Trevisio Restaurant Introduces Menu to Encourage Healthier Eating
Trevisio Restaurant & Conference Center, located in the heart of the Texas Medical Center (TMC), is introducing a new color-coded menu that will help diners in making conscious dieting decisions. The menu is being introduced in conjunction with TMC’s Health Policy Institute.
The Red-Yellow-Green menu has colored designations for each plate and serving portion—“traffic light labeling”— so that diners who are watching calories can easily select the options they feel are best for them. Plates in the green range are 350 calories or less; the yellow range means between 350-450 calories; and red designates above 450 calories. “In a number of studies, the public has asked for ‘simple,’” said Tim Garson, M.D., director of the Texas Medical Center Health Policy Institute. “Red-Yellow-Green was started in Europe and is called ‘front-of-package’ labeling, because all the numbers on the food label are ‘difficult to digest.’ Surely, there are all different kinds of diets and measures, but in the end, calories work.”
“Trevisio’s new menu is designed to aid diners who are tracking their caloric intake to make appropriate choices for themselves when dining with us,” says Executive Chef Jon Buchanan. “It can be difficult to know how many calories are in a dish when you are not preparing it yourself, so we are taking out the guesswork for our guests.” Garson says that when researchers asked how many calories people in a restaurant just ate, they guess 100 percent lower than they actually had— i.e., they say 500 calories when they had consumed 1,000.
Plates designated as green are those with lower calories, and include many appetizers, side and entrée salads and main course entrees. Plates in the yellow range have good nutrition, but are slightly higher in calories due to ingredients and/or larger portion size. Red plates include many of those with meat proteins and/or pasta and have the highest caloric values on the menu but are still made with fresh, high quality ingredients.
Buchanan even has four mini dessert options that are in the green range: Nutella cheesecake with hazelnut crumble; lemon curd with Italian meringue; tiramisu; and panna cotta with berry sauce, sold individually.
“Our country is facing an obesity epidemic and alleviating this issue is one of the top priorities of the Health Policy Institute,” said Garson. “I am pleased that diners will now be armed with the knowledge that will allow them to make the best possible choice when dining at Trevisio. The people at Trevisio have been ideal to work with. This has been a real team effort”
As before, Trevisio’s new menu has many gluten-free and vegetarian options, which will also be coded green, yellow or red.
