wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Comments

• [1] Jeffrey Slott from East Elmhurst June 26, 2008 - 09:05AM

  I hope that this segment is not going to be some kind of muck-raking rant. Americans have told countless, countless times over the past decade that restauants put too much food in front of their customers and that's why there so much obesity and health problems. So restaurants are doing the right thing by handing out smaller portions; hopefully the quality of the food has improved also, but even if it hasn't as least you're not getting overloaded as you once were with crap.

  
  
• [2] Jeremy from Manhattan June 26, 2008 - 09:26AM

  I have heard it mentioned a few times now that restaurants are responding to higher food prices -- but I have not seen it. There has not been a noticeable change in the size of portions at any of the restaurants that I frequent, either eating in or ordering out.

  
  
• [3] stu from uws June 26, 2008 - 10:36AM

  Cereal boxes ARE getting smaller. The medium-sized 15 ounce box is now 14 ounces. and they aren't on sale as often, or at a low low price. a bag of bagels at the 99 cent store now contains one or two less bagels (not sure if the size of the bagel has shrunk...).

  
  
• [4] Laura from Nyack NY June 26, 2008 - 10:40AM

  Portions definitely WERE way too big, and I'm glad it means less waste and less work on self-restraint, but the only problem I have with this is that it means less leftovers for lunch the next day. I used to rationalize eating out by telling myself that the price was really 2 meals.

  
  
• [5] Linda Lopez from Upper West Side, NYC June 26, 2008 - 11:21AM

  I have a healthy appetite, but I lose it when I'm staring at a plate loaded with food. Once, at a local diner, after having been served a king-sized serving of food, I asked the owner if it wouldn't be better for all concerned if he cut down the portions by 20% and the price by 10%. Wouldn't that create a financial benefit for him, and health and financial benefit for his patrons? I was surprised by his answer: He said his profit margin would not be affected at all by reducing portions in that way; in fact, it might even cost him money in labor and spoilage. I don't know squat about running a restaurant, so I don't know if this was a valid reason or an excuse, but I sure would like to hear from others who do know.

  
  
• [6] Marion Banzhaf from Manhattan June 26, 2008 - 11:26AM

  I hope you mention Community Supported Agriculture -- there are over 60 in the city. These CSAs are a way to bring local farm fresh food to city folks through a membership system. We buy shares in the farm's yield. The vegetables are truly more delicious when recently picked and organic! I'm a member of the Chelsea CSA -- Stoneledge Farm in So Cairo, NY is supplying about a dozen CSAs with their produce -- about 1500 folks belong for the entire growing season. To find out more, visit justfood.org.

  
  
• [7] exlege from brooklyn June 26, 2008 - 11:41AM

  this situation has been happening for years in the retail and wholesale industries. when commodity prices rise packers use differnt size packaging to make it more difficult to compare. For example, the standard size wholesale olive oil container used to be 1 gallon. Now it is almost impossible to find olive oil sold in a 1 gallon container, instead it is sold in a 3 liter container. This happens across the spectrum.

  
  
• [8] anonymous from manhattan June 26, 2008 - 11:42AM

  i was so excited thinking you were referring to a decrease in excess packaging, not content. i should have known better.

  
  
• [9] amanda taylor from williamsburg June 26, 2008 - 11:44AM

  It's about time! not only have absurdly oversized portions created an epidemic of obesity, generating billions of dollars of medical expenses, our over-consumption of food contributes significantly to global warming and environmental degradation.

  we waste more than HALF of the food we produce in this country.

  and we SHOULD pay more and get less: americans pay less as a percentage of income for food than people anywhere else in the world.

  rather than paying on the front end- for the food, we end up paying on the back end- for medical care, environmental repair, lost topsoil, pesticide saturation, and animal waste runoff.

  
  
• [10] robert from park slope June 26, 2008 - 11:45AM

  less waste and less waist

  
  
• [11] John from Newark, NJ June 26, 2008 - 11:47AM

  I understand the need for value when shopping. I actually appreciate smaller portions now. My interest is in the quality of the meal, not the volume.

  
  
• [12] shrink from brooklyn June 26, 2008 - 11:48AM

  Isn't anyone else glad that the restaurants are keeping prices down even though they have to reduce the portions?

  Despite increases in gas and food prices, my salary hasn't gone up so this works for me.

  
  
• [13] Meg from Rockland June 26, 2008 - 11:48AM

  Smaller portions are great--I worry when I hear that Andrea's son's fish sticks were dwarfed by the french fry portion beside them.

  Healthy foods-fresh fish, meat, organic vegatbles-are expensive, fillers (like french fries) are cheaper and far less healthy

  
  
• [14] Adam from Middletown, NJ June 26, 2008 - 01:33PM

  Let me shake things up a bit by saying that I like big portions. I judge the value of a meal by its quantity and quality. If the quantity goes down and the price and quality remain the same, then this is less value. My wife and I often share an entree at restaurants that we know serve large portions - again, good value.

  Comments like those above from Ms. Taylor are truly frightening in what is supposed to be the land of the free. Apparently, she will judge what portions are reasonable and how much we common people will be allowed to consume. The thought that our society needs to repent for being affluent is absurd. It is exactly because our economic system is successful that we spend a lower portion of our income on food. This is what "higher standard of living" means!

  
  
• [15] Steve S from Great Kills, Staten Island June 26, 2008 - 05:46PM

  Food manufacturers must think we shoppers are idiots. Store-bought ice cream used to be 64 oz, then down to 56 oz, now down to 48 ox...it looks like someone cut the previous "standard" size container in half. A cup of coffee (in those ubiquitous wax cups) now look like shot glasses!

  For years before now, prices simply went up, but now the containers and boxes are shrinking.

  But that will only go so far.

  So at some point, back to price increases.