatory, no. Let the buyer beware and let the government stick to making sure there are no vermin infestations.

 

[sidious618]

It should be a game. If you guess the right amount of calories you get that item for free.

 

[SonOfMogh]

I wish they would. As soon as I started counting calories I became able to perfectly control and manipulate my weight and bodyfat percentage.

For the most part I'm not really bothered about the breakdown of nutrients, calories in/calories out dictates weight loss and gain.

 

[RobertVA]

Many of the chains have a rack in the outlet that lists the calorie counts and/or lists on their web sites. They have the advantage of a research kitchen that develops each recipe and distributes precise instructions for each location to use a measured amount of each ingredient.

Local restaurants with a small number of locations would loose a lot of flexibility in adding new dishes if they had to research the nutritional content of each new recipe. I'd be suprised if many of their chefs even measure the amounts of all the ingredients they use, adding an amount that their experience permits them to "looks like that's enough", looking at the color and texture and an occasional taste of the food.

Book stores have been selling pocket guides to the nutritional content of common dishes for decades.

 

[Warp Coil]

I think that it would be helpful. The thing is, a lot of restaurants claim to have "healthy" options on their menus, but upon closer inspection, they actually aren't very good for you at all. It's easy to fool customers into thinking that what they're getting is actually okay to eat. Hell, there are some salads that are served by restaurants that have so many calories and fat grams that it defeats the purpose. I think that a lot of places are starting to offer nutritional info on their web sites, but I think that it would be nice to have that data more readily available.

 

[RJDiogenes]

But to be analytic of calories and nutrition, I think is over the top. You don't go to a restaurant for a chemistry lesson.

That was rather flippant.

She's located in Australia. I don't know if they've adopted the rules that in effect in the US regarding calorie counts, etc.

You're right, probably not.

 

[Ronson2k10]

Calories are based on the weight of the item you're eating/drinking it's a mass density thing. So if your meal is heavy then your adding calories.

My philosophy is that if it really tastes good you probably shouldn't eat it. If it's good for you then you really aren't adding calories. You of course have to be honest with yourself on those two.

 

[Pingfah]

My philosophy is that if it really tastes good you probably shouldn't eat it.

The exact opposite of my philosophy.

 

[Ronson2k10]

That's not to say I wouldn't eat something that tastes really good just that it's usually quite calorie intense. 'Healthy Food' can in fact be fattening too but you feel better knowing it's good for you.

You do need a certain amount of 'bad things' in your diet just that many times we over do. Fats and salts are important but not nearly to the extent we take them in.

 

[ShamelessMcBundy]

It should be a game. If you guess the right amount of calories you get that item for free.

Your ideas intrigue me and i would like to subscribe to your newsletter.

But in all honesty, i think it would be wonderful if all places did have such info. Just to see how bad of a diet i'm eating.