All of the reasons you stated are valid but the one I bolded annoys me to no end. Anybody who says this essentially doesn't want to go the extra mile to try and provide me with a salad without cheese, which means at least for this waiter/waitress, he lost part of his tip and my repeat visits.

BamaVol Jr #3 manages a Ruby Tuesday kitchen. He tells me there is a drill that the cooks perform if they are informed that a diner has a food allergy or intolerance. I never hesitate now to inform my server that I am lactose intolerant. I usually ask them to guide me to menu items that have no dairy. If I can't find something I want, then we discuss the possibility of making something without the milk/butter/cheese. With the salad, Mama Goldberg's makes it in front of me so I just tell them no cheese and get a vinaigrette dressing.

By coincidence, I just finished checking all these things on nutritiondata.self.com --- as a matter of fact, I had done that and typed up a reply in response to an earlier comment, then deleted it, not wanting to argue. But who knew sweet potatoes would be such a Dining Buzz flashpoint? I'll stick up for them. My info says you are wrong about most of these things.

Far more vitamin A, 769 times as much. Right about that.

Same vitamin C, 65% of USRDA for sweet potatoes, 64% for russet potatoes.

Lower in calories: 180 per 300-g serving vs 290 for russet potatoes.

Same fiber: both have 7 g per serving.

Lower in protein: 4 g vs 8 g.

Lower in carbohydrates: 41 g per serving for sweet potatoes, 64 for russet potatoes.

Both 0 fat, lower in protein, lower in carbohydrates, therefore lower in calories.

As for some people just not liking them, I certainly won't argue with that. I don't like Brussels sprouts. I'm told they're very healthy. I don't care.

Back to food trends that *I hope* are on their way out (which is not quite the title of the thread, but it seems to be what we wish the title was):

did anyone yet mention runny fried eggs on top of everything? French salads, okay, that's traditional, but on burgers? Especially on burgers that are already way too big and overloaded. And on so many other things that aren't, say, hash browns.

Thanks, Cubbie. I didn't know about this site - although I am not finding the same info that you are when i look there. What I see comparing 100g of each, raw/unprepared is that sweet potatoes have slightly more calories and carbs than russet. I would be interested to know how you effected your search.

In any case, I do stick by my earlier statement though that if you fry a sweet potato that you cannot call french fried sweet potatoes a health food.

Referring to meat and fish as protein. I know they are proteins but it just sounds ridiculous IMHO.

I would also like to see the gourmet burger fad die down. Some are just crazy overpriced and the others are way to greasy.

Something I would like to see more is bottles of tap water being offered for the table.

I mean is this coming in or going out: limited menu cafes specializing in salads and nothing but salads. Nothing but green, leafy type salads with various toppings. No chicken salad, nothing else.

The salad only restaurant has been around since I was in college, which was awhile ago

I LOVE cheese, but don't need to be encouraged to eat more of it. I doubt I'm alone. (Also, plenty of items that come with cheese are just fine without it.)

I'm in favor of your "cheese optional" plan. Mayo should also be "opt-in"--and both the cheese and the mayo should be listed in menu descriptions!

Doughnuts have been around for hundreds of years.

I love donuts.

Those Krispy Kreme things taste like oil drenched sponges. I remember queuing up (was it at Harrods?) when they first came to England to see what the fuss was about. I was so disappointed.

Whoopee pies. That's another fad that seems to have come and gone. I didn't even bother trying one of those. If I'm going to look down at stomach rolls I want to do so fondly. The occasional Pierre Hermes Macarons and Beard Papa Cream puffs are welcome as tummy tennants. Knowing that I had a roll down there created by cookies with a thick frosting would just bring on self loathing. Then again, never did like Oreos.

You want to go where?, I compared baked sweet potato with baked russet potato. Both came up as 299-g servings. It is odd that the calorie proportions would be different for raw than for baked potatoes. Perhaps that says something about the accuracy of the data on the site. But overall, I find the nutritiondata site very useful and look things up on it frequently.

Totally agree. This "pick your protein" crap. Good lord nix it already. Just call it what it is.

Krispy Kreme donuts are amazing when they're fresh. Yes, they are frosted sugar bombs, but once you realize that your teeth won't literally fall out as you eat them, they are great. The problem is, their taste and texture go way downhill once they cool to room temperature. An hour after baking they are only so-so. After a few hours you might as well be eating a moistened doorstop.

My wife likes to bake whoopie pies at home. They are nothing like Oreos except in the broadest sense-- "cookies with thick frosting". Properly done, the cookies are dense, spongy, and flavorful; and the frosting has a rich, complementary flavor of its own. Oreos possess none of these qualities. In fact, I wish Oreos were a fad on its way out. After 102 years, though, that's unlikely to happen.

I didn't think so.

That you do just asserts my suspicion that whoopee pies are not for me (don't like cupcakes that much either). I accept that a decent whoopee pie is a world away from an Oreo cookie.

Remember queuing up on the weekend for vanilla custard donuts from the St John's Bakery after doing my grocery shopping in and around. Borough Market. Now THOSE were amazing donuts :) (Although something has changed, the ones my husband brought back yesterday from Selfridges were good but not sensational)