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Restaurants serve supersize portions to make you feel you're getting your money's worth.

Portion control is a real problem. My husband and I always split one appetizer and one entree. I'm sure waiters hate us.

When a restaurant is too popular, it starts to harm the reason you are there.

Too many people just eat to consume calories. Try dining for a change.

These days, meals are more open to personal preferences. People like to serve themselves.

Diners are upset that restaurants aren't honoring reservations, and a lot of restaurants help bring this on by overbooking.

I think people are more savvy about cooking, food and dining. I notice they are looking for more value for their money - not in larger portions but more in terms of healthier, fresh, farm-to-table dishes with a nice presentation.

We all have to be dishes on a plate eventually, with the way we are marketed, but I have no intention of being a cheap Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet.

When people are told to 'eat many small meals,' what they may actually hear is 'eat all the time,' making them likely to respond with some degree of compulsive overeating. It's no coincidence, I think, that obesity rates began rising rapidly in the 1980s more or less in tandem with this widespread endorsement of more frequent meals.

When I cook a meal, I like to serve things one by one and keep them separate. I get that from my father - he's such a purist. Some people even put their desserts on the main plate. It's just wrong.