1930s Cookbook Recipe Portion Sizes were Smaller

[Paisley]

French Paradox Goes by the Weigh-Side

An article from two years ago in the New York Times:

The trend line is most significant among children. While adult obesity is rising about 6 percent annually, among children the national rate of growth is 17 percent. At that rate, the French could be - quelle horreur - as fat as Americans by 2020. (More than 65 percent of the population in the United States is considered overweight or obese.)

....

Some of the reasons for the increase in obesity are those that plague the United States and much of Europe: the lure of fast food and prepared foods, the ubiquity of unhealthy snacks and sedentary lives.

McDonald's is more profitable in France than anywhere else in Europe. Sales have increased 42 percent over the past five years. Some 1.2 million French, or 2 percent of the population, eat there every day.

There has also been a breakdown in the classical French tradition of mealtime as a family ritual so disciplined and honored that opening the refrigerator between meals for a child was a crime worthy of punishment. A side effect is a blame-the-mom syndrome, as fewer mothers have time to shop at markets every day or two for fresh foods and instead put more prepared dishes on the table.

Findus, the frozen food giant best known for its breaded, frozen fish filets, filmed French people eating over a period of time and was shocked by the results.

Contrary to the myth that the French spend hours sitting around the table savoring small portions of several courses, the films showed them eating in front of their television sets, while on the telephone and even alone. In fact, the average French meal, which 25 years ago lasted 88 minutes, is just 38 minutes today.​

The rest of the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/25/international/europe/25obese.html?_r=2

 

[jamespowers]

An article from two years ago in the New York Times:

The trend line is most significant among children. While adult obesity is rising about 6 percent annually, among children the national rate of growth is 17 percent. At that rate, the French could be - quelle horreur - as fat as Americans by 2020. (More than 65 percent of the population in the United States is considered overweight or obese.)

....

Some of the reasons for the increase in obesity are those that plague the United States and much of Europe: the lure of fast food and prepared foods, the ubiquity of unhealthy snacks and sedentary lives.

McDonald's is more profitable in France than anywhere else in Europe. Sales have increased 42 percent over the past five years. Some 1.2 million French, or 2 percent of the population, eat there every day.

There has also been a breakdown in the classical French tradition of mealtime as a family ritual so disciplined and honored that opening the refrigerator between meals for a child was a crime worthy of punishment. A side effect is a blame-the-mom syndrome, as fewer mothers have time to shop at markets every day or two for fresh foods and instead put more prepared dishes on the table.

Findus, the frozen food giant best known for its breaded, frozen fish filets, filmed French people eating over a period of time and was shocked by the results.

Contrary to the myth that the French spend hours sitting around the table savoring small portions of several courses, the films showed them eating in front of their television sets, while on the telephone and even alone. In fact, the average French meal, which 25 years ago lasted 88 minutes, is just 38 minutes today.​

The rest of the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/01/25/international/europe/25obese.html?_r=2

Oh geez! What red wine do you choose to go with a hamburger and fries?

 

[Paisley]

Friesling? Burgerdy? I'll stop now.

I'm sure there are other factors, but I suspect the French are just like the rest of us: if they eat bigger portions of unhealthy foods, they'll get fat. If they eat smaller portions of healthy foods, they'll be more fit.

 

[jamespowers]

Friesling? Burgerdy? I'll stop now.

I'm sure there are other factors, but I suspect the French are just like the rest of us: if they eat bigger portions of unhealthy foods, they'll get fat. If they eat smaller portions of healthy foods, they'll be more fit.

Burgundy might be just the ticket.
They might have good genes that keep them from having problems with cholesterol just like there are two in ten of us that can smoke like chimneys for all their lives without getting emphysema or lung cancer. [huh]

 

[Paisley]

One of my coworkers had high cholesterol. She's quite thin. She said that just by eating a bowl of oatmeal every morning, it lowered her cholesterol so much that she doesn't have to take medicine. My mom is overweight and her cholesterol is fine; I think she is partly of French ancestry. But she has many other health problems due to diet and lifestyle.

 

[jamespowers]

One of my coworkers had high cholesterol. She's quite thin. She said that just by eating a bowl of oatmeal every morning, it lowered her cholesterol so much that she doesn't have to take medicine. My mom is overweight and her cholesterol is fine; I think she is partly of French ancestry. But she has many other health problems due to diet and lifestyle.

Sometimes I think genes have more to do with it than we give them credit for. My friend J is overweight and eats tons of fats etc. Every year he gets a physical and the results come out like he has eaten rocks and twigs all his life. His doctor gets mad everytime he sees the results. lol
I am sure he isn't French---Native American yes but French no.

 

[vitanola]

This is a variant on the well-known 'French Paradox' - the fact that French people are statistically shown to be slimmer and lighter than Americans.

A serious hypothesis was considered that there was a genetic reason for the lower body mass of les Francaises (who generally eat a fat-rich diet) until a comparative study of restaurant portion sizes by the University of Pennsylvania and CNRS in Paris showed....smaller portions - the French eat less! :eusa_doh:

I could have told them that!

Available at http://www.psychologicalscience.org/pdf/ps/smaller_portions.pdf

More too it than this, though.

The French were pioneers in Stitistical public Health study. In the late 19th century, it was noticed that the population was becoming heavier. the government began a massive program of popular education, aimed at teaching the Mothers of France about proper portion control. Young expectant mothers were taught to weigh out portions of food for their toddlers. This program of education was a public health success, and has become an ingrained element of French culture.

Of course, with smaller portions a cultural norm, the accent in France seems to be on QUALITY.

As far as dinnerware is concerned, my 19th c Sevres service has 9 3/4" dinner plates, and 7/5/8" luncheon plates. My WWI vintage Haviland and my 1920's Copeland Spode services have 10 1/4" dinner plates and 9" luncheon plates. Original Fiesta features 10 1/4" dinner plates and 9" luncheon plates.

Modern dinnerware seems to have 12" or even 13' dinner plates, and 11" luncheon plates.

In the old days, the large plates that we see today were used as chargers, or service plates. Food was not served on them.

 

[Paisley]

Modern dinnerware seems to have 12" or even 13' dinner plates, and 11" luncheon plates.
In the old days, the large plates that we see today were used as chargers, or service plates. Food was not served on them.

Those literally wouldn't fit in my cupboard, which is 11" deep.

At home, I usually use my luncheon plates (8" across); at work, my meals fit in a cereal bowl or on a saucer. The only time I use dinner plates is to eat a salad with dinner.

Back to the topic...I have Emily Post's Etiquette from 1940. In the chapter "Formal Dinners," she says

It may be due to the war period, which accustomed everyone to going with very little meat and to marked reduction in all food, or it may be, of course, merely vanity that is causing even grandparents to aspire to svelte figures, but whatever the cause, people are putting much less food on their tables than formerly. The very rich, living in the biggest houses with the most imposing array of servants, sit down to three, or at most four, courses when alone, or when intimate friends who are knownto have moderate appetites are dining with them.

Under no circumstances does an ultra-fashionable private dinner, no matter how formal, consist of more than

1. Soup
2. Fish or Entree
3. Roast
4. Salad, with game or fowl or aspic
5. Dessert

Demi-tasse and liqueurs​

 

[Paisley]

Oh geez! What red wine do you choose to go with a hamburger and fries?

I've got it: pinot grease.

 

[jamespowers]

I've got it: pinot grease.

Pinot Greasio.

 

[Foofoogal]

McDonald's is more profitable in France than anywhere else in Europe. Sales have increased 42 percent over the past five years. Some 1.2 million French, or 2 percent of the population, eat there every day.

We popped into McDonalds in France and was amazed by all the seniors eating there. It is one of the places I used for the facilities off and on and I believe this stat is correct for one reason only. It is so much cheaper than anything you can find anywhere else.
Eating in France at McDonalds is not my idea of enjoying France though. The sidewalk cafe is still available and so nice. One thing I did love about France.

 

[Undertow]

Don't know if anyone has seen this but I thought it was interesting:

Depression Cooking

 

[Paisley]

Undertow, are you sure the link is correct? I got a web hosting message when I clicked on the link.

 

[Undertow]

Undertow, are you sure the link is correct? I got a web hosting message when I clicked on the link.

Oh my, I apologize. This was posted on The Consumerist yesterday. I was able to review some of the content (that wasn't filtered by my employer) and everything checked out. I wonder if their server was flooded and shut down? [huh]

Sorry about that! If the link doesn't work for you, I can briefly summarize: A woman born in 1915 gives cooking tips and recipes to younger generations in regard to Depression Era cooking she experienced (and tastefully propegated).

 

[Fletch]

Oops - over at Fark.com they call that "getting Farked." Fark (and Consumerist, obviously) have such wide readership that any site they link to that doesn't have enough servers can run out of server time in a day.

Sure would like to take a spin thru that site once it comes back up.

I think stress is the big open secret to too much eating. America used to run on sweat equity. Now it runs on sweated blood and sweated details.

 

[jamespowers]

Oh my, I apologize. This was posted on The Consumerist yesterday. I was able to review some of the content (that wasn't filtered by my employer) and everything checked out. I wonder if their server was flooded and shut down? [huh]

Sorry about that! If the link doesn't work for you, I can briefly summarize: A woman born in 1915 gives cooking tips and recipes to younger generations in regard to Depression Era cooking she experienced (and tastefully propegated).

The link works for me. Interesting.

 

[celtic]

Don't know if anyone has seen this but I thought it was interesting:

Depression Cooking

They did a short piece on her on Good Morning America this morning.

They showed a couple video clips and then had her on the phone.

Emeril was there and said he tried a couple of her recipes and enjoyed them.

Very cool!

 

[Viola]

I wonder if portions got bigger as courses got fewer. Nowadays for an average family dinner at home (not counting holidays) how often do you serve 3 or 4 course meals?

Plates have gotten bigger, though. As has SILVERWARE, which is the oddest thing. My fiance and I were looking at silverware (at Target, fancy people that we are, heh) and the FORKS are ridiculously enormous. Like, he's quite a big man, and they were oddly weighted in his hand - in mine, as I am rather small at 5'0", they looked like giants! I didn't even want to put one of those soup spoons in my mouth, it was practically a ladle.

 

[Paisley]

Good point about the number of courses. But flatware--have our mouths gotten bigger?

 

[Undertow]

Plates have gotten bigger, though. As has SILVERWARE, which is the oddest thing. My fiance and I were looking at silverware (at Target, fancy people that we are, heh) and the FORKS are ridiculously enormous. Like, he's quite a big man, and they were oddly weighted in his hand - in mine, as I am rather small at 5'0", they looked like giants! I didn't even want to put one of those soup spoons in my mouth, it was practically a ladle.

I would venture to say this is a result of excessive style, rather than excessive consumption (and perhaps even a matter of locatlity).

I realize that Target is not Younkers, but Target still serves those of discerning tastes and, therefore, caters to certain preconceived "styles". If you browse the selections offered at Walmart, you'll notice the more expensive flatware is heavier and larger than the cheaper "value oriented" items which tend to be thin and small. Should this lead one to believe that the wealthy eat more and thereby demand larger utensils?

I believe this falls under the myth "bigger is better" which has been culminating in our society along with SUVs and televisions. It's not so much that we're consuming more as we're outdoing the Jones' with our bigger, better items.

In fact, outdoing the Jones' is probably part of what led us to this poisoned watering hole into which we've been dipping our ladel-spoons.