Just ran across this article and wonder what kind of impact this might have if every restaurant in the country had to do it. New York City has a new law which requires chain restaurants to put the calorie count of foods on their menus and displays. People are flipping out over 600 calorie baked goods because they had no idea their cookie or muffin had so many calories.

The hope is that if people know, they will make better choices. It looks like that is happening for some people–the lower calorie items are sold out first. Maybe this will force some chains to offer more lower calorie items (or just smaller portions, maybe?) on their menus, which is also a plus. But the article also mentions those who were upset about the menu and wanted to order from the older menu, without the calorie counts. Ignorance is bliss, I guess!

What do you think? Would you rather know exactly what is in your meal or snack, or do you enjoy it more without the (sometimes) gory details? Do you think you have a good idea of how many calories are in your meals, or are you surprised by the counts they mention here?