Thursday, on Telenotícies migdia, Xavi Coral introduced a news item: “The popularity of appetite-suppressing and slimming medications is transforming eating habits”. This initial headline was surprising. The presenter continued: “At restaurants, it is being noticed that customers are ordering less food on their plates. This is a trend coming from the United States, where they already serve “Ozempic menus”.An expensive medication with a supposed impact on the country's restaurant industry to the point of deserving a news report on public television was worth examining. To begin with, they showed a mini-menu from a United States restaurant. A small hamburger —unappetizing, oily, and creamy— accompanied by a syringe with ketchup. The narration continued: “The truth is that bars and restaurants are adapting to new consumption habits”, a theory that perhaps did not quite fit with what we see when we eat out, where everything seems the same. The news continued: “Customers ordering smaller portions, sharing plates to also save on the bill, eating more salads and less sugar, and drinking less alcohol”. Here the news changed and was no longer as much about Coral's headline in the introduction. In Catalonia, restaurants have not changed as much as customers' eating habits. And here one must doubt whether this is due to medications like Ozempic or simply because people are more knowledgeable about nutrition and aesthetic pressure is harsh on all generations. Chefs from a couple of restaurants admitted that customers, when ordering the tasting menu, chose the short option instead of the more complete one. And that they ordered main courses accompanied by vegetables or salads instead of french fries. Is this also Ozempic's fault? Because you had the feeling that as the news progressed, we were moving further and further away from the headline and entering another issue: the desire to eat healthier. It was as if they were trying to force reality into a catchy headline.Towards the end of the piece, they tried to recover the initial thread: “Given the popularity of appetite-suppressing drugs, restaurants are preparing for the day when they will eventually arrive here, just as they once adapted to vegan or gluten-free cuisine”. That restaurants are already adapted to vegan or gluten-free dishes would be a statement with which, surely, vegans and celiacs would hardly agree. But it turns out that in the end, the news was more about future speculation than present reality. They concluded that menus were slimming down because people were trying to pay less and restaurants didn't want to waste food. It is doubtful to what extent Ozempic should be incorporated as the trigger for all this and whether these medications are being adequately reported on. In any case, if people are so interested in having a healthier and lighter diet, they could reformulate TV3's “Cuines”, which there isn't a day that goes by without them using butter.
