Food critics don't get it.

Food critics are part of problem. They contribute to the obesity problem by perpetuating the myth that more food is good food.

Anytime a restaurant serves appropriate portions they pathetically call it French-style cuisine. Or even worst, nouvelle cuisine.

Oh yes, the food critics definitely point out good tasting and inventive food, but they also praise the restaurant with the biggest portions. This kind of criticism is not helpful.

This kind of criticism continues to equate big with better, when appropriate portions should be the highest standard.

Today, in the bible of daily restaurant reviewing – The New York Times – comes the typical restaurant review:

The blacksmith salad remains my favorite salad, with the gargantuan mozzarella salad a close second.

Not big. Not huge. Not giant. No, the NY Times said that the second best thing to eat at a pizza parlor is the “GARGANTUAN” salad.

The “big is better” doesn’t stop there either:

If you choose well, you can eat well at the restaurant for very little money, even if you splurge on a Kentucky Derby pie (it tastes like a big, soft, warm chocolate chip cookie) for dessert.

There’s that “big” word again.

Finally in the last line of the review is where you’ll find something about appropriate portions. And of course it’s relegated to the smallest of children.

The restaurant also serves children’s pasta portions, making it a small slice of heaven for parents with little ones who are likely to find the model train as appealing as the pizza.

Stop by the NY Times website and let them know that we want appropriate portions, critical reviews and not cheerleading for a super-sized nation.

By the way, they can’t help themselves. Right next to the restaurant dining column was a muffin shop review. Yep, you guess it. The reviewer equated goodness with bigness and proclaimed the muffins “huge”. Makes you want to gag.