Portions? Oh, Please!

Okay, so I’ve had this topic on my mind for a few days because it came up again last week when some of my husband’s coworkers were visiting.

It is something that bothers me a bit as a health conscious (US) American. When it comes to weight and food we get blamed…well…for everything.

Before I get started let me explain that when I was in the US I worked in the health field. To be honest, I was fed up.

It takes an incredibly optimistic and perky person in order not to become discouraged by the daunting statistics. Of which I am neither, by the way.

I grew tired of the fight against poor eating habits, obesity and portion sizes on a daily basis. In general, people in the US do eat way too much food. We’ve been taught that we need an unrealistic amount to sustain ourselves.

To summarize, a year ago I was on the side that portion sizes in the US were huge, much bigger than any other country.

It all started a couple months before we moved down when we hosted my husband’s coworker from Brazil who was visiting the States. We took him to a popular BBQ place. When he was asked what two sides he wanted, he said only one and told us that it was just way too much food, indicating that our portion sizes were soooo big.

Well I agreed, but then something happened.

I came to Brazil and ate out at a restaurant.

At this point I have no idea how someone who has eaten in Brazil can complain about the portion sizes in the US.

Every time we go out we have more food than we could ever eat. Most portions are for 2 people (duas pessoas) and they could easily feed 3 to 4 people.

Then you have your never ending BBQs, which, if you lack any self control, can be a huge calorie fest. There are very few places, only about 2 in Maringá, where you can get an entrée for one person and it is large as well.

When my husband’s parents were visiting, eating out one night we proceeded to order only two entrees to split between the four of us. The waiter warned us that the servings were for only one person, but we knew better.

What do you know, all four of us were completely full by the end and the best part is that we didn’t waste any food.

As I mentioned, this topic came to mind again this week because some US coworkers visited here recently. At dinner the other night they commented how they hosted a Brazilian from the company and he complained about the portion sizes being too large in the US.

They couldn’t believe it after they came to visit Brazil, agreeing that the portion sizes here are just as large or larger.

I think what is happening here is a mental perception and expectation thing. The whole world is told how fat the US is, how little we exercise and how huge our portions are.

Therefore, when a person goes to visit they are expecting huge portions so they don’t actually see the reality of the situation. They forget about their restaurants back home.

I’m not saying our portions in the US aren’t ridiculously huge, they are. I’m just saying restaurant portions are huge everywhere else, too.

This portion size contradiction isn’t only in Brazil. This was our experience traveling through parts of Europe as well. We had plates of sausages that could feed 4 and individual pizzas that could easly feed 3.

Yes, I know that eating patterns are different. Little breakfast, big lunch, little dinner. Each country has its own combination of meals sizes.

I’m specifically talking about restaurant portion sizes compared from one country to another.

So anyway, my point is that US portion sizes aren’t any bigger than those from anywhere else in my experiences. I know there are exceptions (probably Asia) out there, but Brazil certainly is not one.

Simply put, we all got problems.