Why are portion sizes in the US big? (lemmy.world)

submitted 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) by War5oldier@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

20 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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. (No wonder why they have a higher rate of obesity...)

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[-] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 4 points 1 week 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.

[-] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Uh no, sorry, it is MUCH cheaper in Europe for food. Groceries, Restaurants, food kiosks, everything over there was cheaper than here. Made with more real food too. We're getting scammed here.

[-] daannii@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Yeah food is cheaper in many places in Europe. Better food too.

[-] floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 week ago

Food being cheap != cheap food being the norm

[-] HobbitFoot@thelemmy.club 1 points 1 week ago

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.

this post was submitted on 26 Mar 2026

23 points (82.9% liked)

Asklemmy

53820 readers

803 users here now

A loosely moderated place to ask open-ended questions

Search asklemmy 🔍

If your post meets the following criteria, it's welcome here!

Open-ended question
Not offensive: at this point, we do not have the bandwidth to moderate overtly political discussions. Assume best intent and be excellent to each other.
Not regarding using or support for Lemmy: context, see the list of support communities and tools for finding communities below
Not ad nauseam inducing: please make sure it is a question that would be new to most members
An actual topic of discussion

Looking for support?

Looking for a community?

Lemmyverse: community search
sub.rehab: maps old subreddits to fediverse options, marks official as such
!lemmy411@lemmy.ca: a community for finding communities

~Icon~ ~by~ ~@Double_A@discuss.tchncs.de~

founded 7 years ago

MODERATORS