Ordering from a restaurant menu can be confusing and sometimes even intimidating experience. Some restaurants pride themselves in listing their items in foreign languages in keeping with the style of food they’re serving, e.g. French, Italian, Chinese. Others overwhelm their clientele with long and detailed but sometimes meaningless descriptions of the ingredients and cooking techniques that go into their dishes. It shouldn’t be that way. Menus should be self-explanatory and give you simple and clear guidance in finding the foods you like – period. Instead of filling pages and pages with fancyful descriptions of their unique culinary creations, restaurateurs should offer factual information about the ingredients they use in terms of calorie and fat content as well as whether the chef uses health-conscious cooking techniques. With this in mind, I have written several articles in this section of my blog named “Dining Out” guidelines.
The following listing of “Restaurant Food Rating” symbols should help you find some information that really matters next time you eat out, whether you get a quick bite at a burger joint around the corner or enjoy a multi-course gourmet extravaganza in a five star palace. Bon appetite!
The Healthier Choice symbol represents foods that are less caloric, are lower in fat and contain no or less cholesterol.
The High in Calories symbol indicates that these foods are typically high in calories and perhaps in fat as well.
The High in Fat symbol stands for fatty foods and may also indicate that these foods are high in calories and perhaps cholesterol.
The Meat or Poultry symbol points to foods that consist of meat products such as beef, pork, lamb, game and poultry.
The Mostly Vegetarian symbol indicates that these foods are plant based, but may also include fish, eggs, milk, pasta and other non-meat products.
The Processed Ingredients symbol says that most ingredients used here are processed, as opposed to fresh ingredients prepared from scratch.
The Mostly Fresh Ingredientssymbol indicates that most ingredients used in these meals are fresh and are prepared from scratch and do not come ready-made, pre-packaged, frozen or in cans.
The Imported or Exotic Foods symbol identifies foods that are not locally grown and are not indigenous to the North American continent.
The Domestic Foods symbol represents foods that are locally grown and are indigenous to the North American continent.
Related Articles:
- Understanding Restaurant Lingo
- A Restaurant Guide For Healthy Eating
- Dining Out – Food in the Fast Lane
- Dietary Cholesterol
- Food Label Literacy
- Farewell to the Old Food Pyramid
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