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According to a survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association, people say that they want to eat healthier than they really do, especially when it comes to eating in restaurants. In fact, only 36% of people ask for healthier substitutions and fewer than 50% of diners will order off a "healthy" menu when it is offered. People eat more meals out of the home than ever before, diminishing the idea of a restaurant meal as "special occasion" food, which may have once justified indulgence. 63% of diners do not want to see nutritional information on the menu, looking for permission (by omission) to eat whatever they want to.
Why is there this willful ignorance of what goes into a plate of food? Is there some stigma attached to ordering something healthy (or at least, less bad) at a restaurant?
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5-21-2006 @11:25AM Rebecca said... Hi.
I often end up asking odd questions of the server and ask for modifications when I order in a restaurant. I hate it. I'd rather just take what's offered, but being a type II diabetic means that, for me - I have to ask questions regarding how it's made. Having a pretty bad lactose intolerance just adds to my need to be nosy.
In good restaurants, I often get to meet the chef (who comes out to answer my questions) and I find his (or her) suggestions for healthy substitutions are almost always a good choice. In bad restaurants, if the server can't answer my questions -- I'll choose something else, or make them go to the kitchen and ask, siting health problems. In one restaurant (oh such a memorable moment) the server sniped as they left "maybe you shouldn't be eating out". I was tickled pink when my companion heard this and answered. "No. We just shouldn't be eating here." He paid for our drinks, stood up and we left. We've never been back.
Admittedly fear of that happening again has reduced my willingess to try new restaurants. But when I go, I'm still nosy. And ask for healthy choices whenever they're available. Criminy - I'll even pay the charge to change a set plating. And I always tip for good service.
I think it's the fear of seeming too nosy or too pushy that stops many people from asking the questions they should. It's also work to ask a stranger for help; something which I don't think many people are all that comfortable with.
It's easy to say you want to eat healthier. Harder to do so. :)
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5-21-2006 @11:46AM Hawk said... Rebecca, I think a lot of people really are afraid of being pushy. Have you ever been at a restaurant or store where someone makes a fuss over something you see as fairly inconsequential? It's very aggravating... watching someone bicker with the cashier over the price being wrong by 30 cents, or someone in front of you at an assembly-line mexican restaurant heckle the servers over whether their beans are cooked in lard ("no lady, they are not cooked in lard, they are beans! they're cooked in beans!")
Technically, I should be inquiring about wheat content in restaurant food, but because I don't have celiac's per se, I don't bother. It makes me feel like I'm being a drag...
I think nutritional information should be posted on food. Permission by omission is just 100% spot on. Eating some mcdonald's the other day, I was tickled to find that the sandwich I had listed the nutritional information, which made it much less awful than I expected. On the other hand, I was stunned to find that an order of Chicken Three-Cheese Nachos from Qdoba had 1,200 calories, but their naked chicken taco salad had only 400.
One reason I almost never ask for substitions, however, is that I've discovered a lot of fast food restaurants and places like chinese restaurants will screw up special requests. I can barely get what I actually order when I go to Qdoba, and Burger King has routinely messed up friends' orders of a double whopper with no pickles, no whatever, and extra something else. I assume that it would be irritating to get a burger that had pickles if you hate pickles - if you asked for no meat because you can't eat it due to objections or because it makes you ill, but you get some stir fry that's got shrimp in it, you may be more than annoyed.
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5-21-2006 @1:36PM Vanessa said... Hawk,
First of all, beans are not cooked in beans. Beans are often cooked in fat of some kind, which is lard quite a lot of times. Lard is animal fat, and vegans don't eat it (a lot of people don't eat it for other health reasons), so it makes sense to ask if beans are cooked in lard. It's along the same lines of you saying "you asked for no meat because you can't eat it due to objections."
While it would be very convenient if nutritional information were posted on things, it's easy to overcome this by making generally intelligent choices. Cheese is high in calories and fattening, so if you're watching your weight, avoid anything with cheese. Fried items are also very high in fat, so go with a grilled or steamed or boiled alternative. Also, if you do a little research before going out to eat, you can often find nutritional info on the company's website or in a general google search - other people have wanted to know these things as well. And, if worse comes to worse, you can ask for nutritional info at the restaurant itself. Salads without cheese, tortilla strips or dressing (and without fried meat on them) are almost always a safe bet - watch out for nuts though.
Well, that's basically all I wanted to say.
Adios,
Vanessa
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5-23-2006 @4:09AM Dmnkly said... This is one of the symptoms of the food as sustenance/culture conflict, and I think the rules change depending on the establishment. I think nutritional information at fast food places or chain restaurants is a good thing, but it would make me sad to see such info on the menu at, say, a creative local independent restaurant. In the former scenario, it's helping people make healthy choices for their fuel. But in the latter scenario, it seems kind of like a painter selling his latest work in a variety of seven colors, so you can choose whatever best suits your home decor. It cheapens the art and lowers the food to the level of a simple product. This is an oversimplification, of course, but I hope the general idea is clear.
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