If I go to McDonald's (yes, it's delicious!), I usually order a Happy Meal. Other than getting an awesome toy, you also get normal serving sizes. The small fries and small coke in a Happy Meal are actually the serving sizes our parents used to get at McDonald's... as adults.

By the way, 64 oz !!?!? That's a HALF-GALLON! That's how I purchase my milk... for several days.

I wonder if this is more an american thing. I'm pretty sure here (UK), sizes either get smaller for the cost, or there's only the one slightly larger more expensive size available (usually in cinemas - the only places i know that do these sorts of drink things.)

It's interesting to contrast this with the shrinking of products that takes place at grocery stores. They keep the price the same but decrease the amount you buy just a tad, hoping you won't notice or care.

It's definitely an American thing. I live in Canada and we do have some places that sell enormous drinks, but I've never seen anything as outrageous as that Long John Silver's... the SMALLEST size is 20 oz? That's the same volume as a Starbucks venti! Insane.
I have spent a lot of time in England and New Zealand and both countries have much smaller portion sizes. I actually worked at a Starbucks in NZ and nobody there orders venti. Seriously... people complained that the tall was too big. It completely changed the way I view portion sizes, and now I never order any drink larger than 12 oz (equivalent to a can of pop or a Starbucks tall).

PS - Love this blog!

I'm English and I remember going to California at 11 and being astonished at the portion sizes. Even as a hungry kid, I ate at most half of my meal, and I imagine the rest was thrown away.

Here, the size of a standard Coke can is 330ml(11.1oz) and I personally think that is too big. I always have the small when having a Starbucks coffee, and that takes me a good hour to finish.

Seriously, what does one do with 32oz of sugary drink? Probably keep most people going for a couple of days!

Of course this contributes massively to obesity as well. We naturally want to finish what is in front of us (often parental conditioning 'finish your food'), so we eat more if portion sizes are bigger.

This reminds me of something that happened earlier this year: I went to SubWay (SUBWAY, the one that's supposed to be healthy!) with a friend who drives an old VW Jetta from the mid-80s. The cups from the restaurant didn't fit in the Jetta's cup holder. 25 years ago, the medium drink at SubWay didn't exist, at least so far as a car company would think to make room for it. In my mom's 2001 car, however, the cup holders are TOO SMALL for the smallest 20 oz drink, which is usually too much for me.

Another interesting point about the Long John Silver's sign is that they've made all 3 sizes look basically the same. I wonder if that means ordering the large size feels less gluttonous?

It's insane that we KNOW that soda is just about the cheapest substance we could buy (and tastes like it, too), and yet we're still swayed by the thought of getting a "good deal" by buying a larger size for a small markup.

Aren't fountain soft drinks considerably watered down, plus further diluted with a heavy dose of ice, though? My experience (in Canada) that they clearly don't taste as 'strong' as their canned and bottled cousins -- if so, the comparison with the 'king size' cans may not be completely fair.

The cup holder in my car is adjustable. It's an oval space with sort of an "arm" with curves on both sides. You can move the arm left and right to accommodate your drink. If it's perfectly center, there is enough room for two "regular" drinks on each side of the arm. (Although what's a regular size cup holder is a whole other matter.) It comes in handy for both larger and smaller drinks.

And you'll notice some of the larger drinks have narrow bottoms to fit in cup holders.

I've never purposely ordered a 64 ounce drink for myself alone. I have gotten the Route 44 at sonic (44 ounces), but usually only when I have a coupon or plan to share. (My family will share sometimes and pour part of the drink in another cup. I don't think this is very common.) I think part of the appeal is that the drink will "last" all day.

And soda is so cheap these days, it's easy to give away. Restaurants can brag about the size without losing any money, and people don't blink at throwing half of it away.

On an outing in the woods recently my family found a cache of glass soda bottles from the late '40s. The largest one held 7 ounces. The bottles are lovely and thick and look much bigger than the traditional juice glass that their contents would fill. It struck me as funny and telling that what would amount to a couple of swallows to a modern American was a real treat to my parent's generation

Is there going to be a breaking point to that supersizing spree?

hah, maybe I'm just a super-thirsty person. I don't often drink sugared sodas and usually just a can (12 oz i think) when I do. But if I'm getting diet soda or water I'll often get the biggest reasonably-priced drink because I will drink it. Maybe not all in one sitting but i will. I'm sure I've easily drink 64 oz of water over the 6 or 7 hours I've been at home today (since it's pretty hot right now), and much more when I'm eating.

I understand the point of the original post about increased sizes. Just not the astonishment at a 20 oz drink seeming small. With meals, I regularly need more than a 12-oz can.

For those of us that live in a metric world,
20 oz is about 600 mL
32 oz is about a litre
64 oz is about 2 litres

The largest drinks I've seen for sale in Australia are about a litre, and that's only at fast-food places and cinemas.

And I just learnt that your average person's stomach capacity is about a litre (32 oz) - though that's for solids, liquids go right through.

I rarely get soda. Aside from the health issue, I just don't like it after the first few sips.

But a few months ago, as a treat, I got a can of soda to split with my nieces because we were eating out. To my surprise, a can of soda splits very nicely into three portions. I had no idea a can - a can! - had so much in it! And people buy 20 oz bottles....

Alternatively, I've been seeing these mini-soda cans popping up at Publix (my local grocery store) that sell coke and sprite in 8 ounce cans. I was wondering about them the other day, are they a response to backlash against sugary drinks? I didn't think they were downsized since they were sold right next to the normal 12 oz cans.

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The movement away from canned drinks, 'bottle-capped' glass bottles, and glass drinking vessels that are returned before leaving the point of sale, to plastic bottles which are easily carried and with resealable screw-thread tops and disposable, lidded cups has obviously made a difference, too. I wouldn't want to buy a large *can* of pop, because I couldn't drink it all at one time and can't reseal and carry it for later. The other containers give me that option, and, like most people, I tend to sip from a bottle or glass over an extended period of time, while/between doing other things.

When at dine-in restaurants or at someone's home before/during a meal, it seems to me that 6-oz servings (i.e, two servings in a 'king-size' 12-oz can) still is close to the norm. I expect that these canned drinks were designed to be poured out for guests in this way.

Also, many sodas were primarily consumed mixed with alcohol at adult parties, which would make 6-oz servings more than sufficient. There may have been an 'understanding' among the audience for this ad that this drink would be served in this way.

The funny thing is.. From my perspective, having a dialouge about the evolution of portion sizes by comparing them to cup holders in cars, is also very American. At least, stereotypical American.

I'm from a small, densely populated Europen country with a very good public transportation infrastructure. If you asked me about the sieze of 'my cupholder', I would probably look confused and answer that my bike doesn't have one.

- not trying to say than I'm better than people here. But maybe the sizing of portions is also related to that aspect of consumer culture. Like, if you drive a car, you can buy more and bigger stuff.

In my experience as an American soda-drinker, sugared soda is a lot more filling than high-fructose corn syrup soda. A 16oz can or 20oz bottle of sugared soda is a nice, satisfying treat. A 64oz giant gas-station fountain soda isn't very satisfying at all- it leaves you thirsty for more.

haha me and some former roommates used to buy 64 oz sodas from 7-11 because we were poor and they were only a dollar and some change, and a refill was only 99 cents. we would keep them in the fridge when we werent sippin on them and they would last all day. haha i actually love that they sell 64 oz sodas.

and no, they dont fit in cupholders. you have to hold it in between your thighs on the drive home.

True story from Germany, to show you that it's not all american. It's a slightly different thing, but comparable:
A friend of mine owns two copies of the same (german) cookbook. One's from the 1960s, the other one from about today. If you compare recipes between them, one thing stands out: todays recipes are supposed to serve the exact same number of people as they did in the 60s, but the quantity of ingredients have been doubled...

If I recall some info I learned several years ago, the syrup used to make fountain beverages costs less than half of what the cup costs which was only a penny or two. The ice and water are even less.

So virtually all the extra you pay to upsize is profit for the restaurant. They love it when you buy big. Even if the cost per ounce to you is a better "value", the actual money going toward profit is significantly increased for the seller.

I suspect that the amounts noted above have probably gone up a little, but that the same general observation is correct.

I'm sorry, suggesting that this is a strategy for companies to "sell more," is just silly. Companies don't benefit from giving us more product, they benefit from charging more for less! The reason they do otherwise is because the customer demands it!

Everyone I know who gets gigantic sodas like Big Gulps and stuff has done it to bring home and share. (Fountain drinks usually taste better.)

I don't doubt that some people actually drink them all by themselves, but the gigantic Big Gulp things actually used to come in a carton more suited for pouring than straight up drinking, so I'm pretty sure that it's not just me and my acquaintances who buy those things to serve several people.

Super size me means you will get super big.(FAT)

I ordered a medium drink at Arby's the other day, and was shocked that it was 30 oz - I was expecting 20. Stupidly, I filled it all the way up and drank it all, and didn't feel too good afterwards. :P But I had to get my damn money's worth...

I realized that sizing of drinks is also specifically cultural when I spent the summer in Spain. At home (in Iowa) I often see 1 liter bottles of Dr. Pepper or similar marketed as "big gulps," or simply unmarked, generally indicating they are intended for one person each. Whereas in Spain, a 1 liter bottle of Coke is often marked "para dos!" or "compartirlo!" ("for two!" or "share it!"), which to me implies a somewhat different standard size. . . (of course, there is also the difference between a 20 oz. bottle of soda and a 500 mL bottle of soda, but I sort of just attributed that to different standards of measurement and the desire for a nice round number.)

I'll never forget this one radio ad from years ago (I have occasion to think of it all the time— like now). I don't remember what the ad was for, but it was comedic and the overall theme was, "it sucks when you're stuck in traffic and you have to pee." So you hear some guy making "gotta go" noises to himself, and traffic noise in the background. He turns on the radio for a distraction, and it's all stuff like ads for spring water, with the sound of a trickling stream— totally makes it worse. As dude whimpers and changes stations, we hear him thinking/groaning, "ooooh, why did I choose the 32-Ounce Cola Bucket™??"

The "Cola Bucket" thing totally cracked me up.

And now 32oz is tame, apparently.

I read this back in 2010 and I've been spreading the word ever since.. WHY IS THIS NOT ILLEGAL!!!! And the nerve people have to ask what causes obesity in America... hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

But what do you do when heavy soda drinkers develop health problems and drive up the cost of healthcare for the rest of us? It's not so easy to minimize the problem to "just take care of yourself" when consequences are shared.