By now you've surely seen the Tumblr feed This Is Why You're Fat. The blog showcases gastronomic food porn with a propensity for dishes that tend to be high in fat and calories. Deep-fried macaroni and cheese sandwich anyone?
See also: -Embracing Gluttony: The Hot Mess at Pecan Lodge -Embracing Gluttony with an Extra Large "Big Meat" at Serious Pizza
The Center For Science In The Public Interest, an organization that looks to improve the way Americans eat, has built on the popular idea with a slide show of their own. Xtreme Eating 2013 attempts to show caloric extremism running amok at America's restaurant chains.
The Cheesecake Factory's Bistro Shrimp Pasta featured in the slideshow has more calories than any other item on the popular chain's menu. The shrimp, mushrooms, tomatoes and arugula seem included to make this dish sound like a healthy one, but the crustaceans are battered and deep fried, and the basil-garlic-lemon cream sauce pushes this dish into the caloric stratosphere. At 3,120 calories and 89 grams of saturated fat the plate seems like a parody, but its a single-serving menu item offered at every location of the national chain.
That single-serving size is the biggest problem according to CSPI. The dish has more calories and fat than a 12-piece bucket of Original Recipe KFC. While most people would raise an eyebrow at polishing off an entire bucket of chicken, cleaning a single plate brought to your table seems like the proper thing to do. In fact when I was growing up my grandmother mandated it.
Other dishes on the list include the Cheesecake Factory's Crispy Chicken Costoletta with a paltry 2,610 calories, 89 grams of saturated fat, and Johnny Rockets' Bacon Cheddar Double Hamburger with 1,770 calories and 50 grams of saturated fat.
That last one sounds like a snack.
