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An American in Europe
Eating Europe
It's so remarkable that researchers have a name for it: The French Paradox. In Europe they eat. Courses and courses. The French are famous for their long lunches, though harder recent times are put a bit of a dent in that. Still, they love their food, smothered in butter and cooked in fat. The German munch on sausages and drink beer like it's water. Italians load up their plates with pasta and down it with wine. The Swiss pig out on chocolate. Okay, they all pig out on chocolate. In Europe you can't throw a rock without hitting the sign of a confectionary shop.
Yet they're on the whole not suffering the obesity epidemic we are. They live longer than we do. The U.S. ranks 37th for life-expectancy—right after, wait for it!—Cuba. Yes, Cuba. Nearly all the countries in the E.U. are in the top fifteen. Most are in the top ten. Hmmm…
Of course there are lots of factors that determine life expectancy, from stress to the quality of food and water. And sadly, the U.S. ranks poorly in all of them. But when it comes to eating, we take it on the chin twice: Europeans eat those fatty diets that nutritionists say are so bad. And they live longer anyway. It makes me jealous. I remember sitting in a cafe in France once and across from me was a guy eating a hamburger with what had to be a half-pound patty and oodles of cheese, bread, and sauce. And he was skinny as a rail.
One of the obvious reasons Europeans can indulge in delicious, RICH food (they aren't as obsessed with counting calories and fats as we are; you don't see diet guides and exercise tapes lining the shelves of their bookstores as much as here) is that they bike and walk more. The centers of many European towns are traffic-free pedestrian zones. It's hard to walk in some places—Amsterdam especially, but not only there—without hearing a bike's horn behind you. And town tend to be smaller. There's more within walking distance. In many areas, cars are a liability. That's why they aren't as freaky about high gas prices as we are—they don't "live in their cars." Many people there don't even own cars. They just rent them when they need them, relying on their feet and bikes and public transit more of the time than we do. (And it's easier to do this—public transit in Europe is used by a broad cross-section of the populace, is safe, clean and conveniently-located, and runs late.) I will admit that lately I've noticed more and larger cars in Europe—and more portly Europeans in them. Let's hope this trend doesn't continue, and they don't emulate our worst habits.
I don't have objective proof for this, but I suspect another reason Europeans can eat "bad" is that their food safety standards are more stringent than ours. They don't allow the additives we do, and many American companies that do business there have "purer" versions of their product: Snickers, Hersheys and other chocolates taste better there because they use higher-quality ingredients than at home. The chemicals we ingest here that very likely are cutting our lives short are not legal there.That's one thing I love about eating in Europe: even the junk food is better. Ordinary candy bars taste like our "gourmet" ones. Bread is fresher, meat lacks the additives that make it look better but have questionable health benefits. Though there are some areas of the U.S. that adopt a similar way of eating, for the most part we lag behind our European counterparts.
So the lesson is to go to Europe as often as you can and enjoy eating there, and that even includes some of the "junk" food. Eat the cheese. Enjoy the red meat. Indulge in the sachertore, and pile on the schlag. (That's whipped cream.) Just make use of the pedestrian walkways, bike, and see the sights, of which there are so many you'll wonder how they fit them all on such a small continent. And the next time you're in an American food store, read the additives in what you're buying and ask yourself, "Do I need all that junk inside me?" And maybe we'll start moving back up that life expectancy list!
John Grabowski
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