This may seem like a philosophical title, and you may already be thinking “here he goes again talking about how health, body comp and aesthetics are patiently awaiting us if we just shift our perspective, I bet he’ll have some long drawn out conclusion that looks nice on paper, but serves little practical significance ~ if everyone thought this way we’d all be happy, blah blah blah…”.

Guess again Einstein, I am a researcher, which means a) I have an overwhelming appreciation for cool experiments, and b) I’ve done lots of homework.  Thus, the mushy gushy intangible stuff is not my cup of green tea. But I digress, getting back to the point of this rant, what is it you see beyond the food? Stare at your chili diligently for an hour and consider what lies beneath. The plate of course, or rather a bowl, perhaps you are eating directly from pot? Now your thinking “wait, is he serious?” I sure am. Have you ever considered how much help or hindrance your dishes can dish out, because researchers from the Cornell University’s Food and Brand Lab have.

I’ll spare all the details, but essentially there were 2 groups allowed to eat some snacks (not a main course) from a buffet table. Group I had small bowls, whereas group II had large bowls. The two groups had similar BMIs, age, education and had waited equally since their last meal.

After self serving, here is what happened:

Variable Measured

Small Bowls (16 subjects)

Large Bowls (19 subjects)

Food self served (g)

52.6 (14-110)

80.5 (28-152)

Food self served (kcal)

277 (74-579)

423 (147-800)

Food consumed (g)

47.8 (13-96)

74.8 (25-123)

Food consumed (kcal)

251 (68-505)

393 (132-647)

~ data presented as mean (range)

On average, those with bigger bowls consumed ~ 142 kcal more than those with smaller bowls.  This 56% increase in consumption compounded over the number of meals you eat from oversized place settings (let’s not get started on how restaurant portions have more than doubled in the last 30 years) may be a significant factor in weight gain.

1980′s to Today

The size of a serving bowl or plate acts as a consumption cue, that suggests the proper amount to eat.  However, bigger place settings have no physiological relationship with energy needs. Therefore, regardless if it is the Denby dish set you got as a wedding gift, or the IKEA dishes you bought on sale, they could be helping or hindering your body transformation depending on their size.

So next time you choose to look beyond the food, prior to an internal philosophical examination as to why we eat the foods we eat, literally look beyond your food at the vehicle it came in on, would it be considered the smart car, sports car, luxury car, mini van, or bus of place settings.