Posted on 05/30/2004 10:54:13 AM PDT by Ernest_at_the_Beach
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AP) - Fifteen years after shaking off communism, eastern Europe is engulfed in a food revolution, with people no longer content to shovel down meat, boiled potatoes and stick-to-your-ribs-all-day dumplings.
From Bratislava to Budapest, eating habits and tastes are radically changing. It's a stark shift from 15 years ago, when classic spaghetti in Slovakia meant ketchup and shredded cheese atop limp, overcooked noodles.
"People were used to eating only pork, poultry or beef," said Vojtech Artz, a chef who co-hosted a popular TV cooking show in Slovakia, which threw off communist rule in 1989 and joined the European Union in May.
"Now there are all kinds of fish, various seafood - even such things as kangaroo meat," he said.
Just a few years ago, something as simple as an avocado caused a nationwide stir.
"People had no clue what to do with it," Artz recalled. "We once made a salad with it, and then got calls from supermarkets which said everyone was buying them."
Avocados aren't the only exotic foods that locals have had to learn to use and eat. Under communism, vegetables such as broccoli or asparagus were virtually unknown.
Today, virtually everything is available, and in quantities that would have been inconceivable during communism.
No more waiting in line to get the basics, or fresh pineapple or mandarin oranges for a special Christmas treat. These and other fruits can now be bought year-round.
Tastes are fuller and more combined.
Ethnic eateries have helped persuade people that mixing meat with fruit isn't a crazy idea. Italian restaurants have shown that pizza shouldn't be a thick yeast cake topped with vegetables and ketchup.
"As the markets have opened, people have started to learn to use freshly grounded spices: Sea salt, fresh herbs like basil, thyme," Artz said. "We did not have that before, and even if they were somewhere, people didn't know how to use them."
The older generation's spices used to fit into one small box. Nowadays, they take up cabinets or huge containers.
"I think I could not even cook the old way anymore," said Artz, who gets stopped by people on the street asking him for new recipes and tips.
In the neighboring Czech Republic, taste buds are changing at the same pace.
"When I remember how it was before the revolution, I have to say that these days it's a pleasure to cook," said Martina Gruberova, a 43-year-old housewife. "Our family likes salads a lot, and it's great what choices we have. Before we could only dream of such things."
Although most ingredients are affordable, cod is pricier than pork sirloin, and it's an out-of-reach luxury for some Slovaks, whose average monthly income is $440.
Alzbeta Bederova, a Bratislava dietitian, says people are more conscious of healthy alternatives. Rather than stuffing themselves with old favorites like schnitzel or fried cheese with mayonnaise, they're using olive oil and eating salads.
Drinks have moved from beer and cheap, mixed-variety wines to chilled chardonnay, muscatel, and trendy iced beverages like daiquiris.
Magazines are peppered with recipes, and bookstores carry dozens of titles ranging from "Naked Chef" Jamie Oliver's cookbooks to tomes on Thai food.
But the rapidly changing tastes also are bringing out a bit of nostalgia for the past.
In Hungary, some contend the food market since the end of communism has sacrificed taste on the altar of variety and availability.
"Chicken used to taste like chicken, but now it tastes like fish," complained Valeria Varnai, 68. "Quality just isn't the same."
And the choices can be dizzying for those who grew up under communism.
"Before, there was only one brand of milk, one kind of jam, two types of flour," she said. "Now I can spend 10 minutes just looking for my favorite brand among all the milk cartons."
---
Associated Press writers Nadia Rybarova in the Czech Republic and Pablo Gorondi in Hungary contributed to this story.
--
Good lord! My arteries are hardening just typing the words.
Actually, aside from proving the failure of communism to provide even food basics, I bet similiar things could be said of the changes in the US appetite from the late 50s on. We all probably regularly eat things today that we wouldn't have dreamed of eating just 20 years ago, much less 50 years ago. Salsa, anyone?
OK!
This can only be good for agriculture.
finally a positive comment on an interesting story. they aren't buying avacados from England or Germany. Someone in Spain or Africa has to grow and sell those. Pasta made from wheat in the Dakotas makes some of the best pasta in the world. Full store shelves means the consumer is buying and stores need help. /rant off
That is the way I see it too.
Wonder what will happen in the middle east when the Tigris valley starts pumping out food?
Don't you know it is all about oil? Actually you have an interesting thought.
I was in Hungary a few months ago. Talk about Atkins! I believe much of this. My hosts talked about how oranges were a very rare treat.
BTT!!!!!!
Doesn't the climate of Iraq do well with citrus?
Holy paprika!
Thank god is all I can say. I was in Poland 5 years ago. The cheap beer was good & the tall leggy women were nice to look at, but the food was horrible. Everything served boiled, and no flavor. I went to an Italian restaurant and it made The Olive Garden look like gourmet cuisine.
I hope that the Eastern Europeans don't start eating all the processed food that we consume over here -- or combining it with the sedentary lifestyle we have either.
Going to the grocery store, shopping mall or any place in public is becoming more and more distasteful because of the increasing herds of heavyweights everywhere. It is absolutely sickening to see an 8-year-old child who does not have a neck, because the multiple chins connect directly with the gelatinous thorax.
...and why do fatties insist upon wearing stretch pants? I guess that I'm a very intolerant person...
Outside my area of expertise.
Never forget what it took to open their markets. They began to taste freedom in '68 only to be beaten down once again.
Where was the outrage of the Left? Oh, they were wining and dining on the fruit of Capitalism.
The beauty of freedom is a priceless gift. It is incumbent upon Americans to embrace their destiny and defend the oppressed whereever and whenever we can rouse ourselves from the comfortable banquet our freedom affords us.
Well, I came to the US from kerry'ing USSR in 1981. The first reaction to the word "avocado" was: Hmm, does one eat it or drink it?
Luckily, it turned out that I do not like them anyway.
Welcome to FreeRepublic, less than a month anyway.
Got any views on this?
This article sounds like it was written by a Freeper. Bet these two AP writers are not leftist socialists or DU members!!
In the 1970s avocado meant a refrigerator color along with its companion golden harvest. :)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.