Measure for Measure: Harvard Bowling

Dining hall nutrition information is bewildering for 3 reasons:

1) Nobody (pre-meds aside) knows what an ounce or gram is.

2) The bowls are of differing size with unknown measurements.

3) The serving sizes vary.

An ounce is a measurement of weight (16 per lb.), not of volume; but since the density of food is fairly constant, ounces are used for volume in the nutrition bites.

A gram is also a measurement of weight, but unlike the ounce, it is native to the metric system (used by virtually all non-English speaking countries). Here s a secret: one gram equals one-third of an ounce. Dining hall bowls come in essentially four different forms (there are actually seven subtle variants) as follows:

Yogurt / sauce bowl: 4 oz

Soup bowl: 6 oz

Unrimmed cereal bowl: 12 oz

Rimmed salad bowl: 14 oz

Note: The ceramic bowls are the same size except for the rimmed bowl which is 12 oz.

Serving sizes come in four different measurements: 2, 3, 4, 6 and 8 oz. Don t be lured! Mexican rice (75 cal per serving) is not less calorific than lentil soup (160 cal per serving); it is actually twice more so (8 oz lentil soup = 160 cal; 8 oz Mexican rice = 300 cal). Good news, however, for the Calorie counters among you: The soup serving size (8 oz) is bigger than the bowl can fit without spilling (6 oz). The math can get quite tricky, especially for the mealtime mental shutdown, so we ve done some for you...

One yogurt bowl (4 oz)

= 1/2 serving of plum tomato sauce = 170 cal, 6 g fat (that s 2 oz)

= 1/2 serving of Marinara sauce = 90 cal, 4 g fat

One soup bowl (6 oz)

= 3/4 serving of chicken rice soup = 40 cal, 3/4 g fat

= 3/4 serving of lentil soup = 120 cal, 4 g fat

= 3/4 serving of minestrone with sausage soup = 120 cal, 3 g fat

One rimmed salad bowl (14 oz)

= 3 1/2 servings of Penne Pasta = 440 cal, 3 g fat

= 2 1/3 servings of Pasta Primavera = 580 cal, 19 g fat

= 2 1/3 servings of egg twist noodles = 390 cal, 4 g fat

One unrimmed cereal bowl (12 oz)

= 6 servings of Mexican rice = 450 cal, 3 g fat

= 4 servings of Rancho Fiesta Veg Blend = 130 cal, 0 g fat

= 4 servings of chicken verde = 720 cal, 45 g fat!

= 3 servings of refried beans = 610 cal, 30 g fat