Nearby restaurants to display meals' nutritional value

Three restaurants near campus — Penne Restaurant and Wine Bar, Sabrina’s Café and Pizza Rustica — joined a program that showcases nutritional information on their menus and offers healthier options.

In total, over 15 local restaurants in Philadelphia now participate in the Healthy Dining Program, which provides a guide for healthier menu choices on its website. Over 400 restaurant brands across the country already participate.

Vice President and Director of Strategic Partnerships for Healthy Dining Erica Bohm explained that participating in the program is beneficial for both consumers and restaurants.

“It just makes it easy for [consumers] because if you’re somebody who is health or weight conscious, there’s not necessarily a lot of information about where to go or what to order or how to order it,” she said. “Even if restaurants have nutrition information on their own website, it sometimes can be very overwhelming to look at a huge chart of numbers.”

College freshman Shira Stearns is glad that restaurants are taking initiative.

“Especially after being on a dining plan for a year where you’re not quite sure what you’re eating, it’d be nice to have a stronger sense,” she said.

College sophomore Maggie Dwyer is pleased that restaurants are taking the step towards making customers aware of what they are ordering and consuming, but thinks that it may take away from the enjoyment of a meal.

“A lot of people know what they’re eating is bad for them or is very high in calories but they don’t want it staring them right in the face,” she said.

College sophomore Andre Serrano agrees. “I don’t eat at those restaurants very frequently, but when I do its because I want a nice meal. I don’t want to have to worry about the amount of fat that I’m eating. I think it kind of takes away from the experience,” he said. However, he is glad that restaurants are adding healthier options for health conscious diners.

For restaurants, Healthy Dining provides a way to showcase healthy options. The program’s registered dieticians work with restaurants to analyze nutrition information and make their dishes healthier.

“Restaurants these days really want to be part of the solution when it comes to [eating] healthy,” Bohm said.

Marketing and Brand Manager at Sabrina’s Café John Brumbaugh agreed that it is important to make this information available. “I think that it’s important that people know not only that the cooking is good [but also] whether or not it’s nutritional for them,” he said.

Event Coordinator and Restaurant Manager at Penne Christina Saragnese explained that the restaurant chose to participate in the program to communicate nutritional information to consumers in “an informative and modern way.”

“One stigma about being an Italian restaurant is that the menu is made up of unhealthy, heavy dishes,” she said in an email. “We try to put a fresh spin on traditional Italian dishes to not only make them healthier, but also be intriguing to our guests by adding a contemporary twist to them.”

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