Caution: Delicious and Dangerous! The Unhealthiest Cuisines in the World

The Unhealthiest Cuisines in the World

Every country in the world has its own culinary portrait, which is formed from a complex set of characteristics that determine the quality, quantity, and cost of food. Most tourists prefer to travel for the opportunity to taste different cuisines from around the world.

Smoked ribs and sausages, fried potatoes, baklava, and nougat — the local cuisine lures tourists with bright and unusual flavors. However, not all national dishes are equally healthy. Many of them are quite unhealthy.

Experts have published a list of countries whose national cuisines are excessively rich in carbohydrates and fats, which is not beneficial for health.

For instance, one of the most caloric cuisines in the world is Czech. The traditional Czech diet consists of fatty meats and sauces, lard, bread, potato dumplings, pancakes, sausages, fried cheese, and pork jelly, accompanied by a large amount of beer. Tourists can enjoy fatty roasted pork knuckle, dumplings, and utopenci — pickled sausages, while beer is considered the national drink. This has led to 22 percent of Czechs suffering from obesity. It is nearly impossible to be a vegetarian or teetotaler in the Czech Republic — meat and beer are indecently cheap and sold in hundreds of variations. Nevertheless, there is a noticeable shortage of vegetables and light side dishes in the country. This is why it has been confirmed that high cholesterol, hypertension, and gallbladder problems are common among nearly all adult residents of the republic.

A similar situation exists in Hungary. The nation suffering the most from obesity is the Hungarians. This is due to traditional Hungarian dishes — goulash, chicken paprikash, halászlé (fish soup), Budapest-style meat, baked pasta with meat. Additionally, locals love spices, sauces, as well as bread and pastries. Chefs use a lot of flour and lard in their dishes, with pork being the preferred type of meat. Hungarians have the highest rates of obesity and salt consumption among all Europeans and the lowest life expectancy among them. The Hungarian government recently introduced a tax on unhealthy food as a way to combat obesity and raised prices on packaged snacks and sugary soft drinks. The results have been surprising — about 30 percent of the country's population has changed their eating habits.

Germany is also not considered a healthy cuisine — another country with caloric national dishes, including pork knuckle, sausages, schnitzel, potato salad, and Black Forest cherry cake.

Two-thirds of the meat consumed by Germans is pork, 20 percent is poultry, and only 15 percent is beef. Germans wash down their meaty and baked diet, which lacks fruits and vegetables, with beer, and there is even a saying: "If Adam had beer, he would never have eaten the apple." Modern Germans have this frothy drink, but their diet lacks sufficient vegetables and fruits. The result is a catastrophic situation regarding diabetes, obesity, and heart disease.

The locals in Belgium prefer to eat simple hearty food, similar to the German style: stewed rabbit, goulash, beef steaks, pies, and in the many restaurants in the country, they choose refined dishes often borrowed from France. However, Belgium is primarily famous for chocolate, which Belgians consume in large quantities, waffles, French fries, beer, and local fast food chains. Unhealthy eating habits are an integral part of their culture. The excessive consumption of these treats has led to every other Belgian being concerned about diabetes and excess weight. Nevertheless, this trend is gradually changing as more and more organic shops and restaurants are appearing in the country.

Belarus also made the list — all due to potatoes, which are a common ingredient in many dishes. There are so many ways to prepare it: "fried potatoes, stewed potatoes, mashed potatoes, draniki (potato pancakes)..." Belarusian cuisine is a true ode to the potato. The Belarusians' obsession with potatoes has become a subject of jokes and anecdotes. Locals indeed use this root vegetable quite often in their diet, and it cannot be called a low-calorie product. Frequent consumption of potatoes, especially with butter, sour cream, and meat, unfortunately, has its consequences — high obesity rates in the country.

The stereotypes about overweight Americans are based on real statistics — the obesity rate here breaks all records, and healthy eating remains the prerogative of a small segment of the population. The cuisine of this country is filled with dishes such as French fries, pasta, pizza, beef steaks, and hamburgers. Moreover, despite such an extensive list, there is practically nothing healthy in these dishes.

Fast food chains dominate school nutrition, and companies producing soft drinks are the main taxpayers. Statistics on deaths caused by weight-related issues do not always reflect reality but have been steadily rising since the 1980s.

Armenia risks losing its status as a country of longevity, and the reason is sweets. The legacy of Soviet food supply and the lack of a strong social institution for dietetics have led to schoolchildren in Armenia eating chocolate bars, chips, and hot dogs in cafeterias, while the most sold products in the country are sweets. Their consumption has skyrocketed to the top in Europe, with sweets becoming the main dish for breakfast and lunch, and doctors are already sounding the alarm about this harmful food.

As for the countries of the Arabian Peninsula and the Middle East, their cuisine is mostly quite healthy. Arabs eat fresh vegetable salads, stewed beef, lamb, hummus, and legumes. They made it onto the list of the unhealthiest cuisines due to fatty stews, kebabs, and famous Eastern sweets — baklava, nougat, date cookies, and muhalabia (pudding), which can cause health problems when consumed excessively.

The cuisine of Mongolia, on the other hand, is not so much unhealthy as it is unbalanced. It is based on fatty meat and dairy products with virtually no vegetables. Even tea is consumed with milk, and spirits are made from it as well.

Argentina has the highest levels of obesity and overweight in Latin America. The local meat is considered some of the best in the world. It forms the basis of the daily diet of Argentinians, who prefer to prepare a variety of dishes from it. As travelers report, it is rare to find the same recipe in different regions, so during gastronomic tours, it is necessary to visit various regions of the country. The national diet, rich in carbohydrates and centered around white bread, bears its fruits.

Empanadas, pizza, pasta, sugar, and red meat — Argentine food is quite heavy and unhealthy.

The diet of the residents of Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, and Kazakhstan is quite harsh. Plov, shawarma, baklava, and various stews — all these dishes cannot boast low calorie content and richness in unsaturated fats.

In most cases, they eat rice, meat, bread, and pastries, often fried. And despite the warm climate, for example, in Turkmenistan, which allows the country to grow tons of watermelons, grapes, tomatoes, and other vegetables, most Turkmen do not eat them often.

Vegetables and fruits are not served much on local tables, as they are mainly sent for export.

Recently, high consumption of fast food in Kazakhstan has become a problem in the country. School nutrition has been monopolized by fast food chains, but this issue is now being addressed at the state level.

"In a good shurpa, pieces of fat should float..." — this is the main principle of Kyrgyz cuisine.
In this country, fatty lamb is very popular, which is hard to call a diet meat, and it constitutes a significant part of the diet. At first, it tastes good, but then it hurts, and unfortunately, that is the outcome of such a menu.