What Must They Think Of Us

[Globalti]

My Nigerian customers love to stay at the Novotel in Portland Street, Manchester, because it's opposite a Chinese scoff-all-you-can buffet. They go in there and pile up their plates, finish the lot with solid concentration then go back for another load and sometimes a third. Watching them, it seems as if they can't resist stocking up because they are never sure when the next meal will come along. A lot of them are Igbos from former Biafra who tell some real horror stories about their childhoods during the civil war.

 

[JtB]

Watched a programme about Top of the Pops 1976 last night and it was amazing how slim everybody looked.

That's because we were all much younger then

[QUOTE 1360140"]I was in "The Biggest McDonalds in the World!!" (one of several I think) in Florida years ago. A huge mom and dad and a couple of kids waddled in. The fat dad went up to the counter and the tillboy asked him what he wanted. He ordered two Big Mac meals (go large) and two double cheeseburgers. Then he turned to his family and asked them what they wanted.[/quote]
What I don't understand is when a food order like that is followed up with a request for diet cokes.

 

[HelenD123]

The highest percentage of morbidly obese people I've seen in one place, is the all you can eat buffets in Las Vegas. And I mean jaw-droppingly obese. The place makes me feel anorexic, and I could probably do with losing about 10Lbs...

A friend went to one of these while on a cycle tour. She got the complementary coach there and it was virtually empty so couldn't understand why it was full on the way back, until it started going round the car park dropping people at their car .

 

[661-Pete]

Hmmmm... anecdote time.

We often take the Brittany Ferries (plug here!) overnight crossing Portsmouth-St Malo, treating ourselves to the evening meal in the on-board restaurant. They have a set price (not particularly cheap at about £30 per person with drinks, but we indulge ourselves a bit). So: the format is: all-you-can-eat buffet for starters and dessert, plus a main course you have to order off the menu.

The starter buffet is superb, you can really pile it on for several platefuls, lots of different dishes, seafood especially, and all good stuff too. In fact, given that the main course options tend to be 'French'-sized portions, we generally go to town on the starters and leave just enough room for the main course and dessert.

So: on one trip, the restaurant was rather crowded, so we were asked if we didn't mind sharing a table. So we were seated next to a couple who were definitely both in the 'morbid-obese' bracket. I thought to myself, here we go: all-you-can-eat buffet, super-sized diners, I wonder how many 'goes' they'll have!?

As it turned out they partook surprisingly sparingly of the buffet, no more than your average eater: but we saw the reason why when the main courses arrived. We, being non-meat people, chose the fish and veggie options, and the portions were, as I said, reasonable but not over-generous. But not so the leg of lamb which the obese couple ordered, so it seems. What they got was seemed to be an entire leg of lamb each, on the bone, served on an elongated plate with an assortment of veg. as garnish.

As we respectively tucked in, it seemed appropriate to strike up a conversation. I felt that to say "Wow! That looks like a serious bit of lamb you've got there" might be a bit tactless, so I muttered something like "How's your lamb then (noticing it was done fairly rare)? Properly done?" to which they replied, smacking their lips, "of course! The French know how to do their meat au point..." after which they both proceeded to polish off their meals right down to the bare bone.

I reckon they've been there before...

Explains a bit, maybe.

 

[Vidor06]

While I would be what people would describe as 'big boned' I am currently trying my best to reduce the size of my bones by exercising and watching what I eat. However, a family live down the street from us and they are both taxi drivers in their early 30s with a child of around 10. They would be the biggest people I have ever actually met. Unfortunately I found out that the father has just died and this was simply down to his size. Finding out things like this makes me more and more determined to lose weight and stay healthy for the sake of my family.

I also read recently that there are over 12000 McDonalds in USA, second highest was quite a surprise, with over 3500 was Japan with Canada 3rd and UK 4th with over 1200. Is it any wonder we have an obesity problem.

 

[CharlieB]

[QUOTE 1360140"]
I was in "The Biggest McDonalds in the World!!" (one of several I think) in Florida years ago. A huge mom and dad and a couple of kids waddled in. The fat dad went up to the counter and the tillboy asked him what he wanted. He ordered two Big Mac meals (go large) and two double cheeseburgers. Then he turned to his family and asked them what they wanted.
[/quote]
Is that a joke, or are you serious, MP?

 

[Kirstie]

A friend of mine who teaches in a uni in birmingham (uk) has said a number of times that the students just seem to get bigger and bigger every year. when we were at uni there was the odd bloater but it was quite an unusual occurrance. now it's more than half of the classes. The other thing he says is that they don't seem self conscious about it either, which i suppose is a good thing....

 

[tyred]

A friend of mine who teaches in a uni in birmingham (uk) has said a number of times that the students just seem to get bigger and bigger every year. when we were at uni there was the odd bloater but it was quite an unusual occurrance. now it's more than half of the classes. The other thing he says is that they don't seem self conscious about it either, which i suppose is a good thing....

It's what we perceive as normal I think. I was a fairly chubby teenager and most of the people in my year at school were considerably thinner. It's obvious if I look at school photos. But what's also obvious is that the weight I was then is probably normal for today's teenager (based on my own observation). I was considered fat because most kids were thin in the early '90s and before. It's no longer the case.


Just look at a photo of the troops marching off to the Great War and note how everyone was basically a stick insect. For all the people that claim to be fat because of their genetics today, why were their ancestors not fat because of the same genes? I'm under no illusions. I know I'm fat because my diet is shite.

 

[Adasta]

Watched a programme about Top of the Pops 1976 last night and it was amazing how slim everybody looked.

You're right but don't forget that a lot of blokes are just bigger these days. I wasn't around in the 70s/80s, but, watching old episodes of Bully etc., it seems that the average chest size of a young man back then was about 38" and he'd be about 5'9". Now the average must be about 42" chest and 6' tall.

A greater abundance of gyms and the rise of health & fitness culture in the 80s helped to contribute to this change, I think. In the late 90s and 2000s, gyms became more affordable and the gap between, say, an athlete and the average man narrowed with the introduction of (more affordable) personal trainers.

Public awareness regarding diet has increased as well, as has the availability of healthier foods and an increase of acceptance of foreign foods. Now olive oil, balsamic vinegar and "continental cooking" are en vogue which helps one to move away from the "pie & chips" malnourishment of earlier decades. It's now quite rare (or, at least, unusual) to meet a person who doesn't want to eat a Greek salad, for example, whereas before it was so normal that Italian and Greek communities were considered to eat "weird, foreign grub".

 

[TheDoctor]

I have fond memories of the buffet restaurant on Sally Lines - the Ramsgate-Dunkirk ferry.
There were two prices - one was just for cold starters and deserts, the other including a carvery main course as well, with as much Yorkshire Pudding as you could cope with.
One year they cancelled one ferry, so we had to wait for the next, and as compensation we got free meals.
Naturally, this was for the cheaper, no-hot-carvery option.
I'll just say that three hungry cyclists can get through a devastating amount of smoked salmon.

 

[Kirstie]

[QUOTE 1360160"]
I blame the Selly Sausage.
[/quote]


it's aston uni where he works (i said A birmingham uni not THE birmingham uni), so not the selly sausage...

 

[pshore]

I'll just say that three hungry cyclists can get through a devastating amount of smoked salmon.

I have a cycle route to work that takes 90 mins so I am pretty hungry after that. I regularly go to all-bar-one with colleagues on a Friday and after a cycle I am well famished by midday.

One day I ordered a cottage pie off the big-plates menu but was devasted when the plate was big - but the food was small. I had to complain about the lack of calories compared to their normal portions.

 

[Reluctant cyclist]

Watched a programme about Top of the Pops 1976 last night and it was amazing how slim everybody looked.

I wonder how many are fat old gits now watching afternoon telly making funeral arrangements, wearing elasticated waist trousers, thinking, 'Where has my life gone'!

 

[MacB]

Is it not a good basic principle to eat most at breakfast and least in the last meal of the day? Or have the 'experts' changed their minds again?

I have given up going to my local chippy. If I order fish and chips they will give me enough for two people and Mrs A. does not eat f&c. If I want a portion right for just me I have to order a childs portion or else waste a lot.

I went to the chippy the other week, first time in years and, as the boys are all older/bigger, ordered fish & chips x 5 - what a ludicrous waste, when did portions get so massive in chippies? if I'd ordered 3 lots that would comfortably have done the 5 of us.

 

[al78]

Is that a joke, or are you serious, MP?

A quick google reveals all that comes to around 1800 calories (less than I thought it would be). A lot for one meal, although on the other hand you could burn that in a 60 mile club ride.