Melon Husk
Member
Words to live by.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
My biggest surprise in visiting Europe
- Thread starter The Lamp
- Start date
- Status
Words to live by.
Yes.
Just because it seems nonintuitive to you doesn't make it not true.
Bread and sugar are both in the same family: carbs. The end result to your body is the same.
Does this mean that your whole country should be obese? Not necessarily because there are a lot of variables such as portion size, exercise (does your culture walk more?), genetics, etc.
Cheese and meat are generally fine. Jams are bad because of the sugar content. Chocolate depends on the sugar content (super dark chocolates have lower amounts of sugar).
And yea....sugar is bad for you. It's very, very bad.
Messofanego
Banned
Who pays for tap water here in Europe restaurants? lol never had to, always free no matter what country I've been in (Prague, Switzerland, Italy, etc).
You're right on walking culture. We get to walk off those meals and maintain good bodies, unlike in America where there is less pedestrian infrastructure. Even public transport in USA is...barely there or even up to standard.
You're right on walking culture. We get to walk off those meals and maintain good bodies, unlike in America where there is less pedestrian infrastructure. Even public transport in USA is...barely there or even up to standard.
hydrophilic attack
Member
That's because the American stereotype is fat and LAZY. If you eat badly but work out you won't get fat
(Note mods, this was a joke. I actually don't think all Americans are lazy, in fact one reason you have an obesity problem is likely that you all, for cultural and political reasons, work FAR TOO MUCH, so a lot of you don't have time to take care of your health.)Breakfast culture in Southern Europe does suck. You should go to Scandinavia and have a Swedish breakfast: oatmeal, very dark bread, yoghurt with müsli, maybe some eggs. But yeah a lot of time, when you're in Southern Europe your options for breakfast are limited. The cheaper the hotel, the higher likelihood the breakfast will suck. Still, there are usually sort of healthy options. If nothing else, you can usually get fruits for breakfast in most hotels.
Spaniards at least have some variety with tapas. The first country I visited where I felt like I had a choice in how I would die from fried foods.
The worst is many restaurants are not open between 3-6 pm.
Spain has an interesting culture when it comes to timing their meals. They would have their dinner around 9 PM. If they go out to party, they usually don't go out until a few hours after midnight. Sounds like a fun lifestyle, but it's a bit difficult to adapt to as a visitor.
I don't know what to tell you. Except for breakfast, this should absolutely not be a problem anywhere in Europe. The one thing I will say is that many European countries do suck for vegetarians. A lot of restaurants don't even have a vegetarian option, for people who don't eat fish. If you go to a good place, the chef will be able to improvize something good though.
This is how you drink water in Europe:
1. You go into the bathroom
2. You turn on the tap
3. You drink the fucking water.
Done. Enjoy free (and usually not too bad-tasting) water. No one buys bottled water except Americans who don't know any better. Bottled water is a tourist trap. In the restaurant, when you order, ask for tap water. Or appreciate the local culture and ask for some local beer or wine.
YourMaster
Member
And fries instead of bread.
Why drink water when you have the best beer or wine available in the world?
The 'just ask for tap water' doesn't work in every country by the way. In Belgium for instance it is not customary to do so, even though the water companies tried to campain it into existence. I think it is possible to do so, but restaurant holders won't like it (sometimes they advertise it if they do offer tap water). I think it is partly due to the high employment costs, and the fact that lot's of restaurants just break even on their food and make a big profit on drinks. There was even a little controversy when a star restaurant aked money for tapwater (they filtered it, was their explanation. Which is completely unnecesairy, because tap water in Belgium is as clean as it gets). In southern countries like Portugal drinken tap water isn't costumary at all. But the mineral water there is just filthy cheap and really good.
But in France for instance? Une caraffe d'eau is something I always ask when I go out eating. Because. Free.
Also, if you think Europeans eat cakes and pastries as breakfast as a custom... you'd be dissapointed by our lame breakfasts. In hotels, yeah. At home. A bowl of cornflakes or a loaf of bread with some Nutella. That's it.
Now that I think of it. How awesome.
The 'just ask for tap water' doesn't work in every country by the way. In Belgium for instance it is not customary to do so, even though the water companies tried to campain it into existence. I think it is possible to do so, but restaurant holders won't like it (sometimes they advertise it if they do offer tap water). I think it is partly due to the high employment costs, and the fact that lot's of restaurants just break even on their food and make a big profit on drinks. There was even a little controversy when a star restaurant aked money for tapwater (they filtered it, was their explanation. Which is completely unnecesairy, because tap water in Belgium is as clean as it gets). In southern countries like Portugal drinken tap water isn't costumary at all. But the mineral water there is just filthy cheap and really good.
But in France for instance? Une caraffe d'eau is something I always ask when I go out eating. Because. Free.
Also, if you think Europeans eat cakes and pastries as breakfast as a custom... you'd be dissapointed by our lame breakfasts. In hotels, yeah. At home. A bowl of cornflakes or a loaf of bread with some Nutella. That's it.
Now that I think of it. How awesome.
Not quite, there are also french fries hidden underneath. But yeah, it's genius.
The story behind it is that a hairdresser in Rotterdam just ordered a big dish containing all of his favorite stuff (shawarma, fries, cheese, lettuce) whenever he went to a döner place. At some point other people tried it and loved it and now it's eaten everywhere in The Netherlands.
hydrophilic attack
Member
Interesting about tap water in Belgium. I didn't know. When I visited, I had awesome beer everytime with my food, so I didn't know you couldn't order tap water.
And shitty bread with Nutella, is pretty much candy. So is 90 % of the cereals shops will sell you. Start reading the nutritional information on the stuff you buy.
Are you aware that the two longest lived populations of the world , Japan and Italy, have a diet that is based on heavy carbs (pasta, bread, rice)? They are between the thinnest people in the world too. Are you aware that Italy has the highest carbs comsumption in europe, the longest life expetancy, the second lowest obesity rate, and the lowest heart disease %
This carb shit is the basical equivalent to being a thruter. Seeking an easy answer and someone to make culpable for your obesity rates (in this case carbs), instead of accepting that the answer is way more multi-faceted and complex than simply jajajaja carbs is suddendly making us fat after centuries of eating pasta and bread.
poodaddy
Member
Carbohydrates are one of the three macronutrients. There seem to be people in this thread that think low body fat due to ketosis, which is literally looked at as a very negative medical condition in my school at least, is somehow healthier than high body fat due to high carb/high fat diets. It is literally dangerous to have no carbs in your diet, and if you value athletic performance at all it would be quite foolish not to take in at least some type of carb. This ketosis fascination is every bit as harmful and unsustainable as any other low calorie diet. It's nothing more than people trying to find an easy way out of working out. The truth is that you must move to be healthy. Being skinny and having no energy due to carbohydrate deficiencies is not healthy, and it will make you weaker and slower; that is a fact. That being said, if all you want is a simple way to look at food so that you can become or remain thin, then ketosis will suffice if you don't mind being small and weak. And yes bodybuilders do use ketosis near competitions, and yes it does work for cutting fat. But there's a reason why most professional and Olympic athletes start every day with a bowl of oats; because carbs are essential to athletic performance.
OP, you do realise that a lot of people in Europe still take time to prepare their own food and don't go to rushing of to restaurants every other day ? Unhealthy snacks/fast food stuff is usually reserved for the weekends or nights out with friends.
I do agree with the idiocy of having to pay 50 cents to use the bathrooms everywhere you go. It's like business over here fear they will go bankrupt or something if they don't charge you for the few pages of toilet paper or that little bit of soap you use .
It's undoubtedly the European equivalent of the tipping system.
I do agree with the idiocy of having to pay 50 cents to use the bathrooms everywhere you go. It's like business over here fear they will go bankrupt or something if they don't charge you for the few pages of toilet paper or that little bit of soap you use .
It's undoubtedly the European equivalent of the tipping system.
MilkyJoe
Member
PdotMichael
Banned
That sounds like a crime on humanity. A delicious crime on humanity.
It is probably possible. But no Belgian does it. Some restaurants explicitly put on the menu that they give free tap water (mostly new, young restaurants)
And I know bread and nutella is unhealthy. I never have breakfast like that, and rarely eat nutella at all (sometimes as lunch on bread). (As a kid though
) I don't eat as much bread as my fellow counrtymen and I breakfast with fruit, muesli and yoghurt, so quite healthy As I am slightly overweight I actually do look at nutritional info and watch what I eat. (And go for a run at least once a week, which made me lose about 5 kilo's allready since I started)But then again, the whole carbs-are-bad-craze is bullshit. You should avoid to intake too much carbs offcourse (as calories count), but slow carbs are good. It's fast carbs like sugars that are 'bad' because they end up so fast in your bloodstream.
On my last trip to France I didn't even have to ask for it once. It was always delivered straight away. Really great.
Because in Germany and Austria (the two countries where I've been living), tap water in restaurants is very uncommon (well, except getting some small amount of water for your coffee in Austria). That's pretty silly and not very customer-friendly, just as paying for toilets is. But I don't see that changing ever.
mercenar1e
Member
Y'all look like Bulldogs lol
Europe loves you back
Man, what do other countries eat at lunch if they're not having pasta? Rice everyday? Do they even have lunch outside of Italy?
Uh I didn't say that there's no good food to be found in European restaurants, looks like you can't read :C
I've had lots of splendid food. Despite the fact it's pricier than most any normal meal in the U.S.
And considering I walk around all damn day in every city (I'm a backpacker, I move by foot and train), lol no, my experience is what it is, I walk around these streets and almost every breakfast cafe in France sells the same stuff. Some sandwiches, pastries, cakes, coffee and bread. Sorry that what I've lived for 5 weeks is false in your world.
Bread? I eat bread for lunch.
Like a sandwich you mean?
Yeah. Or a slice of bread with some jam. Pasta is something I eat for dinner
four days a week because I'm a lazy student
Stairouais
Member
This fucking gaf obsession with bread and carbs boggles my mind.
Every fucking food related thread on the forum ends up with people telling you how fucking evil you are for eating bread or carbs.
Every fucking food related thread on the forum ends up with people telling you how fucking evil you are for eating bread or carbs.
But that IS what we cook at home in Texas. I naturally assumed the situation was congruent in Europe.
I wouldn't immediately dismiss it. America is also an immigrant country. We have immigrants from all your countries + Latin America + all over the world affecting our culture and food. Sure, we mainly speak English, though.
Despite the variety of countries and cultures, the EU as a whole has a distinctly different philosophy regarding life, food and leisure which I idolized before I got here. Now I just see differences, pros and cons. I still really admire it and wish we had it in the states, but there are things I don't like about Europe's devotion to leisure because they inconvenience me as a customer who has grown up in capitalism.
Oh don't get me started on that shit. Carbonated water is evil incarnate.
I'll always remember going to the Berlin Zoo in early August with my boyfriend, it was a hot sunny day, 30 degrees celsius and we did a lot of walking, and finally went to the rest area to grab snacks and drinks. We bought a bottle of water each, and I bought a bottle of apple juice in addition to that to get some sugary taste and some vitamins too.
I start sipping my juice and my boyfriend opens his bottle. "Psssht!", the bottle said. My boyfriend frowned. "What do you mean, "psssht"?", he asked the bottle. And thus we learned that the tiny "mit kohlensäure" label in small font meant "carbonated" and we needed to specifically get bottles that said "ohne Kohlensäure".
I seriously don't understand how people drink that shit. It's... ugh. The worst.
It's just as hydrating as water (because it is) but the carbonic acid inside neutralizes pH in your stomach, ie makes an upset stomach feel better.
LostCaress
Member
EU is not the same as Europe.
Well lazy students don't matter, I'm thinking about the average person. What do they eat?
If it weren't clear, I'm kidding Altough yeah, seeing that other countries eat a lot less pasta "feel" so strange. I mean obviously there are other things to eat but lunch without pasta everyday feel so strange ahah.
Altough yeah, seeing that other countries eat a lot less pasta "feel" so strange. I mean obviously there are other things to eat but lunch without pasta everyday feel so strange ahah.Gaf's obsession? Try the world's obsession.
Yes it's the gaf diet; chicken breast for breakfast, lunch and dinner, each with a side of protein shake.
How about american obsession. We here in Germany it bread so much, we call beer the liquid bread.
To start with, our bread is highly regulated in some countries, this means a maximum salt, sugar, fat, etc. Eating bread in the EU is definitely not the same as eating bread in the US.
Our food equivalents have overall less calories in comparison. Even our home cooking is in general much lighter, even when we are cooking the same things.
Our food equivalents have overall less calories in comparison. Even our home cooking is in general much lighter, even when we are cooking the same things.
Messofanego
Banned
Well then.
Your comment about scooters, what? I hardly ever see that. If I do, it's because the person is so obese they literally can't get around normally anymore. And if you fault us for using our car, our cities are not designed for walking! Some of my Texas cities just got developed with modern roads within the last 50 years.
Yeah we have a lot of fast food, but we also just have a lot of food options in general, and all of it is faster than what I typically encounter in Europe.
But yeah, Austrian tap water is incredible. I loved it.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
I'm a 6'1", 170lb Canadian who eats pasta, rice, or bread with nearly every meal. I'll also down 5-10 cookies a night for most of the week as well. I'm still rather thin and fit despite this diet, although I am active-ish. Carbs are not the enemy that everyone thinks they are, I don't care what "science" and "facts" say. The shit tastes fucking delicious, and I am neither obese nor diabetic. I also drink several bottles of wine and/or 6-12 beers a week. I'm healthy as a fucking reindeer.
Well duh. But the EU is in Europe and every country I've visited is in Europe and the EU. Do you understand what I'm talking about when I say the way people live their lives on this side of the pond (in developed, typically EU nations) is collectively different than the values we have In America?
Excuse me for not visiting Serbia and Moldova and Romania and Ukraine before making a commentary on Europe, lord.
No it's not. Just because you eat it a lot doesn't make it healthy.
Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
I don't get it either. I fucking love bread, I really love rice, and I think I would literally die if I couldn't have pasta. I eat lots of veggies and proteins as well, but it's always accompanied by one of those three things.
edit: I'm so, so fiending for a pulled-pork poutine right now. Oh god this was the wrong thread to enter at this time of night.
double edit: I eat tons of cheese and drink a lot of milk as well. According to GAF I should basically be dead by now.
Doner spots are the only place I found, and I always had to ask where the nearest was.
Almost nowhere = nothing but doner.
We're a whole nation of healthy vikings, god damnit. If you think bread is unhealthy you're misinformed.
Here in italy too, but people still think "Pasta and bread (carbs) will make you fat! Stop eating pasta and you will lose 20kg in a week".
And then they substitute it with rice, which has even more carbs.
What else do you want? Doner kebab is the best drunken food
I did. Spent almost a week in Copenhagen. The rye bread is incredible. Not a fan of the licorice though
but I enjoyed a good open-faced sandwich.Switch Back 9
a lot of my threads involve me fucking up somehow. Perhaps I'm a moron?
paradise_circus
Member
yeah, you remember the things correctly.
Back to my entire point: options. In USA I have like 20 different cuisines and styles of food to choose from on a whim after being drunk at night. 24 hour grocery stores, fast food, sit down restaurants, whatever.
Although yes I love a good doner when I'm drunk.
LostCaress
Member
No, it's about the way you interchange EU and europe as if it's the same. Also Romania is in the EU.
- Status
Similar threads
- Poll