PORTIONS In Usa verses Portions in Spain

No offense taken by me either.

2 Likes

I took some. And then I re-read the post and took some more. I had seconds! This is a big country, with myriad different eating styles and traditions (or “cultures,” if you will). So to paint it with one broad brush dipped in a tiny sampling of photographs - and no one even knows what they look like, since the OP has thus far not produced them - drawn from a single website is, in my opinion, not a useful contribution to the conversation.

1 Like

Yes, I understood your question and why you asked it. Perhaps the Op will return to engage further in the topic they began.

2 Likes

I think what is troubling is that HO is a safe place where members can share their everyday cooking without fear of judgment or comparison with professional tables. Many/most contributors cook after a day at work, and somehow put astounding looking plates on the table, day after day. I am gob-smacked at the quality of their daily fare.

Me, I just get food on the table. Meals aren’t planned more than a couple of hours ahead, and are pantry based. I usually serve dh a vegetable based starter so that he has something to nosh on before actual dinner and can refrain from raiding cookies etc. Our serving size has decreased as has our appetites but that is a function of age rather than elegance.

I think it is confusing to have unreferenced restaurant meals posted among home-cooked plates, and that most posters do a good job of crediting restaurant or take out meals. Thanks for that. We don’t need guilt for not meeting some undefined norm.

6 Likes

When I have time to go through the dinners of December 2020 and January 2021.
I am working remote and am very busy.
However, it is quite noticeable.

Looking forward to noticing it, when I have something to notice.

What is “nosh” ?

I have never heard this word in English … Sounds like a colloquial term ?

I see this as a cultural difference in the amount of food placed on a plate verses placing food on a plate after work and has nothing to do with Restaurants or Bar Restaurants.

Nothing insulting here – Just such a big gap in the quantity of food put on a plate …

1 Like

i am not familiar with the Usa … Had been a few times over the years to Manhattan, Boston and San Francisco and Chicago for International Trade Fairs …

What I have found from photographs here on the Monthly Dinner Posts, is the quantity of food is enormous in comparison to The Mediterranean Countries and Scandinavian …

And the placement of several items on a small plate verses a large plate with 1 or 2 items.

1 Like

This is pretty much my point. Your OP doesn’t contrast “how Barca eats” with “how some Hungry Onion posters eat.” Rather, you’ve decided that a few pictures you found online are representative of an entire country - 350 million people.

1 Like

Firstly, I am not American and the only travel I had done in the Usa, was to attend International Trade Fairs in Manhattan, Boston, Chicago and San Francisco.

So it is obvious that I eat like a Catalan and not like a foreigner.

The sizing of the quantities is definitely a culture difference.

We all have a right to eat as we choose … However, it surprises me that the portions are so large and all on one plate.

Nothing more than that.

Best wishes during these highly challenging times worldwide.

2 Likes

Please do not speak for me.

I am talking about the portion size of plates seen here on Hungry Onion, in the Monthly Dinner Posts.

And in all honestly, I eat how I wish and you eat in your way.

End of topic.

1 Like

Whilst I have certainly had some very large portions in America, I’ve also had very large portions in Spain. I visit Spain annually and have done for the last 40 years. Have to say that I must eat in some very different Spanish restaurants and homes to those that Barca frequents - even in Barca (the city)

There is, basically, no difference to the presentation of a meal in most American, Spanish or, indeed, British restaurants. It’s three courses - starter, main and dessert. Just as you’d expect. I’ve never been served vegetables in Spain on a separate plate alongside the main course - it’s always on the main plate with the meat and carb. Just as you’d expect it to be.

I think the only significant difference I can think of between an American meal and European one is that, in the former, there’s sometimes a separate salad course (making a 4th course). In Europe, a salad would usually be offered amongst the starters.

3 Likes

I believe we do have a portioning problem in the USA. However, I also think the average American adult has more stress than the average European adult. We also work a lot more hours I believe. How do we channel stress? We eat. As someone said earlier, we come home from work, make dinner, and put the food onto our plates. It brings us comfort, and even if it contributes to our ongoing obesity problem, you can hardly blame anyone for trying to get through this sometimes miserable life with food. And everything usually goes on one plate, because if I’m working an eight hour shift, grocery shopping, prepping, cooking, and then eating by God knows what time, I want as few dishes as possible.

As someone who works two jobs (one in my field which I love, and another which is very blah to me), what gets me through daily shifts is knowing that I am coming home to a nice dinner, whether I am making it or my BF. (And a couple of cocktails).

However, in the last few weeks, we have decided to work on portion control. He is very much into trying new diets (all of which have failed as most diets do). Finally, he took my advice. I said exactly this, “We can eat what we want if we minimize it. We can still have fried chicken cutlets, but let’s eat just one instead of two.” You can apply that math to any meal . So rather than denial, which a lot of Americans put themselves through every January in a fruitless attempt to kick off the new year healthily, we are just cooking the meals we like and limiting our intake. He loses weight very fast, and in just two or three weeks I have noticed a difference. As for me, I’ve lost a little. I’ve upped my physical activity and I’m on my feet walking for eight hours a day at work. Several times already, we have found ourselves full with a lot of food left and said out loud, “How did we ever eat that much?”

I also drink a lot of calories, as a cocktail before dinner is as necessary as dinner itself (not every night mind you). So my goals in 2021: eat a little less, drink a little less, make better choices. I’m not eliminating anything, and I think that is sustainable. I already never drink soda ever, so that is not something I have to get rid of.

That being said, I don’t judge anyone for their eating habits unless they are starving themselves to lose weight. To each their own. Especially when people grow up with such large portions, it is a hard habit to shake. Everything here is “supersized”. I am sure we have all heard our parents or grandparents note how something simple such as donuts and coffee have grown in size since they were little. And don’t even get me started on the “Big Gulp”.

6 Likes

I’ll also add another post since I’ve thoroughly read through this thread more.

This is a stuffed pork chop I made the other night. It is served over the rice. Is this considered “piling on”? Would a restaurant in Spain/Europe not serve it this way? Because most American restaurants certainly would.

Rightly or wrongly, American cuisine (whether fine dining or casual) is going to “stack”. We receive a plate like this and it is not surprising at all. There would probably be parsley sprinkled around the rim. I usually end up separating the protein from the carb (could have done potatoes underneath) when it comes time to actually eat, but that is how this is served. This is also how I plate for my food photography, because that is what is expected. As an avid food blogger who follows a ton of blogs/pages, hardly anyone cooking for their camera would separate these ingredients. If I looked at 100 home cook food bloggers or Instagrammers try to plate this exact meal, I would say that 95% of them would plate it how I did. Again, rightly or wrongly.

In Europe, it seems based on this thread, that everything would be separate. Pork chop in one plate, rice in another perhaps? But in the USA, that would never happen.

(And on a portion-control note, if this was last year, we would have eaten two of these each. Now, one was enough!)

3 Likes

That would only be based on Barca’s OP. As another European contributing to the thread, that would not be my opnion. In my experience, it would be entirely normal for your pork chop & rice dish to be plated exactly as you have done - whether as a home meal or restaurant meal. I can, of course, only comment about European countries where I have experience of eating - the UK (where I live) and those I’ve visited - Ireland, Austria, France, Belgium, Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Italy, Spain, Cyprus, Malta. So, of course, it may be that the separate thing may be the case in countries I’ve not visited. Nor, of course, is it possible to treat, say, a whole country and its population as though it/they do exactly the same thing. Some folk may well serve things separately - eating, say, the pork chop from one plate and the rice from another. All I am saying is that I’ve never come across it and would find it odd if I did encounter it.

3 Likes

The plates I see pictured on HO accurately represent a wide variety of American dishes and serving habits, both home cooked and restaurant style. I would suggest you look at other HOs’ posts as an opportunity to learn a bit more about American cuisine, rather than an opportunity to judge us for “piling” food on a plate simply because that is not your custom.

As for portion sizes, that is something I doubt you can judge accurately via a photograph without knowing the exact dimensions of the serving dish, cutlery, etc. Furthermore, your insistence that the portions you see here are “so large” is a not-so-subtle dog whistle to the “fat American” generalization that is so commonly parroted in parts of Europe (and elsewhere). If you are “surprised” at the size of someone’s meal, perhaps you should ask why they are eating a portion of that size rather than posting a thinly-veiled criticism in the form of an observation that does nothing to invite communication or cross-cultural learning.

5 Likes

Because @gcaggiano is zooming closely, the dish seems big, but by looking at the size of rice, the portion is normal. Maybe I couldn’t finish that, but h can definitely (and he is normal size).

I understand that to be originally Yiddish for “food”. But now commonly used as slang for “food” in America and the UK, where we’ve generally adopted the word from immigrant communities.

The zooming in happens to be my style. Most food bloggers take a direct overhead shot, which is good for showing accurate sizing and the whole plate, but it fails to capture the more minute (and I think) more appetizing aspects of a close-up. That’s just my opinion, and why I photograph closely and from an angle.

But you are correct that this does make the portion look larger than it is.

3 Likes

This thread prompted me to return to my own photos and the WFD thread. Photos do not tell the entire story or the portion consumed in one sitting. My food photos are there to show what I prepared that day. I have never posted a restaurant photo knowing my wife would be mad I pulled out my phone.

I am guilty of looking at portion sizes sometimes because I try to be mindful of my own portions. But I would never want to make anyone feel uncomfortable about their meal and one time I did ask about a planned restaurant outing and the abundance of food shared in a group mind you surprised me. I was kindly but swiftly called out that my comment was insulting when leftovers were in fact taken home.