Research Slovinia

Project

We are Žiga Ivanc, Jan Filip Jordan Frangeš, Koen Dekker and Jake van Overbeek. The first two live in Slovenia, the other two in the Netherlands. We are doing a project about food and drinks. This is our blog.

Main question: What are the differences and similairitis of food and drinks in Holland and Slovenia.

Sub questions:

What are the main food and drinking problems?
What are the tippical food and habbits of Slovenia and Holland?
How is food made?

Table of content:

Food and drinks problems
Eating habbits Holland
Eating Habbits Slovenia
(WIll come) Tipical food Holland
(Will come) Tipical food Slovenia
Making Food

FOOD AND DRINKS PROBLEMS

Consumption of alcohol in Slovenia is quite high according to other EU members. Among young people the consumption of alcohol is rising according to the ESPAD. With the raising of alcohol the illness is rising too.

In 2003 there was 27.3 % male students and 18.5 % female students that was drunk by the age of 13 or less.

72.3 male students and 64.7% female students have been drinking beer or wine before the age of 13.

country	recorded	unrecorded	total	beer	wine	spirits	other
Slovenia	12.19	3.00	15.19	4.10	5.10	1.33	0.00
Netherlands	9.55	0.50	10.05	4.72	3.26	1.56	0.00

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_alcohol_consumption

There are roughly four levels of alcohol drinking - social, heavy, problem and dependent. As a rule, each level increases the risk to your health and safety. Most people drink some alcohol. However, even a small amount of alcohol can be dangerous if you drive, operate machinery, or take some types of medication. This is drinking above the recommended safe limits, which are:

• Men should drink no more than 21 units of alcohol per week, no more than four units in any one day, and have at least two alcohol-free days a week.
• Women should drink no more than 14 units of alcohol per week, no more than three units in any one day, and have at least two alcohol-free days a week.
• Pregnant women. Advice from the Department of Health states that ... "pregnant women or women trying to conceive should not drink alcohol at all. If they do choose to drink, to minimise the risk to the baby, they should not drink more than 1-2 units of alcohol once or twice a week and should not get drunk".

What can help me to reduce or stop drinking alcohol?

No one can make you stop or cut down drinking. You have to be committed and determined to do this yourself. However, it can be difficult, and one or more of the following may help.

Accepting the problem

Some people deny to themselves that they have a problem. The sort of thoughts that some people deceive themselves with include: "I can cope", "I'm only drinking what my mates drink", "I can stop at any time".

Accepting that you may have a problem, and seeking help where necessary, are often the biggest steps to cutting back on alcohol, or cutting it out completely.

Self-help

Some people are helped by books, websites, leaflets and their own determination. It is thought that about 1 in 3 people who have a problem with alcohol return to sensible drinking, or stop drinking, without any professional help. See the end of this leaflet for a list of resources.

Talking treatments

Some people are helped by counselling and advice from a practice nurse or doctor. Sometimes a referral to a specially trained counsellor may be advised. They can help you to talk through the issues in more detail and help you to plan how to manage your drinking. In some cases, more intensive talking treatments such as cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), motivational interviewing, or motivational enhanced therapy may be appropriate. For example, CBT helps you to change certain ways that you think, feel and behave, and may help some people with alcohol problems.

Talking treatments are particularly useful for children with alcohol-related problems who are aged between 10 and 17. Children may also be offered family therapy in which other members of their family may be involved in a course of treatment.

Treating other illnesses

Alcohol may seem to be a quick answer to the relief of stress, anxiety, depression, or other mental health problems. However, the effect is short-lived and drinking a lot of alcohol often makes these conditions worse. If you feel that these conditions are the underlying problem then see your doctor. Medication and talking treatments such as CBT often work well for these conditions, and are a much better long-term option than heavy drinking.

Other medication sometimes used for alcohol problems

• Vitamins, particularly vitamin B1 (thiamine), are often prescribed if you are alcohol-dependent - especially during detox. This is because many people who are dependent on alcohol do not eat properly and can lack certain vitamins. A lack of vitamin B1 is the most common. A lack of this vitamin can cause serious brain conditions called Wernicke's encephalopathy and Korsakoff's psychosis.
• Acamprosate and naltrexone are medicines which can help to ease alcohol craving. Either of these may be prescribed to some people after a successful detox to help them stay off alcohol.
• Disulfiram is another medicine which is sometimes used following a successful detox. When you take disulfiram you get very unpleasant symptoms if you drink any alcohol (such as flushing, vomiting, palpitations and headache). So, in effect, the medicine acts as a deterrent for when you are tempted to drink. It can help some people to stay off alcohol.
• Lorazepam, olanzapine and haloperidol are all used in the treatment of delirium tremens.
• Baclofen is a medicine that is reported in some medical studies to help some people to stay off alcohol or to reduce drinking quantity. It may also reduce craving and reduce anxiety in alcohol-dependent people. However, the evidence for the effect of baclofen is conflicting and other studies do not support these reports. More research is needed to clarify whether baclofen is helpful. Note: it is currently not licensed for the treatment of alcohol-related problems.

After detoxification and staying off alcohol

Many people who successfully detox go back to drinking heavily again at some point. There are various reasons why this may occur. It is thought that you are less likely to go back to drinking heavily if you have counselling, or other support to help you to stay off alcohol. Your doctor, practice nurse, or local drug and alcohol unit may provide ongoing support when you are trying to stay off alcohol. Self-help groups such as Alcoholics Anonymous have also helped many people to stay off alcohol.

If you do go back to heavy drinking, you can always try again to stop or cut down. Some people take several attempts before they stop drinking, or keep within the safe limits, for good.

http://alcoholism.about.com/od/tests/l/blquiz_alcohol.htm

Short-term effects of alcohol on the human body can take many forms. The drug alcohol, to be specific ethanol, is a central nervous system depressant with a range of side-effects. Cell membranes are highly permeable to alcohol, so once alcohol is in the bloodstream it can diffuse into nearly every biological tissue of the body.

 

The concentration of alcohol in blood is usually measured in terms of the blood alcohol content. The amount and circumstances of consumption play a large part in determining the extent of intoxication; for example, eating a heavy meal before alcohol consumption causes alcohol to absorb more slowly.^[1] Hydration also plays a role, especially in determining the extent of hangovers.^[2] After excessive drinking, unconsciousness can occur and extreme levels of consumption can lead to alcohol poisoning and death (a concentration in the blood stream of 0.40% will kill half of those affected^[3][4]). Alcohol may also cause death by asphyxiation from vomit.

Alcohol is an addictive drug that can greatly exacerbate sleep problems. During abstinence, residual disruptions in sleep regularity and sleep patterns are the greatest predictors of relapse.

Facts and Figures

Alcoholconsumption per capita 1960-2010

Holland eating habbits

Breakfast and lunch differ little in Dutch cuisine and both consist of bread with a wide variety of cold cuts, cheeses and sweet toppings; such as hagelslag, vlokken and muisjes. Chocolate spread, treacle (a thick, dark brown sugar syrup called stroop), peanut butter and confiture are popular too.

The Dutch are famous for their dairy products and especially for their cheeses. The vast majority of Dutch cheeses are semi-hard or hard cheeses. Famous Dutch cheeses include Gouda, Edam, and Leyden. A typically Dutch way of making cheese is to blend in herbs or spices during the first stages of the production process. Famous examples of this are cheeses with cloves (usually the Frisian nagelkaas), cumin (most famously Leyden cheese), or nettles.

Dutch bread tends to be very airy, as it is made from yeast dough. From the 1970s onward Dutch bread became predominantly whole grain, with additional seeds such as sunflower or pumpkin seeds often mixed with the dough for taste. Rye bread is one of the few dense breads of the Netherlands. White bread used to be the luxury bread, often made with milk as well as water. A Frisian luxury version of white bread is suikerbrood, white bread with large lumps of sugar mixed with the dough.^[5] Kerststol is a traditional Dutch Christmas bread made of bread dough with sugar, dried fruits, raisins and currants and lemon and orange zest, eaten sliced, spread with butter.

Those who do not want to have breakfast but need something in their stomach in the morning often eat the famous Dutch ontbijtkoek. It is usually served as a small slice, possibly with butter.

Dutch people invite friends over for koffietijd (coffee time), which consists of coffee and cake or a biscuit, served between 10 and 11 a. m. (before lunch) and/or between 7 and 8 p. m. (after dinner). The Dutch drink coffee and tea throughout the day, often served with a single biscuit. Dutch thrift led to the famous standard rule of only one cookie with each cup of coffee. It has been suggested that the reasons for this can be found in the Protestant mentality and upbringing in the northern Netherlands. The traditionally Roman Catholic south does not share this tradition as for instance in Limburg, where serving a large vlaai (sweet pie or pastry with filling), cut into eight pieces, is tradition when visitors are expected.

Café au lait is also very common. It is called koffie verkeerd (literally "wrong coffee") and consists of equal parts black coffee and hot milk. The Dutch drink tea without milk and the tea is quite a lot weaker than the typical English types of tea which are taken with milk. Other hot drinks used to include warm lemonade, called kwast (hot water with lemon juice), and anijsmelk (hot milk with aniseed). In the autumn and winter the very popular hot chocolate or chocolate milk is drunk. Both anijsmelk and kwast are hardly drunk anymore and have lost their popularity.

Dinner, traditionally served early by international standards, starts at about 6 o'clock in the evening. The old-fashioned Dutch dinner consists of one simple course: beans or potatoes, meat and vegetables. Traditionally potatoes with a large portion of vegetables and a small portion of meat with gravy, or a potato and vegetable stew. A typical traditional Dutch dinner would include stamppot (Dutch mashed potato mixed with other mashed vegetables) and pea soup. Vegetable stews served as side dishes are for example rodekool met appeltjes (red cabbage with apples), or rode bieten (beetroot). Regular spices used in stews of this kind may be bay leaves, juniper berries, cloves, and vinegar, although strong spices are generally used sparingly. Stews are often served with mixed pickles, including zure zult or stewed pears. Due to the influx of other countries traditional meals have lost some popularity. Stamppot is traditionally eaten in winter.

If there is a starter, it is usually soup. The final course is a sweet dessert, traditionally yogurt with some sugar or vla, thin milk pudding (cooked milk with custard).

Another dish served at the dinner table is a very thick pea soup, called snert and it can be served either as a main dish or as an appetizer and is traditionally eaten during the winter. Snert has a very thick consistency and often includes pieces of pork and rookworst - smoked sausage - and is almost a stew rather than a soup. It is customarily served with roggebrood (rye bread) spread with butter and topped with katenspek, a variety of bacon which is first cooked and then smoked. The meat from the soup may also be put on the rye bread and eaten with mustard.

Meat dishes include gehaktballen meatballs, slavink, minced meat wrapped in bacon, balkenbrij, a type of liverwurst and meatloaf. The butter based gravy (boterjus), in which the meat has been fried and/or cooked, is also served. A variant of this, eaten around the IJsselmeer (a shallow lake in the central Netherlands), is butter en eek, where vinegar is added to the gravy.

Another Dutch dinner dish is pannenkoeken (pancakes are named after pannenkoeken), which come in several varieties including poffertjes (miniature pancakes) and spekdik (a Northern variant with bacon). Wentelteefjes (French toast) are similar. Broeder, a type of cake, is also eaten for dinner, mainly in West Friesland.

In season, mosselen (mussels) are quite popular and commonly served with patat (french fries).

Desserts often include vla (vanilla custard) or yogurt. Regional variants include broodpap, a bread porridge made from old bread, milk, butter and sugar.

Other puddings and porridges are griesmeelpudding, grutjespap, Haagse bluf, hangop, Jan in de zak, karnemelksepap, rijstebrij (rice pudding), krentjebrij (also called watergruwel).

Indonesian and Indo dishes became popular. While popular in Holland, Rijsttafel is now rare in Indonesia itself.

In recent decades, Arab dishes have become increasingly popular, especially as a snack food. In larger towns and cities, small restaurants selling Kebab, Shaorma and Falafel can be found on virtually any street corner.

Slovenian Meals and Eating Habits

 

In Slovenia, like in other European countries, we have our own eating habits but they are becoming more and more unhealthy, like American ones.

 

Mostly we eat three meals a day: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Typical lunch is beef soup, roast beef, potatoes and salad, but dinners are very variable. Breakfast and dinner are either warm or cold, but lunch is always warm. The worst eating habit we have is leaving breakfast out, because of the lack of time. And the second worst habit is eating lunch late in the afternoon, when we come from school or work. Lately, we eat more fruit and vegetables again, but average Slovenian still eats half of recommended quantity of fruit and vegetables. Research has shown, that 33% of boys, and 47% of girls eat fruit every day, and 22% of boys, and 33% of girls eat vegetables every day, too. We don’t drink enough water, because majority of people prefer beer, juice or aerated drinks to water. Because of the lack of time, more and more people eat in fast food restaurants, specially in McDonalds. On the other hand, 46% of Slovenian think, that they are too fat, and 95,000 of Slovenian people are too fat, if we consider BWI calculation.

 

Enough tasty vegetables, fruit, and other food is available in our stores and restaurants, so we can find no excuse for unhealthy eating habits.

 

Breakfast

 

Many times we skip breakfast, or we eat it very quickly because we are in a hurry to the job or school. But when we do eat breakfast we usually eat bread with some butter and jam or bread with cheese or salami /sausage. Sometimes we eat Čokolino.

At weekends we have very big and fat breakfasts like croissant and coffee or sunnysideup eggs. Very often, however, we just grab some fruit.

Lunch

We normaly eat lunch at school. Our cooks take good care of us. Sometimes, the lunches in school are to our taste, but sometimes they are not so good (read beetween the lines). But if we eat lunch at home, we almost every day eat stake and potatoes, or spaghetti with some sauce. At weekends and during holidays when the whole family gets together we have many different courses: eg. beef soup, patatoes, meat, vegetables and salad. Beef soup is a traditional starter to a good Slovenian Sunday lunch.

Dinner

Dinner is usually bigger than breakfast, but still smaller than lunch. Sometimes we eat it togeher, but sometimes we eat it by watching TV or reading books. For dinner some of us eat musli with milk or yoghurt, or  some dairy products.

We usually eat dinner at home, with family.  We have different stuff  to eat at the evenings.

Sometimes we eat potato with some meat, or some pasta, risotto, salad, etc.

Sometimes we eat sandwiches, with salami or cheese and some yoghurt.

 

Making food and drinks

In Holland and Slovenia there’re rules about the making of food and drinks. The rules are being mandate by the European Union on whole of Europe.

In Holland the government wants that it is easy for people to be able to make healthy food. The government also wants to survey if the food is save. She has rules for the safety and for the production of food.

The get advice of the independent  food council. Every product needs to be approved by the government before it is allowed to be produced. The codex Alimentarius is an international organisation that developers the rules of food products.

The product needs to be traceable., the producer needs to be able to show where to product came from and to who he has delivered it. The producer also needs to inform the NVWA ( Dutch food and goods authority) when some product isn’t save.

Providing proper information

Ways to achieve make sure customers have proper information on the products include:

• Labelling
  The government ensures that food is labelled properly. If consumers know what a product contains, they can make more conscious decisions about food.
• Logos
  The healthy choice logo is an official Dutch seal that makes it easier to identify healthy food products. The green version, with the text gezondere keuze, or ‘healthier choice’, is awarded to the healthiest options within a group of basic food products that includes bread, milk, and fruit and vegetables. The blue version, with the text bewuste keuze, or ‘conscious choice’is found on healthier choices in the category of products that includes soups, sauces, and snacks.

All the information that must be on an etiquette:

·         On the labels stands the E-numbers. They’re approved colourings, flavourings, and preservatives. They’re only approved when research says the products don’t are dangerous for the health of someone.

·         Biologic. This is only allowed when it follows strict rules of animal welfare and environmental conservation.

·         Genetic modificated organism. If there’re more than 0,9 precent genetic modificated organism.

·         The origin

·         Nutritive value.

·         Feeding claims and healthy claims, like having a low fat content, have to satisfy at some standard so that it is all equal in the European Union.

Commodities Act

The Commodities Act stipulates that a product may not endanger the health or safety of consumers. This legislation covers foods, ingredients, production, food preparation sites and sales outlets. The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority provides government oversight to ensure the legislation is complied with.

Food safety

The government ensures food safety, as people must be able to trust that food is safe and not dangerous to their health.
The Dutch Food and Consumer Product Safety Authority monitors whether businesses comply with food standards and regulations. The private sector is responsible for daily inspections and quality controls, but government oversight remains key. Companies with well-functioning control systems are checked less frequently by the government, freeing the inspectors to focus on problem companies.

Biological food

Organic foods are foods that are produced using methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs. Organic foods are also not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives.

Beer

 

The most usual way to produce is by taking mineral water and then putting malt with it. Then ferment it. At this process there is produced carbon dioxide and alcohol. Then the hop are being cooked with it for the flavour and as preservative.

Research

Research question: What are the differences and similarities in export and import of the Netherlands and Slovenia and what does that say about the culture?

Intro research:

In Holland there’re multiple supermarkets like Jumbo, Albert Hein and C1000. They compete with each other and have a large assortment. In every town there’s almost always at least one supermarket. They get their food mostly from a big distribution centre and some of the locals. But it is also possible to buy from a market or get from a grocer or butchery.

In Slovenia almost everyone has a garden where they cultivate food. There are not many supermarkets in Slovenia, but little shops who sells food and drinks.

We will research on difference groups as the student, the families and stores. We have done research at the school cafeteria ‘Enve’, at the supermarket nearby Udens College the Jumbo Drossaard and at a biologic food and drinks distribution centre.

School cafetaria ENVE      (10-10-2012)

We have interviewed Frank Pansier from the ENVE.

The ENVE is fully controlled by scholars. They buy their products from ‘Van Oers’. They sell unhealthy food, with a long shelf life. The most popular food and drinks are kitkak, cola, monster and bueno. They try to do not make lose, but it is difficult because they can’t keep their prices very low like the supermarkets, because they buy in a lot. The benefit they give is that the cafeteria is at school, so you don’t need to walk to the supermarket. The prices they try to get them with round numbers so it’s easy for the accountancy. Most of the prices are the same. The ENVE has discounts on product that are over date. They also have a discount when the supplier has a discount. The menu is decided by the consumer, what they like and what the people who are working at the ENVE like. Both teacher as students buy food and drink at the ENVE.

Jumbo de Laak Drossaard

Ronald de Laak – “90% of the products come from the Jumbo distribution centrum in Veghel, the other 10% comes from individual manufacturers from surrounding areas. The most important products are the fresh products like meat, cheese and vegetables, the primary needs. The margin of our store is small, but we have a big volume. We lose money with the A-product, because we have the lowest prices, which sometimes are lower than the purchase prices. The prices of the store are made up by the market. The Jumbo headquarters decide what product are in the assortment of the store, but the Jumbo in Uden has a bigger assortment than the other Jumbo’s in the Netherlands. The main buyers of the store are families. De Jumbo has 24.000 customers a week. The products in the store are tested in the distribution centrum, the store only has to sell them. The typical Dutch food like stroopwafels, drop and herring aren’t sold more than the average. The Jumbo at the Drossaard is the best supermarket in Uden, because of the great service and the big assortment.”

 

Udea                         (10-10-2012)

This interview we have had with John Harskamp, the boss of the three bosses who control the three warehouses. The ideal of the company is that the company is good for the nature.

Udea is a distribution centre for organic food. They are the biggest distribution centre of Holland. Everything you can think of like beer, a toothbrush, and toilet paper. They also have fresh milk, dessert and vegetarian meat. They also have dry goods in a place of 7500 square kilometre. The vegetables are selling very well. They have 56 shops of Eko Plaza where they deliver their food. 26 shops they control themselves but their ones are in the hands of private individuals. First Udea sold to the PLUS and Lidle, but they are very strict and Udea stopped. They are filing containers and between 17:00 and 19:00 hour or 03:00 and 05:00 the trucks are taking the products to the shops.  

The products are from all over the country, from farmers and from groceries. They also come from Italy, Spain, France, Belgium and Germany, but not in Slovenia. They search for new products by an agent. He searches for farmers in all of Europe if they want to sell to Udea. Udea is also going to conventions of biological food to get new costumers and sell products.

The price of the products depends on the availability of it. Udea also looks at the competition when they decide what the prices will be. Biological food is more expensive than normal, because the process of making the food cost more money.  Every product must be certificated. A company tests every product of it is biological produced. Udea also sends samples of products to labs where it will be investigated. When something is not right, the product will not be sold anymore. If a product then is not biological, they will need to sell it to a normal distribution centre.

First inside there is the main office. Further there are warehouse where all the products are stored. Every place has another temperature because of the different kind of product. They have vegetables, meat and drinks inside. Inside Udea there is a company, who cut all the food in little pieces when needed. Furthermore, there is a logistic part that controls all the schedules of the trucks and keep the orders.