Older Cookbooks Offer Fewer Calories

Hold on to your ragged cookbooks.

Apparently restaurants and fast food joints are not the only ones to blame for portion distortion, the (I’m going to say) American trend of eating larger and larger portions. According to a study published by the Annals of Internal Medicine, cookbooks are also to blame.

The study, found a nearly 40% increase in calories per serving for nearly every recipe reviewed. That’s about an extra 77 calories.

Although the study focused on several cookbooks, “The Joy Of Cooking” was singled out. In one instance, the study mentioned the cookbook’s brownie recipe. In the 1960s and 70s, the brownie recipe yielded 30 brownies. In 1997, the same recipie and same pan, yielded 15. Crazy!

Reader's Comments

1. 

   15 calories in 1997 is half as many as 30 in the 60′s and 70′s.
2. Adrian Bye on 23 Feb 2009 10:59 am
3. 

   Actually it’s 15 brownies in 1997, not calories. So in essence, you are getting less brownies.
4. Lauren Bernat on 23 Feb 2009 11:18 am
5. 

   Ok now I get it
6. Adrian Bye on 23 Feb 2009 11:21 am
7. 

   I wouldn’t be surprised if today’s cookbooks use a higher percentage of processed food product in their recipes versus those in the 60′s and 70′s – when home made cooking was ALL home made. Still love my Joy of Cooking book
8. Bill Doern on 23 Feb 2009 11:31 am