Friday, March 18, 2005

Why are Americans fat?

The answers are many; some complex, some simple.

Have you been shopping for china or stoneware recently? I have. The trend is toward HUGE plates. Salad plates are the size of what I'd consider a dinner plate, and what passes for a dinner plate these days is the size of a serving platter. Bowls are deep, cavernous pits. Check out your local Pottery Barn, Crate and Barrell, etc., when you have a chance. These huge dinning pieces have the insidious effect of making you want to fill them up. It's the little things that are making people so big.

Yesterday I was tooling around the touristy part of San Francisco on my bike, from Fisherman's Wharf and Pier 39 to the Golden Gate Bridge visitors' center. I saw a fair number of tourists on rented bikes, but I also noticed a new trend: people are renting these little miniature roadster thingies called "Go-Cars." You can also rent a Segway and get around town on that. Just another example of laziness and the trend away from exercise as recreation.

3 comments:

Jack Mercer said...

Proud of you, Kathy, for placing the blame on the person instead of some 'evil' institution like McDonalds. How...unliberal of you! :)

-There was a guy who worked with me who alleged that it was the government's fault that he had AIDS--he had caught it by having homosexual sex.

-Americans are fat (largely) because they eat too much, eat the wrong things and don't exercise. People get lung cancer because they smoke.

-People get cirrhotic(sp?)liver because they drink themselves that way.

People are always looking for ways to relieve themselves of responsibility and blame others for their actions and resultant consequence.

Glad Shrenk Rap calls it right!

Anonymous said...

Hey Kathy, if you're interested in finding smaller plates, try checking out some asian pottery stores. They tend to have bowls and plates of different shapes, sizes, and textures.

San Francisco's Japantown has more than a few pottery stores. Mitsuwa in Campbell has a small store. Our favorite store is MV Trading Co. in Milpitas; they have a huge variety and their prices are really good.

Most of what Andrew and I eat usually fits best on something about the size of a traditional salad plate, possibly smaller. As a result, most of our dinner plates are around 7 to 8" in diameter. The few traditionally sized dinner plates we have are typically used as serving platters.

Anonymous said...

Ya, and if you go shopping in Japantown, let me know. Yayoi loves that stuff. :)

-danny