Dining out is a treat ... a time to forget food obsessions
WHEN you go out to a restaurant on a Saturday night, it’s your moment. You might have counted your steps and your calories through the week, but this is a time for enjoyment.
I don’t know of any diners who come to my restaurant who want to know the calorie content of our dishes. They are here to enjoy our food and treat themselves. I don’t imagine any diner would welcome calorie restrictions or labelling, and neither would the restaurant industry.
I am just bewildered at the suggestion that there could be restrictions on calories and portion sizes in restaurants. I am genuinely taken aback.
Diners might have a bottle of wine and a dessert, and many people really love a big steak, especially our male customers at the weekend, and they really enjoy it too.
We are a seafood restaurant and when it comes to seafood, many people want a large lobster or Dover sole because they see it as value for money. They don’t want to know how many calories are in it, not for a meal which is special.
People come to us because they like to enjoy a good nutritious meal. Everyone is watching what they eat these days and you can quite easily find out the calorie content of everything you eat.
But when it comes to your Friday or Saturday night meal, or a birthday lunch, and you are out celebrating with your friends, do you really want to know how many calories are in your pudding? I don’t think people really do.
We pride ourselves on our food’s sustainability and freshness. When you get that right you are on sound ground. If the food has come from a good source then it is not causing you harm.
We are already subject to food hygiene regulations and we take these very seriously. At Ondine we have a local environmental health officer who conducts checks and we pay for our own hygiene consultant to make sure we are as diligent as we can be. We handle a lot of shellfish – oysters, scallops and lobster – so we follow every single rule and we really pride ourselves on our hygiene.
To introduce calorie and portion size restrictions on top of this would be extremely burdensome. Restaurateurs are already subject to a lot of regulations, as well as the red tape of running a business.
THERE are obviously reasons why Food Standards Scotland has come up with these proposals but I don’t think they work for every sector, and introducing them for restaurants would be crazy.
I can understand this for other sectors such as school and hospital food. In fact, for people who are in hospital and need a special diet, it is vital.
But for the restaurant industry it does not make any sense to me at all. We are the hospitality industry and in Scotland we are known for our warmth and generous portions.