Do you want to see calories on menus?

The Food Standards Agency is investigating a scheme to display calorie information on menus. Providing this information would, the FSA say, help people to make healthier choices in restaurants, coffee and sandwich shops, pubs etc.

I won’t extol the benefits of such a scheme – it’s pretty obvious that, if you’re calorie counting, knowledge is power! But it could have an interesting secondary effect on meal planning at restaurants, coffee shops etc. With this level of transparency, I wonder how many would get away with serving steak and kidney pie with chips, to the value of 820 calories? Public opinion and customer choice could begin to influence the use of reduced fat / sugar ingredients, healthier cooking methods and an overall healthier approach to dining out, like never before. As far as the nation’s health (and expanding waistline) is concerned, this can only be a good thing.

Having said that… speaking as a woman, who has a highly emotional relationship with food, if I feel the need to occasionally indulge in a slice of sticky toffee pudding (500+ calories, thank you!), I’d rather not have the calorific consequences of my decision jumping off the page in front of me!

What do you think?