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As someone who doesn't enjoy cooking all that much, I've noticed this too and been distressed by it. Restaurants, almost uniformly, serve unhealthy food. There

As someone who doesn't enjoy cooking all that much, I've noticed this too and been distressed by it. Restaurants, almost uniformly, serve unhealthy food. There are exceptions to this, but they don't seem to be all that popular. When I go out to eat with friends I am often stuck eating something heavier and less healthy than I would like. Is there some good reason for this?

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
99% of my dinners' vegetables are pre-heating the oven to 350-400, putting aluminum foil on a cookie sheet, and coating Vegetable X in salt, oil, and pepper, and cooking for 15-20 minutes. It's basically 0 cleanup and you're eating whole, unprocessed vegetables. Our bodies are built for that sort of diet.
- dreamcompiler 7y ago
  Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, to name just two, are outstanding when cooked this way.
  - JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
    If you want to bring your brussels sprouts to the next level, add bacon and maple syrup.
    - dreamcompiler 7y ago
      I'm amused that we're talking about recipes on HN but then after all recipes are algorithms.
    - albertsondev 7y ago
      Or saute them with a bit of butter, garlic, and balsamic.
    - TurkishPoptart 7y ago
      or a little maple syrup plus goat cheese bits!
CommieBobDole 7y ago
Yes; restaurants, especially nice restaurants, are in the business of selling food which people eat primarily for pleasure, not for nutrition. It's an indulgence, not sustenance. Even those restaurants who want to appeal to a 'healthy eating' audience find that their less healthy items sell better; considering the difficulty of succeeding or even surviving in the restaurant business, they start to emphasize those items and eventually become a source of relatively unhealthy meals. It's the same phenomenon that caused all of the niche cable networks to fill their schedules with general-interest reality shows unrelated to their original programming over the last couple of decades. tl;dr: Restaurants sell unhealthy food because people want to buy unhealthy food.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
  The misconception is tasty food and healthy food are orthogonal qualities; that's thankfully far from the case! For example, you could a make a restaurant quality chicken breast entree with a white wine reduction and heavy cream sauce, seasoned with Herbs de Provence. If you're a follower of Keto, you'd notice these ingredients are all low carbohydrate, and offer protein and fats. Pair with seasoned veggies and you've got yourself an entree, it's delicious, and it's far from consuming the "empty" calories of typical fast food.
  - amanaplanacanal 7y ago
    Substitute thighs for the breast and you might have something. As has been noted, chicken breast is the skim milk of the meat world.
    - phonypc 7y ago
      There's nothing wrong with chicken breast, especially if the skin is left on and crisped. It just lends itself to different applications than thigh.
      - JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
        Especially if you're using heavy cream, which is 36% fat. The sauce compensates for the breast's lack of fat (when compared to thighs). I like both, but as you say, they have different applications. For breast, just use extra olive oil/butter/heavy cream to balance the dish. Thighs are less time and temperature sensitive. They're a bit more hardy if you're new to cooking. Chicken breast is easy to overcook because less fat makes it less forgiving.
war1025 7y ago
Along this same line, something I've been extremely surprised by every time I visit someone in the hospital is how unhealthy hospital dining options are.
- copperx 7y ago
  What's even more depressing is that hospital meals are designed for healthy people. Most people recovering from a gastrointestinal disease or chemotherapy find most food unpalatable, and hospital food seems like straight up garbage to them. For example, there are few to no "light" tasting options. Everything is seasoned restaurant-style (pedal to the metal in the flavor department). Hospital food ought to have a bland option.
  - TurkishPoptart 7y ago
    Hospitals are such stressful places to be in that they seem mandated to provide "comfort food" all around.
zargon 7y ago
For about a year, Noodles & Company had an option to replace the noodles with spinach and double the veggies of any dish. It made a few of their menu items decently healthy. I was sad when it was discontinued shortly after I discovered it.
HammockWarrior 7y ago
In my observation, most people don't want healthy food. They want to think they are eating healthy but when it comes down to it, they want the fat, sugar and salt that goes into restaurant food. They want to think they're healthy drinking their fruit smoothie but god forbid you leave out some of the sugar. They want to think they're healthy eating a salad but make sure it's got some fried chicken and plenty of salad dressing on it. It's healthy because it's salad, right? I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule but restaurants typically have to cater to the lowest common denominator.

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago

99% of my dinners' vegetables are pre-heating the oven to 350-400, putting aluminum foil on a cookie sheet, and coating Vegetable X in salt, oil, and pepper, and cooking for 15-20 minutes. It's basically 0 cleanup and you're eating whole, unprocessed vegetables. Our bodies are built for that sort of diet.

dreamcompiler 7y ago
Brussels sprouts and cauliflower, to name just two, are outstanding when cooked this way.
- JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
  If you want to bring your brussels sprouts to the next level, add bacon and maple syrup.
  - dreamcompiler 7y ago
    I'm amused that we're talking about recipes on HN but then after all recipes are algorithms.
  - albertsondev 7y ago
    Or saute them with a bit of butter, garlic, and balsamic.
  - TurkishPoptart 7y ago
    or a little maple syrup plus goat cheese bits!

CommieBobDole 7y ago

Yes; restaurants, especially nice restaurants, are in the business of selling food which people eat primarily for pleasure, not for nutrition. It's an indulgence, not sustenance. Even those restaurants who want to appeal to a 'healthy eating' audience find that their less healthy items sell better; considering the difficulty of succeeding or even surviving in the restaurant business, they start to emphasize those items and eventually become a source of relatively unhealthy meals. It's the same phenomenon that caused all of the niche cable networks to fill their schedules with general-interest reality shows unrelated to their original programming over the last couple of decades. tl;dr: Restaurants sell unhealthy food because people want to buy unhealthy food.

JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
The misconception is tasty food and healthy food are orthogonal qualities; that's thankfully far from the case! For example, you could a make a restaurant quality chicken breast entree with a white wine reduction and heavy cream sauce, seasoned with Herbs de Provence. If you're a follower of Keto, you'd notice these ingredients are all low carbohydrate, and offer protein and fats. Pair with seasoned veggies and you've got yourself an entree, it's delicious, and it's far from consuming the "empty" calories of typical fast food.
- amanaplanacanal 7y ago
  Substitute thighs for the breast and you might have something. As has been noted, chicken breast is the skim milk of the meat world.
  - phonypc 7y ago
    There's nothing wrong with chicken breast, especially if the skin is left on and crisped. It just lends itself to different applications than thigh.
    - JMTQp8lwXL 7y ago
      Especially if you're using heavy cream, which is 36% fat. The sauce compensates for the breast's lack of fat (when compared to thighs). I like both, but as you say, they have different applications. For breast, just use extra olive oil/butter/heavy cream to balance the dish. Thighs are less time and temperature sensitive. They're a bit more hardy if you're new to cooking. Chicken breast is easy to overcook because less fat makes it less forgiving.

war1025 7y ago

Along this same line, something I've been extremely surprised by every time I visit someone in the hospital is how unhealthy hospital dining options are.

copperx 7y ago
What's even more depressing is that hospital meals are designed for healthy people. Most people recovering from a gastrointestinal disease or chemotherapy find most food unpalatable, and hospital food seems like straight up garbage to them. For example, there are few to no "light" tasting options. Everything is seasoned restaurant-style (pedal to the metal in the flavor department). Hospital food ought to have a bland option.
- TurkishPoptart 7y ago
  Hospitals are such stressful places to be in that they seem mandated to provide "comfort food" all around.

zargon 7y ago

For about a year, Noodles & Company had an option to replace the noodles with spinach and double the veggies of any dish. It made a few of their menu items decently healthy. I was sad when it was discontinued shortly after I discovered it.

HammockWarrior 7y ago

In my observation, most people don't want healthy food. They want to think they are eating healthy but when it comes down to it, they want the fat, sugar and salt that goes into restaurant food. They want to think they're healthy drinking their fruit smoothie but god forbid you leave out some of the sugar. They want to think they're healthy eating a salad but make sure it's got some fried chicken and plenty of salad dressing on it. It's healthy because it's salad, right? I'm sure there are exceptions to this rule but restaurants typically have to cater to the lowest common denominator.