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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DV791EO-n8I
(YouTube: MerrionStreetNews)
ENDA KENNY has recorded a video message for the government’s MerrionStreet.ie press website, offering an update on the government’s work of the last few months.
The message, to coincide with the Oireachtas’s summer break, sees the Taoiseach argue that the result of the Fiscal Compact referendum had helped the government in its cause to seek an improved deal on Ireland’s banking debts.
“I know times are tough, but I hope you and your family find time over the summer to draw breath and to spend some valuable time together,” the Taoiseach adds.
If I’m going to a nice restaurant for a treat, I’m not counting calories in stuffing my face with all the lovely food.
@Charmaine ☘ Irish: yeah they should hide the prices too I don’t want to know how much I’m spending
@eoin carroll: yeah they should hide the description as well I don’t want to know what I’m getting :D
@Football in the Groin:
And hide the restaurant because I don’t want to know where I’m going
@Charmaine ☘ Irish: yum yum
@Charmaine ☘ Irish:
How about people with medical conditions… Diabetics on low carb / no sugar diets… Calories give a better indication.
You can ignore them, some people can’t..
There is some benefit to having this information right in front of you. If a latte frappucino whipped caramel breeze has 600 calories and an Americano has 0 (without the milk) it might help us stay consistent with the choices we make. But like anything else, it can be an added burden for restaurants to have to calculate this, so that increases costs as well.
Bad example. That’s two very different products. Both drinks, yes, but vastly different.
Coca Cola (330ml) – 139 calories
Pepsi Cola (330ml) – 150 calories
That’s the type of decisions should be based on calorie counting.
@Sequoia: says you, everyone has theyre own reasons
@Seeking Truth: yes it’s the restaurants fault if you get fat and the governments fault if you get a virus.
@Sequoia: The restaurants don’t have to calculate calories, there are food tables which already do this, so all they need do is copy from the tables, giving attention to the portion sizes and amending the calorie amount dependent on that. If one is losing weight, this is an excellent idea. If one is not losing weight, one just ignores the calorie count and pigs out. Any extra costs involved will be minimal and easily absorbed, without too much of an increase in the average prices of the food. Restaurateurs will, of course, tell us the cost is crippling [it's not] and use it as an excuse to hike prices more than they need to to cover the low costs involved.
@Antaine O’Labhradha: some restaurants have been doing this for years and their prices are quite competitive so no, it doesn’t affect cost in any way.
@Sequoia: nope. 11 calories isn’t keeping anyone awake at night. But your point is valid. 600 v 0 is a bad example. 450 v 600 is what I’d be looking at twice.
@John Moloney: I am all for full responsibility of every individual. All I am saying is that if the calorie information is listed it can help, and it can be a good reminder when making purchasing decisions. Just like I use the nutritional information on food packaging to help with calorie and portion control.
If I counted on my own instincts as to what I want to eat I would be 20 stone.
@Phil Quinn: there their they’re.
Pick one any one…
Up to you to know what your eating and be educated on the calories. Not on the business to provide that information.
@Craig Clancy: also if your counting calories you’ll build up the knowledge fairly quick and know for your self roughly how many calories your intake is.
@Craig Clancy: Grand so. Ask the waiter to ask the chef what oil and how much of it he uses, how many pinches of salt he’ll use etc. Anyone can Google how many calories, say, a typical steak with sauce has, but only the restaurant can estimate accurately how many calories their dish has because it’s their creation. They could be using all sorts of high/low/Zero calorie ingredients.
@Chris Linehan: Well if your that bothered stay at home and cook for your self and count your calories..as some one said above if your going out to eat it should be seen as treat and shouldn’t have to worry about calories.
@Craig Clancy: ridiculous comment. Cant calculate the calories properly unless you know the ingredients and quantities used. Shall we also tell people with allergies not to bother going out as businesses shouldn’t have to tell them what in their food? If you buy a food product in a supermarket you get the ingredients and the calories. Restaurants should be no different whatsoever.
@Craig Clancy: does it bother you that other people want to make informed decisions on what they are eating? If you don’t want worry about calories when your out that’s great, just ignore them on the menu.
@Craig Clancy: What exactly is the problem here? Restaurants already identify ingredients which people could be allergic to. Calorie content is just a next step.
@Craig Clancy: what an utterly ridiculous comment. Why should it be seen as a treat? I buy lunch out every day and in one restaurant locally they’ve been listing the calorie count on their menu for years. You’re suggesting that people who choose one dish over another should have stayed at home?
@Chris Linehan: The cost of hireing a professional to test and report the calorific content in food costs between 7-13 grand last time I check dependimg on menu size. If you genuinly think any chef will give you an proper calorie count you are lying to yourself. Calories are the mesurement of energy and not a mesurement fat, sugar, nutrition. Foods that have a selling point of Low Calories are often filled with sweetners that cause cancer.
@Chris Linehan: its not actually that simple. For chain restaurants with set menus and American style portion control and recipe specification. But for a restaurant serving fresh local food on a frequently changing menu or worse daily specials it is simply unworkable.
And not even accurate enough to be much use to the consumer. If you want to suck all the creativity from the role of a chef, its moves like this will do it. Would I bother putting together 3 daily specials with all the added paperwork. And even if I did, i simply would not expect the chef on the grill to follow the recipe to the exact gram or millilitre. Good food is not created entirely uniformly. A pinch of salt to me is different to the chef next to me, as is a splash of something or a bit of butter.
Also how would a regulator test an actual dish? Its not cost effective to do so, and this would then lead to incorrect calorie counts on dishes, just plucked from the air, to tick that box.
@NotMyIreland: the majority of restaurants have staples on their menu that rarely change from season to season never mind on a more frequent basis. Calorie count doesn’t even have to be 100% precise, it can also be in a range from/to. You’re making it sound like all the chefs out there are creating new recipes every day which is simply not the case.
@Gerard Smith: completely different argument with allergies…flogging a dead donkey there you are with that response..yes if your buying from the supermarket/source it rightly so should have a calorie count on it…your out to enjoy a meal..typically people who are counting calories are watching their weight or in training..if your in serious training your not going to be eating out cause its just easier to count your own calories.
@Sean Minihane: doesn’t bother me in the slightest…be informed your self on the average calories in the meal..as I said if your that strick on counting calories for your training your not going to eat out..and if your worried about running over by 10-20 extra calories then maybe counting calories isn’t for you as it can lead to being an obsessive disorder and could lead to an eating disorder.
@EillieEs: if your counting calories your watching weight or training..so eating out is seen as a treat to some people..thats great the restaurant went that extra step without being forced to do it..but why should it be compulsory for every food place to list the calories? Want it spoon fed to you as well? Shall they mash up your likkle poppy’s with gravy and make you look out for the aeroplane. Cotton wool generation.
@Craig Clancy: wow why are you making this so personal? As already mentioned some restaurants do this without being forced into it and for some people it’s information they’re interested in. Ireland has one of the highest levels of obesity in Europe with 60% of adults either overweight or obese. If listing calorie counts helps in some small way to reversing the upward trend then what’s the big deal?
@EillieEs: but isn’t a person being obese a personal problem and not the restaurants problem? If you can’t control your food intake or calories then why put it on the restaurant to count your calories for you?
@Craig Clancy: fully agree. who holds your hand when you cook at home , do you have a full,extensive , informative list of ingredients an calorie info on your kitchen wall ? .The costumer should know what and how much he/she can eat .The only info a kitchen should give is allergy content.
@Gerard Smith: allergen advise is totally different , and all kitchens give this advise gladly., An allergic reaction can kill , but having too much cream in a sauce that you might have once in a while , wont do any damage.
@NotMyIreland: totally agree. been there ,done that.
@Craig Clancy: why put it on the restaurant to count calories? So the diner will know what they’re consuming. Just looking at main ingredients doesn’t give any indication of final
calorie count. I posted earlier how a kale salad introduced by McDonalds had more calories, fat, and sodium than a Double Big Mac burger.
@RJ.Fallon: who holds your hand when you cook at home? Eh, if someone is cooking then they know exactly what ingredients they’re adding to the food which is obviously not the case when ordering food in a restaurant hence the suggestion that the calorie count be added
Course they should. It makes sense so people can make more informed choices. There’s no one being forced to read them if they dont want to.
Any chain of restaurants should but the individual trader shouldn’t have to.
@Nomad: that’s restaurantisim
@Brian Hunt: That’s a cafetarian comment
Definitely can’t afford to eat out on such a regular basis that this information would be important for me. I’ve eaten out a couple of times with the wife and two kids since the start of the year and by God is it eye wateringly expensive now. On the odd time we can in future I won’t care about the calories, I’ll just be glad of the treat!
@Football in the Groin: This is about calories, not prices
@Sean D: it’s the governments fault. Has to be. Everything is.
@Sean D: Well done Sean.
Rather 1st world problem.
@Cez Miname: yeah, obesity and diabetes.
@Eric Foley: laziness and lack of self control.
If you neglect your body that’s your choice.
That’s on you.
If you’re sitting down for a three course meal with a drink you are obviously not worried about calories.
It’s a stupid idea that will not be implemented correctly and put a huge burden on businesses.
@Eric Foley: but ,if you are obese, or just overweight , it’s hardly because you might eat out once in a blue moon. It is because of how you eat at home.
@Philip King ⚡️: I couldn’t see that comment my belly was in the way.
A little comon sense is all it takes. If there really is a need to display this kind of info, a symbol for ‘high in calories’ should be enough.
@Carrie Poettcker:like little fat people emoji’s of various sizes.
@Jason Dawson: just like chilli’s indicate how spicy something is
@JustBEERbarry: exactly
@Jason Dawson: Cute idea, but not what I had in mind. An oil drop or letters HC. Same way menus show allergens or spicyness.
Anyone eating out whether in McDonald’s or chapter one knows the lower calorie options and the higher calorie options without having it beside a treat when they are out. Education and help to make good decisions when shopping or cooking at home would be far more beneficial.
But it’s much easier to make a change like this and look like you are tackling obesity.
This is getting ridiculous. Why not just wrap us up in cotton wool and intravenously feed us all the nutrients we need.
@Jonathan McCoy: And how would we wash this cotton wool wrapping without being given the info like on clothes labels? Sure, we get the gist of it after a while of trial and error and a few shrinkages but knowing in advance at least gets the ball rolling to help us all make informed laundry decisions. Same deal with food. Admittedly, i fire everything in at 40 degrees and hope for the best.
Whatever happened to personal responsibility. You’re in a restaurant to enjoy yourself. Do your own research if you you’re so insecure
@Jamie Leahy: just walk into the kitchen with yer bio Tek kit and Do your own research. Or do you mean watch a YouTube video?
@Eric Foley: There’s lots of info online, a quick Google search gave me a tonne of options like this one: https://www.nutracheck.co.uk/CaloriesIn/. If someone is that concerned about calories there’s nothing to stop them checking for themselves, took me all of one second.
@Football in the Groin: it’s just as easy for a restaurant to list the calories of a particular dish than it is to itemise the exact weight of each ingredient.
@Jamie Leahy: how can people take personal responsibility if they don’t know exactly what they’re consuming?
If you need a number written on a restaurant menu to inform you of how calorific a certain dish may be then your issue lies, not with restaurants but with your own lack of knowledge/interest in healthy eating.
@Lee King Buckett: how’s that the case when the salad on the menu can end up having the same calories as the steak and chips.
@Lee King Buckett: only if the menu states the exact portion of each ingredient.
@james spice: That’s kind of my point really. If you need a menu to tell you that the salad with croutons, bacon lardons, parmesan cheers and ceasar dressing is highbin calories then you have greater issues than whether restaurants show calories on their menus.
No, putting calorie counts on every dish is gastro-Orwellian. However, restaurants should be encouraged to put low-calorie dishes on their menus and to identify them as such.
Why are some people so virulently opposed to this? If you don’t want to know just ignore it and order away but for others the calorie count might be the deciding factor in choosing one dish over another. One restaurant that’s been listing the calorie count for years is Bay in Clontarf. Just to show how difficult it would be to figure the count is these two starters, Seared Scallops & Tiger Prawns satay
which has 351kcal v Calamari
which has 403/555 kcal. What is the problem with diners knowing how many calories they’ll be consuming?
@EillieEs: I don’t think that’s where the problem lies. The problem is due to the restaurant being made totally responsible for how the diner eats. Most kitchens are now doing this , but it is not the responsibility of the kitchen staff to hold the costumers hand when ordering.
@EillieEs: I’m opposed to it because it’s another excuse for the government to cop out of the real issue.
If they insist on making private business implement measures like this then they can convince people that they are tackling obesity and diet issues.
That’s rubbish – the real issue isn’t whether calories should be on menus or not, the real issue is that we don’t teach people enough about healthy eating and we don’t promote good choices well enough.
If we invested properly in that then you wouldn’t need calorie counts to tell you that the pan seared scallop was lower in calories than the battered deep fried squid.
Rul of thumb is, if the food tast lovely and your enjoying eating it, you can be shour it’s got hundreds of calories in it ! Chef.
As a diabetic who has to count carbohydrates to be able to work out insulin ratio it would be great to have the nutritional information beside the menu. Now I understand that it can’t always be exact but a ballpark idea would be great
Say hello to smaller Portions for the same price on already overpriced food just so they can say the meal has less calories.
I’ve read they tried something similar to this in Irish restaurants during WW2 and into the 1950′s in an effort to limit calorie intake. It was called rationing and wasn’t very popular. Strangely though it was already widely practiced at home before this among large sections of the population generally referred to as ‘the poor’. I hear it’s still a widespread practice among that group today and that it’s recently started to gain in popularity as the cost of living and group numbers have started to increase. I was thinking maybe of giving it a try myself.
@William Tallon: Now that you mention it, that’s probably where British people developed their sweet tooth all right. Out of surviving extreme shortages in the supply chain. I don’t see the issue myself – if the info is useful to diabetics, why not add it? Restaurants are still going to serve what’s popular with diners regardless.
Should be made list legally hidden allergens first. i.e. Scrap the 10pp limit below which added sulphites can be hidden. Just declare all.
@Gavin Tobin: with you on this.
What frustrates me most is that most places only state if something has gluten in it. Not the source. I’m wheat intolerant, but to avoid wheat, I have to eat gluten free when out. Which isn’t that easy. However, some places will note the different sources of gluten. So if something contains say, barley, but no wheat, I can eat it. However, if it just states that it contains gluten, I can’t.
Other places have horribly inconsisten menus. A Thai restaurant near me lists vegetable spring rolls as containing gluten, but not duck spring rolls. Even though both have a wheat based pastry on them.
Like the sugar tax made the occasional softdrink i had now taste terrible (sugar replaced with chemicals to avoid tax)- this will ruin food out as there is a race to lower calories for fear certain meals wont sell if numbers look too high.
@Anthony Clark: all food is chemicals, lol.
I think this would play into the hands of corporate and franchise restaurants. I don’t think it’s fair on mom and pops places and I don’t think it’s appropriate for fine dining establishments. I think it would really help people be informed and gain awareness in fast food chains. As in: not to avoid fast food altogether but make more moderate choices.
It’s the restaurants fault if you get fat, not yours at all.
@Mark Howard: I could make you a delicious tuna salad with just as many calories as a burger and chips.. Maybe even more calories actually……And maybe if people could see that the milkshake had a thousand calories in it: they might pass on the shake and just get the burger, not get the tuna salad under some false notion and enjoy their evening more by being informed.
@james spice: this. Not everyone is a food expert. I used to love brownies. Then, I went to make my own one day. When I saw the insane amount of sugar in them, way more than I expected.. I stopped. That was about 2 years ago now. I’ve probably eaten 3 brownies since then, rather than one or 2 a month as I would have done prior.
I still love brownies.. I’m just more conscious about eating them, and will take almost any other sweet treat first, over them.
If someone doesn’t already know that a cheeseburger, fries and a milkshake have more calories that a tuna salad, a glass of water and a fruit salad then they’re either not interested or they’ve somehow missed a lifetime of healthy-eating messages. Putting more hassle on businesses already struggling with high-rents, oodles of health and safety regulations and people deliberately trying to slip and sue for them thousands is just pointless and wrong
@Mark Howard: McDonalds in US introduced a kale salad a few years ago and it Contained more calories, fat, and sodium than a Double Big Mac burger.
https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2016/02/04/mcdonalds-salad-has-more-calories-than-big-mac.html
As a diabetic who has to count carbohydrates to be able to work out insulin ratio it would be great to have the nutritional information beside the menu. Now I understand that it can’t always be exact but a ballpark idea would be great
If you can’t see certain parts of your body when you look down whilst in the shower, that’s all the calorie info you need. Naturally I’m referring to toes ya preverts.
As so many young people are struggling with eating disorders I would say no. Very unhelpful. As an adult common sense tells me what high fat and what isn’t.
Absolutely. Give people who want it the information and those that don’t care can ignore it.
Surprised this poll isn’t about whether french presidents should eat fois gras or not.
@TomTraubert: yea, but then you would be into the realm of animal cruelty,so best not go there.
Also making a prediction for the comments on this : expect to see the same anti vax / anti woke commenters posting here. They’ll be saying things like: “calories aren’t the problem carbs are what makes people overweight”
As a diabetic who has to count carbohydrates to be able to work out insulin ratio it would be great to have the nutritional information beside the menu. Now I understand that it can’t always be exact but a ballpark idea would be great
Calorie counts can be misleading at the best of times. They can be somewhat reliable on mass produced crap but in a restaurant environment, where things are made to order, less so. Particularly when fatty foods are involved. A little too generous a pour on the cooking oil, avocado a bit more heaped up on the spoon than usual, thicker cut of bacon with more fat, it doesn’t take much for a calorie estimate to be off by 100-200 on a good day.
Also you probably just shouldn’t sweat it too much. Just don’t go wild. Have a main course if you want to stay roughly on target or maybe you want to treat yourself and say feck it and get back on track tomorrow and get yourself a dessert)
Personally. I had a light breakfast and lunch that I made myself and two coffees. So I have a fairly solid idea where I’m at today assuming the coffees were with full fat milk. Getting a takeaway tonight and I know that, unless I go hogwild on it, worst case scenario is today I eat at maintenance rather than in a defecit and I’m shy of my goal for this week by about 1/7th. If you’re eating out enjoy yourself and just use some common sense to maybe reign it in a little (or don’t and just accept that you got a little of track that one time).
@Liam Edward Harris: very sensible. I wish you the best on your journey. Sounds like it’s going well. Good for you.
Nice idea in theory but it’s a hell of a lot of work for chefs, and who will enforce it?
I don’t see why it would be a problem for anyone to have this information displayed on a menu. To argue against it is arguing for the sake of arguing.
Most processed foods have their nutrition values displayed, in this case the restaurant selling it can estimated and display the values as they process it. A pain to do at the start but it may also encourage the cooks to offer healthier dishes not loaded with cream, salt, sugars etc
Most already do.
If you’re going out to eat, you want to relax and enjoy your food, not worry about calories. Count calories at home if you have too
This is absolutely ridiculous
Show the Count of Plant based fat in the food … the more the healthier.
- root cause of Diabetes Type 2 and Diabetes Type 3 (Alzheimers) is wrong fat in the cell membrane. Inhibits the normal function of insulin receptors (DT2) and cuts the APP amyloid protein in the wrong place causing toxic offcuts, plaque and cell death – holes in the brain (DT3). (Best Current Hypothesis)
No medic knows the root cause of DT2 or DT3 …yet! – wrong fat is the best current hypothesis.
Eat plenty Plant Based fat (olive oil, olives, avocado, nuts, any plant oil … and oily fish.
Wetherspoons used to have a calorie count on its menus years ago. If anything it encouraged me to get inventive with the side dish orders. Make a right dinner out of it.
@Watchful Axe: I agree. There was a French fries order at Weatherapoona that was 950 calories. I chose something else!
If you going to count, don’t go out!!!
Maintaining calorie counts on an ever changing menu will lead to higher prices.
Same people complaining here will complain again when their favourite dish in their local Chinese is 10-15% more expensive.
Take responsibility for yourself. Learn about the food you shove into your pie hole. Stop expecting society to protect you from your own bad choices.
Calories are not bad its the lack of movement that is bad for you so we might want to focus on promoting a lifestyle that includes some physical exercise in our daily lives.
It would be nice if they could put allergens on the menus at a minimum… like they are legally required to. If they can’t manage to do this, which could save a life, they are unlikely to put calories on one
Of course not. Nuts yes as they can be a massive problem for some people. I would be very surprised to find a person who didn’t have a fair idea of the number of Calories on their plate.
have your say