The Information Age and Pubs

A good start would be to make pub staff aware of the calories in each drink, that way they can advise customers on the different options. So if someone is ordering food and says they are on a diet, staff can advise them on what to drink. Then all that would be needed is a simple note on the menu or bar which says 'Are you on a diet or worried about calories? Ask our staff who can advise you on low calorie options.'

What do you think?

Hi there - for me, it'd be about targeting the information where people go for advice about diets (whether this is magazines, web sites, newspaper supplements, books, tv, etc) - that way you'll be hitting the right audience rather than every pub goer. My guess - and it's nothing more than a guess, so could be very wrong! - is that it'd be better to educate people at a distance from the pub rather than at the point of ordering: so if you can build up their knowledge of calorie contents and so on and give them the chance to process this in their own time, then they might be in a better position to make an informed decision about drinking beer instead of swapping what they'd been planning to drink on the basis of calorific content alone. That way, those of us who go out for an escape and as a treat can carry on in blissful ignorance :) Hope that helps.

Hi, it's Kristy from BitterSweet. Thanks both for your comments. I'm like you, I see a night out as a treat and when I treat myself I'm not worried about calories (and would probably rather not know!!)

One of the challenges we face in getting more women to drink beer is that they think it's so fattening, all the talk of 'beer bellies' doesn't help, so if we could get women to understand that beer is less calories than you think then maybe more women would try it. I'd be really interested to see how you think we could get this message out there if the menu isn't the right place to do it.

Good points ginsoak. I think calorie information is useful to have, but not on the menu. I go out to have fun, not to worry about how fat I am! If I have a big meal when I'm out and decide to go for a full fat chocolate pudding, I want to enjoy it and not feel guilty. I try to make up for it in the days following by eating sensibly.

Hi Kristy - interesting thoughts. I agree that many places could do more to offer tasting notes and food/beer pairings (something that a lot of good independent pubs do anyway). But calorie/fat contents? Eeek! I'd hate to walk into a pub (or restaurant) and be greeted by that sort of information on the food and drinks offered. From a personal perspective, it's because I just don't want to know - diets aren't my thing, and I'd rather rely on my own sense (and tightening waistbands) to let me know when I need to cut down a bit. In terms of drinks, I'd much rather have tasting notes, and I think we're in danger of squeezing way too much information onto things. The problem with the information age - and I'm not 80 years old, btw :) - is that there is so much noise and clutter out there that we risk missing the stuff that's important to us, or we end up losing the ability to find information/make judgements independently. One suggestion could be to have sets of nutritional information available somewhere, but only for people who request it?
On a slightly separate note - relating to food, nutritional information suggests large scale, carefully controlled production. I don't weigh ingredients out myself or control what I eat when I cook at home, and I wouldn't like to see the same pressure of expectation applied to pub cooks/chefs - cookery for me is about intuition and taste rather than strict portions sizes or guidance. Or mass produced identi-kit dishes.
Must stop now - I'm off for a few pints. Via the gym, of course...