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Do people in USA ever stop eating? Reflections on USA Part 2.

The volume of food continues to amaze me. For example a lunch order of what I understood to be strips of chicken with salad arrived, and it was actually very nice eaten with great company, but it was covered with about half a pound of crumbled blue cheese. So salad yes, healthy option, to impress my dining companion, became a calorific disaster zone from which I may need medications to elevate my HDL. But it does not stop there, oh no. Pots of strange sauces, the one that was earmarked for me looked like a sort of cocktail sauce. Around a litre……I exaggerate , but not by much. And just when I thought this meal size was looking vaguely normal otherwise…..4 bread rolls in a basket. So a salad turns into something you would go to Weightwatchers for a month to try and recuperate from. This lunch meal I did survive. Then around 4 hours later the executive lounge here ( sounds grand but equals free food and drink in UK and only free food here) serves what they term ” Hors D’oeuvres”. Now here I want to show you how the various dictionaries define ” Hors D’oeuvres”. This is your selection:
1. A small savory dish, typically one served as an appetizer at the beginning of a meal.
2.A small bit of appetizing food, as spicy meat, fish, cheese, or a preparation of chopped or creamed foods, often served on crackers or small pieces of toast, for eating at cocktail parties or other gatherings where drinks are served with no other food.
3.An appetizer, as a relish or more elaborate preparation, served before or as the first course of a meal.

So you get the drift. Something small and tasty. OK. Here in JW Marriott the take a different approach, a generous one. Firstly a hugely enthusiastic lady was exhorting me at 5.20 pm to prepare to eat. Not usual in New Malden. The selection was, and I was informed the expectation of the norm was to have everything. Here goes- sliders ( these are mini-burgers maybe 2 is a normal burger, a USA thing but creeping into UK), mini beef wellingtons, spicy humous, various crackers and chips, salads, cheeses, bread and a few litres of dips and sauces. So it is fair to say this concoction does not represent a ” small bit of appetising food”. For me this is good, no need to have an expensive dinner. For others, maybe most here, this really is a prelude to the feast called dinner. So I really do not think that folks here ever stop eating. I think maybe I need to come and live here but would be regarded as “odd” for not consuming 5000 calories a day. So another nice Day. I certainly have one.

A small USA breakfast

Sliders and Beef Wellingtons