Last update - 00:00 18/09/2006
Health salads? They're also out to get you
By Tsafi Sa'ar
We already knew the whole world was against us: Everything that tastes good is fattening, and everything fattening tastes good. But now, a grand-scale conspiracy is unfolding before us: Restaurants, bars and cafes are working to sabotage the diets of those of us yet to accept our adorable fuller figures.
In his book "The Fast Food Fix," American chef Devin Alexander exposes all the "sneaky tricks" chefs use to make their jobs easier.
Another chef, Kathleen Daelemans, has also addressed this issue in a book. Daelemeans, who lost 57 kilograms and has kept them off for the past 13 years, maintains that restaurant diners must be particularly inquisitive, ask plenty of questions and more simply put, be annoying customers. For you have to keep the following in mind: Most restaurant desserts contain 1,000 calories, according to these two chefs. And that's just dessert.
These chefs and others reveal several restaurant practices that may prove hazardous to dieters, and they also suggest how to counteract them.
Yes, that's right: Even these contain oil, and more than a bit. Fat is what sells food in restaurants, says Deborah Fabricant. Fabricant, a restaurant consultant from Los Angeles, is a former chef and cookbook author. For this reason you can find fat everywhere, even in vegetable dishes, she says.
Another professional makes another heartbreaking confession. "I had to lightly fry all the vegetables and roast the potatoes in duck fat," David C. Potts, a California chef and restaurant consultant bemoans. "Even in a dish of spinach I dropped two generous spoonfuls of butter."
Grilled vegetables are marinated in an oil-based sauce. Before grilling they are brushed with oil - and again before serving, for appearance. What to do?
Order steamed or grilled vegetables - and make it perfectly clear to the waiter that you do not want butter added during any stage of preparation.
It appears chefs are particularly lavish with oil, butter or (heaven forbid) margarine when preparing omelets. If they were to use oil spray, which is lower on calories, they would have to watch the omelet more carefully. Here again, instruct the waiter that the omelet be prepared without butter or any other sort of fat.
When eating onion bread it is obvious it is laden with butter, but the latter is more abundant in bread than the common diner may assume. Chefs, it appears, have a habit of lavishing bread or buns with fat so they don't stick to the grill while being toasted. This alone adds 50 calories. In addition, the crust is spread with mayonnaise; apparently that is how the attractive golden hue is achieved. What to do?
Ask that the bread or bun you ordered be toasted without butter or other fats. When it arrives, check for signs - and do not hesitate to send the plate back to the kitchen if you find incriminating evidence. At this point the waiter probably already hates you, but what do you care - you just saved 50 calories.
Responsible diners who happen to find themselves at an Italian restaurant usually order pasta pomodoro. Sounds innocent, true, but in fact this dish too is swimming in oil, the chefs reveal. A large portion of oil is required to prepare the sauce, and it starts with the frying of the onion. All this oil can add 250 calories to half a cup of sauce. Sometimes the sauce is prepared with Parmesan cheese or a slice of prosciutto. Italian chefs even add butter. All of this turns a dish of pasta into a potential 1,300-calorie bomb, at the least. What to do?
In an Italian restaurant order grilled fish, dry, and steamed vegetables with lemon. If you feel your life depends on a taste of pasta, whatever the cost - order it as an entree and share with others.
The health salads you order at restaurants are also full of oil. Those who think ordering one will save on calories are wrong: They might as well be eating fast food. The dressing on such a salad usually contains at least 360 calories - the equivalent of a cheeseburger - the chefs reveal. Most dressings are made with three parts oil, one part vinegar. And as if that is not enough, to maintain the salad's fresh appearance, some oil is added once every several hours, until serving.
Again the same advice: Ask for a low fat sauce on the side, or season your salad with balsamic vinegar and lemon.
Meat and fish get an oil massage prior to cooking. In chef schools they teach that before meat is cooked - regardless of the preparation method - it must be oiled on all sides, graduates reveal. That alone adds 90 calories to a dish.
Moreover, steaks waiting to be served are usually dipped in butter (in non-kosher restaurants, of course), and before the serving they are spread with more butter or a cream-based sauce.
The same recommendation yet again: Explain to the waiter that you want your meat grilled sans butter or oil.
This is getting painful: Even sushi isn't as innocent as it looks. A visit to a sushi restaurant is considered entering paradise: You are allowed (apparently) to eat to your heart's content without risking your waistline. But this is yet another illusion: Spicy tuna may hide mayonnaise, special rolls are always suspect, and most dangerous are dishes labeled "crispy": these are - shame - deep fried. What to do?
Do not hesitate to ask what's in your sushi. A good chef will always be glad to elaborate. And go for sashimi. There are other options: to decide to have fun and stop counting calories at restaurants, to abuse the waiters and chefs in order to skimp on calories, or simply to stay home. Now that could save you a lot.