Mastodawn

Why are portion sizes in the US big?

Why are portion sizes in the US big? - Lemmy.World

Coming from Europe & Asia, the amount of crap fed in America is just crazy: like “is that for ONE person?” (more like an entire table of 4) since what is considered “normal” is just beyond what my stomach can handle, whenever I see their portion sizes: it makes me puke. I was watching a TV show where the host went to a restaurant where they were talking about a specific type of pizza but the size of that was intended to be for a single person (but presented a massive, family sized plate), closer to “party” size than for one individual.

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HobbitFoot 16h ago

Food is relatively cheap in the USA compared to other countries. You also had a lot of immigrant waves come to the USA, find that food was so cheap, and celebrated by creating larger meals.

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floquant 14h ago

Food being cheap != cheap food being the norm

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HobbitFoot

No, but it is more a sign of what a restaurant or store will focus on. If the raw ingredients are of lower costs than rent and labor, it may make more sense to provide more food.

For restaurant culture in the USA, there is generally a focus on large portions, free tap water, few courses, and turning tables over quickly. A lot of early fast food chains were effectively food factories, skimping out in rent and reducing labor costs because those are the major costs.