Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To ask for a half slice of cake?

162 replies

GretaGip · 14/02/2022 11:26

Ive got disordered eating, sometimes eating something with no low nutritional value (but plenty of pleasure) will start me off on a binge.

I'd done slimming world and lost a lot of weight but am now in the sad position of having put half of it back on.

So im trying a different approach. Using my fitness pal im slowly losing 1 pound a week. Currently 14 down since November.

I bloody love cake. The conception, construction, the aesthetic, and to a lesser degree, the consumption.

Quite often im happy just looking at cakes and have no yearning to eat them, intellectually I know there's better calories out there. I don't feel deprived.

Occasionally I just really really want cake. It's hormonal im sure. So I have some, but want it to be controlled.

I tend to share with very accommodating friends. This will be considered in my calories for the day.

I'm in a lovely cafe on my own and really fancied cake, so I asked for half, and said I was happy to pay full price.

The staff member gave the impression that they thought I was very odd.

Wibu to ask?

OP posts:
BuritoCat · 14/02/2022 12:21

Oh wait was it a whole cake like a 6 portion cake or one portion that you wanted halved?

Gutenpranken · 14/02/2022 12:21

I used to work in a cafe and this would have been fine. Someone in the kitchen would have been very happy to eat the leftover half.

Toanewstart23 · 14/02/2022 12:23

If a cafe wasn’t happy at prospect of eating half its own cake - I’d be worried

SleepingStandingUp · 14/02/2022 12:24

@Toanewstart23

If a cafe wasn’t happy at prospect of eating half its own cake - I’d be worried
Dep on if it's a chain or indep it might have rules against it. I can imagine lots of aces saying staff can't eat customer leftovers which essentially this is.
ClariceQuiff · 14/02/2022 12:29

See if you can find a cafe that does 'pensioner portions' - smaller, cheaper versions of the main dishes to cater for the typically smaller appetite of the older person - but you don't have to be in that demographic to order.

GroggyLegs · 14/02/2022 12:29

@Toanewstart23

You hate food waste?

Well if this is what you’re going to start doing in cafes and bakeries - be prepared for a lot of it

The food is wasted from the moment the wheat is harvested or carrot is picked. It makes not one shiny bit of difference whether it's consumed, binned or left to rot, it's done for.

Guilt about leaving food should be left in the 70s.

You could argue it's a waste of energy baking it, but as it's one half slice from a whole cake... that's negligible.

Toanewstart23 · 14/02/2022 12:31

It makes not one shiny bit of difference whether it's consumed, binned or left to rot, it's done for.

So odd.

pickingdaisies · 14/02/2022 12:34

@Toanewstart23

You hate food waste?

Well if this is what you’re going to start doing in cafes and bakeries - be prepared for a lot of it

But if she took the whole slice and left half of it, how does that stop food waste? Also at £5 a slice, they should be definitely offering half portions. Yanbu OP, I grew up being told I had to clear my plate because of starving children in Africa (not my mum, school dinner ladies) and I still find it really hard to stop eating when I'm full if there is still food on my plate.
EmbarrassingHadrosaurus · 14/02/2022 12:34

I'm trying to remember which exhibition I went to where the tearoom was offering 3 mini-cakes as your portion. That was excellent and made it a good thing to split with my companion.

Mini portions are the way to go because it fits in with appetite and some people's grazing preferences.

TheOrigRights · 14/02/2022 12:34

I would not draw any attention to myself (but, oh look at you, thin thing, you can eat a whole slice) so would buy the whole slice, cut it in 1/2 and throw away the bit I didn't want.

Our chip van offers 1/2 chips, which I'm pretty sure is what a whole portion used to be back in the day.

Honeyroar · 14/02/2022 12:37

@GretaGip

When I rule the world, I'm going to make it law to offer half slices of cake and chips Wink
Come to my coffee shop. I serve smaller, lower priced slices of cake than other cafes I’ve been to/worked in (who serve enormous pieces!) I swear that I sell more cake because of the fact that they’re not so over whelming!
TheOrigRights · 14/02/2022 12:37

I used to love the Prezzo mini desert - a coffee or tea with about 1/3 slice of cake. Just enough for a sweet tooth on an already full belly.

whynotwhatknot · 14/02/2022 12:37

i think half slices should be mandatry

(because i eat too much)

Toanewstart23 · 14/02/2022 12:38

* But if she took the whole slice and left half of it, how does that stop food waste?*

My point is
If she hates waste and yet chooses to go to cafes and bakeries asking them to change their positions for her, then she needs to accept that eating cakes in cafes is not something she can do at the present time

TheOccupier · 14/02/2022 12:39

@GretaGip

Oh.

To add I HATE food waste, so I asked for half to be served to me, and the offer half to be given to staff as appropriate.

If it had come out on my plate, it would have been a mental struggle, which even it I had won, would have saddened me, because the remains would have been thrown.

This is totally weird and really patronising. The staff don't want your rejected half-bit of cake!

If you can't have the whole piece on your plate, ask for half of it in a box to go, then bin it on your way out, or offer to the first homeless person you see if you don't want it wasted.

Whatup · 14/02/2022 12:43

Half a portion of chips is nearly always more than enough but then when you really need a lot of chips they give you a very small hand full.

TeaStory · 14/02/2022 12:43

I don’t think people who haven’t struggled with disordered eating are ever going to get it. The crashing overwhelm of guilt, fear and repetitive critical thoughts.

Hont1986 · 14/02/2022 12:44

Bit performative to ask for the other half to be given to the staff. Hmm

If you want to eat half then just buy the full one and only eat half of it. Take the rest home in a napkin if you want, or leave it if you don't want the temptation.

BarbaraofSeville · 14/02/2022 12:47

Come to my coffee shop. I serve smaller, lower priced slices of cake than other cafes I’ve been to/worked in (who serve enormous pieces!) I swear that I sell more cake because of the fact that they’re not so over whelming

You could be right.

People might be put off paying £4 for a large slice of cake, but if you sold a small piece a third of the size for £1.50/2 more people might buy it, and those who want a lot of cake could always buy two pieces.

I also like the little bit of cake that you sometimes get with a coffee. Because you just want a bite or two, not the whole slice.

Likewise 'a few chips' is sometimes all you want with a sandwich or quiche and salad type meal, so it's nice when that's an option rather than full large portion or nothing.

SleepingStandingUp · 14/02/2022 12:53

@Hont1986

Bit performative to ask for the other half to be given to the staff. Hmm

If you want to eat half then just buy the full one and only eat half of it. Take the rest home in a napkin if you want, or leave it if you don't want the temptation.

You don't have disordered eating do you?
Wanderingowl · 14/02/2022 12:54

Not what you asked but have you ever considered doing your own healthy baking? I make a chocolate cherry cake with eggs, bananas, oat bran, cocoa powder, bicarb and cherries. It takes about 3 minutes to whizz up, is nutritionally excellent and really tasty. I eat it it for breakfast with my coffee and it feels indulgent but it's actually a very healthy meal. (you can do any flavour combo, I also do chocolate-pear, cinnamon and blueberry, or whatever I have on hand).

Cheeseonpost · 14/02/2022 12:55

Of course it’s weird to ask

Not unreasonable mind, but posters saying this isn’t weird need to have a look at themselves

Also the staff are most likely not able to eat the half you left, so the cake would go to waste regardless.

YANBU to ask, but it is weird so the staff aren’t being unreasonable either

Original poster
GretaGip · 14/02/2022 12:57

@Toanewstart23

You hate food waste?

Well if this is what you’re going to start doing in cafes and bakeries - be prepared for a lot of it

I'm not sure how I understand?

How is this creating more food waste? Not snippy, just curious

OP posts:
HopefulProcrastinator · 14/02/2022 12:59

YANBU I have the same problem with pizza. I'm perfectly good at regulating providing I can choose my portion size beforehand so eating solo either means I don't get to have a treat eat at all or finding somewhere that sells by the slice.

In the grand scheme of things it's not important, but it genuinely helps me stay in control of my eating. Abstinence from what you like eating doesn't work long term, control definitely does.

At least our disordered eating doesn't actually hurt others, whereas those with a disordered relationship with alcohol cause all sorts of problems under the guise "it was just a little drink"

Original poster
GretaGip · 14/02/2022 12:59

@BuritoCat

If you had half, and half was left why didn't they just sell the remaining half? I don't understand 😂
Would have been very happy for that to pan out, but ime, establishments think there isn't a big market for half portion so they see it as losing out on the ability to gain full price for the cake, that's why I hapiily pay for the whole portion.
OP posts:
Swipe left for the next trending thread