What I Didn’t Know About Eating Out

As a mom, I do a lot of cooking for my kids. At this point, I consider myself quite the pro – but I love nothing more than taking a break and having someone take care of me for a change. (It’s not even the cooking I don’t like…it’s the dishes after!)

But a lot of the time, I end up not enjoying the experience and wishing I had chosen where to eat more wisely. This was the case last week on my “treat yourself” day when I went out for a girl’s brunch with my friends. Here is what I didn’t know about eating out. Read more below!

What I Didn’t Know About Eating Out

We chose a restaurant downtown because one of my girlfriends’ babysitter, Jessica, works there on the weekends as a hostess. She had told her we would come by and try out her place after she had raved about the brunch.

It was packed when we got there, so we figured we had done well…it must be popular for a reason! Luckily Jessica pushed us ahead on the list and got us a table right away. 

As Jessica sat us, she chatted with everyone and gave us an insider look at what to order. When she handed me the menu, I immediately spotted Deep Fried French Toast. Talk about “treat yourself Sunday”! But when I asked her about it, she immediately shook her head and made a weird face.

“I know it sounds so good but…I would just stay away from anything fried.” I told her calories don’t count on “treat yourself Sunday” and she assured me that was not what she meant.

“I probably shouldn’t be telling you guys this,” she said in a hushed voice, “but the fryer here is like, really really gross.” She told us that while the kitchen was kept very clean in general, she had never seen the fryer oil changed since she started working there. She said on her break she gets to order food, and anything fried always “tastes a little off.” 

Obviously, it wasn’t her fault. The hostess isn’t in charge of changing the oil. But, we all must have looked pretty freaked out, because she smiled big and said “But, the EGGS are excellent!” before scurrying away looking embarrassed.

I listened and ordered cooked eggs on toast with avocados…although I kept thinking about the deep-fried french toast. There had to be rules about this fryer thing, right? Doesn’t the FDA or restaurant safety board enforce these things?

 

I was curious, so later, I searched the rules for oil in restaurants. I couldn’t find ANYTHING! At least not in the US! In some other countries, like in Europe, there are tons of rules for kitchens that require them to either filter or change the oil in their fryers often.

The reason they have so many regulations is that gross fryer oil isn’t just unappealing…it has been proven to be dangerous to people’s health! I even found studies that showed that degraded oil can contain carcinogenic particles….that then stick to all the food that goes in there. Um….WHAT?

Our country needs to create regulations and rules for this. I’m sure these restaurants aren’t intentionally trying to give people cancer…but still! Even if they are just cutting corners to save money, they are endangering us.

I love my “treat yourself” days, but I certainly won’t be eating any fried french toast until they can promise that their fryer has been properly filtered or changed!

This is just one thing I Didn’t Know About Eating Out! There are SO many other things and I will write about them later. But, no one EVER thinks about the deep fryer oil! Yucko!