I saw this linked and had to take a look.
What Does 200 Calories Look Like?:
what’s this? Some foods have significantly more Calories than others but what does the difference actually look like. Each of the photographs below represents 200 Calories of the particular type of food; the images are sorted from low to high calorie density.
When you consider that an entire plate of broccoli contains the same number of Calories as a small spoonful of peanut butter, you might think twice the next time you decide what to eat. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the average adult needs to consume about 2000 – 2500 Calories to maintain their weight. In other words, you have a fixed amount of Calories to “spend” each day; based on the following pictures, which would you eat?
Well, great.
What I sent them just now:
Your “how much is 200 calories” page is interesting but not as useful as it might be. For instance, in your intro text you reference a “small spoonful of peanut butter” but don’t show it in the displayed foods. It might be helpful to show it alongside the other choices. [argh, my search was case-sensitive so peanut butter is there. Hard to say how much that is, though.]
Also, here in the US, I find that serving sizes are closer to 140 calories on stuff like snacks/chips and cereals, the kind of “serve yourself” foods that are likely to get people in trouble, dietwise. It might be more useful to show what 140 calories of those look like. As an example, check out the large “king-size” candy bars on sale these days and marvel at how the manufacturer thinks the consumer will cut one up into three servings.
The small spoonful thing may seem silly but I think the visual evidence would help make the volume relationship clear. And of course, that’s not to say that peanut butter is bad nor does it go into how many different kinds there (I only buy the stuff I grind myself or that has no extra ingredients, like emulsifiers and add sugars).
And programmatically, it should be trivial to display ounces instead of grams.