bout the size of a dinner plate...

So is this the reason why most Japanese are healthier?! Notice that when you go to Japanese restaurants most of their plates are really tiny? Not to mention they give you chopsticks which is another hurdle for eating a lot. I measured some plates we have in the cupboard. We do have plates that are 11 inches in diameter, but we only use them for special occasions. The regular ones we use everyday are only 9 inches wide.

Well, I know the large plates that you are talking about, but I will also say that these are seldom used in our home because of the fact that they are just too big. I am another of those people that really doesn't like to waste food, but it is something that I will do if there is something on my plate that I absolutely don't like. We have a set of four of the large plates and we have four of the smaller plates (I don't know exactly what kind of plates that they are but they are between the size of the large plates and the size of a saucer). These are the plates that I serve dinner to my family on.

I've heard that info before, on a local talk show segment if I remember right. I do believe this to be true. I have a set of china that was my grandmothers back in the 50's and 60's, and the size of the dinner plates is way less than the set of everyday dishes I bought a few years ago. The china has 9" dinner plates, and the newer has 11". I don't like the newer set because an average regular serving looks so small on it! I usually eat from the smaller plate set because I believe it's a diet trick of the mind lol. The smaller plate looks like it's heaping full, and the same on the larger plate looks scant. I believe portion control is more easily gauged with a smaller plate.

Wow, that is interesting and, as you say, it is not surprising so many people are overweight! The size of dinner plates and all these cheap upgrades at fast food restaurants are not helping anybody’s health! Perhaps we should start using bread and butter plates; they are probably the size of what a dinner plate used to be!

Dinner plates do seem to have gotten bigger over the years. This is a good thing in my family. There is not a dinner plate yet that has been made big enough to please my stepfather.

Hi Cher913! I'm new to myLot and your post is interesting. I never thought that the difference between the plate sizes from then to the one's we use now is that big. Anyway, this only shows why more and more people are becoming obese and unhealthy. Remember that having too much of anything is almost always bad. Cheers! Hope we all stay healthy.

Yeah I hate it- when you try a restaurant cause it looks nice, and they bring you a really big plate with a little mound of food in the center. Automatically you know the bill will be big, while your stomach remains empty. This is a sign of the times! More greed and less feed.

I don't know what the plates were like in the 60's but I imagine the size of the plate is a contributing factor. I was raised that way too eat the food on your plate or you'd get a sore tush! Now days that's considered abuse.... or force feeding. Restaurants have huge plates usually and you know the ones that don't we look @ the meal & think to ourselves "where's the rest of it?"

Hey cher! I just got up to measure my dinner plate because I knew that there was no way that plate was 12 inches (which would be the size of 33 1/3 LP Vinyl Record if you remember them)! My boyfriend works in a College Cafeteria and they are cheap as can be and he brought us home some plates (the pay him minimum wage and gave him a 15 cent raise! so hence our "new dinnerware")lol! It measures 9 inches and it has a smaller circle in the middle to actually hold the food which is 6 1/2 inches. The smaller or salad/cake plate measures 5/12 inches with the circle that holds food at 4 1/2 inches! And the funny thing is the Chinese Buffet we go to has the same plates, in a different color. But, if you know how to pile on the food you can do it! My bf sure does!lol I don't ever think I have had a 12 inch plate! Even my "good dishes" aren't that big either!

Wow that is definitely interesting but sadly doesn't surprise me! I love using smaller dinner plates. It tricks you into feeling/thinking you're eating more!

Wow that is interesting information, I never knew that, neither did I expect that our dinner plates have actually increased in size. I cannot eat huge meals, or a plate full of food anyway, so I always have a small plate, with a little portion of everything on it. Even then sometimes I cannot eat it all.