It has long been suggested that the oversized portions offered to diners at many restaurants are responsible for the expanding waistlines of Americans. Now, the health/lifestyle watchdog group Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is implying that "table-service chain restaurants," such as The Cheesecake Factory, T.G.I. Fridays and Ruby Tuesday, are cramming their dishes full of fattening, unhealthy ingredients on purpose, encouraging "extreme eating." Sometimes described as the "food police," CSPI cites the fact that these restaurants are not entirely forthcoming with the nutritional information on their foods, pointing out that Ruby Tuesday's Fresh Chicken & Broccoli Pasta entree has 2,060 calories and 128 grams of fat, while The Cheesecake Factory's Chris' Outrageous Chocolate Cake (layers of chocolate cake, brownies, coconut pecan filling and chocolate-chip coconut cheesecake) had 1,380 calories.

However misleading it may seem to call a dish "Fresh Chicken and Broccoli Pasta" and cram it with (mostly) cheese, it doesn't sound like there is any ill intent there, does it? The restaurants say that their menus change so frequently that it would be impractical to put together nutritional stats for individual dishes and change the menus all the time. They cite value-conscious consumers, who view large portion sizes as one of their highest priorities when eating out. Looking at both sides of this issue begs one question: which came first, huge portion sizes or the desire for them?

Remember when stuffed crust pizza seemed like a relatively new idea? The idea of stuffing a pizza crust, instead of relegating all the toppings to the surface of the pizza, seemed to stem from the fact that the doughy crusts on many quick service pizzas weren't that good and really needed something special to make them worth eating. Cheese and sauce were the answers and in a relatively short time, the formerly doughy crusts were doughy and greasy - enabling you to consumer twice as much cheese per slice.

In Japan, Pizza Hut has taken the stuffed crust idea to the next level by including whole sausage links inside the crust, along with a layer of cheese. The crust is pulled up and tucked around the sausage, giving the impression that you have a hot dog attached to the end of your pizza.

The whole concept seems to be rather over the top, but that being said, it also seems like this sort of pizza would be a big hit at sports stadiums or anywhere else that beer, pizza and hot dogs already coexist.

[via supersized meals]

A group of Swedish university students is taking part in a study that is recreating Morgan Spurlock's fast food experiment, Super Size Me, in laboratory conditions. Under the supervision of professor Fredrik Nyström, two groups of young medical school students are stuffing themselves with fast foods and avoiding exercise. All of the calories they eat must come from fast food, although they are allowed to make breakfast at home so long as it was "bacon-and-eggs based".

Nyström thought it would have been more difficult to find people willing to participate, but the students were more than eager. More men than women applied and the chosen were the most highly motivated, who were likely to stick to the 6,000 calories-a-day diet. All their food throughout the study would be paid for and they were provided with bus passes so they would not have to walk any more than necessary. The only control on the study was that the Swedish ethics board said the participants must be removed from the study if they increased their bodyweight by more than 15%.

I guess I had s'mores on the brain after writing about them yesterday, since I was inspired to look up the record for the world's largest s'more. The Guinness Book of World Records lists a s'more made in 2003 as the largest. It was constructed in California from 20,000 marshmallows, 7,000 Hershey's chocolate bars, and 24,000 graham crackers. All totaled, it weighed about 1,600-lbs.

The Guinness category was retired, however, which means that an even larger s'more made this year went unrecorded!

The current largest s'more measured 1,936-sq feet and was constructed to celebrate the 70th anniversary of Virginia State Parks. It was made with 8,000 Hershey's chocolate bars, 40,000 marshmallows and 55,000 graham crackers - nearly double the size of the previous record holder, though it didn't use quite as much chocolate.

See a close-up of the s'more's construction after the jump.

In the past, I have disagreed with some of the food-related lists that MSN has put forth and their latest addition is no exception. They put together a list of 15 tips to stay on a diet at fast food restaurants, most of which suggest things like choosing a smaller portion size or sharing desserts, fries, etc. with a friend. And one of their most important tips is to "limit your visits to fast-food restaurants to no more than twice a week," which is still quite a few visits, to say nothing of the fact that it assumes that you already visit three or more times per week.

It's not that their tips are bad, just overly obvious or repetitive. For example, if you're eating at a fast food restaurant every other day, it's pretty safe to say that your diet has a lot of room for improvement. The tips can be streamlined into a much shorter list:

Apparently, Viacom International Inc., which owns MTV and produces the TV show Pimp My Ride, owns a trademark that covers the use of not only the phrase "pimp my ride" but of "pimp my." As such, they requested that the fantastic snack site formerly known as Pimp My Snack change its name. Without admitting any liability or other intentional wrongdoing, the snack-pimping gang changed the name so that their pimping could continue unimpeded. They can now be found at Pimp That Snack.

If you haven't seen the site before, they take normal snacks and reproduce them in huge (and delicious) proportions. We mentioned them back at Easter, but here are a few looks at what they've been up to recently. Be warned that you may have a strong desire to pimp snacks after hanging around the site:

 

What could possibly be the world's most confusing naming system, the Wendy's "biggie" sizing, is coming to an end. The company, which is the 3rd largest burger chain in the US, decided that the names "small," "medium" and "large" are easier for customers to use, despite the fact that they have been imposing the "biggie" sizes for over a decade.

Unfortunately, the change might not be all that less confusing to customers. The old sizing system was small (16-oz.), medium (20-oz), Biggie (32-oz.) and Great Biggie (42-oz.). The new system is small (20-oz.), medium (32-oz) and large (42-oz.), with no extra large; each size is significantly larger than it was only 1 week ago, with the smallest size eliminated, not to mention that it is different (still larger) than other fast food restaurants.

Reuters mentions that this change to larger drink sizes comes after the company, in an attempt to promote their food as healthier, nearly eliminated trans fats from their foods. Calories must be "healthier," then, right?

 

Though there has been some debate in the past about who makes the world's biggest burger, the Guinness Book of World's Records officiated at the weigh-in of a 29.5-pound burger at the Foxwoods Resort Casino's Fuddruckers restaurant. They granted the 18.5-in. wide by 8-in. tall burger the title of "world's largest commercially available burger." It costs $250 and must be ordered 48 hours in advance.

There is one burger that is said to be larger: the Mount Olympus burger at the Clinton Station Diner, in New Jersey.  According to the diner, it weighs 50 pounds. A look at what goes into it reveals why it is not classified as the world's largest burger - Guinness officiation or not: it only has 25 pounds of beef in it. Twenty-five pounds of toppings on a bun, even with meat, makes a salad and not a burger. The Fuddruckers burger, by contrast, started with 33 pounds of beef and, while it did cook down to about 25 pounds, there were only 4.5 pounds of toppings on the final product, making it meatier than the Olympus and more title-worthy.

[via Supersized Meals, images Norwich Bulletin]

 

Sno Balls are snack cakes made by Hostess. They were introduced in 1947 and consist of a chocolate cupcake filled with creme filling, coated with a marshmallowy fluff and rolled in coconut. When you look closely, you can see that the interior is really  a regular Hostess Ding Dong or cupcake that has been turned upside down. Nevertheless, they have a lot of retro appeal and, like must snack foods, become even more appealing when super-sized. I found this photoset on Flickr when I was looking around for more pimped out snack ideas. The chocolate cake dome was baked in a round bowl, hollowed out and covered with homemade marshmallow. Check out the whole photoset to see all the steps.

I'm definitely keeping this idea near the top of my list for birthday party cakes. Not only is it adorable, but since it's homemade, I'm willing to bet that it's delicious.

Despite the fact that McDonalds has been receiving an extra-large serving of criticism recently, it hasn’t discouraged the company from doing what it does best: making burgers. While some customers turn away, others still look for size and value in their fast food and the new Bigger Big Mac, due to be released soon in the UK, will give them both. The burger is a full 40% larger than the regular Big Mac and, base on that, can be expected to pack at least 700 calories. It is a limited edition burger that is being targeted at football fans, so the release coincides with the 2006 World Cup. Spain and Germany are also likely to see the release of this bigger Mac.

[Image MegaStar]

As if the Whopperettes weren't bad enough, food-as-clothing hit the catwalks in New York's Fashion Week. Designer Jeremy Scott seemed to decide that the world's selection of fast food-themed clothing was sorely lacking, as he turned cloth versions of packages of French fries and hamburgers into dresses and sweaters. Of course, the French fry packet dress might be an actual "super size" wrapper from McDonald's, filched before the fast food giant eliminated the size, since the real box was probably large enough to fit one of the Mr. Scott's models. Several other pieces in the collection were also food inspired, such as an ice cream cone dress and a pizza robe/dress.

Image from Consumerist