AIBU to think this is ridiculous?

A Cornish pasty without pastry, but with pasta instead? Eh? That would be pasta, potatoes, onions, swede and beef. That would look carnage on a plate and would be a bugger to take on a picnic!

I think it was opined that filo pastry be used, not pasta.

If I ask the waitstaff, will they bring me the menu without the calories, please? Like the old fashioned menu without prices?

If 'Spoons can helpfully put calories on the menu so could other places. I find it makes me confront my eating habits and balance what I would like with not getting any fatter.

Maizie - 'syns' are a Slimming World concept, I forget what SYN is the acronym for. I always thought they should be called 'treats' myself.

GG - yes, filo pastry but it sounds as if it wasn't a successful experiment by the lists on the other thread!

I t helps people make better choices and it’s about time. All Weatherspoon’s pubs have done it for years. The local chippy has just introduced a system and offers healthier choices after trialling it for a year and people seem to be very positive.
I am slim, fit and healthy and don’t really need to watch calories right now but I do think we need to be better informed. I would like to see a simple traffic like system introduced so people could be informed in a relaxed fashion. I think showing calories or some form of information should be compulsory in family restaurant’s and places aimed at children and young people. Research shows that when calories are displayed people make better choices. We should also be educating in schools

Spot on, petitpois. I watch what I eat when I'm at home and would treat eating out as 'overlook the naughty'.

Had a drink in a Wetherspoons recently and looking idly at the menu whilst DH was at the bar was truly shocked at some of the calories listed next to the burger meals and full English breakfasts and such like! (1,800; 2,200!!!) Equally there were some more sensible calorie content meals. Was to underestimate calories methinks!

..."Easy to underestimate ...."

I think what this thread illustrates is how far our relationship with food has changed.
We no longer eat to survive as people did only a few decades ago and many people in the world still do.
We longer eat just to be healthy - instead, for many people, eating has become associated with pleasure and reward and the urge to eat is driven not by pangs of hunger but by complex emotional factors.

Perhaps that explains why apparently it’s perfectly alright, and probably necessary in terms of health & safety compliance, for a restaurant to advise its customers which dishes contain nuts and which are gluten free.
But as soon as it’s suggested that people might like to know the calorie content of a meal, there are howls of indignation that treats are being spoiled and the kill-joys and the food police are taking over.

I’m sorry I just don’t get it. Maybe I’m a control freak but I prefer to know where the meat I eat has been sourced, where the vegetables have been grown, whether things contain preservatives and whether they contain high fructose corn syrup.

Ignorance isn’t bliss. People in third world countries have had their health and lives blighted by the manipulations of Big Food companies and we should be grateful that in this country most of us have the knowledge to make informed choices, but it seems that many people would prefer not to.

It is quite an eye-opener to read the calorie content of some Macmeals. It is impossible to guess from some menu descriptions what the sugar/calorie content is likely to be e.g "trio of berry parfaits" or even "3 scoops of ice-cream" ...

I agree with janea's post. I want to venture further into old age in the knowledge that I'm doing everything I can to prevent obesity, type 2 and other conditions that might be preventable. I have made a huge effort to lose weight because I was allowing it to creep up. My fault. Nobody else was to blame.

I get annoyed when we eat out and others think I'm being a killjoy because I don't want a calorie laden dessert. It's always the ones who probably feel guilty that protest.

I love eating with my sis-in-law who has worked hard all her life to keep a really slim figure because the rest of her family is seriously overweight. She totally gets where I'm coming from.

If a restaurant takes the trouble to print the calorie content of dishes on their menu I will appreciate their diligence in the same way I do a gluten free selection.