Mexican chilli beef dripped down my chin as I attempted to wipe it off my face with the napkin that was now saturated in the stuff.
I’d managed to slaister cream cheese down my front, too, all while some poor passerby enjoying a beach walk caught my eye.
Giggles erupted as my friend and I attempted to clean ourselves up.
We were now dealing with a quesadilla drip. Salsa was pouring out the bottom.
Her crisp white jacket was pristine, and I feared it would be the next victim in our street food fiesta.
We’d definitely over-ordered, purchasing a burrito, quesadilla and jalapeno poppers to share.
And while we struggled to finish the lot, I couldn’t help but bank this experience in my happy food memories.
Me and my relationship with food
I’ve had my ups and downs with food. I was obsessed with the numbers – of calories and my weight – as a teenager and young adult.
It’s only more recently that I have learned there is so much joy to be had in it.
And many of my funniest and fondest memories have been about, or centred on, food.
There’s the time I terrified my mum at age three, covered head to toe in flour resembling a ghost.
Or memories of my late granny and us baking together all those years ago.
Food isn’t just about numbers, it is about nostalgia, memories, friendship and family.
The cost of calories on menus
Recently the UK government introduced new rules requiring restaurants in England that employ more than 250 people to display calorie data on their menus.
The Scottish Government is assessing whether it will follow suit, and is giving the public the chance to share their views on the matter.
Funnily enough, the thought of how many calories were in my lunch didn’t cross my mind when my pal and I were ordering.
But if I had I seen them, I wonder if I’d have slipped back into unhealthy bad habits? The kind that might have affected my physical and mental health.
Putting calories on menus isn’t going to stop obesity in Scotland.
Some national takeaway chains, including Burger King and McDonald’s, have had calories on their menus for a while now, but it hasn’t stopped us from ordering from them.
If the government is trying to deter us from ordering takeaways and high calorie dishes, it hasn’t worked so far.
Different bodies have different demands
And just because something is higher in calories it doesn’t mean it isn’t nutritional.
Without all of the other information, including carbs and proteins, customers might be led into poor decisions.
Listing calories alone might even push people to order the unhealthier food, rather than consuming more calories in the potentially healthier option.
We’re extremely disappointed that the government is making calories on menus mandatory in England from 6 April.
We know it causes anxiety for people affected by eating disorders.
We know it can increase fixations on restricting calories for anyone with anorexia or bulimia. 🧵— Beat (@beatED) April 6, 2022
There has always been so much pressure in society to look a certain way.
I’m a 90s kid and size zero was meant to be my hero. I was supposed to aspire to eating less, looking extremely thin and drinking as many diet fizzy drinks as possible to ‘suppress my appetite’.
For those of us who battle, or have battled with eating disorders, numbers can be extremely triggering.
I now know my relationship with numbers – including calories – had a huge impact on my physical and mental health.
But all of our bodies are different and have different needs. What works for one, doesn’t work for the other.
Creating a healthier relationship with food, and giving people from all walks of life access to fresh fruit and veg, and higher quality protein for an affordable price, will help way more than listing calorie counts.
The only numbers on the menu that concern most of us just now involve the price.
And I’m not asking for companies to hide this information from the public. I only ask that they keep these menus on request for individuals who are interested.
Food is meant to be enjoyable. Eating out is about escapism and the one thing many people look forward to. Can we not just have that?
Julia Bryce is the leader of The Courier’s Food and Drink team and Scotland’s Food and Drink Writer of the Year.
