The Return of MENU2

By Graham Kerr

Since I am now a senior by any measure, I am allowed to eat less than the average adult and pay a little less for the consideration. This smaller portion looks about the same as rational mid-aged folks around the developed world eat, for which they often pay more. We typically expect to eat 'large' because it seems to be a 'good buy.' The predictable result is our leadership in the world of overweight and obesity.

One of the lesser-known regulations of the 'Affordable Health Care Act' is that certain restaurants will be required to publish nutrition facts on their menus. This will result, in the opinion of the well-meaning proponents, in the customer being able to exercise better (more responsible?) judgment when making choices. I am a strong opponent of this idea as written, but equally supportive of the concept. We all need the information, but we need it presented in a different manner.

Back in 1974, when serving as an Adjunct Professor at the Cornell Hotel School, I introduced one of the first full menu nutritional analysis to be incorporated in the covers of a restaurant menu. The 'numbers' were presented on a back page and referred diners to a number set against each dish. It didn't work, in part because nobody was accustomed to using such information as we are today with the nutrition facts label. In the late 1990s, I continued to pursue the concept at the CIA (Culinary Institute of America) at Hyde Park in New York state. It was in the American Bounty Restaurant that we first used MENU 2.

MENU2 looks exactly like any other menu, at least in the way it is presented. The wait staff present the 'lead menu' and whilst doing so, announce the availability of MENU2, saying, "We also have MENU2 if anyone in your party would like to see it." To which the normal reply is usually, "What is MENU2?" Wait staff reply: "MENU2 is exactly the same as our main menu except that we have added nutritional information with every dish." The diner could then ask for the second menu if they wished, for some good reason, to see it before ordering.

So why, you may ask, go to the trouble of having two menus? It is here that my initial rejection of the proposed idea has its roots. If you print the nutrition facts on the lead menu, you may completely ruin the dining experience. The menu is a sales piece for the senses. We scan the main ingredients in a search for something that our remarkable memory will tell us that we might enjoy. We may also be influenced by the price, but mostly we are looking for a pleasant experience. If, at that moment, we are confronted with nutritional data, we may, quite reasonably, be upset. "I came out to celebrate, not medicate," might be the reaction. I once saw a customer throw such a lead menu onto the floor and storm out shouting, "I don't want to know that Eggs Benedict are 800 calories!"

It is strange but true that when a person has asked to see a menu that has 'numbers,' that they are perfectly happy and don't feel the least 'confronted' by the arbitrary nutritional facts for which they were unprepared or unpracticed in their use.

In 2000, we introduced MENU2 in a series of restaurants in Spokane, where it was well received and proved to be useful in reducing the amount consumed by those who took an interest in the information. Two days before the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington D.C., I was in D.C. talking with the National Restaurant Association. They approved the idea in principal and were prepared to recommend it to their state offices nationwide. Then came 9/11 and the ensuing sharp reduction in dining out. Not the best time for a new idea like MENU2.

I raise the whole proposal once again because we are now facing a health crisis that is largely of our own doing. We are well used to the fierce competition that exists in our overall marketplace. We are accustomed to the idea that size sells. This is often the way we do business: offering more for what may look like less. We simply cannot, as a nation, continue to do this. The costs are way too high and excessive consumption affects us all.

Seattle has always been a trend-setting city . It's a wonderfully exciting place to live and work...and eat! So why not go the extra mile and set out to inform ourselves so we can make better choices when we choose to do so and not have these numbers forced upon us when we are in the mood to throw caution to the wind and celebrate our good fortune to live in such a great dining city? I am more than happy to chat, without any obligation, to any restaurant owner who would like to review the detail of MENU2. You could be the first to offer this great service to your customers; at least 64% of them need to know. I know I do!

Benedicere!

Graham Kerr is an internationally-known culinary and television personality ("The Galloping Gourmet") and award-winning author who, over the years, has moved from using butter, cream, and fat to create flavorful dishes, to serving people who want to make healthy, creative lifestyle changes including an increase in consumption of fresh, local edible plants and seafood while maximizing flavor.

To send Graham your thoughts on this column or discuss MENU2 use at your restaurant, please go to www.grahamkerr.com and click on "Contact."

Interested in Graham's latest book, Growing at the Speed of Life? Click here.

May 2012