'I get more food when I order under a male name': Woman's claim sparks fierce online debate

A woman recently shared an incident regarding the food portion sizes she often gets as a woman. This sparked a debate, with people wondering if gender-based portioning is more common than we think, or if it’s just a matter of perception. The post was originally shared by u/MeMissBunny, who narrated how she was complaining to her coworker about always getting fewer beans whenever she ordered in person at popular restaurants like Chipotle.

Her coworker then shared "that a friend of his started pre-ordering at restaurants under a male name (or a more gender neutral name), and now, she gets way more food than she did before." This news immediately got the woman curious, and she decided to test the theory herself. The result came out as expected, with her labeling the approach as "Welcome to getting more food." However, ordering under someone else's name didn't sit right with the user, and she eventually returned to ordering under her legal name.

The woman shared how this difference was truly surprising to her, and thus made her share it online for netizens to weigh in on the experience. She further shared, "As a petite woman with a very fast metabolism, it's frustrating having to pay for extra portions when men get that much just for being men." She discussed how her petite build often leads to the common assumption that she consumes less food​, and this happens in every food outlet she goes to.

She also shared how she never liked the whole idea of requesting extra food and only being "met with disdain or a dry response along the lines of 'sorry, our portions are standard,'" so she'd end up paying for the extra portion. Researchers conducted four studies and found that people often link larger food portions with men and smaller portions with women. However, when tested in real-life situations (for example, restaurant orders), men didn’t consistently get larger portions than women. This suggests that while people have strong gender-based food portion stereotypes in their minds, these biases don’t always influence actual behavior, possibly due to factors like standardized portion sizes in most places.

Her post quickly gained traction, and countless users started discussing the experience in the comment section. u/ch0rtle2 wrote, "'I went back to ordering under my own name because I felt bad.' Why? Felt bad for whom or what, exactly? Do what you want. No need to feel bad for anything or anyone involved with you getting more food." u/mwp612 exclaimed, "You are not robbing anyone, they are robbing you every time they serve you a 'woman portion'.

Get what you pay for." u/cathwaitress wrote, "I wouldn’t even call this 'extra food'. It’s the portion she paid for. There is no reason why a man should get more food for the same money." u/Whiskeydrinkinturtle shared, "Especially because people use other names all the time when ordering for all sorts of reasons. It's not like you need to use your legal name for food!"