Please, someone, save me from myself

At first glance, Chinese hotpot and Brazilian-style barbecue, or churrasco, may appear to have little in common.

But these two favorite foods from places to which I've traveled are dangerously deceptive, and for the same reason: They give the illusion of being endless appetizers, and the appetite responds accordingly.

Without self-discipline, hotpot, which requires patience as you add bits of food to boiling broth and wait while they cook, and Brazilian barbecue, which involves tasty morsels of meat consumed tidbits at a time, can spell culinary near-catastrophe.