Recently, I was in Orlando, Florida. Great city with obnoxious buildings due to Disney influence and big water slides litter the skyline. There is money there and lots of it. The issue I have with Americans and their hunger issues is related directly to the trip to Orlando.
My wife and I are middle income people and live a somewhat normal life with the odd high end or expensive trip. We stay in nice hotels with nice restaurants and nice pools. We eat well and drink well with our hard earned money. At all the restaurants we order modest meals and have moderate amounts of liquids. So that sets the scene. Keep in mind the one in eight stat.
Every time we left a restaurant we all (4 people) said the same thing "I am too full" or "I am stuffed". We ate at a very nice restaurant, I was very hungry from not eating lunch so a good meal was what I needed. The steaks came out on a platter and the restaurant's smallest steak was 20ozs! The smallest one here in Canada at a regular restaurant is usually 8ozs or tops 12ozs. When you go to a higher end one, its usually 16ozs. The largest steak at this restaurant was 55ozs!! I asked if they sell a lot of those and the very smart waiter said yes and that its surprising how many order it. Imagine!! The smallest steak was 20ozs. The regular sized steaks were well over 30ozs. I am a big dude and I can eat but that is crazy. A family of three or four could eat a modest 6ozs each of a 30ozs steak and when you add the side dished they would be fine. The biggest steak was the size of my two fists and I have meat hooks for hands. One in eight.
Back to the meal. The steak dinner came with a large lasagna bowl with mash potatoes smothered in garlic and butter. This bowl was for two people not for the table. So, I have ordered their smallest steak and I get half of a large lasagna bowl of potatoes. My wife ate her fish and had a few bites of the potatoes. We finished a quarter of that bowl. One in eight.
We also got bread for the table (free) and that was a big basket with more than enough for us. There was bread left over. Bread, steaks fit for a family of four and potatoes that would make a 300lbs trucker smile. One in eight.
Two beers too and a dessert later and we are all very full and feeling pretty crappy. Everyone one of us had food leftover. Who can eat that much food and stay healthy? Who can eat that much food and feel good about it when one in eight are hungry? I had heard that American servings were big and I just experienced it.
We had a few other meals that were still bigger than the norm and each time we ate, we left food as it was too much to eat. I love food and I am a big guy who can eat so me leaving food on a plate is odd but every meal was too big to eat it and feel comfortable as I shopped or walked around the hotel grounds. One of the last restaurants we ate at was the final nail in my thoughts on American hunger and national weight issues...
The meal we had was excellent and ... STAY TUNED!
