this post was submitted on 03 Nov 2023
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[–] mnoram 94 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Shouldn't have adjusted the scale for the North American graphic.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 1 year ago

Yeah, that's pretty egregious. It looks like North America is no better than Poland in the first graphic.

[–] [email protected] 38 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Worth noting that potatoes are not included.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago

What the fuck

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I bet, ajvar is included though

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Crazy. I figured the reason Belgians are an outlier from their neighbours is due to their fried potato addiction. So it's not that. Crazy

[–] [email protected] 27 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Is it still healthy when you cook the vegetables in bacon fat, cover them in cheese, deep fry them, then cover them in cheese and bacon again?

Now that I've read the article... Um... There is a great lack of source data which leads me to believe they've basically added up how many kilos of vegetables a country produces/imports and divided by estimate populous. In other words, with no evidence to the contrary, they're including vegetables used in manufacturing/production of non food goods. Think of all the corn "consumed" by making biodiesel.

Sure they take the time to include a broken link where they define vegetable, but they need to also define consume. (See the biodiesel example)

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Damn, us norwegians didn't eat our veggies growing up

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Norway imports a lot of tomatoes

[–] matter 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Very interesting, but I really struggle to believe that the diets of Germany and the Netherlands are that different, having lived in both of them.

[–] sagrotan 1 points 1 year ago

That's how I see it too, I can't believe that Germans eat so few veggies, all Germans I know are vegetarians or just really fans of the veggie beside the meat. Peculiar.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 1 year ago (2 children)

You think so? My impression of the Netherlands is that the staple food is fries with mayonnaise, maybe with some broodje kroket in between. In general the diet consists of a lot of butter, white bread and sugar. To me it does not seemt surprising at all that they eat least vegetables in Europe.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

This is far from the truth.

Breakfast and lunch usually consist of whole grain bread with cheese or meats. The most common dinner is AVG (boiled potatoes with vegetables and meat), a pasta or a dish with rice.

Sure, fries are the most common street food, but it sure isn't as bad as you seem to think.

[–] matter 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah the diet isn't great, but it's just extremely similar to Germany in my experience

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Named Turkey. Eats veggies. Hmmm...

[–] Taalen 3 points 1 year ago

Is this the one where Croatia's numbers ended up including French fries?

[–] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

In Turkey, tobacco counts as a vegetable.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

Serbia's meat culture vs the more veggie-leaning ones around it lol

[–] [email protected] -4 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Don't know about the methodology, but this interestingly contradicts what "health food" culture would have you believe, esp. USA vs. Western Europe, and the relative place of countries like France.

In general, poorer and less connected to global economy means more vegetables? More affluent people people can't help the convenience of other foods? The other variable would be agriculture, and depth of living in capitalist economy including the older generations (which excludes Eastern Europe). I suspect in some places relatively "silent" and unpublicized demographics, like older people in the east, can skew the stats. I wonder who eats vegetables in the US (disclaimer, never been there) and what comes to mind is poor people outside metropolitan areas.

[–] The_v 8 points 1 year ago

This shows what you get when you summarize data incorrectly. It's pretty close to meaningless.

All that this shows is the differences in water content of the preferred fruits and veggies consumed in the country.

For example in turkey they eat a lot of watermelons and cucumbers.

Northern counties eat vegetables like carrots and cabbage which has a lower water content.

In order to more accurately understand vegetable consumption you must first convert to dry matter of vegetables consumed and then compare.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

this interestingly contradicts what “health food” culture would have you believe

How?

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

That Europeans, specifically those around the Mediterranean Sea, are healthier than Americans because of a greater degree of vegetal nutrition. Like any complex system, there are more factors involved, I’d wager.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Are we counting corn in this? The link to their list of veggies 404s.

Because the numbers for the US would make much more sense. But yes, it's certainly more complex than that. Not all veggies are created equal, and if the proteins and fats are coming from different sources that'll be big too.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 1 year ago

Whether we're counting potatoes could also be a big factor (especially for eastern europe eating more veggies than western)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Corn is not a vegetable though. It's a grain.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago

I agree, that's why I wanted to check.