BusinessDay 11 Feb 2018

Sunday 11 February 2018
BD SUNDAY 39
Life&Living
How not to eat at a buffet
JUMOKE AKIYODE-LAWANSON
The annoying habit of
buffet binging is very
popular, especially in
Nigeria (as a result of
our ‘awoof’ culture).
For those not familiar with the
word ‘awoof’ it simply means freebies.
Some Nigerians are generally
known to love free things and will
accept anything without charge.
So of course you should be able
to imagine the scenario when you
have to pay for only one plate of
food but then allowed to eat as
much as you want.
I’ll recount my experience of
the famous ‘bottomless drink’ at
Nandos’ restaurant in London. I sat
down quietly, all by myself, eating
my quarter peri chicken (Medium
hot) and French fries with corn on
the cob and coleslaw as my side
orders. I took my time, noticing everything
around me and I realised
that everybody had their individual
drink glasses on their table and
only refilled it once.
I thought to myself, what’s the
point of having a bottomless drink
policy if I’m only going to fill my
cup once. So the Nigerian girl in
me decided to overfill myself with
drinks even before my food was
ready. I had a glass of every fizzy
drink available and found it very
difficult to finish my food because
my belly was filled with drinks. You
can call that greed. I felt really silly
afterwards.
But that scenario is very common
in Nigeria, especially at buffet
type restaurants. An all-you-caneat
buffet with a variety of limitless
food supply should not inspire
you to indulge excessively, piling
up your plates with far more than
you need.
To make sure that you’re not
going off course during a buffet, try
following these simple steps.
* Use smaller plates and glasses
for portion control. Not only do big
bowls, plates and cups hold more
food and drinks, they make the
quantity look smaller than they
actually are. People that serve their
food with really large plates are
often adjudged as gluttons.
* Do not, for any reason pile
your plate up with every single
thing on the menu. It is totally un-
acceptable to have rice, vegetable
soup, beans, yam, eggs, stew, plantain
and pounded yam all on your
plate at the same time. Wanting to
have ‘a bit of everything’ is not an
excuse. This takes us back to rule
one. If you use a small plate, you
wouldn’t be able to fit everything
on one plate anyway.
* Do not sit too close to the food
bar, as you may be tempted to keep
going for seconds even if you don’t
need more. The consciousness of
having too many eyes on you when
you have to walk across the room
from a far corner might stop you
from going back for seconds, thirds
or fourth rounds of servings. If it’s
not possible to steer clear of more
food, try positioning yourself closer
to the salad bar than the dessert
trays, since we tend to consume
more of whatever’s conveniently
within reach. At the very least, face
away from the buffet — one study
shows this also aids in curbing excess
consumption.
* Eat slowly. Taking your time
during a meal makes you feel fuller,
faster. “Signals for feeding are
sluggish in terms of influencing the
brain, so they’re easy to ignore,”
says neuroscientist Gary Wenk,
author of ‘This is your brain on
food’. It can take upwards of 30
minutes for stop signals to register.
Pace yourself by savouring each
bite, chewing thoroughly, and using
a knife and fork (or chopsticks,
if you can).
Try filling yourself with fruits
and vegetables as starter before
actually heading for the main meal.
Dreamfield opens novel juice and salad bar
CHINYERE OKEKE
There is a new entrant to the
healthy-eating fad. It is the
Dreamfield juice and salad
bar, which just opened its
doors on Allen Avenue, ikeja, Lagos,
to health conscious Nigerians.
‘Dreamfield juice and salad bar
is one place to be,’ said Oladeji
Ayodele Omoroshemi, director,
Dreamfield, during his time out with
the press at the launch last weekend.
‘Our goal and mission is to serve organic
food to the populace and help
improve their health conditions.’
Reeling out the menu the new
healthy restaurant has to offer,
Omoroshemi said; ‘Our dishes vary
from different kinds of salads, such
as chicken grilled salads, prawn
salads, Avacado salad, vegetable
salad to sandwiches such as tuna,
chicken, salmon and the likes, as
well as smoothies in the likes of
strawberry mix, Avocado splash.
There are also juices in the likes
of orange juices, green lemonade
and grape down to coffees such as
espresso, cappuccino and several
others. Our entire menu is fresh
without preservatives. We also do
delivery services.’
The idea to launch such a restaurant
was borne out of the obvious
pressure for most Nigerians
to keep fit for a longer, healthier
life. The rate of calorie consumption
is on the increase and this is
detrimental to the health of most
individuals. Calories are high in
fat and sugar and extreme intake
of these food types causes stress,
increases risk factor for type 2
diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
According to the founders,
there is a pressing need to curb
high calorie intake which causes
the body to either excrete or store
it in fat cells for the future resulting
in excessive weight gain and higher
body fat percentages.
Omoroshemi said that the
Dreamfield juice and salad bar is a
baby of the Dreamfield farm resort
which is located at Ikire. ‘In our
farm we rear chickens and plant
fruits, vegetables and the likes.’
‘This guarantees that all the
food we prepare at the Dreamfield
restaurant and bar is very fresh and
free of preservatives. The juices are
made from fresh fruits harvested
from our farm and it is also free
of preservatives, colouring and
sweeteners.’
Considering that a number of
people are ignorant of the fact that
the skin of chicken is high in fat and
would rather eat the skin of chicken
than to eat beef, Dreamfield has
taken up the responsibility of educating
and guiding its customers on
healthy eating habits.
Omoroshemi said people
should stop buying food by the
wayside, that it is poisonous to
their health.
‘We live in a country where most
people use their money to buy poison
to eat and still spend money to
take the poison out of their system.
Why such an unnecessary cycle?
Why not eat in a place where your
health condition and state is guaranteed?
Dreamfield is that place,”
he guaranteed.
‘In five years time we want our
brand to be known all over the
36 states of Nigeria. An organic
brand that is free from calories
and fat. We will have our outlets
all over Lagos and they will know
us for organic products. Such that
Dreamfield menu will be on the lips
of everyone as a healthy food, fit
for consumption,’ he said.