Several restaurant groups, including Real Greek company, Pret A Manager and Camden Food Company have all begun to include the calorie count on their menus.
The Food Standards Agency (FSA) believes that providing this information on menus will help the customers make healthy eating choices.
Others, however, believe that this makes no sense if you want to create healthy attitude to food.
What do you think? Will putting the calorie count on the menu help curb obesitiy and put the nation back on track?
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I have been paying attention to calories for years and because of this I have the ability to make a good decision on what to eat when I’m out – even if that means seven days a week. What people don’t realise is that knowing what food is healthy and what will cause a heart attack is common sense to some, but others who have no clue deserve a fighting chance.
I’m not saying calories should be posted on every menu board in the UK, but people have a right to know what’s in their food and then make the decision if they want to go for the 1,000 calorie pizza or the 300 calorie filet of salmon. There’s a reason why more and more international chains and local independents are disclosing this stuff – people want to know. And why should knowing the calories of our food ruin the experience? On the contrary, it should make it more enjoyable because we know we’re eating good, healthy food.
If restaurants want to appeal to everyone, they will have to start giving us healthy options, with a side of the facts. Because let’s be honest, we all might love food, but nobody wants to be fat.
Thanks Libby – and a very good point. I look at calories all the time particularly when buying lunch! I kind feel guilty for doing so, but at least I have that information. Needless to say, I usually go for the one with less – unless I am having a fat day! :o)
Luckily, given the job that I am in and have a good interest in food, I am fairly aware of what is good for you and what is not. It is often surprising when you find out that some foods such as breakfast cereal is just full of sugar - especially when for years we have been told to have cereal over a bacon sarnie for example.
We all want to eat what we like, but having that information might make the nation more aware before they chomp on that burger every day of the week!
I don't think I'd want to know. If I think about it too much I might stop eating the things that I love. I know that we all have to eat healthier, but knowing the fat, sugar and calorie count will take the fun out of eating!
Surely it is about balance - we can all induldge a great meal at a restaurant for an evening, but maybe not have such a calorific meal the next day.
I think it's a great idea. It could encourage the thousands of people in the UK who are following slimming plans like WW or Slimming World to eat out more as the hardest part of following a these kinds of plans is eating out. and not knowing if there is any hidden fat/calories in your meal as you haven't prepared it yourself.
I have personally avoided eating out for months for this very reason and I think that having a calorie count on the menu would help with this and could also help increase the number of people eating out.
Libby, I agree with much of what you say, though I would make two points. First, if the government wants to cut the amount of money it spends through the NHS on diet-related illness, shouldn't it take greater steps to educate people so they know that a pizza will in all likelihood contain more calories than a piece of salmon? And second, I worry for small independent restaurateurs if the onus falls on them to calculate calorie content in all the dishes on their menus - which often change from day to day.
Mark, good point.
Anyone who has followed a calorie controlled diet for any length of time should be able to make an informed choice. It should be easy to eat out by choosing a plain piece of fish or meat, asking for vegetables without butter or oil and a jus rather than a creamy sauce. Ask the waiter for guidance, any decent restaurant will be willing and able to provide this, if they can't or won't, don't go there again!
Part of the problem is an education system which hasn't time to teach children about food, prefering them to make brightly coloured boxes for marketing pizza and cakes!
We run a small inn with a team of chefs who make just about everything on our regularly changing menu. It would be impossible to reproduce each dish every time it is cooked to give an accurate calorie/fat/sugar count. Take a white wine sauce, we know how much wine and cream goes into it, but what nutritional value does it have when its been reduced? As our head chef cooks and serves up to 60 main meals in 2 hours, it would be impractical to weigh and measure each element of each dish. The best we could do would be to provide very broad bands.
As it is worse than useless to have a guess at the nutritional content, who would be expected to pay for the lab reports that would no doubt be neccessary to comply with legislation? How long would each report take, given the number of establishments serving food? As we use fresh, seasonal and local food the dishes are often made up at relatively short notice, governed by what is available that day. By the time the dish has been evaluated the food would be stale. If we were expected to do the calculations ourselves we would have additional labour cost, as our chefs are fully employed preparing food, and don't have time to accurately measure every addition and calculate each dish.
It is much easier for establishments who source from central kitchens or wholesalers, using boil in the bag or freezer to fryer dishes as the nutritional information is on the packet. I personally would be suspicious of a restaurant that could give such an accurate calorie count! It could mean that (1) the menu doesn't change much (2) they are a chain using a central kitchen (3) they are buying in ready made dishes or (4) they are not very busy.
Why can't we treat eating out as part of a varied diet? If you feel you have over-eaten one day, cut down for the rest of the week, but don't forgo the pleasures of eating out.
I feel that it will be similar to many other pieces of recent legislation, it will cost small independent establishments a lot of money just to stay in the same position. How many people would like to pay an extra 20% on their restaurant bill to find out what they should be able to work out for themselves?
Remy, thanks for a really interesting post. Yes, the best an independent operator could do is provide broad bands, as you suggest - but even that becomes nigh-on impossible if you are changing the menu daily. Let's hope the industry is left to self-regulate in this area.
Remy is absolutely right when he points out that it is impossible to calculate calorific values on each and every dish served - contents and weight vary considerably and, no matter how accurate the research for precise information, what you end up with is "this dish contains approx XXX calories" which, of course, gives and indication but not a certainty. Better than no information at all, I agree, but then consider the following: cost of the exercise..
My company provides a calory-counting service, but usually for individual items. A friend that owns a decent restaurant and offers a modest Table d'Hote menu of 4 starters, 4 mains and 4 desserts plus an a' la carte comprising around 40 dishes asked us what it would cost and how long it would take to have his menus "specified". Out came the menu specifications - you can imagine the variations when using 5cl double cream of 10cl of the same; different amounts of butter; intrinsic starting calories and so on. One of us would have to be at the restaurant so that all dishes where weighted, any anomaly noted and then the work would have to be translated on computers. Total time: 4 weeks. Cost: £ 4.000. Will the Minister provide a grant to small independent restaurants that are already struggling in a very tough market?
Ermanno Nuonno di Agnone, ENDA Consultants
As reported on Caterersearch.com, after much consultation and deliberation between caterers and the Food Standards Agency over the growing issue of healthy eating, the food industry now has a voluntary mechanism, the Responsibility Deal, that organisations can sign up to.
It consists of three pledges that commit the food service operator or high street chain to reduce salt, eliminate trans-fats, and introduce calorie labelling on to food packaging and menus. It is up to each operator to decide which, if any, of the pledges they choose to put their name to.
Last week it was reported that Alexis Gauthier has started to put calorie counts on his menu at at his London restaurant, Gauthier Soho.
What are your thoughts to the move? How do you think it will impact your business?
I think it's very interesting that Alexis Gauthier is blazing a trail on this.
Look our for an interview with Alexis Gauthier on why he took the decision to add calorie information to his menu, in Friday's Caterer and Hotelkeeper.
Hi Remy
A product which would be able to help you with your menu planning and nutritional calculation is a low cost internet based software solution called Starchef - you should take a look - www.starchef.com
Sarah
There was a report recently that suggests that in the US calories on menus have made no difference at all - it certainly wouldn't for me.