The thali illusion - can you really control portions when everything's on one plate?

The thali is one of the oldest ideas in Indian eating: instead of one big dish, you get several small ones, arranged together so you get a taste of everything in a single sitting. That format gets read two completely opposite ways - as proof the meal is automatically balanced ('look, there's dal, sabzi, curd, everything!'), or as proof portion control is hopeless once six dishes land in front of you at once. Both reactions skip the actual evidence on how plates, bowls and variety shape what and how much we eat - evidence that says the thali format itself is neither your enemy nor your safety net. What matters is how you use it.