Yup, it's Europe!=America every time.
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My biggest surprise in visiting Europe
- Thread starter The Lamp
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Yup, it's Europe!=America every time.
The real lesson here is that some of the foods people tend to demonize (e.g., bread) aren't the actual problem. We eat too much, don't cook enough, and aren't active enough. That's not true in most European countries, it seems.
As a side note, the anti-carb nonsense in this thread stood out to me much more than the OP's generalizations. Sheesh.
As a side note, the anti-carb nonsense in this thread stood out to me much more than the OP's generalizations. Sheesh.
Skellig Gra
Member
I tipped a cabbie in Athens 20 euro after hearing how rough he has it. He did start crying. It was a ride from the airport so it was a long ride but still was pretty crazy.
The USA are at 33%.
Great to see my country is second best =) Only Italy and Romania above us. Thought it was way worse =)
gaf taught him to expect clapping at the end of the ride
you insulted him to the point of tears
They serve everything at Denny's so it pretty much is the American diet.
Dude, we don't have 7-11s or whatever the fuck that's called, but there are little kiosks with food everywhere open at night. Someone said the best drunken food is a doner Kebab (durums are better, but OK) but they are wrong, the best drunken food is chocolate with churros. Churros as in real churros, not that shit I've seen they sell at Disneyland and places like that. This:
They are actually called porras, but whatever. Party at night (btw, what's that about 4 AM? we spaniards party until 7 AM at least) + alcohol + churros + chocolate = heaven
I just ate and now I want to eat porras,damn it.
shanshan310
Member
Aww man. I'm going to Europe for the first time at the end of the year and got excited when I saw the thread. What a disappointment. I wanna hear actual great things about Italy and Germany. Tell me things!
This alway annoys me. Like, Americans will say it's because east and west coasts are so different or whatever, but do they not realise that other countries have those kind of differences depending on the region too? You can't compare one country to a whole continent.
Yes they're all different but when I refer to the region I'm obviously referring to similarities I noticed within the region.
Of course America is diverse but there are things I can say about America that are found throughout (#FREEDOM)
And yeah you Spaniards party late, but I was at a hostel and none of these foreigners could manage to stay out past 4 so I always just stuck with them so I wouldn't be left alone at the club -_-
Churros with chocolate were divine!
Messofanego
Banned
As a tourist, the only cool place in Italy was Venice out of the three I visited (Rome, Florence, Venice) cause of quite different infrastructure and environment. It's like buildings just floating around in water connected by tiny bridges. Moving around the place on boats that act like a bus service is rad. Rome and Florence are just mostly museums and old stuff.
They're nothing but trash, stay at home.
1.21Gigawatts
Banned
I think eating out in europe is generally not that common as it is in the US and people cook at home more ofter and especially more healthy. But when they eat they don't give a fuck.
While in the US people eat out more often and when they cook at home they still do pretty fast foody stuff like frying things. I actually know no one(in germany) who has the equipment to fry stuff at home.
In germany if your car pollutes the air a lot you aren't allowed to drive into the inner areas of most cities.
Depending on the pollution you car gets a different sticker on the icense plate(green, orange, red) and only green stickers are allowed everywhere.
Germans bitch al lot about their public transportation, but but by most standards its pretty good.
Especially in southern germany(close to the alps) the tap water is better than most bottled water you can get anywhere in the world. Also, most restaurants will serve glasses of tap water for free if you ask for one.
If you don't like carbonated water be aware because if you just order water most restaurants will serve freezing cold sparkling water no normal human beeing can drink without suffering severe pain in the mouth.
Prices already include all taxes, whats on the price tag it what you have to pay.
German potatoes are good.
Go rent a car and go 250km/h on the autobahn, but be aware, even when you're going 250 there will still be people flying by at even higher speeds.
All I know about Italy is that its a beautiful country with good food.
I've been there very often and always enjoyed my time.
While in the US people eat out more often and when they cook at home they still do pretty fast foody stuff like frying things. I actually know no one(in germany) who has the equipment to fry stuff at home.
In germany if your car pollutes the air a lot you aren't allowed to drive into the inner areas of most cities.
Depending on the pollution you car gets a different sticker on the icense plate(green, orange, red) and only green stickers are allowed everywhere.
Germans bitch al lot about their public transportation, but but by most standards its pretty good.
Especially in southern germany(close to the alps) the tap water is better than most bottled water you can get anywhere in the world. Also, most restaurants will serve glasses of tap water for free if you ask for one.
If you don't like carbonated water be aware because if you just order water most restaurants will serve freezing cold sparkling water no normal human beeing can drink without suffering severe pain in the mouth.
Prices already include all taxes, whats on the price tag it what you have to pay.
German potatoes are good.
Go rent a car and go 250km/h on the autobahn, but be aware, even when you're going 250 there will still be people flying by at even higher speeds.
All I know about Italy is that its a beautiful country with good food.
I've been there very often and always enjoyed my time.
I also tip taxi drivers.
darkazcura
Member
Walmart isn't really the best example of a grocery store or anything. Walmart did not even start having a grocery store section until like a decade ago. I've never been to a legit grocery store that didn't have a massive selection of vegetables and fruit.
Skellig Gra
Member
Bruh, no offense but you have horrible taste. Venice is the least authentic out of those 3 places.
darkazcura
Member
I don't think he said anything about it being authentic. Just that it was cool. A few of my friends who visited Italy shared a similar opinion.
'I ate at local restaurants'. Probably in the most turisty street. Don't call anything 'local' unless its at least 1km from any tourist attraction.
I've lived in Hungary for a year, all city center restaurants serve the very same 'hungarian food' with very few exceptions. Unless you go to these exceptions you will eat disgusting food. Oh, and it is not because you paid less that you got anything 'local'...
sidenote: hungarian food is terrible in general. Goulash is awesome, but only when its less than 5 degrees and you fill it with more and more pepper (the more the better).
I've lived in Hungary for a year, all city center restaurants serve the very same 'hungarian food' with very few exceptions. Unless you go to these exceptions you will eat disgusting food. Oh, and it is not because you paid less that you got anything 'local'...
sidenote: hungarian food is terrible in general. Goulash is awesome, but only when its less than 5 degrees and you fill it with more and more pepper (the more the better).
PeskyToaster
Member
Is this for real? Every supermarket has a grocery section. They just have other shit in them too which is why they are super. There's grocery section at every Wal-mart too.
You should stop grocery shopping at gas stations.
In France the table service is already included in the price. No point paying twice for it.
Yes. I see things mentioned by other europeans in this thread, that does not apply to my country. You can't buy cigarettes here as a child (or alcohol), nobody eats nutella - don't even think it's available at the stores, you never pay for water at the restaurants and you usually get a carafe, you only pay for public toilets, for example.
TVexperto
Member
That is not true, but if those are your experiences than alright, my friends and I love Germany, it has great caring people, great food culture and interesting places to visit.
I've experienced some Danish restaurants has tried to "force" people to tip but he'll no, that ain't gonna fly. They get a very good wage already. Actually didn't know that this was common km some European countries.
Also, you can't smoke inside any public venues here (unless they're really small for some reason). You have to go outside or get a special cabin with a vent that ducks up the smoke lol
Also, you can't smoke inside any public venues here (unless they're really small for some reason). You have to go outside or get a special cabin with a vent that ducks up the smoke lol
I have to hand it to OP. He traveled around through Europe enough to know that southern Europe self identifies with their food culture much more than any painting or architecture, and even northern countries with shitty food culture such as Germany and the Netherlands he manages to rile up by taking a dump on the one thing they are proud of, their bread. Well played OP, well played.
As for a reason, most people already mentioned that most Europeans (outside of Spanish or big city dwellers like Londoners I guess, who are also more overweight) don't really eat out that much. Service is crap and it takes forever. So if you do eat out, you're not as much interested in getting something healthy. There may also be a bit of mismanaged expectations at work. If you go to a US food court, (or food district) you'll have a deluge of options all close by, whereas European cities are more grown than planned. You still have a lot of options, but it takes a bit of a search. And going outside of the touristy centers that just offer you the same national dish. In addition, because different countries are so specialized in their own staple food, there is a general resignation that if you want good Italian, you can only really find it in Italy, so why bother some place else. This has to do with the longer vacation time in Europe too. We travel around a lot.
On the other hand, at least in my experience, it's still a lot easier to find healthy food in Europe if you really want to (though I've only been to the US four times). If you go to a sandwich shop, you can get a healthy brown sandwich, instead of something that has grease dripping out every bite of a sugarated bun. If you order a salad, they use fresh instead of prepackaged ingredients and don't drench it in condiment. You don't have to order the chocolate filled pastry, that's fully on OP.
As for a reason, most people already mentioned that most Europeans (outside of Spanish or big city dwellers like Londoners I guess, who are also more overweight) don't really eat out that much. Service is crap and it takes forever. So if you do eat out, you're not as much interested in getting something healthy. There may also be a bit of mismanaged expectations at work. If you go to a US food court, (or food district) you'll have a deluge of options all close by, whereas European cities are more grown than planned. You still have a lot of options, but it takes a bit of a search. And going outside of the touristy centers that just offer you the same national dish. In addition, because different countries are so specialized in their own staple food, there is a general resignation that if you want good Italian, you can only really find it in Italy, so why bother some place else. This has to do with the longer vacation time in Europe too. We travel around a lot.
On the other hand, at least in my experience, it's still a lot easier to find healthy food in Europe if you really want to (though I've only been to the US four times). If you go to a sandwich shop, you can get a healthy brown sandwich, instead of something that has grease dripping out every bite of a sugarated bun. If you order a salad, they use fresh instead of prepackaged ingredients and don't drench it in condiment. You don't have to order the chocolate filled pastry, that's fully on OP.
How old are you? young people can get away with a lot of unearthly habits. problem is at some point your body won't be able to handle it and if you aren't disciplined with your diet your health will worsen.
People here claim that Europeans are super healthy but that's not the case. A lot of older people in Europe are overweight. beer guts are a common sight.
The countries where bread is the main sustenance, people generally eat darker, more whole grain bread. These are unrefined complex carbs and there is nothing really wrong with that. There's a reason the Dutch are the tallest people in the world and the only OECD country projected to become less obese in the coming years (also has to do with other things of course), even though their diet is primarily bread and potatoes. Bagels and sweet rolls not so much of course.
GIANKRATOS
Member
What are Your plans? Prepare to eat when you come to Italy!
Are you for real? In the same post you criticize naïveté and holding assumptions and then you condescendingly snigger about me being Texan?
And I'm 24. Not like that has anything to do with the truth of what I've experienced the past 5 weeks.
This reminds me of the other hilarious thing I noticed in Europe.
I keep asking people I meet from all over Europe why they think they're so thin compared to Americans.
The answers I've gotten are downright hilarious. These responses were from a Portugese, a Finnish, a German and a French.
"Our food doesn't have chemicals"
"Our food is just fresh"
"Our food doesn't have GMOs"
"Our food is straight from the farms"
That has nothing to do with gaining weight xD
Then again, people in America can be just as nutritionally ignorant, but our public education sucks so I expect that.
I strongly doubt that the Dutch are that tall because they eat bread. Bread and potatoes is a pretty common combination in Southern Europe and they tend to be shorter. Most of this is genetic.
Hotel breakfasts are notoriously unhealthy just about everywhere - and I'd still put US hotels a scale worse than anywhere else - breakfasts consisting of "biscuits" with lard-gravy and bacon - or alternatively the entire breakfast being an assorted selection of bagels and muffins (I experienced that one in NYC).The Lamp said:
well, more chemicals and less fresh could have something to do with it since preservatives and processed foods have been linked to obesity
Could you please elaborate?
Linking doesn't mean causing, and a "processed" food is literally any food that is not served to you out of the ground. Also, food IS chemicals.
I see you want to split hairs. You could google "processed food obesity" and "preservatives obesity" and get the exact definitions used from the articles and studies that turn up in the search results.
I do like to split hairs
I've worked with various types of consumer products and I'm a chemical engineer (specialized in biological processes) so I naturally get a bit technical, sorry.I do like to split hairs
yeh I don't think they were coming from your background haha
generally I take those answers to mean
"Our food doesn't have chemicals" = "our food has less preservatives/different preservatives"
"Our food is just fresh" = "our food is not as processed"
For me processed food are things such as pre-packaged meals or and most things you buy at the grocery store that isn't fresh and essentially ready to eat. Such as condiments, chips, cookies, cereal, juice, etc. Compare those things to someone who tends to buy fresh produce and meats. Things like bread can be both. Buying hamburger buns or sliced bread at the grocery store is very different than going to a bakery and buying fresh bread for example.
The problem is that processed food is typically much cheaper so it's no surprise that the obesity problem affects poor people more. Most coupons you see at a grocery store are mostly for them too.
Sub_Level
wants to fuck an Asian grill.
My breakfast experience with US hotels has been scrambled eggs, bacon, muffin, and fruit.
SomedayTheFire
Member
You are not wrong. I'm from the Basque Country and here the normal thing is to have one car per family, some people might have two, but that can be seen as an extravagance, and three or more cars is not something ordinary people would even contemplate. Besides, where to put them?
thesuperfunk
Member
But did you tip, OP?
En el txoko.
To learn more about what they eat over there in England I searched on the Google and this is what it said.
If this is a traditional european breakfast I don't get how you can call American's nutritionally or culturally ignorant.
Don't be stupid - nobody drinks Coke for breakfast.
Actually I haven't eaten in over 18 hours. I could smash that first one right now.
Jezbollah
Member
eot
Banned
I live on white bread, rice and pasta and I'm underweight as hell.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
I'll be 30 in a month.
Morrigan Stark
Arrogant Smirk
No but Starbucks isn't a restaurant, it's a coffee shop.
Yes. And that is fucking disgusting.
poodaddy
Member
Carbonated water is unquestionably gross......but I think soda's worse. And I'm not even talking about a health thing here, it's just always made me sick. I remember when I was a kid I'd have the occasional can of soda and it'd make me throw up. So yeah, I'll take carbonated water over that. But here's the mid way compromise we can all agree on....let's just drink beer instead
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