634047 Sun Jul 05 09:50:22 -0700 2009 14 58 Italy 0 4830892 Looking at the menus of several Italian restaurants worries me. My 15 y.o. dd and I just can't eat that much. We usually split an appetizer and then we'd each get EITHER a pasta or a meat dish then probably split a dessert. Will we encounter many miffed waiters? Sun Jul 05 09:50:22 -0700 2009 110080 VAfoodie 1 4830906 Splitting dishes is not uncommon in Italy. Just ask for "uno per due". Waiters will only be miffed if you ask to split each and every course. If you're accustomed to the supersize portions of many restaurants in the US, you may be surprised by the manageable size of Italian portions. Sun Jul 05 09:59:49 -0700 2009 4830892 120888 zerlina 1 4830923 You might find this thread answers your question: http://chowhound.chow.com/topics/583502 PS: What's a dd? Sun Jul 05 10:05:43 -0700 2009 4830892 131001 c oliver 2 4830926 dear daughter--there's no text lingo for churlish teen. Sun Jul 05 10:06:45 -0700 2009 4830923 110080 VAfoodie 3 4830929 "churlish teen." Isn't that redundant? Ours are grown now. Hurray Sun Jul 05 10:08:01 -0700 2009 4830926 131001 c oliver 1 4831017 Ask for a mezza (half) porzione (portion). Few eat the entire full courses: (1) aperitivo- (2) antipasto- (3) zuppa- (4) pasta, (5)primo pesce, (6) secondo carne, (7) contorni - (8) insalata - (9) formaggio - (10) dolce - (11) caffe - (11) degustivo. Starting of course with the (12) pane on the table when you arrive. The only time an Italian waiter who more likely will now be a Pole or Latvian, will feel insulted is if you don't enjoy immensely what you ordered, no matter how much or how little. Isn't it wonderful you have so many things to choose from. That will be your only problem, not that you have to eat it all. Sun Jul 05 11:24:25 -0700 2009 4830892 12522 glbtrtr 2 4836224 I think nobody has a full course lunch like this, except at a wedding maybe... Tue Jul 07 08:36:17 -0700 2009 4831017 287476 Kadath Dragon 1 4836686 It's really not a problem! Order what you like, don't fill up on bread. Dessert in Italy is usually a wonderful piece of fruit, delivered with a knife and fork. If you are still hungry, there's always gelato. Tue Jul 07 10:57:15 -0700 2009 4830892 10926 mnosyne 1 4837144 Honestly, when I go to the US I am amazed by the huge portions and the French fries that arrive unrequested with what one hoped was going to be a simple sandwich for a light lunch. The reality is that the Italian meal probably contains less food than the avg Anglo-American, but distributed differently. There are more carbohydrates (exc for those fries), less protein, and the total is spread over more courses, with one food consumed at a time. Italians are not gluttons. The norm is to eat one full meal distributed between lunch and dinner, such as an antipasto and pasta for lunch, a secondo and contorno for dinner, or something like that. Nobody eats two full meals a day, or at least not often. The fancier the restaurant, as a rule, the more courses one eats, but the portions are smaller. Large portions of pasta are usually found in trattorias. Tue Jul 07 13:25:03 -0700 2009 4830892 83777 mbfant 2 4837443 Fries are not a "carbohydrate". Potatoes are vegetables. And if they have fried all the nutrients out of them then they become a fat/lipid, but never a "carbohydrate. The simplest food one can eat to get all necessary nutrients is milk and potatoes, as the plethora of creamy potato soups indicates. Please, let us not malign perfectly good foods with junk science. Or as Julia Child found it so strange that Americans were so afraid of their food. All things (I repeat ALL things) in moderation. And stop when you are 80% full. Tue Jul 07 15:07:10 -0700 2009 4837144 12522 glbtrtr 3 4837489 You're being funny, right? Of course, a potato is in the family of carbohydrates. You can't cook all the nutrients out of it and turn it into a fat. Tue Jul 07 15:25:18 -0700 2009 4837443 131001 c oliver 4 4837861 Heat destroys the Vitamin C, of which potatoes are a sound source. So there you go, you can cook a nutrient out of a potato. And many french fries absorb so much fat, their nutrient contribution is no longer is a good ratio with the newly added fat calories from the frying. A potato is a vegetable and a very nutritious one. Heat and fat preparation reduces its vegetable benefit ratio. No, i was not being funny. And I love french fries. Just know where they stand in what food group when eaten in a weekly dietary plan. There is nothing wrong with fat/oils being part of a diet either. I don't like seeing people make light of potatoes or maligning them as a "carb" (as if there is something evil about carbohydrates because there is nothing inherently evil about any natural foodstuff) Tue Jul 07 17:33:59 -0700 2009 4837489 12522 glbtrtr 5 4838785 Ah, gotcha. I never malign *carbs*. I'd thought you were saying that the frying actually turned a carb into a fat, rather than a *compromised* carb. Thanks. Wed Jul 08 05:19:41 -0700 2009 4837861 131001 c oliver 2 4837536 If you log in a lot of miles walking around (10-12 mi or more has not been atypical for us on Italian trips) or if you are younger than we are now it may be possible for you to eat more than Maureen indicates above. It can be disappointing to travel for food and find (as we did last year) that we simply could not eat all the meals we had planned in Emilia Romagna . However, it sounds like this will not be the OP's problem. My suggestion, as always, is to eat the main meal at lunch and lighter at dinner - lunch can be cheaper, you can rest a bit when things are closed and the sun is hot - AND pizza is really mainly an evening thing in Italy. Tue Jul 07 15:41:05 -0700 2009 4837144 11130 jen kalb 3 4837872 I did a one-star restaurant tour in Switzerland once, having the full day's menu which often would end up being 5-7 courses with mid course fillers and chef's testings and surprises and even a "pre-dessert" samples of all the desserts I had not picked. And I almost had to put a gun to my head to keep eating by the 6th day in a row but looking back i am glad I stuck it out because the last day was one of the best (Burgdorf - Bahnhof Hotel). That was one fun trip in retrospect. But it does tax and not sure that was the best way to do it all in a row. It was my only meal of the day which helped. But this agenda with a full Swiss train pass was a great way to enjoy Switzerland off season. One could do the same in Italy, except the Swiss do make train travel anywhere in their country a dream. Harder to connect trains and buses and out of the way restaurants in Italy but a worthy challenge. Tue Jul 07 17:39:15 -0700 2009 4837536 12522 glbtrtr