Redesigning the Dinner Plate

Food For Thought Blog - 6/2/11 - The plate has arrived. Because people don’t eat off of pyramids—or pyramid-shaped plates, for that matter—the USDA has unveiled its redesign of the classic, and oft-disputed, icon made to help people understand the major food groups and how much of each should enter their stomachs. The USDA has also launched ChooseMyPlate.gov, which provides a bevy of nutrition and food-related educational resources.

Vegetables and grains pervade the round plate, while fruits and protein (with ever-so-slightly smaller portions) complete the technicolor, tessellated pie. Dairy, the smallest portion, sits alongside in a “glass”. The key takeaway: make half your intake fruits and veggies, the other half protein and grains. And have a little milk, yogurt or cheese on the side.

Nowhere on (or near) this plate will you find a dessert dish. Nor will you find convoluted jargon like carbohydrates, cholesterol or saturated vs. unsaturated fats. Actually, you won’t find fats at all. The now-retired pyramid graphic inadvertently emphasized that category in the original pyramid, vaulting it to the apex; in the 2005 redesign (which never really caught on) the Fats category maintained its individuality, as if a separate entity from protein, dairy or fruit and necessary to seek out in chocolate, cupcakes or greasy snacks.

While bloggers joke that the new plate graphic is akin to clip art in quality (which, sure, I’ll grant them that), it’s exactly this oversimplification—the sheer minimalism of the new icon—that will make it that much more memorable and, more important, effective. Let alone its greater accuracy.

One glimpse of the chart and you’ll be reminded of it every time you pull a plate from the kitchen cabinet. Serving sizes are thankfully scrapped; it’s mind-boggling to think how anyone was ever expected to remember off-hand what size apple equaled one vs. two servings, or what 3 ounces of meat looked like. People of all ages can grasp the visual concept of the Choose My Plate image. Families could make a game of it: kids help to plan colorful meals with red and orange fruits and deep green or purple veggies (learning all the meanwhile that real color and delicious flavor doesn’t come from unpronounceable ingredients) with a scoop of grains and legumes or a cutlet of meat, and then fill their dishes to look like the Choose My Plate image, printed large and in full color and posted on the refrigerator.

Along with the image are additional guidelines, presumably for those with enough of an attention span to look at more than just the colorful graphic. It’s a mix of clear-cut advice—switch to fat-free or low-fat milk, drink water instead of sugary drinks—and some that require a bit more attention (such as the definition of true whole grains or an “oversized portion”). Once readers get a handle on the basics of the plate, they can move on to the extended tips and information. Clicking on a portion of the image at ChooseMyPlate.gov brings visitors to a page delving into the specifics of, say, the Protein or Fruits category, with examples of each, as well as age-specific charts, interactive tools and additional reading.

Change starts with baby steps, and the USDA cooked this plate to perfection. Next is just a matter of getting people to buy smaller plates.—Eva Meszaros

Eva Meszaros is associate editor of foodspring.com.

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