Calories come with the years: hunderd years portion sizes in the Dutch Wannée cookbook.

The development of portions sizes of dessert recipes within the established Dutch Wannée cookbook was investigated.

Portion sizes in the first edition (1910) were compared with portion sizes in the thirtieth edition (2014). The amount of kcal, (saturated) fat, carbohydrates, mono- and disaccharides fibre, salt and sodium were calculated for 65 recipes, which were published in both editions. Means were calculated per edition and compared using a paired t-test (p<0.05). Additional, 19 comparable recipes from the popular Dutch cook journal Allerhande were calculated and compared with the recipes in the thirtieth edition of Wannée. Differences were tested using a Mann-Whitney U test (p<0.05).

The mean portion size in kcal significantly increased. Portions in the thirtieth edition contained almost 10% more energy compared with the portions in the first press. The mean increase was 28 kcal per portion, which was mainly caused by an increase in the amount of carbohydrates, especially mono- and disaccharides. The amount of salt and sodium also significant increased by respectively 42% and 36%. Portion sizes in the thirtieth edition appeared to be representative for the portions in Allerhande, except for fat, which was significantly higher in Allerhande recipes.

This research showed an increase in portion size (in kcal) of desserts over 104 years of the classical Dutch cook book Wannée. Home cooks nowadays are tempted to prepare portions with on average 10% more energy. This potentially stimulates consumers to a higher energy intake. Dietitians can use these findings to inform clients about portion sizes.

It is recommended to further investigate the development of Dutch recipes, including recipes within other meal categories and in other cook books. Insight is also needed on which recipes are mostly used by Dutch home cooks.

Keywords: cookbook, recipes, portion size, calories