Eat Street: How the world portions its meals

US: The true blue big-eaters. Portion sizes in the US not only overshadow those in the developing countries, but the developed ones as well. Picture the multi-tier burger, or the magnum heap of fries. The Americans have done this not only to their own food, but those that they’ve adopted from other countries too. A quesadilla from Mexico made with chicken and cheese in a 5-inch tortilla contains about 540 calories; in the US, it’s a 10-inch tortilla, almost doubling the number of calories. A study at the Florida International University has found that young Asians, who had come from countries like China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Korea gained five pounds soon after they arrived in the US.