Nao and Zen

Local Fast Food Restaurants

     Nao and Zen is a small fast food restaurant located in the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) campus. It is surrounded by other chain fast food restaurants and has some level of popularity among the students. One would assume, then, that Nao and Zen is a chain restaurant much like the others. However, it appears to be the only one in the VCU area. Furthermore, a quick Google search reveals that it does not have its own website. The first hit is for a website indicating its location in VCU. Looking around that website lead nowhere in regards to nutritional information. In an email correspondence with VCU Dining Services, they stated that Nao and Zen did not provide nutritional information since it had a multitude of choices that would make accurate nutritional information difficult. However, Subway has a similar amount of choices and it still provides nutritional information for all their food. Subway even has it's own meal calculator that gives you accurate nutritional information for you own variety of subs. Why is it, then, that Nao and Zen does not? The simple answer is: they are not required to do so. Some recent laws have required some fast food establishments to provide nutritional information, but those establishments with 20 or less branches are exempt from this law. So, how were the salt, sugar, and fat contents for this dish calculated? Thanks to the internet, another website was found and used to estimate the food content and nutritional information of the dish. Myfitnesspal is a food tracker and journal for people who want to keep tabs on what they eat. The same website has a nutritional database for many foods including generic meals and restaurant specific foods.

Using this database the following numbers were acquired. 

Table 1: Salt, sugar, fat, and caloric content for Nao and Zen chicken and white rice dish. 

Nao and Zen
Daily Recommended	2400	40	65	2000
For this Dish
Ingredients:	Salt/Sodium (mg)	Sugar (g)	Total Fat (g)	Calories
chicken	0	0	6	223
green pepper	1	1	0	5
red pepper	6	1	4	37
brocoli	29	2	0	27
green onion	5	1	0	10
white rice	2	0	0	205
honey fire(honey mustard)	150	6	0	60
mushrooms	0	0	1	40
veg oil (2 tbsp)	0	0	28	248
Totals	193	11	39	855
%DV's	8.04166666666667	27.5	60	42.75

The numbers here are very low compared to other fast foods. So, take these values with a grain of salt. All of these ingredients were assumed to be fresh and not preserved in any way. Furthermore, the honey fire sauce used in the actual dish must be uniquely made at Nao and Zen since it was not in the nutritional database. Honey mustard was used as a substitute. The vegetable oil was also another assumed addition, since it was not clearly visible in the dish itself. With all of these estimations, it is very feasible that this chicken and rice stir fry is much more sodium, sugar, fat, and calorie heavy than the calculated values.

    Another reason to not trust these values is the general method in which many Asian foods have been "Americanized."  These Americanized Asian foods are loaded with salt, sugar, and fat to appease the general American public which is constantly presented with, and used to, foods that are salty, sweet, and fatty. For example, authentic Chinese food does not use many ingredients used in America such as broccoli, tomatoes, carrots, and onions. What can the consumer do then? Well, you can either look for authentic Asian food restaurants, or learn how to pick your food carefully.

     Once again, it is up to you, the consumer, to make the right choice.