Diets & Weight Maintenance Support Group

Great descriptions of professional kitchen life. I always like George Orwell's description of working in a Parisian Hotel kitchen:
"The kitchen was like
nothing I had ever seen or imagined--a stifling, low-ceilinged inferno of
a cellar, red-lit from the fires, and deafening with oaths and the clanging
of pots and pans. It was so hot that all the metal-work except the stoves
had to be covered with cloth. In the middle were furnaces, where twelve
cooks skipped to and fro, their faces dripping sweat in spite of their
white caps. Round that were counters where a mob of waiters and PLONGEURS
clamoured with trays. Scullions, naked to the waist, were stoking the fires
and scouring huge copper saucepans with sand. Everyone seemed to be in a
hurry and a rage. "

The rest is here: http://www.george-orwell.org/Down_...

dang this got tons of replies! Thanks fo rthe insight guys!! Man...yall should do your own t.v. show in response to the t.v. show about the lieing restaraunts.

You're welcome!

I'm always willing to tell how the kitchens are . So many people are deprived of the job's pleasures ... and mishaps! ;)


Here's hoping that one person learned something new today :)


I wouldn't trade my job for the world!

mkat; It is not human error...it is incompetence. If the morons need to use a scale to learn proper portion size, then it is up to the manager to see that do so. The problem is that all food companies and drug companies want us fat. Fat people eat more.
As far as salads being a good choice, they are ONLY if you use no dressing, or take your own organic dressing or Newman's Own. All of the other dressings contain high fructose corn syrup. Good cheesecake is healthier.

" If the morons need to use a scale to learn proper portion size, then it is up to the manager to see that do so. "


Ermmm... it's not just food service people that need to learn portion sizes. We make portions bigger because people eat them and demand them.

Maybe the "fat people" eating the food should learn portion sizes and stop eating when they reach a proper portion size? Or to recognize what a satisfied stomach feels like and to stop eating then instead of stuffing one too full?

This is coming from someone that had to learn portion sizes while losing 90 pounds, by the way.

People demand more for their money. If I served someone 4 oz of chicken breast or 1/2 cup of mashed potatoes with 2 tbs on gravy, I would hear " IS THIS ALL I GET ????? "

Oh, as for fat people eating more food... thats not necessarily true.

My new smaller 130 pound self eats twice as much if not more than what I ate to get fat. Before, my entire day's meals would consist of a candy bar and a 7oz bag of chips. That's it. Now? Now I eat 6 times a day ( 1800-2000 calories a day most often).

My friend, who is still 100 pounds overweight, eats 1 meal a day - usually a turkey and cheese sandwich, an apple and a glass of skim milk, and has eaten like that for years.

Honestly, we need to stop blaming others for our own weight problems and take the blame upon ourselves.

We don't HAVE to eat out. We CAN cook at home instead.

No one is putting the fork in our mouths and pushing the entire plate of food down our throats.

We all have the same choice to say "No more please, I've had enough food for this meal " and to take the rest home, or throw it away.

(I'm not talking about compulsive overeaters or anyone with an eating disorder or medical condition, as I have trained no experience with those matters. Medical conditions need medical supervision.)

Yes, it works both ways. Restaurants are simply responding to the free market. Any restaurant today that went back to serving portion sizes of even the 1970's would quickly go out of business.

True that!

When the last place I worked had new owners, they raised their prices 25-50 cents and cut portions down about 1/4...

We were known for huge portions and homestyle meals ( better than any chain! ). We kept the same menu for 27 years. We had people driving hours to eat at our little farm town restaurant.

We made EVERYTHING by hand - from the noodles in your soup, to the pierogis, mashed potatoes and meatloaf and everything in between. All our produce was grown locally. We didn't advertise much, we let the food speak for itself.

After the changes were made, they lost business the first week, and it continued to go down until they defaulted on their loan. I quit about 5 months before it closed because I went from working 60+ hours a week to less than 20, due to loss of businessl

omg I had no idea! Ughhh thats so frustrating. A lot of those meals weren't even very good.

omg I had no idea! Ughhh thats so frustrating. A lot of those meals weren't even very good.

A really great website that tells you EVERYTHING from sugar to protein to fat and calories in restaurant food, packaged foods etc is www.thedailyplate.com its amazing, I lost 80 pounds with that site. Its so easy to use, I was so shocked when I started using their free service and I would plug in my usual lunch of a Grilled chicken Zaxbys salad...OMG i thought I was getting a healthy option on the menu...NOPE 1100 cals..

A trick I learned is when I go out to eat automatically ask for a to go box..When the dinner comes I put half of it in right away this way I cant eat it all and pick at my plate...I can cut cals that way because A whole meal at a restaurant is WAY beyond what we should be eating in a sitting anyway,.