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Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Should There Be a Truth In Menu Writing Law?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Restaurants have to meet new standards with the new health code in place. As of December 1, health inspectors will give a letter grade in addition to the number grade on a restaurant’s score. The score sheet has to be placed within 15 feet of the front door. All this is designed to give the customer an out before he or she ever sits down.
Menus are placed in restaurant windows and at their front desks all the time, but who’s to say what’s on the menu is actually what you’re eating? A restaurant’s menu is its contract between management, chef and customer, and yet there’s no guidance whatsoever for truth in menu writing. I’ve eaten at plenty of places where what was advertised on the menu wasn’t what was on my plate — and the restaurant just assumed I wouldn’t notice, know the difference and complain.
How can we be sure that the organic heirloom tomato we’re paying more for is actually heirloom and not just an enticement on the menu? Shouldn’t chefs have to comply to truth in menu writing, just as they must comply with health codes? Or is the proof in the pudding?
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