Nutritional and health aspects of food in Western Europe 9780128131718, 0128131713

Table of contents :
Content: 1. Introduction 2. History of Eating Habits in Western Europe 3. Western Food Cultures and Traditions 4. Food, Nutrition and Health on the Island of Ireland 5. Food, Nutrition and Health in the UK 6. Food, Nutrition and Health in the Netherlands 7. Food, Nutrition, and Health in France 8. Food, Nutrition and Health in Germany 9. Common Nutrition and Health Issues 10. Environmental Sustainability Issues for Western Food Production 11. Legal and Regulatory Issues in Western Europe 12. Traditional Food, Legal and Regulatory Issues in Switzerland 13. Future Outlooks

Citation preview

NUTRITIONAL AND HEALTH ASPECTS OF FOOD IN WESTERN EUROPE

Nutritional and Health Aspects of Traditional and Ethnic Foods

NUTRITIONAL AND HEALTH ASPECTS OF FOOD IN WESTERN EUROPE Volume editors: SUSANNE BRAUN € CHRISTINA ZUBERT DIMITRIOS ARGYROPOULOS FRANCISCO JAVIER CASADO HEBRARD Series editors: HUUB LELIEVELD VESLEMØY ANDERSEN VISHWESHWARAIAH PRAKASH JAMUNA PRAKASH BERND VAN DER MEULEN

Academic Press is an imprint of Elsevier 125 London Wall, London EC2Y 5AS, United Kingdom 525 B Street, Suite 1650, San Diego, CA 92101, United States 50 Hampshire Street, 5th Floor, Cambridge, MA 02139, United States The Boulevard, Langford Lane, Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, United Kingdom © 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. Details on how to seek permission, further information about the Publisher’s permissions policies and our arrangements with organizations such as the Copyright Clearance Center and the Copyright Licensing Agency, can be found at our website: www.elsevier.com/permissions. This book and the individual contributions contained in it are protected under copyright by the Publisher (other than as may be noted herein).

Notices Knowledge and best practice in this field are constantly changing. As new research and experience broaden our understanding, changes in research methods, professional practices, or medical treatment may become necessary. Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility. To the fullest extent of the law, neither the Publisher nor the authors, contributors, or editors, assume any liability for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use or operation of any methods, products, instructions, or ideas contained in the material herein. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-0-12-813171-8 For information on all Academic Press publications visit our website at https://www.elsevier.com/books-and-journals

Publisher: Charlotte Cockle Acquisition Editor: Megan R Ball Editorial Project Manager: Kelsey Connors Production Project Manager: Omer Mukthar Cover Designer: Greg Harris Typeset by SPi Global, India

Contributors

Camille Aouinaı¨t Agroscope, Conthey, Switzerland Derek V. Byrne Department of Food Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark Danilo Christen Agroscope, Conthey, Switzerland B.M.J. (Bernd) van der Meulen European Institute for Food Law, Amsterdam, The Netherlands Sara D. Gardun˜o-Diaz Your Choice Nutrition Consultancy, Shaab Al Bahry, Kuwait Luud J.W.J. Gilissen Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen Plant Research, BU Bioscience, Wageningen, The Netherlands Shashank Goyal German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL e.V.), Quakenbr€ uck; EURA AG, Erfurt, Germany Maria Harris DWF Law LLP, Manchester, United Kingdom Volker Heinz German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL e.V.), Quakenbr€ uck, Germany Gunther Hirschfelder Chair of Comparative European Ethnology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany Diane Julien-David University of Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, Strasbourg, France Santosh Khokhar Food4Nutrition, Leeds, United Kingdom Alberto Mancuso Opera S.r.l., Rome, Italy Christophe Marcic University of Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, Strasbourg, France

ix

x

Contributors

Nadine Schuller B.A. Chair of Comparative European Ethnology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany Bernadette Oehen Department of Socio-Economic Sciences, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture—FiBL, Frick, Switzerland Maurice G. O’Sullivan School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland Patrick Pollmer M.A. Chair of Comparative European Ethnology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany Michael Serrur GNT USA, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, United States Sergiy Smetana German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL e.V.), Quakenbr€ uck, Germany Carola Strassner Sustainable Food Systems/Nutrition Ecology, M€ unster University of Applied Sciences, Department of Food—Nutrition—Facilities, M€ unster, Germany Marcus Volkert GNT Europa GmbH, Aachen, Germany Michael Wacker BASF Schweiz AG, Regionales Zentrum f€ ur Arbeitsmedizin, Kaisten, Switzerland Karola Krell Zbinden Attorney-at-Law, Markwalder Emmenegger, Muri, Switzerland

CHAPTER 1

History of eating habits, food cultures and traditions in Western Europe Michael Wacker

BASF Schweiz AG, Regionals Zentrum f€ ur Arbeitsmedizin, Kaisten Site, Kaisten, Switzerland

Contents Introduction It starts with the cavemen The Neolithic Revolution From Bronze Age to the Roman Empire The heritage of the Roman Empire Christian food rules and medical traditions New trade routes The role of potatoes The beginnings of the food industry References

1 2 3 5 7 8 12 13 15 16

Introduction There are four key questions that come up in this article: Why do we cook? Why do we eat what we eat? What has changed after the caveman? Who influenced what we eat today? The first two I answer on a page, then it will be exciting… The invention of cooking extends the biological niche of humans; this has raised the nutritive value of wild plant because nutrients can be digested better. Cooked meat delivered more energy (Carmody et al., 2011). Meats, such as beef, pork, and chicken, can contain harmful bacteria and parasites. If eaten raw, these bacteria and parasites could have severe health impact. Thus, cooking meat properly, harmful organisms are killed during the process. Scientists from the Senckenberg Center for Human Evolution and Paleoenvironment in T€ ubingen have studied the Neanderthals’ diet. Based on the isotope composition in the collagen from the prehistoric humans’ bones, they could show that, while the Neanderthals’ diet consisted primarily of large plant eaters such at mammoths and rhinoceroses, it also included vegetarian food (Wißing et al., 2016). They assume that Neanderthals diet in Western Europe was 80% meat, 20% vegetables. Indeed, there seem to be large differences in the eating habits with their conspecifics from southern Europe: The shotgun-sequencing of ancient DNA from five specimens of Neanderthal calcified dental plaque shows differences in Neanderthal ecology. At Spy cave, Belgium, Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00002-0

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

1

2

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Neanderthal diet was heavily meat based and included woolly rhinoceros and wild sheep (mouflon), characteristic of a steppe environment. In contrast, no meat was detected in the diet of Neanderthals from El Sidro´n cave, Spain, but dietary components of mushrooms, pine nuts, and moss reflected forest gathering (Weyrich et al., 2017). Here we see that—what man eats, how he prepares it, how he eats it, what he doesn’t eat depends on his living environment and his culture. Despite dramatic differences between the typical regional foods, nutritional requirements are usually covered. There cannot be a best form of nutrition for all (Wikipedia.org, n.d.-a), not even an archaic so called Paleolithic diet.

It starts with the cavemen Recent genomic data have revealed multiple interactions between Neanderthals and modern humans. Anatomically modern humans and Neanderthals were both living in Europe for up to 5400 years (Higham et al., 2014). Around 40,000 years ago, during the replacement period, human population increased by one order of magnitude, suggesting that numerical supremacy alone may have been a critical factor in facilitating this replacement (Mellars and French, 2011). Although this process of displacement has existed for many centuries, an increase in a few generations can be seen. Reasons for the sudden fast growth of the population are uncertain. A change in the hunting procedure or the adaption of social structure in growing groups of Homo sapiens may have played a role. The climate change and the environmental conditions could have helped; we could imagine that distribution of knowledge on new medical plants can reinforce this trend. First medical herbs have been found in the Shanidar cave in a 60,000 year old Neanderthal tomb: Yarrow, Cornflower, Bachelor’s Button, St. Barnaby’s Thistle, Ragwort or Groundsel, Grape Hyacinth, Joint Pine or Woody Horsetail and Hollyhock were represented in the pollen samples, all of which have long-known curative powers (Solecki, 1975). Because of a lack of findings, we do not know much about the precise point of time at which Homo sapiens has developed deeper knowledge of medical con€ ditions, treatments and products. Newer findings concerning Otzi, Europe’s oldest known natural human mummy, found on the Hauslabjoch, have shown signs of a much more refined medical knowledge: he had several specialized tattoos created by making multiple parallel or intersecting linear incisions with a scalpel, filling the incisions with a mixture of herbs, and lighting the herbs, which also had the effect of cauterizing the incisions. Most of these tattoos were made on the skin over joints that were affected by arthrosis (lumbar spine, knee, and ankle). He might have used these tattoos as a form of localized therapy for muscle and joint pain. An analysis of the content of the Ice Man’s rectum revealed Trichuris trichiura eggs which cause abdominal pain and cyclic anemia. Among the objects found with the mummy were the woody fruit of Piptoporus betulinus,

History of eating habits, food cultures and traditions

a bracket fungus. The toxic oils in the fungus were probably the only remedy available in Europe before introduction of the considerably more toxic chenopod oil from the Americas (Capasso, 1998). Numerous findings cover that in the Mesolithic period, fish and seafood had a big share in the diet of mankind in coastal regions (Pickard and Bonsall, 2007). Huge mounds of shellfish, known as middens, are common on coast all over Europe. For example, Sligo in Ireland is a place meaning “shells,” a reference to these mounds. The hunters of the North Sea and Baltic coasts were skilled fisher who built dugout, hunted seals with harpoons, and caught fish with traps and nets.

The Neolithic Revolution In Western Europe, the Neolithic Revolution came delayed with the Linear Pottery culture flourishing approximately 5500–4500 BC. Childe named this transition from the hunter-gatherer to the agrarian way-of life with its far-reaching effects of this change in all aspects of life. Humans made their first successful attempts to domesticate animals and started retaining them in herds. Men became sedentary, settled down in permanent village communities. There is much speculation to the causes of the changeover and how it unfolded. Reichholf comes to a surprising conclusion: in the beginning, living in settlements didn’t come about from need or hunger, but was based on raucous festivity and the discovery of alcohol. He explains that excess, not need, turned humans into resourceful civilized beings and served as the catalyst for change, both with respect to the development of humans as well as their shift from a hunter-gathering way of life to agriculture. Reichholfs calculations for energy balance are convincing. Three kilograms of grain per person per day would have been required to compensate a protein-rich meat diet. This means that a family would have needed around 5 tons of grain per year. Then why did man began planting crops in the first place? Reichholfs answer is as surprising as it is convincing: because of alcohol. At first, the yield of wild grain was insufficient to replace meat, but now it was possible to produce alcohol through fermentation. This had served several functions. As an intoxicant at festivities, alcohol strengthened the community. At the same time, enzymes produced during the fermentation process break down plant substances that are difficult to digest. Thus, more nutrients became available. Indeed, the first verifiable record of grain cultivation did not involve wheat but rather barley, which is still used to make beer today. Until much later beer mash turned into sourdough for baking bread. Alcohol tolerance is still highest today in the cultures where bread is a nutritional staple (Reichholf, 2008). From now on humans produced foodstuffs themselves, and not only nature. Human societies were founded in a new direction that quickly led from the first settlements to urban communities. Small, loosely affiliated tribes developed into ethnic groups and

3

4

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

larger communities. Substantial population growth previously would have posed a threat to the nomadic groups because the number of people had to balance with the supply of game. Now it offered advantages, because the number of harvester productivity rouse (if the cultivation area can be increased), and from this food surplus specialism, division of labor and not at least ownership emerged: people and ownership combined to form power. The new lifestyle proved far superior to the old one. The migration and resettlement of peasants created imitators, spread, and achieved dominance. In the cooking pots of the so called “proto farmers” domestic cattle and sheep are now mixed with red deer and mussels (Craig et al., 2011). Grain farming varied from region to region, but two forms of ancient husked wheat are generally included: einkorn and above all emmer. Further spelt, barley and millet were cultivated, some as summer, some as winter crops. Besides this, there are a few findings of peas and lentils. Seeds picked from wild plants like linseed and poppy seeds were valued for their oil content. Berries, fruits, herbs and vegetables mostly added flavor to the food or had medical purposes. Farmers used blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, dewberries, elderberries, hawthorn, rosehips, cornelian cherries, sour cherries, pears, plums, sloes, wild grapes and the very popular crabapples. They cultivated local medical plants like orach, bistort, sorrel, stinging nettle, wild garlic, and imported plants from the Mediterranean region like parsley, dill, lemon balm, mistletoe, verbena, juniper berries, marjoram, caraway and mugwort. Except for dogs, all farm animals originated in their domestic form from the Near East. Any cross-breeding of sheep, goats, pigs or cattle with game animals was willingly avoided. As paleogenetic studies have shown, the native European aurochs were never tamed. All local bovine breeds can be traced back to a small herd of around 80 animals some 10,500 years ago. Soon a continuous trading network was extended all over Central Europe from the Paris basin to the Black See, shown by the linear band ware, ceramic pots of a very particular way of production and decoration that appear throughout the transport route. Bovine Milk became an additional agricultural livestock keeping for food and labor. Lactose tolerance, the tolerability of unfermented milk after weaning, was growing among dairying farmers around 7500 years in association with the dissemination of the Liner Pottery culture (Itan et al., 2009). The earliest evidence for cheese making came in northern Europe from the sixth millennium BC. The presence of abundant milk fat in ceramic vessels perforated with holes, indicates the vessels being used to separate fat-rich milk curds from the lactose-containing whey (Salque et al., 2013). Salt was a luxury good traded over long distances. As flavor enhancer and preservative, it creates might and riches for the ruling elite of the region. The only available natural sweetener was honey. Honey has been used for both nutritional and medical purposes. The belief that honey is a nutrient, a drug and an ointment has been carried into our days (Bogdanov et al., 2008). Honey inhibits the growth of microorganisms and fungi.

History of eating habits, food cultures and traditions

Its antibacterial effect mostly against gram-positive bacteria is well documented. Both bacteriostatic and bactericidal effects have been reported for many pathogenic strains. Further, it was reported that honey has also been shown to inhibit Rubella virus in vitro, three species of the Leishmania parasite, and Echinococcus. The antimicrobial effect of honey is due to different substances and depends on the botanical origin of honey (Bogdanov et al., 2008).

From Bronze Age to the Roman Empire Later, when one started mining copper and alloying with tin to bronze, again different groups migrated through Europe from the Iberian Peninsula up to Bohemia in search of new metallogenic rich areas. The bronze technology was a trailblazer for extensive cultural exchanges. These new commercial relationships can be traced through golden and ceramic drinking vessels of various styles to consume alcoholic beverages from berries and fruits. Over time, less productive grains became rarer, while rye, spelt, millet and oats spread. Pulses became more and more important as foodstuff and animal feed, in mountain areas. The spread of fava or horse bean steps with domestication of horses from around 2500 BC. Horsemeat was eaten regional in varying degrees. Horses were never only bred for human consummation, because pork and beef are significantly better feed utilizer. In Ireland and Britain they seem always to have been taboo as a foodstuff (Wikipedia.org, n.d.-b). In the rest of Europe horses were more often used for ritual sacrifice, traveling or as warhorse. But people have always eaten horsemeat at least until the Christianization. This is shown by two anecdotes: In 732, Pope Gregory III instructed Saint Boniface to suppress the pagan practice of eating horses, calling it a “filthy and abominable custom” (Hillgarth, 1986). The Christianization of Iceland in AD 1000 was achieved only when the Church promised that Icelanders could continue to eat horsemeat ( Jones, 1965). Shortly after horses came domestic chicken and geese to Western Europe. Hunting for meat became less important and took a more ritual and social meaning. Men collected astronomical data over a very long period and used them for agricultural planning. The astronomical knowledge and abilities of the people of the European Bronze Age included close observation of the yearly course of the Sun, and the angle between its rising and setting points at summer and winter solstice. Earthworks like Goseck circle in Saxony-Anhalt from 4900 BC and megalithic astronomical complexes such as Stonehenge from 2600 BC were used to mark the solstice. The sky disc found in Nebra/Saxony from around 2000 BC represents the sun, moon, stars, including the seven Pleiades, used to determine the dates for sowing and harvest. Although annual variations in climate persisted, the knowledge and the diversification of varieties minimized the risk of crop failure.

5

6

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

The population growth was partly made possible by the introduction of new crops, including improved varieties of barley and wheat, and farming of peas, beans, flax and other crops. Farming techniques improved, and the introduction of the iron-tipped plowshare made the cultivation of heavy clay soils possible. With the advent of iron, a cultural division took place between Celts in the south and Germanic tribes in the north. Alpine Celtic settlements were founded around copper mining. Primary source of food was cattle, pigs and grain. Salt mining flourished and Celtic salt pork was even exported to Rome in barrels. Trade with rare metals such as pewter increased economic and cultural contacts. A burial mound in Hochdorf/ Baden-W€ urttemberg, dated to 525 BC, shows a Celtic prince buried with a massive cauldron and vessels for drinking and eating the powerful social and political elements of feasting and fine eating. At the end of the Iron Age, overpopulation and failed crops brought greatest changes. The Celts were pressed west by expansive, migrating Germanic tribes while Romans advanced over the Rhine and the Danube. With Roman army came their floodways. Roman commanders had to stock a year’s worth of food. Figs, rice, olives and chickpeas were imported, but for grain, meat and wine, local production was essential. It was inevitable that the Germanic would sooner or later become familiar with and involved in the Roman ways and habits (Heinzelmann, 2016). The extended Roman influence over the continent also lead to growing contact between Britain and the Roman world. After 43, all of Wales and England south of the line of Hadrian’s Wall became part of the Roman Empire. In Scotland and Ireland, the Iron Age life and traditions continued with only occasional Roman incursions into Scotland and trade with Ireland (Richards, 2012). When the military administration was replaced by a free and private economy, the introduction of agriculture in Mediterranean-style induced an agrarian revolution. The density of population grows and a cross-cultural mix of Celtic, Celtic-Germanic, Germanic, Italic, and Gallic developed. The villae rusticae often placed between fields, grasslands, pastures and woods. They had buildings like barns, storage buildings, stables, and workshops for glass production, pottery and forge. Rye came from the Germanic east, naked wheat from the Gallic west to join the local varieties who kept longer and better in a moderate, humid climate since they are covered by husks. Roman farmers were adept at developing new varieties suited to different climatic conditions. Orchards thrived, and vegetable production became more efficient under their care. They induced new plants like amaranth, chard, turnip, purslane, garlic, dill, coriander, savory, thyme, celery, apricots, almonds, peaches, quinces, walnuts, chestnuts, medlars and wine grapes (Heinzelmann, 2014).

History of eating habits, food cultures and traditions

Wine was an intrinsic part of Roman Lifestyle. Wine or vinegar was mixed with water, often refined with various spices such as laurel, pepper, honey or sea salt, more for reasons of taste than to lower the alcohol content. Roman banquets often included three courses, mostly with meat from pork, but also with hare, boar, venison, all kind of birds, fish, famed snails, mussels and oysters. Roman settler introduced rennet to produce storable cheese and crossed large Roman bulls with smaller German cattle breeds. The production of milk, supplies by beef and hides increased significantly. Agricultural productivity boomed. In larger settlements trading took place on fixed days in covered markets with all kind of specialists operating from workshops in near surroundings.

The heritage of the Roman Empire Around 260 the Allmans forced them back behind the Rhine and the Danube, but their culinary habits did not disappear with them. The rich heritage in Romans’ called Lesser Germania in southwest Germany, northwest of Switzerland and Alsace is today called Alemannic food. Northwest of the Rhine, Romans stayed two centuries longer. Trier was the largest city north of the Alps and Cologne became deeply ingrained with a southern food culture and way-of-life. In the northern Part of Europe, Roman culture was obviously less influential. Direct contact with Romans were unlike for men in small settlements, but some exchange could take place through German legionnaires serving in the Roman army as well as through trade. During the milder periods of the early centuries AC, the marshes and islands along the coast were settled, people and animals (cattle and sheep) lived together in large houses. In the inland regions, they used cattle sheets and pit houses for stockpile. Pigs were often kept in oak forests, chicken, ducks and geese provided eggs and meet. Barley was the popular grain, followed by oats and rye, millet and wheat. Cultivated beans and onions and more and more bread became part of the diet. In the north, quark was made by letting sour milk curdle and separating the liquid from the solids with a ceramic sieve. Butter, made in wooden barrels, was at least used for medical and cosmetic reasons. Because of the low population, clean drinking water was abundant, beer, mead and cider were consumed, whereas grape wine almost remained an imported luxury. When the Roman Empire’s influence in Central Europe came to an end in the 5th century, everybody seemed to be on the move, pushing south and west due to devastating pandemics and climate chance. With the settler came their food preferences, such as the Slavic habit for rye and buckwheat. When the Franks drove the Roman troupes out, the owners of large estates went with them, but many of ordinary people like worker and laborers, stayed behind and maintained the Roman agricultural system in Lesser Germania throughout a while. Germanic settlements slowly absorbed the remaining Roman population.

7

8

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

But four centuries of Roman life-style, agricultural and culinary developments augmented the regional differences. Larger cities like Cologne, Trier, Mainz and Augsburg survived the crisis. At the end of the migration of the Germanic peoples, people started to re-cultivate more land now with animal husbandry of equal importance to grain cropping.

Christian food rules and medical traditions At this time, another important influence in the European food tradition was gaining in strength: Christianity. Based on the general virtues of thrift, modesty and honesty, Church provided to be quite pragmatic in adapting pagan traditions to comply with the new religion, in others it prescribed abstinence from them. After a series of serve famines in 6th-century Rome, the pope declared gluttons as one of the Deadly Sins. Christian church furthered social stratification. After the coronation from Charlemagne by the pope in the year 800, he established the Franks as the new European leaders with a counterbalancing element of standardized administration and unifying system of laws, to ensure an agricultural surplus for saving the political stability in his empire, dependeding on local leaders’ loyalty. He issued the Capituale de villis vel curtis imperii, an inventory of detailed directives for the management of the royal estates and prescribed the more effective three-field-system under which summer and winter grain were rotated with root crops and fallow periods. He had written down rules for the production of wine and included the single use of wooden barrels to store it. The Capitulare has listed around 70 herbs and vegetables as being cultivated in the imperial gardens and made hunting as a permanent royal privilege. In the 9th and early 10th century, nomadic Hungarian horseman, Arab tribes and Vikings gave additional cultural impulses. The Northmanni played an important role as distributors, explorers and colonists, they maintained trade routes that reached all over Europe and into northern Africa and the Black Sea and brought along exotic foodstuffs and spices. We know from the Abbaye de Corby, a monastery in northern France, from the use of imported garum (a kind of fish sauce) along with other imported goods such as olive oil, pepper, cumin, cloves, cinnamon, spikenard, costus, dates, figs, almonds, pistachios, olives, chickpeas and rice in this time (Levillain, 1902). Ibrahim ibn Ya’qub, a 10th-century merchant from Arab Spain, has described the “very big city” of Mainz where he was amazed to find in the utmost west of the Occident spices that only grow at the very end of the Orient, like pepper, ginger, cloves, spikenard, costus and galangal. There were two possible routes between Asia and Europe: one on the Mediterranean, from France or Spain through Alexandria or Antioch, the other across Central Europe, to Constantinople or the areas on the lower Volga. This shows that these goods did not require reintroduction as Crusaders’ souvenirs to European kitchens.

History of eating habits, food cultures and traditions

For the Viking settlement of Haithabu we have an example of urban food sources in the north: Foodstuffs cultivated or gathered from the immediate surroundings include barley, rye, oat, wheat, millet, fava beans and flax as well as plums, peaches and eight varieties of wild berries, cherries, beechnuts and hazelnuts with only wine and walnuts imported from a significant distance (Behme, 1997). Barreled up wine was transported from the Upper Rhine as fare as Stockholm. In Northern Countries, the preference was for beer or ale and less frequently mead. All grain was used for the production of beer. With hobs slowly replacing gruit, beer became longer storageable. We know from the detailed Plan of St. Gall monastery garden drown up on Reichenau island (early 9th century) what cooks of the time might have had at their disposal (UCLA Digital Library, 2012). They grew onions, garlic, celery, leeks, coriander, dill, opium and field poppies, radishes, chard, lettuce, chervil, parsley, shallots, savory, parsnips or carrots, cabbage and nigella in the hortus. The herbularius was reserved for medical plants: spearmint, cumin, lovage, fennel, sage, rue, iris, pennyroyal, lilies, roses, savory, beans, costmary, fenugreek, rosemary and mint. The orchard included apples, pears, plums, pine nuts, sorb, medlar, laurel, chestnuts, figs, quinces, peaches, hazelnuts, almonds, mulberries and walnuts. It also served as a graveyard. Many of these plants were also available from castle gardens in the lower Rhine area in the 11th and 12th century, so a varied supply of fruit, vegetables and medical plants could be on offer at least in privileged places. Cultivated sweet fruits were regarded as a great luxury and reserved for the rich and powerful elite. Meat, especially the roasted choice cuts was another aristocratic privilege. Bones found at the castle show a regular diet of meat from pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, domestic or wild geese, ducks, chicken, hare, wild rabbit deer and boar (Ekkehard, 2013). The simple rural population had eaten cereals. Meat and milk products were smaller supplements. Grain came in many different forms, from the thin, dark gruel eaten by the poor to fine white bread for the rich. The diversity of bread can still be found in today’s Germany, although presently the social classification is almost reversed. The undemanding rye had a quick expansion and at the late Middle Ages it was the most important of Germany’s grain crops, even on more fertile soils. All crops, were in all probability a mix of different varieties, the genetic diversity was a kind of insurance policy against pests and diseases. Regional distribution was limited and the surplus from good harvest quickly turned into a shortage in bad years. Severe drought and famine lasted over a few years and have been so frequent that everyone went at least through one in this time (Behme, 1997). Now hunting was part of the territorial claims. By the 13th century even the aristocracy consumed less than 5% of their meat as game. The distinction between higher and lower game was induced. The higher game was reserved for the king and aristocrats of

9

10

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

elevated standing with red and fellow deer, boar, bear, elk, ibex, chamois, capercaille and pheasant. The lower game for gentry included roe deer, hare, partridge, fox, badger, marten and duck. The connotation of milk products, eggs and meat with the vices of gluttony and lechery resulted in a complex pattern of eating. The 40 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday (not counting Sundays), the three rogation days before Ascension Day and the four Ember days (or even weeks), as well as the 4 weeks in Advent before Christmas, altogether about one third of the year, were fast days. Fridays and Saturdays and the evenings preceding all mayor saints’ days were lean days. On fast days, all parts of warm-blooded animals, milk, dairy products and eggs were prohibited and only one meal could be taken. On lean days, the rules were less strict and mostly concerned the exclusion of meat (Heinzelmann, 2014). These rules brought people to inventive solutions such as the arguments that made the beaver into a fish, citing its amphibious behavior and the scales on its tail. However, in contrast of the Mediterranean regions with its opulence of fruits, vegetables, fish and olive oil, such a diet was more difficult to realize the further north you lived. In the water-rich regions most villages had their own water mills and because of dammed up lakes also freshwater fish supplies. From the 11th century monasteries and lieges stocked their own fishponds and bought in salted herrings and stock fish in response to the regional shortcomings. Without cooling systems, fresh marine fish could only be transported up to 150 km inland. This led to an important market for salted herring and stock fish. In particular, the common crap was very well suited to the new created habitat. It grows faster than the native bream, tolerating lower oxygen levels and was able to survive for a few days out of water if kept cool and damp during transport. It is still traditionally served on Good Friday and New Year’s Eve. Prices for local wild fish rose and they became a luxury good. In the 15th century fish in town was three to five times more expensive than beef. Before and after fasting periods people solemnized. Easter eggs were ritually blessed together with the first lamb; the excesses of Carnival before the Lent are still part of today’s life, especially along the Rhine. In many cases pagan rituals were adopted into Christian traditions, such as the Carnival parade in Cologne, this originated in Roman Saturnalia and Celtic rituals or the winter solstice and Christmas. Beside the Christian food rules, medical traditions were also important for medieval meals. Ingredients, spices and preparations came from the pharmacy into the kitchen since culinary recipes developed out of medical prescriptions: the German word for both is still “Rezept.” The classical medical knowledge was preserved through the Benedictine order and their monasteries required at least a separate room and special orderly. This was the beginning of the monastic hospitals. The medieval medicine was improved with the Lorscher Arzneibuch, a pharmaceutical and medical handbook written in the monastery of Lorsch around 800.

History of eating habits, food cultures and traditions

The book included many medical recipes based on the works of Pliny the Elder and recommended that medical treatment should be accessible for everyone. Physicians were required to adapt on patient’s economic opportunities and to use local drugs and herbs. In Salerno a teaching hospital and later a medical school for the monks of Monte Cassino was founded. In the 11th century, Constantine, a spice merchant from North Africa, translated medical texts from Greek and Arabic into Latin. At this time the Arabs were established in southern Spain and Sicily. They introduced many innovations to the apothecaries and kitchen of Europe. This included food preservation and the art of distilling and the cultivation of sugar cane in the Western Mediterranean region from where it was exported to Northern Europe. All these elements with the close connection between preventative medicine and cooking made their way slowly northwards. Improved medical treatment led to a new understanding of nutrition and finally the recording of culinary recipes. While rye was preferred in the north and east, the west was dominated by wheat and the southwest specialized in spelt, also harvested green and dried as green spelt. Field crops, fruits and vineyards crept up hillsides. With the Christianization of the Slavic population from about 1100, Slavic influences added another facet in German food: Buckwheat, a fast-growing pseudo-cereal used for making gruel and pancakes rather than bread because of its lack of gluten. The Alsace physician Melchior Sebizius mentioned buckwheat 150 times in his dietary work “De Alimentorium Facultatibus.” Hildegard von Bingen, the 12th-century Benedictine abbess represent with her medical works Physica and Causae et Curue the high point of monastic medicine. In the humoral pathology the four elements earth (cold and dry), air (hot and bodily), fire (hot and dry) and water (cold and wet) matched the four humors phlegmatic, choleric, melancholic and sanguine. These conversely corresponded to the four bodily fluids: black bile, blood, yellow bile and phlegm. Human well-being depended on a balanced body status, characterized as warm and moist. The system focused on countering an imbalance and the belief that an excessive temperament could be tempered through diet. This is still reflected on common ideas of nutrition: chopping or pureeing guaranteed a good blend and digestibility, cooking changed the nature of nourishments and coloring brought an additional option to make something more suitable for a certain occasion or person. This became the basis of familiar culinary wisdom and we now remember the source when we hear Hildegard’s advice on lettuce, which was considered as cold and so must be tempered by a vinegar dressing. Hildegard gave many preparations for numerous ingredients, which were copied and further disseminated in following centuries by scribes such as Meister Eberhard who took long passages of the Physica into his own popular cookbook in the 15th century (Weiss-Amer, 1992).

11

12

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

New trade routes In the 14th Century, trade routes determined social differences and priorities between the north and the south. Patrician families like the Fuggers and Welsers in Augsburg controlled the trade with the south and copied the Italian’s nobles’ refined food culture. They took over the Italian preference for white bread and olive oil and recognized the enormous potentials of spices. Expensive spices and complex preparations became important to demonstrate elevated status. The business acumen of the Fuggers extended to financing Magellan’s circumnavigation of the globe, a highly profitable undertaking because from 1500 the new route to India around the Cape of Good Hope lowered transport costs. Above all pepper became affordable. Almost anybody could now at least occasionally afford some imported spices. Social rank manifested itself in how often one used them. Pepper remained popular far longer in Germany than in Southern Europe. In France it was seen in the 14th century as assigned for dishes with blood and offals. Ginger was much more popular. It was regarded as well balanced, neither too hot nor too cold and together with cinnamon it made the popular everywhere Sauce Cameline. In Germany, local herbs were still widely used while spices like cloves, nutmeg or cinnamon were almost unknown until the end of the 15th century. In contrast, the northern Hanseatic League was a much more egalitarian affair. Operating on the local level of town and city councils, it was controlled of more and less wealthy merchants. Dishes did not become more refined but quantities grew. The rapidly increasing middle class citizen demonstrated their prosperity by opulent household utensils. Grapen, three-legged cast iron roasting dishes were a common feature in their kitchens and gave the name to the Grapenbraten, a still popular braised beef dish. The dark sourdough rye bread was the basic foodstuff in the north. The Hanse was a trader alliance from the 12th until the 17th century that significantly influenced the socialeconomic life in Northeurope. At its zenith, it had almost 300 towns and cities from the Zuidersee and Yssel in the west and the Lower Rhine in the south to Krakau and Breslau in the east. It catered to a growing urban population that was no longer selfreliant or supplied by their hinterlands, as well as providing less productive regions. The Hanse era came to an end with the rise of strong nation states, particularly Holland and England. The invention of the process of gibbing by Willem Beukelszoon, a 14th-century Zealand fisherman, created an export industry for salt herring monopolized by the Dutch. This was the germ cell of the fast growing Dutch fleet. Before the Dutch Revolt, Antwerp had played an important role as a trading center in Northern Europe. After 1591, the Dutch merchants fell out of the spice trade with the Portuguese lead syndicate with Spanish, Italian and South-German merchants. However, at the same time, the Portuguese trade system was unable to increase supply to satisfy growing demand. Breaking through the embargo brought huge profits. As the Dutch Republic entered its

History of eating habits, food cultures and traditions

Golden Age in the 17th century, a wealthy middle class had access to a rich variety of traded goods. The Dutch Empire enabled spices, sugar, and exotic fruits were imported. The Dutch East India Company was the first to import coffee on a large scale to Western Europe. Venice had the first coffeehouse around 1645, little later London and The Hague. After introduction to the French court in 1669, it became a new fashion in Germany as well. In Hamburg a coffeehouse opened in 1677. The first exports of Indonesian coffee from Java to the Netherlands occurred in 1711. In Holland and England tea quickly followed coffee, whereas in Germany only in the North, for the East Frisians, tea became part of everyday life. The availability of relatively cheap spices resulted in a Dutch tradition of spiced cookies called speculaas. England played an important culinary role at the time, shown in the Forme of Cury, an extensive collection of medieval English recipes from the 14th century. The book offers sophisticated recipes, with spicy sweet and sour sauces thickened with bread or quantities of almonds boiled, peeled, dried and ground, and often served in pastry. About 31% of the recipes use sugar (49% including fruit sugar). Butter became an important ingredient in sauces, a trend which continued in later centuries. Thirdly, herbs, which could be grown locally but were rarely used in the Middle Ages, started to replace spices as flavorings. In the late 17th and early 18th century, after the loss of contact to the Roman church in the protestantic regions, the ruling class and wealthy people chose France as a cultural model. Social graces, fashion and culinary habits assumed the fine French style. In the past, regional culinary differences had been typical for the rural population, whereas the food selection of the upper class was more uniform and international. In the kitchen of the educated bourgeoisie, these two styles merged, with cooks imitating and refining familiar regional dishes according to the rules of the French court cuisine. The French added sweet desserts and meat dishes like fricassee, ragout and cotelettes to the European repertoire complete with linguistic terms. Exotic spices were replaced by fresh herbs, cooking time was reduced, and naturalness replaced most dietic rules of the humoral pathology.

The role of potatoes Potatoes came to us via the Canary Isles, the first barrels of potatoes were exported from Gran Canaria to Antwerp in November 1567 (Hawkes and Francisco-Ortega, 1993). First in southern Netherlands, Belgium, northern France, Ireland, England and Scotland potatoes were widely planted and accepted as a staple food. In Germany, it took place some decades later. As it proved, the potato was by far the most efficient crop on fallow land, although it was not the best for restoring soil quality. Potatoes sustained the increase of the population until the end of the 18th century in particular. Land became scarce all over Europe, since more or less all viable areas were already under cultivation.

13

14

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

The Industrial Revolution was drawing an ever-increasing percentage of the populace into crowded cities, where people were working 12–16 h days, which left them with little time or energy to prepare food. High yielding, easily prepared potato crops were the obvious solution to England’s food problems. Hot potato vendors and merchants selling fish and chips (an invention prior to 1680 from the Spanish Netherlands, todays Belgium) wrapped in paper horns became ubiquitous features of city life. Between 1801 and 1851, England and Wales experienced an unprecedented population explosion, their combined population doubling to almost 18 million. Before the adoption of the potato, France managed to produce just enough grain to feed itself each year. There were at least 40 outbreaks of serious, nationwide famines between 1500 and 1800. The benefits of the potato, which yielded more food per acre than wheat and allowed farmers to cultivate a greater variety of crops for greater insurance against crop failure, were obvious wherever it was adopted. The potato insinuated itself into the French diet in the form of soups, boiled potatoes and pommes-frites. The uncertainty of food supply during the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, combined with the tendency of above-ground crops to be destroyed by soldiers, encouraged France’s allies and enemies to favor the potato. By the end of the Napoleonic Wars in 1815, the potato had become a staple food in the diets of most Europeans. While the potato had rapidly become an important food across Europe, in Ireland it was frequently the only food. By providing a plentiful, cheap, nutritious food source, the potato helped transform Ireland from an under-populated island in the 1590s to the most densely populated country in Europe 1840 (Phillips and Rix, 1995). Many Irish only had milk and potatoes at that time. These two combined provide all essential nutrients. By the early 1840s, almost half of the Irish population had become entirely dependent upon the potato, specifically on just two high-yielding varieties. The Phytophthora infestans cased a potato disease known as late blight, which was the main culprit in the European potato famines. The worst outbreak was the in Ireland, a period of mass starvation, and emigration between 1845 and 1852 with decreasing of the population by 20%. The Irish had developed in this time a peculiar way of cooking potatoes “with and without the bone or the moon.” This method of cooking the potato pertained to par boiling the potato, leaving the core undercooked and was the preferred meal for a laborer with a day’s work to do. The partially cooked potato lay in the stomach creating a second digestion period after the initial flowery mass was digested, helping the workers to be less hungry (Wilde, 1954). Traditionally, July was still known as “hungry July” because the old crop had finished and the population waited until August 1st to pick the new crop. The collective memory of the Irish explained why some authors liken the excitement caused when Irish new potatoes go on sale in early summer to the arrival of the New Year’s Beaujolais crop in France (Sexton, 1998).

History of eating habits, food cultures and traditions

The beginnings of the food industry While the origins of modern food science lie in the early 19th century, its findings started to make a real impact on food industry in the 1870s. The origin of the food industry is at least partly the need to find new ways and means to feed the armies. Military requirements could push up the costs of food because of the additional demand or creating a shortage due to uncontrolled foraging by the troops. The Production of Liebig’s meat extract, Germany’s first mass food product started 1864. It was the brainchild of a German engineer combined with Belgian (and later English) capital and linked the immense cattle herds of the South American prairies with European customers. At first, they were sold to the army and hospitals, later private households increasingly gave up boiling meat soups and stock and bought Liebig’s instead. In the 1880s the Swiss Julius Maggi and Carl Heinrich Knorr of W€ urttemberg marketed products that were based on ground legumes, dried vegetables, pearled sago and tapioca and at a cheaper price. The French Hippolyte Me`ge-Mourie`s created Margarine in 1869. He was responding to a challenge by Emperor Napoleon III to create a butter substitute for the armed forces and lower classes. In the late 19th-century and early 20th-century, Germany and Switzerland propagated a back-to-nature lifestyle reform as a reaction to the industrial way of life. Garden suburbs began to appear at the edge of large cities named after the Leipzig physician Daniel Schreber. These allotments were used for food production and recovery. Maximilan Bircher-Brenner, a Swiss-German physician, was one of the strongest opponents of Justus von Liebig and the new food scientists. He opened his sanatorium “Living Power” in Zurich for the wealthy who suffered from the long-term effects of the overeating and attracted businesspeople, writers and artists from all over the world. Treatments included long walks in nearby woods, gymnastics and modest vegetarian meals that favored raw food. With the famous Bircher-Brenner muesli (a Swiss diminutive of Mus, mush) we see a closed circle to the stone-aged groats. It consisted of fresh fruit, above all grated apples with skin and core, soaked oats, ground hazelnuts or almonds, lemon and sweetened condensed milk which the doctor preferred over fresh milk for hygienic reasons, in spite of the processing involved. During the World Wars of the 20th century difficulties of food supply were countered by official measures, which included rationing. The longtime use of surrogates and substitutes of surrogates changed the eating habits substantially. Kitchen servants with time to make elaborate dishes with many ingredients were replaced with instant foods in cans, or powders that the housewife could quickly mix. Urbanization and industrialization of food production as well as female emancipation have resulted in a highly modern consumer society, sticking to a traditional household role. Principles of organic farming are now widely accepted as an essential element of contemporary food culture. The last half of the 20th century saw an increase in the availability of a greater range of

15

16

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

good quality fresh products and greater willingness to vary diets and select dishes from all over the world. With the new Millennium came a renaissance of the regional cuisines. We have to eat; we like to eat; eating makes us feel good; it is more important than sex. To ensure genetic survival the sex urge need only be satisfied a few times in a lifetime; the hunger urge must be satisfied every day…Food is also an occasion for sharing, for distributing and giving, for the expression of altruism, whether from parents to children, children to in-laws, or anyone to visitors and strangers…Thus food becomes not just a symbol of, but the reality of, love and security (Fox, n.d.).

References Behme, K.-E., 1997. Die ern€ahrung im mittelalter. In: Mensch und Umwelt im Mittelalter. Bogdanov, S., Jurendic, T., Sieber, R., Gallmann, P., 2008. Honey for nutrition and health: a review. J. Am. Coll. Nutr. 27 (6), 677–689. Capasso, L., 1998. 5300 years ago, the Ice Man used natural laxatives and antibiotics. Lancet 352 (9143), 1864. Carmody, R.N., Weintraub, G.S., Wrangham, R.W., 2011. Energetic consequences of thermal and nonthermal food processing. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 108 (48), 19199–19203. Craig, O.E., Steele, V.J., Fischer, A., Hartz, S., Andersen, S.H., Donohoe, P., Heron, C.P., 2011. Ancient lipids reveal continuity in culinary practices across the transition to agriculture in Northern Europe. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 108 (44), 17910–17915. Ekkehard, I.V., 2013. St. Galler Klostergeschichten. Freiherr vom Stein Ged€achtnisausgabe WBG. Fox, Robin, n.d. Food and Eating: An Anthropological Perspective, http://www.sirc.org/publik/food_ and_eating_1.html (Accessed 01 August 2017). Hawkes, J.G., Francisco-Ortega, J., 1993. The early history of the potato in Europe. Euphytica 70 (1), 1–7. Heinzelmann, U., 2014. Beyond Bratwurst a History of Food in Germany. Heinzelmann, U., 2016. Was is(s)t Deutschland—Eine Kulturgeschichte u €ber Deutschen Essen. Higham, T., Douka, K., Wood, R., Ramsey, C.B., Brock, F., Basell, L., Bergman, C., 2014. The timing and spatiotemporal patterning of Neanderthal disappearance. Nature 512 (7514), 306–309. Hillgarth, J.N. (Ed.), 1986. Christianity and Paganism, 350–750: The Conversion of Western Europe. University of Pennsylvania Press. Itan, Y., Powell, A., Beaumont, M.A., Burger, J., Thomas, M.G., 2009. The origins of lactase persistence in Europe. PLoS Comput. Biol. 5(8). e1000491. Jones, G., 1965. The Norse Atlantic Saga. Being the Norse Voyages of Discovery and Settlement to Iceland, Greenland, America, Gwyn Jones. 10(4),Kwartalnik Historii Nauki i Techniki, London. 1963:[recenzja]. Levillain, L., 1902. Examen critique des chartes merovingiennes et carolingiennes de l‘abbaye de Corbie. A. Picard et fils, Paris, pp. 68, 198. https://archive.org/details/examencritiqued00levigoog/page/n221. Mellars, P., French, J.C., 2011. Tenfold population increase in western europe at the neandertal-to-modern human transition. Science 333 (6042), 623–627. Phillips, R., Rix, M., 1995. Vegetables. Macmillan Press. Pickard, C., Bonsall, C., 2007. Late Mesolithic Costal Fishing Practices—The Evidence From Tybrind Vig, Denmark. Reichholf, J.H., 2008. Warum die Menschen Sesshaft Wurden: Das Gr€ oßte R€atsel Unserer Geschichte. S. Fischer Verlag. Richards, J., 2012. Overview: Iron Age, 800 BC–AD 42. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/british_ prehistory/overview_british_prehistory_ironage_01.shtml. (Accessed 27 October 2018). Salque, M., Bogucki, P.I., Pyzel, J., Sobkowiak-Tabaka, I., Grygiel, R., Szmyt, M., Evershed, R.P., 2013. Earliest evidence for cheese making in the sixth millennium BC in northern Europe. Nature 493 (7433), 522–525. Sexton, R., 1998. A Little History of Irish Food. Gill and Macmillan Ltd. Solecki, R.S., 1975. Shanidar IV, a Neanderthal flower burial in northern Iraq. Science 190, 880–881.

History of eating habits, food cultures and traditions

UCLA Digital Library, 2012. Carolingian Culture at Reichenau and St. Gall. www.stgallplan.org. (Accessed 1 August 2017). Weiss-Amer, M., 1992. Die ‘Physica’ Hildegards von Bingen als Quelle f€ ur das ‘Kochbuch Meister Eberhards’. Sudhoffs Arch. 76, 87–96. Weyrich, L.S., Duchene, S., Soubrier, J., Arriola, L., Llamas, B., Breen, J., Farrell, M., 2017. Neanderthal behaviour, diet, and disease inferred from ancient DNA in dental calculus. Nature 544 (7650), 357–361. Wikipedia.org, n.d.-a https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ern%C3%A4hrung_des_Menschen#cite_ref-15 (Accessed 27 October 2018). Wikipedia.org, n.d.-b https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_cuisine (Accessed 27 October 2018). Wilde, W., 1954. The Food of the Irish. The Dublin University Magazine XLIII (CCLIV), 127–146. Wißing, C., Rougier, H., Crevecoeur, I., Germonpre, M., Naito, Y.I., Semal, P., Bocherens, H., 2016. Isotopic evidence for dietary ecology of Late Neandertals in North-Western Europe. Quat. Int. 411, 327–345.

17

CHAPTER 2

Western food cultures and traditions Gunther Hirschfelder, Patrick Pollmer M.A., Nadine Schuller B.A. Chair of Comparative European Ethnology, University of Regensburg, Regensburg, Germany

Contents Introduction Standardization and diffusion of food knowledge in the Roman Empire Middle ages Early Modern Era Industrialization and Modern Era Food cultures in the age of extremes—The 20th century Current food cultures References

19 20 22 23 27 30 33 34

Introduction Early 21st century Western European societies can widely be seen as prosperous and plural social entities marked by a copious food offer, low grocery prices and personal liberties. Individuals can no longer be considered as parts of social classes, social orders and ranks exerting social constraints; they rather have to be seen as members of loosely organized lifestyles and fluid social scenes. Presentations of self have become increasingly important in social contexts dominated by heterogeneous world views (Katschnig-Fasch, 2004). Hunger and supply shortages, which dominated European countries for centuries and shaped cultural coping techniques, gave way to an affluent society where there are predominately problems of overweight, consumer confusion in consequence of oversupply and the availability of global foods at any time with no regards to seasonal and regional aspects. Due to an increasing globalization of food systems, traditional food patterns seemed to be on the decline in the last third of the 20th century. In the early 21st century, food and eating habits play an important role regarding the representation of self. In this context, consumers often make use of constructed traditions, which they regard as deeply rooted in history (K€ onigs, 2014, p. 14; M€ uns, 2010, p. 15). Due to digitalization and globalization, the “foreign” has increasingly become perceived as a threat (Beck et al., 1996, p. 11; Albrow, 1996). Therefore, the perspective on food shifted toward aspects of heritage and identity (Trummer, 2009, pp. 9–10; Brulotte and Di Giovine, 2014, pp. 1–6). Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00003-2

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

19

20

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

In general terms, food-systems are coined by climate and environmental resources but also by economic, social, educational, cultural and religious conditions (Hirschfelder and Pollmer, 2018, pp. 45–46). Western European food systems and cultures have evolved over hundreds of years. This chapter aims for an understanding of central historical processes and transformations of the culinary systems of France, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and the British Isles including Ireland. With regard to Western Europe, one may carefully claim that since the Paleolithic period environmental factors played the biggest role in shaping the supply of food available. Thus, within hunter and gatherer communities, food supply was limited to what could be hunted or gathered with the help of particular cultural techniques. From the Neolithic period onwards, new technological possibilities arose. The knowledge of agricultural and animal farming enabled an expansion of planning reliability which resulted in an emergence of social stratification. Leaps in technology within the early Neolithic societies led to increasing cultural dynamics that even accelerated at the end of the 1st pre-Christian millennium. The cultural practices in the context of food and nutrition, which have been developed by the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Greece, represent the foundation of the cultural setting of the later Roman Empire (Hirschfelder, 2005).

Standardization and diffusion of food knowledge in the Roman Empire At the point of its greatest expansion around AD 117, the Imperium Romanum was ranging from Britain to the Caspian Sea and from Egypt up to Mauretania. The spatial division into provinces shaped the thinking about the European area substantially and laid the foundation for the subsequent political as well as cultural segmentation of the continent. In the course of conquests, incorporations of territories and the further development of the infrastructure, innovations spread across the Mediterranean area to Western Europe (Schneider, 2007, p. 147). With this came not only a spatial diffusion of single phenomena but at least to some extent a standardization of daily life alongside the main trading roads. This was also due to the large impact of sovereigns, senatorial nobility, the roman middle class and the military within the very secularly oriented Imperium Romanum up to the peripheral provinces (Alf€ oldy, 1984, pp. 101–141). In this “culinary centralism” (Hirschfelder, 2005, p. 79) literary traditions played an essential catalytic role. The picaresque novel “Satyricon” of Titus Petronius (c. 27–66 AD), an author whose work gained wide popularity, may serve as an example here. The story about a master chef who, by serving a pig udder as fish or a knuckle of pork as chicken, designed

Western food cultures and traditions

creations whose ingredients could hardly be identified anymore, lead to a spread of the urban Roman cultural pattern throughout Western Europe (Petron, 1968, p. 81). In the Roman Empire, many domains of food production and food trade converged. The same holds for grain farming which also did not show many regional specifics. Barley and wheat were the most commonly cultivated grain types (Sallares, 2007, p. 31). Mills run by waterpower or muscular power served for grain processing and with the beehive oven, a new furnace technology was introduced to the baking process (Curtis, 2010, pp. 373–379). Due to these inventions, new bread and bakery businesses emerged in Roman urban environments that were selling professionally manufactured white bread made from wheat flour (Curtis, 2010, p. 379; Margaritis and Jones, 2010, p. 170). Apart from those technical aspects as well as viticulture and the production of olive oil (Oleson, 2010), two important cultural patterns emerged and diffused across the continent and stood for a Roman style food culture: cena and taberna. The former constituted the third, latest and most important meal of the day besides ientaculum and prandium. Here, puls was served which was made out of barley porridge that was refined in accordance to social status. Over time, it gradually evolved into a multi-course dinner. However, its significance is not limited to its influence on culinary arrangements. Beyond this fact, cena was a social event and a societal highlight of the day (Dupont, 1993, pp. 272–278; Andre, 1998, pp. 51, 61). The diffusion of taberna meant a spread of professionalized hospitality manifesting in, for instance, inns, wine taverns or cook shops. This form of gastronomy originated in the Mediterranean centers of the Roman Empire but soon spread along the central trade routes across the empire. The number of taverns decreased with growing distance to the city of Rome (Peyer, 1987, pp. 14–15, 18). For the non-Roman areas and those areas not facing seaward, a different setting has to be taken into account. Instead of grain farming, vegetable cultivation was of greater relevance. Here, meat obtained through hunting, fishing and animal farming constituted the core of food supply. Even in regard to beverages, clear differences can be observed until the early Middle Ages: In the northern regions, wine, beer, mead and drinks out of fermented wild fruits dominated the picture. In the course of the early Middle Ages, however, food patterns of Germanic-Celtic origin increasingly incorporated Roman influences. This resulted in a nutritional behavior based on both meat and grain. Another important aspect is the proceeding Christianization of remote provinces linked to the expansion of the Roman Empire. The diffusion of the Catholic church is responsible for the later diffusion of the sacral glorification of food: Bread and wine became symbols for the body and blood of Christ and handling food became associated with miracles like in the parable of Jesus feeding the five thousand (John 6:1–13). Increasing foundations of monasteries made viticulture liturgically relevant (Montanari, 1983, p. 2162) and led to long-lasting changes of the cultural landscape.

21

22

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Middle ages The progressing Christianization more and more replaced hierarchies of Roman cultural values (Harries, 1992, p. 96) and Old Testament ideas gained increasing relevance. An example that shows the close connection to food culture can be illustrated with the biblical passage Gen 3,19 “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return.” Here, food is considered as a gift from God and its production is associated with hard work. Therefore, life and in this regard also nutrition were supposed to be created in accordance with God. In addition new socio-cultural standards developed: The division of the year into Sundays and public holidays on the one hand and work days on the other, as well as the implementation of fasting rules and fasting meals prevailed since late antiquity (Bynum, 1987, pp. 31–47; D€ uring et al., 1989, pp. 304–307). For Western Europe, this meant a convergence of food systems leading to greater structural overlaps. The Imperium Romanum caused Western Europe to grow together more closely. In this way, it also caused it to shape a culinary texture, which, to a certain degree, brought a process of homogenization with it. In the 4th post-Christian century the empire was facing high military pressure and de facto fell apart in the 5th post-Christian century. Roman traditions increasingly eroded, especially on the British Isles and in continental Germania, whereas they structurally remained south of the lake Loire in Western France. About the everyday diet of the early Middle Ages relatively little is known, due to only rudimentarily existing evidence. However, in regard to our topic, we can state that roman patterns of tradition and identification for the most part disappeared. The socio-cultural models of the Catholic Church with its monastic body (Melville, 2012, pp. 23–30) can be considered as a weak and loose cultural fundament, whereas the food culture of early medieval gentes, the tribal societal compounds, was primarily characterized by shortage. In consequence of a decline of infrastructure, high mobility and a climatic pessimum, the main concern of nutrition shifted toward mere survival. In general, joint drinking played a much more important role than the cultural system of meals. At least not in regard to identity formation. Therefore, we cannot speak of a connective European or national food culture for this period of time, but rather of different tribal patterns. At the same time an intensified spatial diversification can be observed. In contrast to the standardization of bread grain in the Roman Empire a diversification of grain types took place. Low maintenance grain types like rye and oat were predominant and regional soil qualities had been taken into greater account (Montanari, 1983, p. 2162). At the end of the first post-Christian millennium structural conditions within Europe had changed. An interval of comparably warm climate, the Medieval Warm period, which is also known as the Medieval Climate Anomaly, brought about periodic irregularities, e.g. droughts. Most important, however, a significant temperature rise was recorded that began shortly after 900 and peaked between 950 and 1250 (Bra´zdil et al., 2005, pp. 388–396).

Western food cultures and traditions

As a result, agricultural farming obtained much higher yields, which again led to a wave of city foundations since the 11th century (Humpert and Schenk, 2001, p. 52). Soon a differentiated artisan food production emerged in these newly founded cities (Isenmann, 2012). Within continental Europe the feudal corporation system (Kluge, 2007, pp. 21–22) provided an organizational model, which, in the case of France, is denoted by the term syste`me des corporations. On the one hand, this implied social security for artisans like butchers or bakers; on the other hand, recipes and methods of preparation were systematically handed down and passed on (Herborn, 2003). In the context of sausage and ham products today people often refer to this period of time when historical evidence is needed for labeling meat products as traditional or regional, e.g. Mortadella, N€ urnberger Bratw€ urste or Jambon de Bayonne. The rapid urbanization in the Middle Ages brought about further tendencies of homogenization and cities developed as the most important cultural frames of reference. International traders led to the emergence of a new lifestyle accompanied by an open attitude toward nutritional innovations from foreign places, especially in the case of spices, tropical fruits and wine. This marked the beginning of a Western European urban culinary identity rooted in closely interwoven urban centers, such as London, Paris, Bruges, Antwerp, Cologne, Frankfurt or Nuremberg. However, relict areas of the low mountain range and structurally weak regions remained rather detached (Selzer, 2010; Hirschfelder, 1994). Eventually in the late Middle Ages elementary developments arose that had significant impact on Western food cultures. From the end of the Hundred Years’ War until the middle of the 15th century England and France more and more transformed into centralized national states. Royal courts and especially those of the capitals Paris and London became trendsetters shaping traditions and lifestyles (Moraw, 1985). They contributed significantly to the development of much more homogeneous culinary cultures and thus prepared the ground for the establishment of separate national cuisines in general. In Germany, on contrary, central power fell apart after the disempowerment of the dominion of the Staufers in the year 1254 and even before a national cuisine could arise regional patterns emerged, that increasingly isolated themselves.

Early Modern Era During the early Modern Era Western food culture underwent significant transformations since the beginning of the 16th century. The invention of letterpress printing in 1453 facilitated the distribution of cookbooks as well as table manners and knowledge of foodstuff in general. The conquest of the Bosporus metropolis Constantinople by the Ottomans is among other things highly connected to the disruption of trade routes to India. In 1492, in the search of new routes America was discovered, which in turn led to the introduction of a variety of new foods due to the following Columbian Exchange in Europe. With the Reformation beginning in 1517 a revaluation of food and drink

23

24

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

practices was initiated, as well as a series of confessional wars peaking in the Thirty Year War. The Enlightenment finally led to a breakup with medieval thinking patterns and effectuated the French Revolution in 1789, accompanied by a transformation of ruling systems at the End of the Early Modern Age. Apart from that, climatic conditions and population development represented important influencing factors in regard to the supply situation of this era (Hirschfelder, 2005, pp. 147–153). The events and processes outlined here were all part of an overall political and societal transformation. Changes within food culture, that were linked to this transformation inevitably occurred delayed and did not evolve abruptly. Today’s diversity of food is inconceivable without the increasing process of globalization, but also cannot be thought of as a mere result of the last decades. It is rather the case that many of today’s staple foods are linked to historical developments in the Early Modern Era. In particular the “exchange of diseases, ideas, food crops, and populations between the New World and the Old World following the voyage to the Americas by Christopher Columbus in 1492” (Nunn and Qian, 2010, p. 163), for which the historian Alfred W. Crosby coined the term “Columbian Exchange” in the 1970s (Crosby, 2003). The “Old World” in this case designates Europe as well as Africa and Asia. At long sight, the Columbian Exchange revolutionized both food cultures and landscapes of Western Europe. Many of today’s commonly prepared meals could not be imagined without potatoes, tomatoes, cocoa, different sorts of beans, yam, pumpkins or corn (Nunn and Qian, 2010, p. 163; Crosby, 2003, p. 170). They are nonetheless often labeled as “traditional” foods for specific regions or countries. Crosby notes that in a global perspective, especially “maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes, beans and manioc have been most abundantly cultivated and eaten in the last four hundred years” (Crosby, 2003, p. 170). This shows that foods from the New World reached global significance in regard to the alimentation of mankind. And also in the case of coffee which presumably originated from the Ethiopian Upland it were the improved cultivation conditions within the “New World” that strongly increased its availability (Ball, 1991, p. 11; Nunn and Qian, 2010, p. 164). However, the broad acceptance that the mentioned foods receive today does not apply to the time of their introduction in the Early Modern Era. On the contrary, their gradual acceptance as staple foods was rather caused by famine or political measures (Henaut and Mitchell, 2018, p. 175). In Germany for example a high energy, high calorie and meat based diet was regarded as a symbol of healthy nutrition. Within England and France, in contrast, exotic ingredients rapidly entered the upper class cuisine and symbolized a distinguished way of dining. Due to their status as luxury products, many of them only became affordable for wider parts of the population on an everyday basis after long-lasting diffusion processes. In the case of colonial powers, these processes mostly took course much faster because returnees often brought ingredients and

Western food cultures and traditions

relating knowledge of how to prepare them with them. Thus, they contributed to an exotization of their homeland cuisine. Out of the diverse newly introduced food plants some reached particular significance, e. g. beans, corn and especially potatoes. The success of potatoes is linked to the fact that they are comparably easy to cultivate and produce, regardless of different climatic conditions. According to Crosby “several times as much food per unit of land as wheat or any other grain” (Crosby, 2003, p. 171) could by produced. In spite of the great significance potatoes gained over time their wide spread diffusion took quite long. There is not enough evidence to reconstruct the whole process of their diffusion (Ottenjann and Ziessow, 1992; Teuteberg and Wiegelmann, 1986, pp. 93–114), however, some basic tendencies can be stated: Potatoes were brought to Europe since mid 16th century by conquistadores. In the beginning, potatoes were only to be found as botanical rarities. As foodstuffs potatoes became accepted in different places at the same time. In Spain, potatoes were accepted around the end of the 16th century and for the case of Germany there is evidence that potatoes were agriculturally cultivated in Western Germany in the 17th century (Kleinschmidt, 1978). Around 1700 potatoes could be found in southern parts of the Netherlands, which today are belonging to Belgium. This fact can be linked to the political affiliation to the House of Habsburg, which has also been predominant in Spain at that time (Hirschfelder, 2005, pp. 157–158). Before the widespread diffusion of the potato, the daily food supply of wide parts of the population was based on grain. In rural Germany, for example, meals often consisted of grain porridge, which was served together with lard, bread and sometimes meat (Hirschfelder, 2018, p. 5). The introduction of potatoes led to grain porridge slowly being replaced (Teuteberg and Wiegelmann, 1986, p. 93). Even although potatoes, since then, occasionally were part of everyday meals, it was shortage and poverty caused by poor cereal yields in a number of bad harvest years coupled with the growing of the population that led to their breakthrough (Hirschfelder, 2005, pp. 158–159). The beginning hesitation can be explained with the fact that “in matters of diet, especially of the staples of diet, [people] are very conservative, and will not change unless forced. No coercion is as generally effective as hunger” (Crosby, 2003, p. 169). This is why potatoes were considered as a food of the poor or animal food, especially in agriculturally low yielding regions (Wiegelmann, 1967, pp. 75–111), where potatoes noticeably improved the food supply situation. In Ireland the integration of potatoes as an everyday food took place comparably early. It is recorded that they have already been agriculturally cultivated in 1640. They complemented existing stock foods, such as dairy products, grain and pulses (Lysaght, 1997, p. 72). In 1684 potatoes were considered as stock food of the poor. The climatic conditions of Ireland with plenty of rainfall provided very good cultivation conditions. With potatoes much better yields could be gained than with any other commonly cultivated sort of grain (Kolbe, 1999, p. 34). Combined with lower land usage, food supply hence was improved for a long period of time.

25

26

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

On a structural level, changes in the context of the Reformation movement also had an impact on food culture. The implementation of Protestantism and Calvinism in different European areas led to an abandonment of catholic dietary laws: Holidays were dropped, together with the opulent feast associated with them. Fasting periods and their respective fasting rules gave way to a sparse and more abstinent diet, although, in some protestant areas, for example in Switzerland, people stuck to fasting rules (Sch€arer, 1992, p. 17). However, Reformation also gave rise to military conflicts. Hunger, poverty and hardship forced people to break with food conventions and traditions and so heritage had to be subjected to the functional aspects of nutrition in order to survive. In many rural and especially alpine regions, diets were characterized by food poverty and an overall alimentary pragmatism. This development, for instance, can be well observed in the case of Switzerland: In the upland and almost alpine region Hirtenland dairy products strongly dominated daily food supply, whereby carbohydrates from grain were missing. In the lower region Kornland, on the contrary, grain-based foods were very common, but protein and animal fat was missing. And since grain often had to be imported, shortages frequently caused price increase leading to temporary impoverishment (Hofer and Stalder, 2000; Sch€arer, 1992). Transformation processes occurring within early Modern Era can also be observed in the context of beverages: The climatic changes of the Little Ice Age oftentimes caused frost damages, which, for example, highly affected the cultivation of grape vines. In the area of Frankfurt this led to a transition from vineyards to fruit cultivation and the production of apple wine. In other regions viticulture was fully abandoned (Schreiber, 1980, pp. 290–292). In comparison with today, vegetation periods were around 20 days shorter at that time. This led to a general decline of quality for many agricultural products (Glaser, 2012). In the beginning, the demand for wine then was answered by supraregional imports instead. In the long run, however, a shift from wine to beer can be observed that highly influenced festive culture. At the same time, this promoted an orientation toward commercial breweries (Hirschfelder and Trummer, 2016). Another prominent beverage, whose spreading was initiated in the Early Modern Age and has become almost indispensable from today’s European daily life, is coffee. Probably only very few foodstuffs have had such a major and lasting impact on people’s daily routines and habits like coffee (Ball, 1991, p. 11). Presumably stemming from Ethiopia, “coffee had become a popular Muslim drink from the thirteenth century onwards when the method of roasting the beans and infusing the powder was developed” (Burnett, 1991, p. 35). Around mid 17th century coffee finally reached Europe. At first, its taste had been perceived as very unusual and rather unpleasant, even within aristocratic circles (Hirschfelder, 2005, p. 154). When it comes to the distribution of new foodstuffs, in general, nobility functions as an important role model, which especially holds for the case of England and France (Reif, 1987, pp. 35). The beginning of the spread of coffee, therefore, is connected to the court of French King Louis XIV. It was an ambassador, who

Western food cultures and traditions

delivered his message together with a cup of coffee. The beverage evoked curiosity and after a while became increasingly fashionable due to its exotic taste. The habit of coffee drinking, which was slowly established, functioned as a symbol to distance from bourgeoisie (Lansard, 1991, pp. 129–135). At that time, the French Court had been very influential in regard to cultural patterns in the domain of food and nutrition in general. Table manners, social manners and the “good” taste have been adopted and imitated by many other nobility courts in Europe (Elias, 1997, p. 12). French cuisine evolved as a symbol of upper class dining. Nevertheless, regional cuisines, too, continued to exist, which can be exemplified by looking at the letters of Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate from Western Germany. During her stay at the court of King Louis XIV she wrote about how she disliked upper class French cuisine—she neither liked coffee nor the food served to her. Her letters tell of her missing her homeland Palatinate cuisine, which was characterized by a great amount of sausages. For this reason, her relatives sent recipes, sausages and cabbage back to Versailles (Mattheier, 1997, p. 151; Hirschfelder, 2005, p. 154).

Industrialization and Modern Era For Western Europe the end of the 18th century brought a triad of intellectual, political and technical revolutions: The processes involved in the Enlightenment, the French Revolution and the Industrialization led the pre-modern era to collapse. The huge transformational processes setting in at that time can be very well traced by looking at Western European food cultures. First of all, Industrialization put an end to famine within Europe. Technical and industrial progress made it possible to finally ensure proper nutrition for a growing population. Here, specific achievements were of particular relevance, e.g. the successful breeding of sugar beets in regard to sugar production or the development of fertilizer of a more and more scientifically oriented agriculture ( Jones, 2016, p. 10). Apart from that, the transport system had been considerably improved by the extension of the railroad network since the 1830s. Furthermore, in 1840, Justus von Liebig published his book “Chemistry in its applications to agriculture and physiology,” which became a standard reference work in agricultural chemistry (von Liebig, 1840). The mentioned processes all took part in a massive increase in productivity during the second half of the 19th century. This secured basic food supply for wide parts of the European population for the first time. Another important aspect relating to this was the improvement of methods for preserving food. Metal cans, for example, allowed to tin food and other technical innovations established new products, such as margarine, baking powder or milk powder (Den Hartog, 1995). The industrial production of canned foods, pasta, marmalade and Liebig’s meat extract, as well as the invention of cooling machines by Carl von Linde in 1874

27

28

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

unleashed a powerful dynamic and severely accelerated industrialization (Brock, 2002; Schwenk, 1999; Ha˚rd, 1994; Spiekermann, 2018). At the same time, due to the replacement of sailing boats by steam ships, new colonial goods, like spices, coffee, tea, cocoa, sugar or rice became increasingly accessible for a wide range of people and domestic trade expanded through the extension of the railroad network. Since then foodstuff could be traded nationally on a large scale. Especially within industrial areas a new food culture established, that could neither be characterized as rural, nor as bourgeois. Since the early 19th century the class of factory workers emerged: At first in Northern England, with Manchester being the world’s first factory city, later in Northern France, the later Belgium as well as within Western Germany’s Aachener Revier, Saxony and a little later also within the Ruhr area (Griffin, 2010). With the Industrialization along came a separation of the working place and the living environment and thereby eating places. The machines dictated a rhythm to the lifeworld of the workers and their nutrition was characterized by monotony and rush. Since women were involved in production, too, meals often gained the quality of snacking. In the early period of factory systems the food supply of the working class was sufficient in comparison to that of farmers, at least in times of economic upswing. Food supply was mainly based on potatoes and meat, accompanied by one of the most popular beverages of the industrial age: wine spirits (Tappe, 1994, p. 55). Male and female workers more and more spent their free time in pubs. In the course of the 19th century industrial forms of commercial hospitality gained great importance, especially in England and Germany. The development of gin-palaces in England and beer-palaces in Germany can be seen as a symbol of high industrialization (Hirschfelder and Trummer, 2016). In the Northern England Lancashire the industrial factory system had evolved greater and faster than anywhere else (Burchardt, 2002, p. 14). By looking at the case of Lancashire, the formation of the workers as a new social class can almost be observed as if under laboratory conditions (Hylton, 2003; Hirschfelder, 2003). Concerning eating habits, factory work resulted in the loss of practices that had been engraved deeply into food culture. Not only eating rhythms, meals and the social situation of eating itself eroded, but also its internal chronology. Especially in the context of early industrialization, eating had been degraded to a side issue. As a minor matter, it had to be taken care of fast and in a functionally oriented way, that was first and foremost constrained by time. In the 1860s fish and chip shops started to pop up in Lancashire. Fish fries and potatochip fries had already existed as single products before. Due to the improved availability of industrially produced fat, yet their combination is assumed to have taken place in this specific context. The number of shops went up very fast so that in 1888 the number is already estimated at about 10,000–12,000 and even 25,000 in 1910 (Walton, 2000, pp. 5, 23). John K. Walton sketches the rising social importance of the fried fish dish among working class members: “Fish and chips became ubiquitous, mundane, inescapable and taken for granted in Britain in the first half of the twentieth century. It was at the

Western food cultures and traditions

heart of a multitude of daily and weekly routines and social rituals” (Walton, 2000, p. 162). Nowadays, fish and chips have ascended out of the context of the working class up to a national symbol for Britain itself. In early industrialized Germany, some areas profited from the process of Industrialization. For example, a medicinal topography of the Rhineland J€ ulich from 1839 indicates that meat and other animal products dominated daily food supply. Only almost 50 km southwards, in contrast, the daily food supply of textile workers had been much more sparsely and mainly vegetal. Poorly topped rye bread and salted potatoes dominated their everyday diet (Hirschfelder, 2005, p. 170). Beginning at the end of the 17th century and particularly in the 18th century the upper middle class coffee houses were institutionalized (Ball, 1991, p. 12). Coffee remained a high-priced and highly rated product, which imparted exclusiveness. Due to that, coffee houses “[were] acting increasingly as clubs or catering for exclusive groups like lawyers and stockbrokers” (Fenton, 1991, p. 94). The bourgeois adoption of coffee drinking from nobility, however, altered its social status. As a result, coffee had been taken on by wide parts of the population, which created the basis for today’s use of coffee as a daily companion (Teuteberg, 1991; Ball, 1991, p. 11). The increasing degree of urbanization gave rise to a growing number of cafes, restaurants and bars. In Brussels, the capital of the young Belgium, for example, the number of inhabitants between 1800 and 1900 nearly exploded and grew from 70,000 to 630,000 (Scholliers, 2005, p. 74). A wealthy upper class formed, who wanted to outwardly communicate their wealth, e.g. by visiting gastronomic establishments. Upper class restaurants mostly devoted themselves to the French haute cuisine. In France itself, many chefs had lost their job as a consequence of the loss of power of nobility. Oftentimes they then settled down in other large European cities and opened up their own restaurants. The former cuisine of nobility, which originally was specifically characterized by not being accessible for the general public and consisting of non-domestic ingredients, now advanced as a symbol of belonging to upper social circles and being distinct from working class (Mennell, 1997, p. 459; Scholliers, 2005, pp. 73–75; M€ ohring, 2012, p. 100; Trummer, 2009, p. 18). In the case of Brussels, social differentiation could even be observed in the context of the differentiation between French and Belgian cuisine: “A luxury restaurant may have employed foreign personnel, while more modest places might have used local people, which would imply the existence of a dual labour market. A segmented diffusion of knowledge and skills would be the consequence of using international staff in fashionable eating-places with a cosmopolitan cuisine, and local staff in the modest ones with local dishes” (Scholliers, 2005, p. 81). Summing up, Industrialization and the massive migration movements associated with it brought with them a fundamental transformation of Western European culinary systems. Within the centers that had been affected the most, such as England and Germany, premodern patterns fell apart and the cuisine of the working class shaped its way into food

29

30

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

culture. In the case of Germany, food culture became more and more bourgeois at the end of 19th century. England on the other hand, developed a particular working class food system characterized by a stronger differentiating line between nobly and bourgeois patterns. Peripheral European Ireland experienced a spiral of impoverishment in the 19th century, which led to the cultivation of potatoes in monoculture. About a third of the agriculturally areas were used for the cultivation of potatoes (Lysaght, 1997, p. 76). Potato blight, a plant disease, caused a series of bad harvests between 1845 and 1852. The catastrophe of the so called Irish potato famine (Irish: An Gorta Mo´r) has engraved deeply into the cultural memory of Ireland. Approximately one million people starved and two million left the country, mostly heading toward Northern America (Kinealy, 2006). As a consequence, constituting elements of Irish cuisine were imported into the United States and became one of the most important components of a developing “New World cuisine.” The extensive transformations of the era also had a crucial impact on bourgeois cuisine: It emancipated itself from nobility cuisine, especially in the case of France. It then became the main role model for all European cuisines in regard to both, haute cuisine and in the context of restaurants becoming more and more bourgeois and slowly replacing the historically older forms of restaurants and pubs. Thus, Industrialization and the bourgeois era initiated a process of homogenization, as well as an increasing social segregation within Western Europe at the same time.

Food cultures in the age of extremes—The 20th century The universal historian Eric Hobsbawn coined the term “Age of Extremes” for referring to the 20th century (Hobsbawm, 1994). This also, particularly applies to Western European food cultures: In the 20th century, traditions were broken down and newly invented. The loss of traditional frameworks happening in that period mirrors the change of and the search for identity. In the 20th century, Western European food cultures at first developed separately from each other for quite a long time and then again converged. This dynamic was determined by three main factors: World wars, ideologies and modernization and with them came great migration movements. Around 1900, the world presented itself in a turmoil: England, having experienced the peak of its economic power, slowly lost its supremacy in favor of the United States. In France and the Netherlands colonialism stood at its zenith: Spices, sugar, tea, coffee and cocoa were flowing into Europe in enormous amounts and could be afforded by a majority of the population (Hobsbawm, 2017, p. 88). Culinary identities had increasingly been shaped by colonial goods. The German cuisine participated in this exchange of goods at least to some degree, whereas Switzerland or rural Ireland benefited much less. Within agricultural regions, people ate in the slipstream of global trade, which is why in these areas traditions have been preserved much more profoundly.

Western food cultures and traditions

Another tendency that could be observed, pertains to the distinctive function of tradition and heritage as an interpretative pattern of national differentiation. And this has also been increasingly performed within the kitchen. Identity politics operating in the domain of what was construed as national cuisines sometimes took up former food patterns and in addition to that, many of the young countries also made use of “inventions of tradition” (Hobsbawm, 2012). France and England experienced waves of nationalism (Alter, 2016), whereas in Germany a kind of “plain German cuisine” had established itself since the Imperial Era. Regional traditions were considered as overcome patterns and as an inevitable evil by those, who were not able to afford to partake in the world of consumption. Concerning food cultures, the First World War did not entail many structural changes, but it drastically changed the amounts of food consumed and thus brought back famine. The total provision of calories dropped dramatically for the majority of the population, whereby regions that were based on subsistence economy suffered much less than urban centers (Roerkohl, 1987, pp. 325–357). During the post-war period, for instance, a comparison between Germany and France yields interesting insights: While France took on culinary patterns of the pre-war period, German cuisine modernized extensively during Weimar Republic (1919–33), especially with regard to the material domain of meals, as well as in the context of the liberalization of restaurant culture. With the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, within Germany a culinary turning point occurred. International influences from then on had been discredited as “un-German,” pushed back and soon even were prohibited. The Nazi dictatorship aimed at ideologizing the entire food culture. This went so far as to even different types of bread became associated with national stereotypes. Hence, allegedly German dark bread was conceived as “good,” whereas French-style white bread was conceived of minor value. With the outbreak of the Second World War this ideologization led to a war of annihilation in Eastern Europe, which made use of famine as weapon of war. The occupation policy within the Benelux region and France also led to a drastically deteriorating provision of calories (Hirschfelder, 2005, pp. 222–223). As a consequence of the Holocaust, Jewish culture and Jewish food systems had been eradicated from areas under German control. The Jewish cuisine fundamentally differs from its Christian influenced variants. Some examples are the prohibition on the consumption of pork, or the adherence to the 613 Kashrut laws, which, for instance, prohibit the combination of dairy and meat products. Furthermore, the weekly holiday Sabbath is supposed to be spent within the circle of the community or family (Schostak, 2014, pp. 327–330). This way, the Sabbath holds a strongly identity forming culinary function, where the weekly holiday acts as a guarantor of tradition. Even after the liberation from the Nazi oppression, the impact of fascism on food culture could still be observed: Until 1933 there had been a lively exchange of goods and ideas within

31

32

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Europe. After the Nazi era cultural patterns from Germany had been rejected completely. Parallel to this, another ideology came to revolutionize food culture. In 1945, Eastern Germany stood under the influence of Soviet communism. Russian-style community meals, foodservice industry and proletarization served as role models and estranged Eastern Germany from the West (Kaminsky, 1999, pp. 12–20; Schl€ ogel, 2017, pp. 398ff). With the liberation of fascism, a period of seemingly unlimited economic growth was initiated within the Western World. This, too, can be classified as an ideology, insofar the free individual is faced with an imperative to consume. In this cultural framework, social recognition is achieved through consumption. The most accessible and affordable way to do so was by consuming foodstuffs and luxury goods, which had been intentionally produced to fulfill this purpose by brand-name manufactures. In regard to food culture, the United States more and more became a leading nation for Western Europe. On the one hand, this related to the material aspect of food manifesting in hamburgers, chewing gum or cola-drinks. On the other hand, this was related to social aspects of eating. The pioneering character of the consumption of food outside of fixed meals represented by fast food or takeaway food had been accepted long since. Transmitted via motion picture films and television series these cultural patterns had slowly been adopted within everyday life of Europe (Hirschfelder, 2005, pp. 249–253). The postwar period in general brought with it an improvement of food supply. This led to the first incidence of oversupply in the course of the 1950s (Teuteberg, 1986, pp. 236–252), e.g. in Great Britain, France and especially in Switzerland, the Benelux area and Germany. By an intentional turning away from its Nazi past, Germany had even more been subject of modernization, than its neighboring countries. New food patterns adopted in this period, can be regarded as indicating the attempt to turn away from its past. This tendency enforced the abandonment of long established traditions, while countries like England or France rather tended to maintain former patterns of food culture. Where traditional European food patterns and the identities coming with it had survived, they underwent a fundamental paradigmatic shift since the 1940s. As a consequence of decolonization, England, France and the Benelux area took in many people from former occupied territory (Reinhard, 2008, pp. 310–374). This also meant the import of new cuisines, which soon became part of European food cultures. In the case of England, for example, Indian and Pakistani influence was of great importance, whereas France was influenced mostly by Northern African and partly Western African cuisines. These influences particularly manifested in gastronomy, complementing the already existing pubs and restaurants. Economic growth and the increase of out of home eating functioned prerequisites for this development. In Switzerland and Germany Southern European and later also Turkish influences dominated.

Western food cultures and traditions

The increasing automation of housekeeping and a rising acceptance of convenience food more and more drove out older patterns of food culture (K€ onigs, 2014, pp. 125–132; Spiekermann, 2018, pp. 733–742). In this context, the symbolic-esthetic quality of food products became highly important. Hence, the packing of food soon gained increasing relevance (Cross and Proctor, 2014; Elpers, 2005; Stickel and Tr€ oscher, 1998; Spiekermann, 1997, pp. 116–117; Schulze, 1992). Food had already been presented in supermarkets and intentionally placed for advertising purposes. In this context, the consumption of food stuffs also meant a consumption of symbols. At least from an iconographic point of view, the symbolic quality of foodstuffs transported the idea of an ideal world in regard to long established traditions and cultural heritage. However, in wide parts of Europe, the label “traditional” had been associated with backwardness for a long time. This interpretation was the most widespread in the Benelux area and in Germany, the least in England and Ireland. In addition, in the 1980s, exotic food obtained greater importance. Especially within gastronomy, and out of home and convenience eating but also within private spaces. This gave rise to Asian and TexMex, as well as American cuisine (M€ ohring, 2012). The middle class restaurant in France, the public house in England and Ireland and the Gastst€ atte in Germany had downsized considerably in their number and relevance.

Current food cultures We consume identity through food. Whenever culinary systems change very fast, identification processes may be disrupted. That is one of the main reasons for the upswing of traditional national cuisines around 1990 (K€ onigs, 2014, p. 14; M€ uns, 2010, p. 15). Invented or newly interpreted traditional food patterns, such as “The full Irish Breakfast” or “Irish Stew,” German “Currywurst” or “Bouletten,” and French “Bouillabaisse,” returned as key components within gastronomy. Along with that came a tourism-related marketing concerning foodstuffs that transported the alleged idea of highly valued tradition. This especially counts for England and Germany, less for the Netherlands and France. Commercialized traditional dishes, however, were not conceived as symbols of national demarcation, but rather as national variants of positively valued national cuisines (Brulotte and Di Giovine, 2014). In this respect, this process can be interpreted as a European coping strategy in reaction to increasing globalization. The coping mechanism exhibits structural similarities between the different European countries, but also shows individual particularities. Hence, within France, an enhanced desire to reach a certain quality of meals can still be recognized, whereas England is rather focused on folklorization and Switzerland, for example, more strongly operates with the use of the colors of its national flag or the Swiss Cross as symbols of nationality (Gyr, 2009). Despite the rich variants to be currently

33

34

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

found in Europe, there are also tendencies of homogenization becoming visible (Ritzer, 2004; Trummer, 2009, pp. 132–134; Prahl and Setzwein, 1999, p. 59). They convey individual world views and life styles trough food stuffs and cuisines (Brunner, 2011; Poulain, 2017, p. 174; Barl€ osius, 2016, pp. 119–127). Against this background, individual preferences like a vegetarian diet or a more pleasure-oriented diet can be regarded as ways of reducing complexity. They offer the individual an alleged way of “eating properly” in regard to different value systems. Apart from that, of course the differentiation of eating practices in Europe also is a result of a global labor market within a digital world. Here, optical aspects of the body play an important role. Eating is no longer only to be considered as a means of representing social status but also as a means of shaping the body (Franken and Hirschfelder, 2016; Prahl and Setzwein, 1999, p. 102). Especially the younger generation tends to express the demanded need for achievement and willingness of work through body performance. Hence, this is heavily influencing food cultures. However, food consumption has also become a means of compensating boredom, social exclusion and frustration within a world of rapid cultural transformation. In this way, the consumption of cheap and high calorie food has also to be regarded as a coping strategy. New forms of nutritional education, the trend of personalized eating in a digital world and rising living costs might reverse this process in the long run (K€ onigs, 2014, pp. 381–385). When it comes to food and nutrition, humans will always be a product and mirror of their cultural environment. After all, globalization and digitalization have made mobility an integral part of society. This has far-reaching consequences for food cultures. Whenever people are confronted with enormous cultural distress they seem to cling to old and proven cultural patterns and diets as a means of stabilizing their identity (Barl€ osius et al., 1997, p. 18; Augustynek and Hirschfelder, 2010). Arabic supermarkets or Turkish greengrocer’s shops in Germany indicate this process as well as African food shops in Brussels or Polish delicatessen shops in London do. In the context of national negotiations of heritage and identity, by now, life realities of migrants only play a minor role. The question, if integration and normalization will take place on the level of national cuisines, or if migrant food patterns will obtain a more strategic meaning in functioning as opponents to hegemonic figures of thought in the context of what counts as traditional and belonging to different nations, will show in the future.

References Albrow, P., 1996. The Global Age. State and Society Beyond Modernity. Polity Press, Cambridge. Alf€ oldy, G., 1984. R€ omische Sozialgeschichte (Roman Social History), third ed. Steiner, Wiesbaden (in German). Alter, P., 2016. Nationalismus. Ein Essay u €ber Europa (Nationalism. An Essay About Europe). Alfred Kr€ oner, Stuttgart (in German). Andre, J., 1998. Essen und Trinken im Alten Rom (Food and Drink in Ancient Rome). Reclam, Stuttgart (in German).

Western food cultures and traditions

Augustynek, M., Hirschfelder, G., 2010. Integrationsmechanismen und Esskultur. Zur Akkulturation polnischer und moldawisch-gagausischer Migranten (Mechanisms of integration and food culture. Acculturation of polish and Moldawian-Gagausian migrants). In: Kalinke, M.H., Roth, K., € Weger, T. (Eds.), Esskultur und Kulturelle Identit€at. Ethnologische Nahrungsforschung im Ostlichen Europa. (Eating Culture and Cultural Identity. Research in Eastern European Food Cultures). Oldenbourg, M€ unchen, pp. 157–174 (in German). Ball, D. (Ed.), 1991. Kaffee im Spiegel Europ€aischer Trinksitten. (Coffee in the Context of European Drinking Habits). Johann Jacobs Museum, Z€ urich. Barl€ osius, E., 2016. Soziologie des Essens. Eine Sozial- und Kulturwissenschaftliche Einf€ uhrung in die Ern€ahrungsforschung (Sociology of Food. A Sociological and Cultural Anthropological Introduction in Food Research), third ed. Beltz Juventa, Weinheim, Basel (in German). Barl€ osius, E., Neumann, G., Teuteberg, H.J., 1997. Leitgedanken u €ber die Zusammenh€ange von Identit€at und kulinarischer Kultur im Europa der Regionen (Guiding principles behind identity and culinary culture in Europe of Regions). In: Wierlacher, A., Neumann, G., Teuteberg, H.J. (Eds.), Esskultur und Kulturelle Identit€at. Europ€aische Perspektiven. (Eating Culture and Cultural Identity. European Perspectives). Akademie, Berlin, pp. 13–26 (in German). Beck, U., Giddens, A., Lash, S., 1996. Reflexive Moderne. Eine Kontroverse (Reflexive Modernization: Politics, Tradition, Aesthetics in the Modern Social Order). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main (in German). Bra´zdil, R., Pfister, C., Wanner, H., Storch, H.V., Luterbacher, J., 2005. Historical climatology in Europe. Climate Change 70 (3), 363–430. Brock, W.H., 2002. Justus von Liebig. The Chemical Gatekeeper, first paperback ed. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge. Brulotte, R.L., Di Giovine, M.A., 2014. Introduction: food and foodways as cultural heritage. In: Brulotte, R.L., Di Giovine, M.A. (Eds.), Edible Identities. Food as Cultural Heritage. Routledge, London and New York, pp. 1–27. Brunner, K.M., 2011. Der Ern€ahrungsalltag im Wandel und die Frage der Steuerung von Konsummustern (Everyday nutrition in change and the question of controlling consumption patterns). In: Ploeger, A., Hirschfelder, G., Sch€ onberger, G. (Eds.), Die Zukunft auf dem Tisch. Analysen, Trends und Perspektiven der Ern€ahrung von Morgen. (The Future on the Table. Analyses, Trends and Perspectives of the Nutrition of Tomorrow). VS Verlag f€ ur Sozialwissenschaften, Wiesbaden, pp. 203–218. Burchardt, J., 2002. Paradise Lost. Rural Idyll and Social Change Since 1800. I.B. Tauris, London. Burnett, J., 1991. Coffee in the British diet, 1650–1990. In: Ball, D. (Ed.), Kaffee im Spiegel Europ€aischer Trinksitten. (Coffee in the Context of European Drinking Habits). Z€ urich, Johann Jacobs Museum, pp. 35–52. Bynum, C.W., 1987. Holy Feast and Holy Fast. The Religious Significance of Food to Medieval Women. Univ. of California Press, Berkeley. Crosby, A.W., 2003. The Columbian Exchange. Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492. Prager, Westport, CT, London. Cross, G.S., Proctor, R.N., 2014. Packaged Pleasures. How Technology and Marketing Revolutionized Desire. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, IL. Curtis, R.I., 2010. Food processing and preparation. In: Oleson, J.P. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, pp. 369–392. Den Hartog, A.P. (Ed.), 1995. Food Technology, Science and Marketing. European Diet in the Twentieth Century. Tuckwell Press, East Lothian. Dupont, F., 1993. Daily Life in Ancient Rome. Blackwell, Oxford. D€ uring, W., Blasius, A., Hundsbichler, H., Zapp, H., 1989. Fasten, -zeiten, -dispensen. Christlicher Bereich (Feasting, -times, -dispenses. Christian contexts). In: Bautier, R.H. (Ed.), Lexikon des Mittelalters Bd. 4. (Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Munich, Zurich, pp. 304–307 (in German). € Elias, N., 1997. Uber den Prozeß der Zivilisation. Soziogenetische und Psychogenetische Untersuchungen. Bd. 2. Wandlungen des Verhaltens in den Weltlichen Oberschichten des Abendlandes (The Civilizing Process, Vol.II. State Formation and Civilization). Suhrkamp, Frankfurt am Main (in German). Elpers, S., 2005. Frau Antje Bringt Holland. Kulturwissenschaftliche Betrachtungen Einer Werbefigur im Wandel (Ms. Antje Brings Holland. Cultural Anthropological Considerations About an Advertising Character in Change). Waxmann, M€ unster, New York, M€ unchen.

35

36

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Fenton, A., 1991. Coffee drinking in Scotland in the 17th–19th centuries. In: Ball, D. (Ed.), Kaffee im Spiegel Europ€aischer Trinksitten. (Coffee in the Context of European Drinking Habits). Johann Jacobs Museum, Z€ urich, pp. 93–102. Franken, L., Hirschfelder, G., 2016. Politik mit Messer und Gabel. Ideologisiertes Essen zwischen Selbstoptimierung und Weltverbesserung (Politics with knife and fork. Ideological eating between selfoptimization and world improvement). Hist. Sozial. 46 (4), 21–24 (in German). Glaser, R., 2012. Historische Klimatologie Mitteleuropas (Historical Climatology of Central Europe). http://www.ieg-ego.eu/glaserr-2012-de. Accessed 14 November 2018 (in German). Griffin, E., 2010. A Short History of the British Industrial Revolution. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke, Hampshire. Gyr, U., 2009. Marke und Medium. Das “neue” Schweizerkreuz im Trend. In: Simon, M. (Ed.), Bilder. B€ ucher. Bytes. Zur Medialit€at des Alltags; 36. Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft f€ ur Volkskunde in Mainz vom 23. bis 26. September 2007. Waxmann, M€ unster, pp. 431–437. Ha˚rd, M., 1994. Machines are Frozen Spirit. The Scientification of Refrigeration and Brewing in the 19th Century; A Weberian Interpretation. Campus-Verlag, Westview Press, Frankfurt am Main; Boulder, Colorado. Harries, J., 1992. Christianity and the city in Late Roman Gaul. In: Rich, J. (Ed.), The City in Late Antiquity. Routledge, London, New York, pp. 77–98. Henaut, S., Mitchell, J., 2018. A Bite-Sized History of France. The New Press, New York. Herborn, W., 2003. Z€ unfte. Lebensrahmen f€ ur die Handwerker dargestellt am Beispiel rheinischer St€adte (Corporations in feudal Europe. Life worlds and life conditions for the craftsmen shown by Rhine towns). In: Gehl, G., Meyer, R.L. (Eds.), Mittelalter und Moderne. (Life in Middle Ages and Modern Era). Dadder, Weimar, pp. 83–102 (in German). Hirschfelder, G., 1994. Die K€ olner Handelsbeziehungen im Sp€atmittelalter (Trade Relations in Cologne in Late Middle Ages). K€ olnisches Stadtmuseum, K€ oln (in German). Hirschfelder, G., 2003. Alkoholkonsum am Beginn des Industriezeitalters (1700–1850). Vergleichende Studien zum Gesellschaftlichen und Kulturellen Wandel. Band 1: Die Region Manchester (Alcohol Consumption at the Beginning of the Industrial Age. Comparative Studies on Social and Cultural Change. Vol. 1. The Region Manchester). B€ ohlau, K€ oln, Wien, Weimar (in German). Hirschfelder, G., 2005. Europ€aische Esskultur (European Food Culture). Campus Verlag, Frankfurt am Main (in German). Hirschfelder, G., 2018. Facetten einer Ern€ahrungs-Globalgeschichte. Esskultur als Resultat historischer Prozesse (Facets of global history of nutrition. Food cultures as a result of historical processes). Polit. Zeitgesch. 68 (1–3), 4–12 (in German). Hirschfelder, G., Pollmer, P., 2018. Ern€ahrung und Esskultur: kulturelle Perspektiven (Nutrition and eating habits: cultural aspects). Aktuel. Ernahrungsmed. 43 (1), 41–55. https://doi.org/10.1055/s-0043117819 (in German). Hirschfelder, G., Trummer, M., 2016. Bier. Eine Geschichte von der Steinzeit bis Heute (Beer. A History From the Stone Ages Until Present). (Theiss), Darmstadt (in German). Hobsbawm, E., 1994. The Short Twentieth Century 1914–1991. Michael Joseph, London. Hobsbawm, E., 2012. Introduction. Inventing traditions. In: Hobsbawm, E., Ranger, T.O. (Eds.), The Invention of Tradition. Cambridge Univ. Press, Cambridge, pp. 1–14. Hobsbawm, E., 2017. Das Imperiale Zeitalter 1875–1914 (The Imperial era 1875–1914). (Theiss), Darmstadt (in German). Hofer, K., Stalder, U., 2000. Regionale Produktorganisationen als Transformatoren des Bed€ urfnisfeldes Ern€ahrung in Richtung Nachhaltigkeit? Potenziale – Effekte – Strategien (Regional Product Organizations as Transformers of the Area of Need “Nutrition” Towards Sustainability? Potentials – Effects – Strategies). Geographisches Institut der Universit€at Bern, Bern (in German). Humpert, K., Schenk, M., 2001. Entdeckung der Mittelalterlichen Stadtplanung. Das Ende vom Mythos der “Gewachsenen Stadt” (The Discovery of the Medieval Urban Planning. The End of the Myth of the “Grown City”). Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, Darmstadt (in German). Hylton, S., 2003. A History of Manchester. Phillimore & Co, Chichester. Isenmann, E., 2012. Die Deutsche Stadt im Mittelalter 1150–1550. Stadtgestalt, Recht, Verfassung, Stadtregiment, Kirche, Gesellschaft, Wirtschaft (The German Town in the Middle Ages. Townscape, Law, Town Regiment, Church, Society, Economy). B€ ohlau, Manchester (in German).

Western food cultures and traditions

Jones, P.M., 2016. Agricultural Enlightenment. Knowledge, Technology, and Nature, 1750–1840. Oxford University Press, Oxford. Kaminsky, A., 1999. “Mehr produzieren, gerechter verteilen, besser leben.” Konsumpolitik in der DDR (“Produce more, distribute fairer, live better”. Consumer policy in the DDR). Polit. Zeitgesch. 49 (28), 12–20 (in German). Katschnig-Fasch, E., 2004. Lebensstil als kulturelle form und praxis (Lifestyle as cultural form and practice). In: List, E. (Ed.), Grundlagen der Kulturwissenschaften. Interdisziplin€are Kulturstudien. (Fundamentals of Cultural Anthropology. Interdisciplinary Studies on Culture). Francke, T€ ubingen, pp. 301–321 (in German). Kinealy, C., 2006. This Great Calamity. The Irish Famine, 1845–1852. Gill Books, Dublin. Kleinschmidt, W., 1978. Die Einf€ uhrung der Kartoffel in der Westpfalz und in den angrenzenden Gebieten der ehemaligen Rheinprovinz (The introduction of the Potato in the Western Palatine and in the adjacent areas of the former Rhine Province). Rhein.-Westf€alis. Z. Volkskd. 24, 208–283 (in German). Kluge, A., 2007. Die Z€ unfte (The Guilds). Franz Steiner Verlag, Stuttgart (in German). Kolbe, W., 1999. Kulturgeschichte der Kartoffel und Ihrer Schaderreger (Cultural History of the Potato and Its Harmful Organisms). W. A. Kolbe, Burscheid (in German). € K€ onigs, C., 2014. Internalisierung der Esskultur Zwischen Mangel, Uberfluss, Diversit€at und Innovationen am Beispiel der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Internalization of Food Cultures in the Contexts of Shortages, Abundance, Diversity and Innovation Through the Example of the Federal Republic of Germany). Shaker, Aachen (in German). Lansard, M., 1991. Der Kaffee in Frankreich im 17. und 18. Jahrhundert: modererscheinung oder Institution? (Coffee in France in the 17th and 18th century: fashion or institution?). In: Ball, D. (Ed.), Kaffee im Spiegel Europ€aischer Trinksitten. (Coffee in the Context of European Drinking Habits). Z€ urich, Johann Jacobs Museum, pp. 127–143 (in German). Lysaght, P., 1997. Aspekte des sozialen und kulturellen Einflusses der Kartoffel in Irland (Issues of social and cultural influence of the potato in Ireland). In: Weggemann, S., Benker, G. (Eds.), Kulturpr€agung Durch Nahrung: Die Kartoffel. (Cultural Imprint Through Food: The Potato). Ed. Infotainment Verlag, M€ unchen, pp. 72–78 (in German). Margaritis, E., Jones, M.K., 2010. Greek and Roman agriculture. In: Oleson, J.P. (Ed.), The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford, pp. 158–174. € Mattheier, K.J., 1997. Deutsche Eßkultur am Versailler Hof Ludwigs XIV. Uber die kulinarischen Vorlieben und Abneigungen der Elisabeth Charlotte von Orleans (German food culture at the royal court of Louis XIV. of France. The culinary preferences and dislikes of Princess Elisabeth Charlotte). In: Wierlacher, A., Neumann, G., Teuteberg, H.J. (Eds.), Esskultur und Kulturelle Identit€at. Europ€aische Perspektiven. (Eating Culture and Cultural Identity. European Perspectives). Akademie, Berlin, pp. 148–154 (in German). Melville, G., 2012. Die Welt der Mittelalterlichen Kl€ oster. Geschichte und Lebensformen (The World of Medieval Monasteries. History and Life Style). Beck, M€ unchen (in German). Mennell, S., 1997. The culinary culture of Europe Overseas. In: Wierlacher, A., Neumann, G., Teuteberg, H.J. (Eds.), Esskultur und Kulturelle Identit€at. Europ€aische Perspektiven. (Eating Culture and Cultural Identity. European Perspectives). Akademie, Berlin, pp. 459–464. M€ ohring, M., 2012. Fremdes Essen. Die Geschichte der Ausl€andischen Gastronomie in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Foreign Food. The History of Foreign Gastronomy in the Federal Republic of Germany). Oldenbourg, M€ unchen (in German). Montanari, M., 1983. Ern€ahrung. Westliches Europa. Von der Sp€atantike bis zum hohen Mittelalter (Nutrition. Western Europe. From the Late antiquity to the High Middle Ages). In: Bautier, R.H. (Ed.), Lexikon des Mittelalters Bd. 3. (Encyclopedia of the Middle Ages). J. B. Metzler, Stuttgart, Weimar, pp. 2161–2164 (in German). Moraw, P., 1985. Von Offener Verfassung zu Gestalteter Verdichtung. Das Reich im sp€aten Mittelalter 1250–1490 (From Open Constitution to Structured Densification. The Holy Roman Empire 1250–1490). Propyl€aen Verlag, Berlin (in German). M€ uns, H., 2010. Essen und Trinken als Bekenntnis: Heimat – kulturelle Identit€at – Alltagserfahrung. In: Kalinke, M.H., Roth, K., Weger, T. (Eds.), Esskultur und Kulturelle Identit€at. Ethnologische

37

38

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

€ Nahrungsforschung im Ostlichen Europa. (Eating Culture and Cultural Identity. Research in Eastern European Food Cultures). Oldenbourg, M€ unchen, pp. 11–26 (in German). Nunn, N., Qian, N., 2010. The Columbian exchange. A history of disease, food, and ideas. J. Econ. Perspect. 24 (2), 163–188. Oleson, J.P., 2010. The Oxford Handbook of Engineering and Technology in the Classical World. Oxford Univ. Press, Oxford. Ottenjann, H., Ziessow, H.-K., 1992. Die Kartoffel. Geschichte und Zukunft Einer Kulturpflanze (The Potato. History and Future of a Crop). Museumsdorf Cloppenburg, Cloppenburg (in German). Petron, T., 1968. Satyrikon. Ein R€ omischer Schelmenroman (Satyrikon. A Roman Picareaque Novel). Reklam, Ditzingen (in German). Peyer, H.C., 1987. Von der Gastfreundschaft zum Gasthaus. Studien zur Gastlichkeit im Mittelalter (From Hospitality to Guest-House. Studies on Hospitality in the Middle Ages). Hahn, Hannover. Poulain, J.P., 2017. The Sociology of Food. Eating and the Place of Food in Society. Bloomsbury Publishing, London. Prahl, H.W., Setzwein, M., 1999. Soziologie der Ern€ahrung (Sociology of Food). Leske + Budrich, Opladen (in German). Reif, H., 1987. Der Adel in der modernen Sozialgeschichte (Aristocracy in modern social history). In: Schieder, W., Sellin, V. (Eds.), Sozialgeschichte in Deutschland. (Social History in Germany). Vandenhoek und Ruprecht, G€ ottingen, pp. 35–60. Reinhard, W., 2008. Kleine Geschichte des Kolonialismus (Short History of Colonialism). Alfred Kr€ oner Verlag, Stuttgart (in German). Ritzer, G., 2004. The McDonaldization of Society, Revised New Century Ed. Pine Forge Press, Thousand Oaks, CA. Roerkohl, A., 1987. Die Lebensmittelversorgung w€ahrend des Ersten Weltkriegs im Spannungsfeld kommunaler und staatlicher Maßnahmen (Food supply during World War I in the area of tension between municipal and state activities). In: Teuteberg, H.J. (Ed.), Durchbruch zum Modernen Massenkonsum. Lebensmittelm€arkte und Lebensmittelqualit€at im St€adtewachstum Des Industriezeitalters. (Breakthrough to Modern Mass Consumption. Food Markets and Food Quality During Urban Growth of the Industrial Era). Coppenrath, M€ unster, pp. 309–370. Sallares, R., 2007. Ecology. In: Scheidel, W. (Ed.), The Cambridge Economic History of the Greco-Roman World. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 15–37. Sch€arer, M., 1992. 700 Jahre auf dem Tisch oder: Die 7 Ausgestellten Ausstellungen. Ern€ahrung in der Schweiz vom Sp€atmittelalter bis zur Gegenwart und M€ oglichkeiten, Ern€ahrungsgeschichte im Museum auszustellen (700 Years on the Table, or: the 7 Exhibitions. Nutrition in Switzerland From the Late Middle Ages Until Present and Ways to Exhibit the History of Nutrition in Museums). Vevey (in German). Schl€ ogel, K., 2017. Das Sowjetische Jahrhundert. Arch€aologie Einer Untergegangenen Welt (The Sovjet Century. Archeology of a Disappeared World). Beck, M€ unchen (in German). Schneider, H., 2007. Technology. In: Scheidel, W. (Ed.), The Cambridge Economic History of the GrecoRoman World. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 144–171. Scholliers, P., 2005. Restaurant personnel in Brussels and the diffusion of an eating culture, 1850–1900. In: Oddy, D.J. (Ed.), The Diffusion of Food Culture in Europe From the Late Eighteenth Century to the Present Day. Eighth Symposium of the International Commission for Research Into European Food History (ICREFH) “The Diffusion of Food Culture: Cookery and Food Education in Europe Since the Eighteenth Century”, Prague, 30. September – 5. October 2003. Academia, Prague, pp. 73–84. Schostak, D., 2014. Speisegebote, j€ udische (Dietary laws, jewish), in: J€ager, F. (Ed.), Enzyklop€adie der Neuzeit. (Accessed 14 November 2018) https://doi.org/10.1163/2352-0248_edn_a3988000 (in German). Schreiber, G., 1980. Deutsche Weingeschichte. Der Wein in Volksleben, Kult und Wirtschaft (German history of wine. Wine in folk live, culture and economy). Rheinland-Verlag, Habelt, K€ oln, Bonn (in German). Schulze, G., 1992. Die Erlebnisgesellschaft. Kultursoziologie der Gegenwart (The Experience-Oriented Society. Sociology of Present-Day Culture). Campus-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main, New York (in German). Schwenk, E., 1999. Liebigs Fleischextrakt. Heile Welt im Kleinformat (Liebigs meat extract. Ideal world in small format). Pharm. Ztg. 144, 2553–2554.

Western food cultures and traditions

Selzer, S., 2010. Die Mittelalterliche Hanse (The Medieval Hanseatic League). WBG, Darmstadt (in German). Spiekermann, U., 1997. Rationalisierung als Daueraufgabe. Der deutsche Lebensmitteleinzelhandel im 20. Jahrhundert (Rationalization as a permanent task. German food retailing in the 20th century). Scr. Mercat. 31 (1), 69–129 (in German). Spiekermann, U., 2018. K€ unstliche Kost. Ern€ahrung in Deutschland, 1840 bis Heute (Artificial Food. Nutrition in Germany, 1840 Until Present). Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, G€ ottingen (in German). Stickel, A., Tr€ oscher, M. (Eds.), 1998. 48, 98. Tante Emma – Megastore. 50 Jahre Lebensmittelhandel in Deutschland. (48, 98. Tante Emma – Megastore. 50 Years of Food Retailing in Germany). Westermann-Kommunikation, Ingelheim am Rhein (in German). Tappe, H., 1994. Auf dem Weg zur Modernen Alkoholkultur. Alkoholproduktion, Trinkverhalten und Temperenzbewegung in Deutschland im fr€ uhen 19. Jahrhundert bis zum Ersten Weltkrieg (On the Way to a Modern Alcohol Culture. Alcohol Production, Drinking Behaviour and Temperance Movement From Early 19th Century to World War I). Steiner, Stuttgart (in German). Teuteberg, H.J., 1986. Der Verzehr in Nahrungsmitteln in Deutschland und seine strukturellen Ver€anderungen (The consumption of foodstuffs in Germany and its structural changes). In: Wiegelmann, G., Teuteberg, H.J. (Eds.), Unsere T€agliche Kost. Geschichte und Regionale Pr€agung. (Our Daily Diet. History and Regional Imprint). Coppenrath, M€ unster, pp. 345–361 (in German). Teuteberg, H.J., 1991. Zur Kulturgeschichte der Kaffee-Surrogate (About the cultural history of coffee surrogates). In: Ball, D. (Ed.), Kaffee im Spiegel Europ€aischer Trinksitten. (Coffee in the Context of European Drinking Habits). Z€ urich, Johann Jacobs Museum, pp. 169–199 (in German). Teuteberg, H.J., Wiegelmann, G., 1986. Unsere T€agliche Kost. Geschichte und Regionale Pr€agung (Our Daily Diet. History and Regional Imprint). Coppenrath, M€ unster (in German). Trummer, M., 2009. Pizza, D€ oner, McKropolis. Entwicklungen, Erscheinungsformen und Wertewandel Internationaler Gastronomie am Beispiel der Stadt Regensburg (Pizza, Doner Kebab, McKropolis. Developments, Manifestations and Change in Values of International Gastronomy Through the Example of Regensburg). Waxmann, M€ unster, Regensburg (in German). von Liebig, J., 1840. Die Organische Chemie in Ihrer Anwendung auf Agricultur und Physiologie [The Organic Chemistry in Its Application on Agriculture and Physiology]. Vieweg, Braunschweig (in German). Walton, J.K., 2000. Fish & Chips and the British Working Class, 1870–1940, first paperback ed. Leicester Univ. Press, London. Wiegelmann, G., 1967. Alltags- und Festspeisen. Wandel und Gegenw€artige Stellung (Everyday Life and Holiday Food. Changes and Current Status). Elwert, Marburg (in German).

39

CHAPTER 3

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices on the Island of Ireland Maurice G. O’Sullivana, Derek V. Byrneb a

School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland Department of Food Science, Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark

b

Contents Introduction Irelands traditional food production geography History, eating cultures and traditions Typical irish foods and food products, their composition benefits and adverse properties Pasture fed irish cows (beef/dairy) Lamb Clare Island Salmon Processed meats Dairy and dairy products Beverages Bread, soda bread, boxty and Blaa Irish potatoes Food preservation, shelf life and environment (preservation options) Present nutritional conditions (statistics, trends, epidemiology) with respect to deficiencies, remedies and safety aspects (chemical and microbiological) Salt reduced varieties of processed meat sausage (breakfast sausage, black and white pudding, cured meats) Future outlook References Further reading

41 42 42 43 43 44 44 44 48 52 54 55 55 56 56 57 60 63

Introduction This chapter will highlight the major Irish food and beverage products, which have a place in both the domestic and international consciousness as well as identifying consumer trends and how their presence and formulation may be changing or adapting with our nutrition and food quality focused times (Byrne et al., 2013). The definition of traditional foods and beverages in Ireland appears to be more fluid than in other countries with consumers, in general, open to reformulation of traditional recipes if it results in a healthier product (Byrne et al., 2013). For example, Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00004-4

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

41

42

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Fellendorf et al. (2017b) undertook a survey of Irish consumers (n ¼ 1045) which investigated if they have assimilated the message of consuming healthier foods, including salt and fat reduced foods, into their diet. Thus, it seems that campaigns regarding the importance of a balanced diet have generally been adopted by respondents, as only a minority of the participants did not take care of their diet, independent of age, gender and level of education. More than half of the participants carefully maintained a balanced diet. Furthermore, an increase in purchasing salt reduced food was observed, although fat reduced food products were already better accepted. Additionally, there was no conflict observed for traditional foods reduced in salt and fat content when their intrinsic sensory character is maintained. Many traditional food manufacturers are working on recipes low in fat and salt, while in parallel public health campaigns are promoting the consumption of healthier foods (Fellendorf et al., 2017b). Many countries have begun with campaigns to reduce the dietary salt and fat consumption in their population. The demand for healthier traditional foods has concurrently increased. Hence, consumers demand for healthier and more natural food is confronted with the need also for convenience foods (de Barcellos et al., 2011).

Irelands traditional food production geography Ireland is a country with a temperate climate with enough rain and sunshine to allow grass, which covers 81% of agricultural land (hay and grass silage (3.6 million hectares)), to grow optimally. Irish farmers capitalize on this with the production of high quality meat and dairy production. An additional 11% of agricultural land is dedicated to rough grazing (0.5 million hectares) and 8% to crops, fruit and horticulture production (0.36 million hectares) (Bord Bia, 2017a). This very natural pastoral production system has its origins in traditional farming practices that have evolved to capitalize on the benefits associated with fertile land, optimal rainfall and sufficient sunshine levels that allows grass to grow abundantly. The southern part of Ireland in the province of Munster, is particularly noted for exceptional beef and dairy production with many of the large processors maintaining large butter, cheese, milk powder and meat (fresh and processed) processing facilities in the counties of Cork, Waterford and slightly further east in Kilkenny (Leinster). Hilly and mountainous regions, as found in the west of Ireland (Kerry, West Cork, Clare, Galway, Sligo, Mayo) lend themselves to lamb and mutton production with sheep grazing freely on small-holdings or common pasture land. The coastal ports of Cork, Kerry, Kilkenny, Galway and Donegal harvest Pelagic (Herring, mackerel, sprat, salmon, tuna), Demersal (Cod, plaice, ling, hake, sole) and Crustacean (Crab, lobster, mussels, clams, oysters) species from traditional fishing grounds.

History, eating cultures and traditions Ireland is an old and ancient land inhabited by the ancestors of the Celts with a long, diverse and evolving culture of traditional food production and consumption. There

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices

are many references to food and drink in early Irish culture. Honey was widely consumed and used to make the alcoholic beverage “mead.” Ancient archaeological sites have unearthed “fulacht fia” or cooking troughs, which were filled with water and hot stones to cook meats such as venison. The Vikings and Normans invasions resulted in the intermingling of the Celtic bloodline, but also influenced agricultural and food production practices. Excavations of Viking settlements, such as those found at Wood Quay in Dublin, show dietary evidence of meat consumption such as sheep and beef, but predominantly pork. Poultry and wild geese were eaten along with a diverse variety of shellfish and fish. Seeds such as knotgrass and goosefoot are thought to have been used to make porridge and consumed along with foraged berries and hazelnuts. In modern times the subconscious constructs of Irish culture are also often linked to Irish traditional foods and beverages. Kerrygold butter, Guinness stout beer, the humble potato or Irish whiskey have come to symbolize Irish culture due to the widespread distribution of her diaspora and their influence on their subsequent communities and through media dissemination. More recently, pasture fed Irish beef and Baileys cream liqueur have joined this extensive list of Irish traditional products.

Typical Irish foods and food products, their composition benefits and adverse properties Pasture fed Irish cows (beef/dairy) In 2017, the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) approved Bord Bia’s (Irish Food Board) proposals to advertise Irish beef, as pasture fed and promote the unique quality of Irish beef to US consumer. Production of dairy and beef cattle in Ireland has the unique advantage of a production system that is perfect for growing grass with animals grazing for up to 10 months of the year (300 days) (Bord Bia, 2017a). For the rest of the year when the animals are store fed they still feed on grass-based forages predominantly silage. This sets Irish beef apart from other countries where animals are store fed in intensive feedlots for the majority of their lives absent of the opportunity to express any kind of natural browsing behavior or feeding regime. This pasture based livestock production system can minimize Green House Gas (GHG) emissions compared to non-pasture systems. Thus Ireland’s sustainable, ethical production scheme is advantageous to the environment, animal, the consumer as well as the quality and sensory properties of the finished product both dairy and meat based. Meat from pasture-based productions systems is often leaner (Scerra et al., 2014) with a more nutritionally beneficial fatty acid composition containing higher levels of n  3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) and conjugated linoleic acids (CLAs) (Aldai et al., 2011). Fresh grass feeding regimens also produce a milk fat with higher proportions of unsaturated FA compared to those derived from total mixed ration (TMR) indoor grass/maize/grain silage and concentrate feeding systems (Couvreur et al., 2006), extensively practiced in the United States, Asia and parts of Europe. Additionally, there is evidence that pasture feeding also produces a superior

43

44

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

dairy products from a hedonic sensory perspective (O’Callaghan et al., 2016). Also pasture-derived feeding systems were shown to produce Cheddar cheeses yellower in color than that of TMR, which was positively correlated with increased cheese β-carotene content. The nutritional composition of Cheddar cheese was also improved through pasture-based feeding systems (O’Callaghan et al., 2017). The nutritional value of butters can also be improved by pasture feeding, with such butter having significantly higher concentrations of conjugated linoleic acid (cis-9,trans-11) and trans-β-carotene and scoring higher for hedonic appearance, flavor, and color compared to butter from concentrate fed animals (O’Callaghan et al., 2016).

Lamb Connemara hill lamb achieved PGI (Protected Geographical Indication) status from the EU in 2007 and is produced from a sheep breed, the Connemara black-faced sheep indigenous to the Connemara hill region since the 1800s. The black face sheep is slow maturing which allows it to produce lean succulent rose red meat, with low fat cover, flavored by the foraged herbs, heathers and grasses giving the meat a unique flavor, which is particularly linked to the Connemara region. The main forage constituents are the grasses Agrostis, Festuca and Molinia and the sedges Carex, Scirpus, Eriophorum and Trichophorum as well as the heathers Calluna vulgaris, Erica tetralix and Erica cinerea and the plants Narthecium ossifragum and Potentilla erecta (Connemara, 2017).

Clare Island Salmon Clare Island Salmon produced in near Clare Island in Clew bay, Co. Mayo is an organically farmed Atlantic salmon which was awarded PGI status in 1999. Fed on a GMO free organically produced diet derived from fish trimmings of fish caught for human consumption these salmon are also reared in larger pens that normally farmed salmon. This lower stocking density allows the fish to improve muscle quality while minimizing parasitic infections as they grow in these clean unpolluted waters. The flesh of Clare Island Salmon is thus low in fat and firm and thought to be more similar to wild salmon than the standard farmed variety.

Processed meats Sausages Many countries have their own traditional sausage recipes, which vary depending on region, county or even city of production. Ireland is no different with sausage products diverse in flavor and texture due to their constituent composition. In ancient times sausages or puddings were a favorite dish, made similarly to the present day, by filling the intestines of a pig, cow, or sheep with minced-meat and blood. They were known by the

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices

terms indrechtan and maro´c. Puddings and sausages were boiled to half cooked and then when brought to table they were fried and served hot as at the present day ( Joyce, 1906). In Ireland and the United Kingdom, breakfast sausages are virtually identical and manufactured from pork or beef along with herbs or spices, cereals or rusk. They form part of the “Irish Breakfast” which is a legacy from the English occupation of Ireland, up to 1921, and the adoption of the English breakfast in to the culinary cannon. Traditionally, the main ingredients in the “Irish Breakfast” include bacon rashers, pork sausages, fried eggs, white pudding, black pudding, toast and also optionally a fried tomato, button mushrooms, baked beans, hash browns, and brown soda bread. Irish/English breakfast sausages are stuffed into casings such as collagen, or natural casings derived from pig, sheep or cattle intestine, linked and sold fresh, after which they are fried or grilled by the consumer. Other popular varieties include the Cumberland and Lincolnshire sausage, with their own unique flavors as derived from their respective traditional spice mixes. Similar varieties also exist in the United States as well as in northern Europe (O’Sullivan and Kerry, 2011). Black pudding Black pudding or blood sausage is a type of sausage produced from the blood of cattle, pigs, sheep or goats and regional varieties exist across the globe, from Europe, to the United States, to Asia (O’Sullivan and Kerry, 2011). In 800 BC black pudding appeared in literature for the first time since black pudding was mentioned in Homer’s classic saga “The Odyssey”: “As when a man besides a great fire has filled a sausage with fat and blood and turns it this way and that and is very eager to get it quickly roasted.” In the past black pudding was not just food for the poor, it was also included in a nobility breakfast for example held by King Henry VIII (King of England from 1509 to 1547). In the 17th century, the consumption of black pudding was a theological debate. Many Christian scholars believed that nobody should eat it at all. Different national varieties of black pudding also exist. Traditional blood sausages are also popular in Ireland and England, where they are consumed typically sliced and fried as a special feature of the traditional Irish and English breakfast. This is a substantial meal consisting of bacon, a slice black and white pudding, pork breakfast sausages, beans, tomatoes, eggs and toast (The English Breakfast Society, 2014a). Black pudding, typical of those consumed in Ireland and the United Kingdom, contains lean pork meat, pork fat, pork blood powder, grains, onions, salt and seasonings. In contrast, white pudding is manufactured without blood and contains generally a higher amount of cereal grains and spices. All ingredients are chopped and cooked in casings. Consumers usually fry the pudding slices in a pan and served as part of the Irish breakfast or just with bread. Famous Irish versions of this product type include Clonakilty black pudding and Timoleague black pudding (O’Sullivan and Kerry, 2011). Both of these particularly famous black pudding products, unlike many of the other Irish varieties, are in fact brown in color and not black but both are produced in the area of “West Cork”

45

46

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

in southern Ireland. Clonakilty black pudding, made in the town of Clonakilty, is made from an original recipe dating from the 1880s. Timoleague black pudding is made from fresh pigs’ blood, pork trimming, cereal, fresh onions, seasonings, spices and natural casings. This pudding has a Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) which stipulates is must be made from locally sourced meat ingredients and within a six-mile radius of the factory in Timoleague. The non-meat ingredients for this product must be sourced in Southern Ireland and within a 100 miles radius of the Timoleague plant. Drisheen is another famous blood pudding speciality predominantly from Cork, Ireland, but includes sheep, cows/pig blood in the recipe. It has been mentioned in both ancient and modern Irish literature from the writings of James Joyce to the 11th century “Aislinge meic Conglinne” (The Vision of Mac Conglinne). This traditional dish from Cork city is in decline due to the predominance of the non-sheep blood black pudding varieties and the loss of the small local butcher’s shop. White pudding White pudding meat products are also popular in Ireland and in the United Kingdom and contribute a special feature of the traditional Irish and British breakfast (Ayto, 1990). Also called Oatmeal pudding (white pudding), popular in Europe and America, is a processed meat product containing generally pork meat, fat, seasonings, bread, oatmeal and other cereal grains. These puddings can be filled into large sausage casings, formed into a semisolid congealed loaf or encased in an animals’ stomach and cooked whole, cut into slices, fried or grilled. Recipes and servings differ dramatically from country to country (Fellendorf et al., 2015, 2016). In general, it is manufactured from lean pork meat, pork fat, grains, onions, salt and seasonings, and is similar in nature to black pudding products, but lacks the blood component present in the latter form. The fat content of commercial available white puddings range from 6.0% to 22.4% though the majority of the products contain between 12% and 18% fat (unpublished data, 2013; Fellendorf et al., 2015, 2016). White pudding is generally served accompanying black pudding with an Irish breakfast. Some innovative processed meat producers (Rudd’s, Birr, Ireland) have even combined the two by producing a black pudding with a white pudding core. Bacon and ham Cooked cuts of salted/cured pork in Ireland is called it bacon. Before the industrial revolution (1760–1840), bacon was traditionally produced on local farms. It was common to produce it at home as a large percentage of the population kept pigs. Therefore, each family had their own secret recipe. Up until the 19th century, almost all bacon was dry-cured. Today it is less common and more expensive than commercially produced bacon. Bacon is purchased uncooked and then cooked at home. The Irish national dish Bacon and cabbage is traditionally by boiling a cut of bacon in a large pot after which cabbage is added and when both are ready served with potatoes which have boiled in

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices

their skins. The potatoes are then peeled at table and served with full-fat Irish butter. The term Bacon also refers to bacon slices called rashers, which a very traditionally Irish meat product is made from the loin in the middle of the back of the pig and belongs to the traditional Irish breakfast. The Irish bacon tends to have a layer of fat (pork belly) around the meat cut, unlike Canadian bacon, and is either; wet- or dry-cured and unsmoked. In comparison, traditional Irish bacon is much leaner and cooked until it is done, but not crisped like American style smoked side bacon made only from the pork belly (The English Breakfast Society, 2014b). Bacon and bacon rashers may also be smoked which traditionally increased the preservation characteristics but also imparts great flavor. The primary purpose of smoking meats is to enhance and create unique product flavors and produce distinctive color attributes in cured meat products, all of which is dependent on the wood source used (wood type), the substrate from which the smoke is derived (wood, chip, sawdust, liquid sources, etc.) and the technology (hot or cold) used to produce the smoke (kilns, friction smokers, atomizers, etc.) (O’Sullivan and Kerry, 2011). Smoking considerably reduces the microbial populations on meat surfaces due to the antibacterial properties of some smoke constituents and through the dehydration of the muscle foods, thereby resulting in lower levels of moisture available to support microbial growth. Smoke components, such as; acetic acid, formaldehyde, phenols and creosote prevent microbial growth at the surface, but also, as far as the smoke penetrates into the muscle, which will be limited (O’Sullivan and Kerry, 2011). Ham is similarly prepared to bacon but is purchased cooked and can also be smoked. A whole ham is produced from a cured pork hind leg, which is predominantly rump. After injection of the salt and nitrite containing curing brine the whole muscle (deboned) is usually tumbled in a meat tumbler for up 2 h which helps extract the proteins (actin and myosin) which will assist in binding the meat together during cooking. Once tumbled the meat pieces can be bound with netting or in steel compression molds before cooking. At Christmas time many Irish families will buy a whole or half ham which is served sliced with the traditional turkey dinner. In this case the muscle is purchased uncooked and then cooked at home, but is still referred to as ham. Cooked sliced ham is the typical traditional delicatessen Ham used in sandwiches and salads. It can be sliced in shop or bought presliced in modified gas atmosphere (N2/CO2) flushed convenience packs. Typically this type of ham, or crumbled ham, has been rolled in crumb (cooked wheat flour with spices, paprika) prior to slicing. Corned beef Corned beef is a traditional cured meat product common to in Ireland but also popular in Western Europe, America and the United Kingdom. The term “corned” comes from the usage of large grained rock salt, as it looks like a wheat kernel known as a corn of salt (Oxford English Dictionary, 2010). In the 12th century, corned beef was a delicacy given

47

48

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

to the Irish king. Corned beef is first mentioned in the old Irish Gaelic poem Aeslinge Meic Conglinne “The Vision of MacConglinne” in the 12th century, which describes corned beef as a delicacy given to a king. In the 19th century corned beef was a festive dish in Ireland, served with cabbage and potatoes at Christmas, Halloween, weddings, wakes and on St. Patrick’s Day. This tradition was transferred all over the world, especially to North America, by the emigrants of the 18th/19th centuries (Mahon, 1998). Irish produced corned beef was a stable of the British navy where it was produced from the 17th to the 19th centuries and was shipped to the colonies. There is evidence of a strong trade in Irish corned beef as a staple for African slaves in the French West Indies ´ g Gallagher, 2011). Later on, in and in other French colonies (Mac Con Iomaire and O the 19th century, corned beef was a festive dish for everyone in Ireland. It was served traditionally with cabbage and potatoes on special occasions, like; Christmas, Halloween, weddings, wakes and on St. Patrick’s Day. In the 18th/19th centuries, Irish emigrants carried the tradition of corned beef manufacture all over the world, especially to North America (Mahon, 1998). In modern times, corned beef is widely available either as a full piece of beef or canned, though the recipes, and consequently the flavor differs (Mac Con ´ g Gallagher, 2011). Besides a beef content of 50–95%, corned beef further Iomaire and O contains sodium chloride and nitrite. Depending on the type of corned beef being produced, it can also contain additional ingredients, such as; starches, flours (thickeners); phosphate derivate (stabilizers), ascorbate derivate (antioxidants), glutamate derivate (flavor enhancers), dextrose and spices (unpublished data, 2014). Corned beef in its canned form was an important food source during World War II. The sodium content of the available corned beef in Ireland ranges from 0.7 g/100 g to 1.0 g/100 g (unpublished data, 2014). This tradition of production has continued to this day and it is produced and sold in “The English Market” in cork city from lean silverside beef or lass lean brisket ´ g Gallagher, 2011). Spiced by the O’Coughlan family butchers (Mac Con Iomaire and O beef is another famous Cork variant of corned beef which is produced similarly but with the inclusion of spices such as pimento, cinnamon, ground cloves, ginger and black pepper in the curing brine. Beef eye of the round or brisket is allowed to soak in this spiced brine for a month or 2. It is a very popular traditional product served again during the Christmas period. Durcan’s butcher, again located in “The English Market” in cork city is a famous producer of this traditional Cork beef product.

Dairy and dairy products Milk Milk, principally cows, is produced and consumed today in Ireland as a traditional beverage very much in the same fashion as in ancient times although sheep and goat milk were also consumed then as now. Milk is defined as the secretion of the mammary glands of mammals, its primary natural function being nutrition of the young. Milk of some animals, especially cows, buffaloes, goats and sheep, is also used for human consumption, either as such or in the form of a range of dairy products (Walstra et al., 2006a). Called

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices

“Bainne,” the Irish Gaelic for milk, the main difference is that modern milk is pasteurized (72 °C, 15 s). In 2016, €521 million worth of drinking milk was produced in Ireland. Milk production has been growing in Ireland following the removal of EU milk quotas in 2015. 6.65 billion liters were produced in 2016 by a national herd of 1.4 million animals farmed by 80,000 dairy farmers (IFA, 2017). Good quality milk has a bland but characteristic flavor with a pleasant mouth-feel, determined by its physical nature, i.e., an emulsion of fat globules in a colloidal aqueous solution, and a slightly salty and sweet taste, due to the presence of salts and lactose (Thomas, 1981). When good quality raw milk is pasteurized under minimal conditions, e.g., 72 °C for 15 s, the flavor is barely affected. As more stringent conditions are used, the more the flavor gradually moves toward that of UHT milk (Nursten, 1997). Virtually no UHT milk is consumed in Ireland with virtually all being pasteurized. More intense heat treatment, e.g., 80–100 °C for 20 s, results in a “cooked” flavor, caused mainly by H2S (Walstra et al., 2006b). This defect thus is not found in Irish liquid milk. Milk is composed of sugars, proteins and fat. Lactose, which imparts the taste sweetness to milk is a the reducing sugar, also known as milk sugar, is the distinctive carbohydrate of milk and is a disaccharide composed of glucose and galactose. Milk fat consists of triglycerides (98%), the vast majority of which are even-numbered saturated fatty acids esterified on glycerol (Kilcawley and O’Sullivan, 2017). Milk also contains numerous minor proteins, including many enzymes as well as the minerals K, Na, Ca, Mg, Cl, and phosphate (Walstra et al., 2006a). Calcium phosphate in milk and dairy products is absorbed by humans and is important for bone growth and development (O’Sullivan, 2017b). Irish milk composition is subject to seasonal changes with increasing protein levels from Spring to Winter and slightly reducing lactose levels. Milk is not just a beverage but a raw ingredient for other dairy products such as butter, yoghurt and cheese as well as whole milk, skim and whey derived powders. Butter Butter is a traditional Irish food, which is widely consumed domestically but also very well known all over the world. Kerrygold Irish butter is today the most well know branded butter product in the United States and Germany. Kerrygold was first launched in 1962 by the dairy farmers and producers’ co-operative “An Bord Bainne” (The Irish Dairy Board), now known as “Ornua.” This co-operative sells and markets dairy products internationally on behalf of members and in 2016 sold 320 million retails packs across 90 countries globally making it one of Ireland must successful commercial dairy products and traditional foods. Irish butter is a food in its own right, which is traditionally, spread on bread, toast, or on boiled potatoes served at the dinner table. It is also an ingredient in processed foods such as pastries and convenience dishes. Butter consumption is again increasing in Ireland as more consumers move away from using vegetable oil based spreads as consumers see butter as a more natural, healthy and tasty product based on recent reports that the saturated fats in butter have many natural health benefits (Bord Bia, 2017b).

49

50

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Butter is a water-in-oil (W/O) emulsions in which water forms the dispersed phase and oil forms the continuous phase. Butter is mostly made today by a continuous churn process as opposed to the batch approach. Different types of butter are available on the market such as sweet cream (salted or unsalted), cultured, and whipped butter, but in Ireland is sold domestically and internationally in the salted format. The natural conditions of the production area directly affect the quality of the dairy products (O’Sullivan, 2017b). Thus, the aroma and flavor of butter can vary depending on the season of production as well as the feed the animals are consuming (Gori et al., 2012). For example a higher amount of fresh grass in the animal diet is reported to significantly increase the relative amount of α-linolenic acid (Dhiman et al., 1999) and CLA (Conjugated Linoleic Acid) (O’Callaghan et al., 2016) in milk. Fresh grass feeding regimens, widely practiced in Ireland and New Zealand, produce a milk fat with higher proportions of unsaturated FA compared to those derived from total mixed ration (TMR) indoor grass/maize/grain silage and concentrate feeding systems (Couvreur et al., 2006), extensively practiced in the United States, Asia and parts of Europe. Additionally there is evidence that pasture feeding of Irish cows also produces a superior dairy product from a hedonic sensory perspective (O’Callaghan et al., 2016). Dairy manufacturers produce large amounts of butter in the winter months. It is often necessary to store this butter for extended periods until there is a demand for it. Freshly churned salted butter is characterized by an intense cooked/nutty flavor which likely comes from the high heat treatment that the cream receives prior to churning. This flavor is known to rapidly dissipate in butter (Bodyfelt et al., 1988). In general, cooked/nutty flavor decreased more rapidly in butters across storage compared to milk fat flavor while salty taste stays unchanged with storage time and off-flavors described as refrigerator/stale flavors increase to a greater extent in chilled stored as opposed to frozen stored butter (Lozano et al., 2007). Its nutritional value, due to a high content of fats, vitamins and minerals, and its unique and pleasant flavor make butter particularly appreciated by consumers (Mallia et al., 2008). Cheese The flavor of cheese governed by three main biochemical pathways; glycolysis, lipolysis and proteolysis. In general terms, the extent of each of these processes is characteristic of the individual cheese variety (Kilcawley and O’Sullivan, 2017). In Ireland cheese can be made from cows, sheep, goats milk. The milk is acidified typically through the action of an added starter culture of bacteria (lactic acid bacteria) which convert lactose in to lactic acid. Rennet is then added which is a complex mixture of enzymes containing, chymosin being the main protease, extracted from the stomach of calves which curdles the casein in milk. The curds and whey are then separated with the curds typically formed in to molds and ripened to make cheese (O’Sullivan, 2017b). Cheese sensory properties can be categorized as taste, texture and aroma/flavor properties, but color is also important for some varieties. With regard to taste, salt (NaCl) is of particular importance as it directly impacts

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices

on taste and acts as a flavor enhancer and influences structure and rheological properties of cheese. The extent of the impact of salt in cheese flavor depends upon its concentration, cheese composition and the age of the cheese. The biochemical reactions in cheese are primarily initiated by the addition of microbial populations and/or exogenous enzymes during production. Cheese is a dynamic product, with many varieties having up to 100 billion bacteria per gram, all of which metabolize carbohydrates, lipids and/or proteins to create a myriad of aromatic and sapid compounds that contribute to cheese flavor. These biochemical reactions are in turn influenced by the milk (type, quality and treatment), production equipment/processes, indigenous/exogenous microbial populations (selection and concentration), indigenous/exogenous enzymes (selection and concentration), salting (dry and brine), production processes and ripening regimes (time, temperature and humidity), all of help contribute to the wide variety of cheeses available (Kilcawley and O’Sullivan, 2017; O’Sullivan, 2017b). Cheddar cheese is by far the most commonly consumed cheese product by Irish consumers, but also by far the most produced cheese by processors in Ireland with most made for export. In 2016 the United Kingdom imported 78,000 tonnes of Irish Cheddar, which accounted for 82% of all the cheddar they imported. Cheddar is a typical English hard cheese, which originates from Somerset in the village of Cheddar in the United Kingdom, but is so well established in Ireland it is considered a traditional product. It has been commercially manufactured in Ireland since 1900, again predominantly for export to the United Kingdom. For cheddar cheese production, with potential maturation times of up to 2 years, the cheddar cheese grader plays a vital role in monitoring on-going quality development (Kilcawley, 2016). This specially trained grader decides which cheese meets the quality grade or criteria is held for maturation while inferior graded cheese may be sent to processing early as the experienced grader will determine that it cannot obtain the desired quality if held for longer. In many cases they will try to identify a specific time that the cheese should be retailed at, or if it should be re-evaluated in the future to ensure that it is following a predicted quality route (Kilcawley, 2016; Kilcawley and O’Sullivan, 2017). Cheddar cheese has a mild to strong flavor with textures ranging from pasty to crumbly depending on the length of ripening. Imokilly regato is a cows milk cheese made in Mogeely in East Cork, Ireland. This cheese has a PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) since 1999 and is similar to hard Italian Regato type cheeses, with a mild but slightly piquant flavor and yellow color. Since the 1970s Irish farmhouse cheeses have achieved widespread success and these artisan high quality products have found their own modern niche and are now considered traditional cheeses. Ardrahan, is a pungent semi-soft cheese described as having buttery textured honey-colored center with a complex flavor. Originally produced during the mid-1800s its production fell in to decline only to be rediscovered in the 1980s (Cowan and Sexton, 1997). Gubbeen (Schull, west Cork) is a semi-soft washed-rind cheese made from pasteurized cow’s milk with a smokey buttery flavor (Bord Bia, 2010).

51

52

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Beverages Baileys cream liqueur Cream liqueurs typically contain 10–20% sucrose, thus a high osmotic potential, and between 10% and 15% alcohol by volume (ABV) ethanol content. Irish cream liqueurs are typically composed of cream, sodium caseinate, sugar, alcohol, flavors, colors and low-molecular- weight surfactants (Banks and Muir, 1988; Lynch and Mulvihill, 1997; O’Sullivan, 2011). Corn syrups, molasses, maltose, ribose, galactose, honey, lactose, sucrose, dextrin, modified starch and glucose have been proposed for use as the carbohydrate source in cream/alcohol containing beverages (Rule, 1983). Typical manufacture of a Irish cream liqueur involves the preparation of a caseinate trisodium-citrate blend at 55–85 °C, followed by addition of cream and molten glycerol monostearate (GMS) with continuous high speed mixing to give the cream base. An aqueous-ethanol-sucrose solution is then added to the cream base and mixed thoroughly (Muir and Banks, 1985, 1986; Dickinson et al., 1989; Lynch and Mulvihill, 1997; O’Sullivan, 2011). Various food grade thickeners may be added to contribute to the mouthfeel of cream liqueurs (Banks et al., 1981). The flavor of Irish cream profile liqueurs involves a complex interaction of volatile and non-volatile flavor compounds which originate from cream, cocoa, vanilla, top notes and whiskey. High quality Cream Liqueur can have shelf lives of 2 years when stored in ambient conditions and can maintain their sensory quality even further when stored under refrigeration conditions. One of the limiting factors to the sensory quality of cream liqueurs is the formation of ethyl esters which increase in concentration over time. These compounds are formed from the reaction of fatty acids and alcohol and manifest as fruity notes in the cream liqueur (O’Sullivan, 2011). Line extensions which include flavor variants of the original formulation are available and have included; chocolate luxe, chocolate cherry, vanilla cinnamon, salted caramel, expresso cre`me, pumpkin spice, almond milk, orange truffle, hint of mint chocolate, hint of Coffee Flavor, biscotti, cre`me caramel, etc. Beer, lager, ales, stout and cider Beers such as lager, stout, boch or wheat beer have their own unique characteristic sensory profiles and sensory attributes which define quality, freshness or the degree to which they have aged (O’Sullivan, 2011). Pale lager is the most widely consumed and commercially available style of beer in the world and the most popular type of beer consumed in Ireland. The flavor of these products is usually mild and the producers often recommend that the beers are served refrigerated. In general, lagers display less fruitiness and spiciness than ales, simply because the lower fermentation temperatures associated with lager brewing causes the yeast to produce fewer of the esters and phenols associated with those flavors. Beer typically has a shelf life of between 6 months and 1 year depending on the type and whether it is canned, bottled or kegged. The production of flavor-active

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices

compounds like carbonyls are associated with extended storage (Hempel et al., 2013). Also, an initial acceleration of sweet aroma development, the formation of caramel, burnt sugar and toffee-like aromas (also called leathery) coincides with the sweet taste increase (Vanderhaegen et al., 2006). Although the most consumed lagers in Ireland are the prominent Dutch brand the main indigenous Irish lager is Harp, produced by Diageo Guinness PLC Ltd., but which is mainly consumed in northern Ireland. Craft beer production has experienced dramatic growth in the last 10 years but it is too early to say whether this is just a trend or these beers will truly establish themselves as traditional brands. Ales have had a long tradition of consumption in Ireland. Smithwicks draught aleis a red ale (4% ABV), very popular throughout Ireland (Cowan and Sexton, 1997). The Smithwicks Brewery in Kilkenny has been in operation since 1710 in one form or another and is currently owned by Diageo Guinness Ltd. Guinness a dry Irish black stout has been produced in Dublin at the St. James’s Gate brewery (now Diageo owned) since 1725. It is a creamy thick beer with roasted malted barley notes carbonated with nitrogen and carbon dioxide. Regional variants of stout exist and are popular in the south (Cork) of Ireland including Murphy’s and Beamish stouts. These are also roast malted stout beers with typically creamy heads. Beamish is described as having a bitter taste, but with sweet notes. Bulmer’s cider (4.5% ABV) is a conventional cider beverage produced by Cantrell and Cochrane (C&C) Ltd. with production started in 1935 by Bulmer-Magner Ltd. It is typically drunk in summertime, especially on hot days served in pint glasses with ice. Gin Cork Dry Gin (37.5% ABV) is the oldest and most prominent of the gins produced in Ireland. It is made from triple distilled corn spirit blended with botanicals including berries fruit and flavors. The Cork Distillers company (CDC), founded in 1793 first made this product which is now owned by Pernod Ricard and produced in Middleton East Cork. In recent times Gin production has undertaken a resurgence with many small distilleries producing their own distinctive and unique products. Whiskey For whiskey, Lee et al. (2000) reviewed the origins of the flavors in whiskies and developed a revised flavor wheel for Scotch whiskey. In whiskey, spicy, smooth, vanilla, woody and sweet aroma notes increase with time (Piggott et al., 1993), which is caused primarily by materials such as vanillin, aromatic aldehydes and other materials extracted from the wood (Conner et al., 1999). The taste and odor of freshly distilled spirits, particularly whiskey, is rather raw and unpleasant; desired flavor components develop during years of aging in wood (Freitas and Costa, 2006). Irish whiskey (uiske beatha in gaelic, meaning water of life), spelled with an “e” is considered smoother than scotch as peat is not generally used. Famous Irish brands include Jameson, Powers and Bushmills. Whiskey

53

54

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

production has resurged in recent years with many new distilleries in operation, but only the main brands offer products with any real vintage. Irish whiskey is aged in oak casks for a minimum of 3 years where evaporation, called the angels share, results in flavor concentration while additional flavors seep from the wood of the cask in to the liquor, resulting in more complex flavor generation as they age (O’Sullivan, 2017d). Mead Bee keeping for the purpose of harvesting honey has been practiced in Ireland pre-dating the arrival of Christianity, where the ancient Irish “Brehan Laws” (early medieval Irish law) outlined good practices and rules. Honey was used as sweetener of foods and beverages (milk) but also fermented in to the aristocratic alcoholic beverage “mead” (Cowan and Sexton, 1997). The “honeymoon” has its roots in the Irish tradition of newlyweds drinking honey wine (mead) everyday for one full moon (a month) after their wedding. Tea Ireland is Europe’s leading nation of teas drinkers. As such, there are a couple of national tea blends with a very staunchly loyal followership by their respective consumers. Barry’s tea is a tea blend, predominantly African but also Indian, produced in Cork since 1901. Lyons and Bewleys tea, packed in Dublin, are also popular household brands. Sold as loose teas leaves and teabags with the latter accounting for over 75% of sales of Irish tea. Tea is consumed all year round as a beverage alone and is also consumed with meals, including breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Bread, soda bread, boxty and Blaa For breads, leavening is usually achieved biologically by the use of baker’s yeast during proofing (fermentation). Soda bread is very popular bread type of Ireland, originated in the mid 1800s, and leavened chemically with baking soda (sodium bicarbonate) which reacts with acids in the dough (e.g. buttermilk) to produce gas. In both cases of leavening, either biological or chemical, this gas, carbon dioxide (CO2), is essential for the formation of the breads light cellular foam like network which forms a sponge structure on baking (O’Sullivan, 2017d). Known also as soda farl or cake (Northern Ireland) it is commonly eaten, smeared with butter, at breakfast or lunch and sometimes as sandwiches. Boxty is a potato (raw and boiled) based bread popular in the north and west of Ireland and consumed similarly to standard bread. The Waterford Blaa, is a famous local bread from the south east of Ireland similar to a bap or bread roll, but more square and proud in shape. The dough is composed of white flour, yeast, water and salt dough with portions dusted with flour before baking. It originated in this region from French Huguenots settlers in Waterford city circa the 1690s. In 2013, the Waterford Blaa was awarded PGI (Protected Geographic Indication) status by the European Union.

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices

Irish potatoes Ireland is famed for its potato consumption which is linked to the dark and tragic history of the “Great Hunger, an Gorta Mo´r” potato famine of 1845–52. Potato blight, a disease of the oomcyte (non-fungus) Phytophthora infestans devastated the potato crop during those bleak years resulting in 1.5 million deaths and initiating a concatenation of emigration which lasted more than 100 years. The famine potato, the Lumper, was used during the pre-famine era because it was high yielding and grew well in nutrient poor soil. It is described as waxy more than floury, but is now no longer consumed. The main varieties consumed today include Rooster, White, Queen and Kerr’s pink and are available all year round. All are quite floury and are consumed boiled whole and peeled or mashed. Kerr’s pink are more suited to steaming because they absorb too much water when boiled but produce a very flavorsome floury potato when prepared in this fashion.

Food preservation, shelf life and environment (preservation options) Consumer desire and demand for a wide range of fresh and minimally processed foods inspire food researchers to improve food quality, freshness and increase the shelf life of such products through packaging innovations. There are four categories of preservative packaging that can be used with raw muscle foods or cheese. These are high oxygen modified atmosphere packs (high 02 MAP), low oxygen modified atmosphere packs (low 02 MAP), controlled atmosphere packs (CAP) (Gill and Gill, 2005) and vacuum packs (VP). Modern meat packaging methods maintain a low microbial load while optimizing the sensory quality of a product. However, in Ireland high MAP (70% O2) is the only MAP technique utilized by the industry. MAP is recognized as one of the most effective methods for shelf life extension of fresh meat and is widely used by the industry to reduce spoilage of minced meat (Koutsoumanis et al., 2008). Packaging beef in MA packs and storing at low temperatures extends the product shelf life considerably (Young et al., 1983). Low 02 MAP are generally packed with CO2, the antimicrobial and also N2 as the pack shape stabilizer (Sørheim et al., 1997). The absence of 02 in an 02-free MAP or controlled atmosphere packaging (CAP) system results in a significant shelf life extension. Cooked meat products are usually MA packed using a combination of 70–80% nitrogen and 20–30% CO2. This packaging format is popular in the Irish retail sector for packaging cooked chicken, turkey, ham and even beef (O’Sullivan, 2017e,f). MAP is also used in Ireland to pack cheddar cheese slices where the gas is usually 100% CO2 or CO2/N2 combinations which prevent mold growth on the surface. Grated cheese can also be packed in similar gas mixtures but due to the increased surface area of the product it is much more susceptible to lipid oxidation and thus a light absorbing layer must be incorporated by using a printable and transparent UV-protected and light resistant film (O’Sullivan, 2017d,e). Vacuum packaging involves the evacuation of air from the packs prior to sealing and is used extensively in the meat poultry and cheese packing industries (O’Sullivan, 2017f).

55

56

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Present nutritional conditions (statistics, trends, epidemiology) with respect to deficiencies, remedies and safety aspects (chemical and microbiological) Salt reduced varieties of processed meat sausage (breakfast sausage, black and white pudding, cured meats) Many studies have looked at sensory focused salt and fat reduction, without utilizing replacement ingredients, in processed meats including beef patties (Tobinal., 2012a), breakfast sausage (Tobin et al., 2014), frankfurters (Tobin et al., 2012b) white pudding (Fellendorf et al., 2015) and black pudding (Fellendorf et al., 2017a) to mention but a few. These studies essentially sequentially reduced salt and fat, without using alternative ingredients, in order to determine sensory optima but maintaining safety, functionality and adequate shelf life. Reductions in salt content could also be optimized by using packaging technologies to compensate for loss of safety or shelf life (Fellendorf et al., 2018b; O’Sullivan, 2017a). Salt and fat replacers can offer even further possibilities with respect to reduction of salt and fat in processed meats. The use of ingredient replacers such as hydrocolloids have been used in processed meat products for many years to improve properties such as water binding and texture due to their ability to thicken, gel, bind, stabilize emulsions and pH (Fellendorf et al., 2015, 2016). Hydrocolloids, based on animal proteins, include; casein, whey, gelatin and blood-derived protein. Additionally, an enormous range of polysaccharides are available on the market, such as; starches (corn, wheat, maize, potato, tapioca, pea), celluloses (carboxymethylcellulose), gums (guar, alginate, pectin, locust bean), fibers (β-glucan), chitin/chitosan and xanthan derived from microorganisms (Cutter, 2006). Recently, published studies have also presented the use of different types of edible seaweed (Sea Spaghetti, Wakame and Nori) in meat products (Cofrades et al., 2008; Jimenez-Colmenero et al., 2010; Fellendorf et al., 2015). Due to their high contribution of the daily salt intake in the Irish population the salt level of cured meat products, such as corned beef, has to be reduced (Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance, 2011). Additionally, any optimized products must fulfill the sensory expectations of consumers. Fellendorf et al. (2018a) employed an affective (hedonic) and descriptive sensory-driven sodium reduction strategy for corned beef. They investigated firstly sodium reduction and then used the same sensory methodology to further reduce salt, using salt replacers. Physicochemical and microbiological properties were also investigated to ensure that variants were still viable from a shelf life perspective. A sodium reduction of 60% in corned beef was achieved with products formulated with potassium lactate and glycine (KLG). This sensory-driven approach allowed the development of a healthier, reduced sodium, and consumer acceptable product while maintaining the traditional sensory characteristics, although the product was described as less-salty than the standard variety (Fellendorf et al., 2018a).

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices

Future outlook European consumers demand safe and tasteful traditional food products but also for a higher variety, more convenient, more nutritive and healthier options that fit better with the present needs in modern societies (see e.g. Grunert et al., 2008, Guerrero et al., 2009, Favalli et al., 2013a,b, Stolzenbach et al., 2011, 2013a,b; Byrne et al., 2013). According to Guerrero et al. (2009) producers of traditional food products still face the challenge to further improve the safety, healthiness, and convenience of their products by means of different innovations, which will enable them to maintain and expand their market share in a highly competitive and increasingly global food market. In the case of meat products consumers demand variations that are low in salt, fat, cholesterol, nitrites and calories in general and contain in addition health-promoting bioactive components such as for example carotenoids, unsaturated fatty acids, sterols, and fibers (Weiss et al., 2010). Convenience food versions of traditional recipes are quite common across EU countries and the demand for such products is steadily increasing; therefore, understanding convenience food consumption is an important issue toward the market development (Grunert et al., 2008; Brunner et al., 2010; Byrne et al., 2013). Overall, what is clear is the production of traditional foods and beverages in Ireland has developed from a long tradition but is also innovative in adapting to current consumer demands as well as regulatory guidelines. Thus, the essence and provenance of these products transcend the generations and maintain their identity, while some also are in a fluid state of change and definition due to external consumer or commercial demands (Table 1).

Table 1 Overview of the traditional foods in Ireland as a quick guide and reference list Name in English language

Name in the Irish language

Description

Barmbrack Black pudding

Ba´gu´n agus caba´iste Bairı´n breac Puto´g dhubh

Unsliced back bacon boiled together with cabbage and potatoes. A leavened bread with sultanas and raisins. Sausage made from cooked pig’s blood, pork fat, pork rind, pork shoulder, pork liver, oats, onion, rusk (wheat starch, salt), water, salt, pimento and seasoning (rusk, spices). Picture shows slices of black pudding (dark) and white pudding (light).

Boxty

Bacstaı´

Finely grated raw potato and mashed potato mixed together with flour, baking soda, buttermilk and occasionally egg, then cooked like a pancake on a griddle pan.

Bacon and cabbage

Continued

57

Table 1 Overview of the traditional foods in Ireland as a quick guide and reference list—cont’d Name in English language

Name in the Irish language

Description

Champ, also known as “Poundies”

Bru´itı´n

Mashed potatoes and chopped scallions (spring onions) with butter and milk.

Coddle

Cadal

Layers of roughly sliced pork sausages bacon, usually thinly sliced, somewhat fatty back bacon, with sliced potatoes, and onions.

Colcannon

Ca´l ceannann

Mashed potatoes with kale or cabbage.

Cottage pie

Pio´g an aoire

Cottage pie is a beef and vegetable mixture with gravy topped with mashed potato.

Crubeens

Cru´ibı´n

Boiled pigs’ feet.

Drisheen

Drisı´n

A type of black pudding. It is distinguished from other forms of Irish black pudding by having a gelatinous consistency.

Farl

Farla

A traditional quick bread or cake, roughly triangular in shape.

Fried bread

Ara´n friochta

Bread fried in bacon fat.

Full breakfast, also known as “full Irish” or “Irish fry”

Bricfeasta friochta

Rashers, sausages and eggs, often served with a variety of side dishes such as fried mushrooms, soda bread and puddings.

Goody

Gudaı´

A dessert dish made by boiling bread in milk with sugar and spices.

Gur cake

Ca´ca gur

A pastry confection associated with Dublin.

Irish stew

Stobhach/ Stobhach Gaelach Liamha´s Luimnigh

A traditional stew of lamb, or mutton, potatoes, carrots, onions, and parsley.

Seabhdar

A particular method of preparing a seafood soup, often served with milk or creal.

Limerick Ham

Irish Seafood Chowder

A particular method of preparing a joint of bacon within the cuisine of Ireland. The method was originally developed in County Limerick, Ireland.

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices

Table 1 Overview of the traditional foods in Ireland as a quick guide and reference list—cont’d Name in English language

Name in the Irish language

Mashed potato

Bru´itı´n

Prepared by mashing freshly boiled potatoes with a potato masher, fork, ricer, or food mill, or whipping them with a hand beater. Butter and milk are sometimes added.

Pastie

“Pastie”

A round, battered pie of minced pork, onion, potato and seasoning.

Scone

Sco´na

A scone is a single-serving quick bread/cake, usually made of wheat, barley or oatmeal with baking powder as a leavening agent and baked on sheet pans. A scone is often lightly sweetened and occasionally glazed with egg wash.

Potato bread

Ara´n pra´taı´

A flat bread made from potato and flour, dryfried. A key component of the Ulster Fry.

Skirts and kidneys—Stew

Dua´in Stobhach

A stew made from pork meat, including the kidneys, bladder, and liver.

Soda bread

Ara´n so´ide

A variety of quick bread traditionally made in a variety of cuisines in which sodium bicarbonate (otherwise known as baking soda) is used as a leavening agent instead of the more common yeast. The ingredients of traditional soda bread are flour, bread soda, salt, and buttermilk. Sometimes raisins are added to make it sweeter.

Spiced beef

Mairteoil spı´osraithe

A cured and salted joint of rump steak or silverside beef, which is traditionally served at Christmas or the New Year.

White pudding

Puto´g bha´n

Very similar to black pudding, but containing no blood. Contains pork meat and fat, suet, bread, and oatmeal formed into a large sausage shape. Picture shows slices of white pudding (light) and black pudding (dark).

Description

59

60

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

References Aldai, N., Dugan, M.E.R., Kramer, J.K.G., Martinez, A., Lopez-Campos, O., Mantecon, A.R., Osoro, K., 2011. Length of concentrate finishing affects the fatty acid composition of grass-fed and genetically lean beef: an emphasis on trans-18: 1 and conjugated linoleic acid profiles. Animal 5, 1643–1652. Ayto, J., 1990. The Glutton’s Glossary: A Dictionary of Food and Drink Terms, first ed. Routledge, London. Banks, W., Muir, D.D., 1988. Stability of alcohol-containing emulsions. In: Dickinson, E., Stainby, G. (Eds.), Advances in Food Emulsions and Foams. Elsevier Science Publishing Co., New York, pp. 257–283. Banks, W., Muir, D.D., Wilson, A.G., 1981. The formation of cream based liqueurs. Milk Ind. 83, 16–18. Bodyfelt, F.W., Tobias, J., Trout, G.M., 1988. Sensory evaluation of butter. In: The Sensory Evaluation of Dairy Products. Van Nostrand Reinhold, New York, NY, pp. 377–417. Bord Bia, 2010. Your Guide to Irish Farmhouse Cheese. http://www.bordbia.ie/consumer/aboutfood/ farmhousecheese/FarmhouseCheesesGuides/FarmhouseCheeseBooklet.pdf. Bord Bia, 2017a. Dairy Market Information. http://www.bordbiavantage.ie/market-information/sectoroverviews/dairy/. Bord Bia, 2017b. Irish Farmhouse Cheese. http://www.bordbia.ie/consumer/aboutfood/ farmhousecheese/FarmhouseCheesesGuides/FarmhouseCheeseBooklet.pdf. Brunner, T.A., van der Horst, K., Siegrist, M., 2010. Convenience food products. Drivers for consumption. Appetite 55 (3), 498–506. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2010.08.017. Byrne, D.V., Stolzenbach Nielsen, S., O’Sullivan, M., 2013. Future development, innovation and promotion of European unique food: an interdisciplinary research framework perspective. J. Sci. Food Agric. 93, 3414–3419. Cofrades, S., Lo´pez-Lo´pez, I., Solas, M.T., Bravo, L., Jimenez-Colmenero, F., 2008. Influence of different types and proportions of added edible seaweeds on characteristics of low-salt gel/emulsion meat systems. Meat Sci. 79 (4), 767–776. Connemara, 2017. Connemara Hill Lamb. https://www.connemara.net/connemara-hill-lamb. Conner, J.M., Paterson, A., Birkmyre, L., Piggott, J.R., 1999. Role of organic acids in maturation of distilled spirits in oak casks. J. Inst. Brew. 105, 287–291. Couvreur, S., Hurtaud, C., Lopez, C., Delaby, L., Peyraud, J.-L., 2006. The linear relationship between the proportion of fresh grass in the cow diet, milk fatty acid composition, and butter properties. J. Dairy Sci. 89, 1956–1969. Cowan, C., Sexton, R., 1997. Irish Traditional Foods. An Exploration of Irish Local and Typical Foods and Drinks. Teagasc, ISBN: 1901138046. Cutter, C.N., 2006. Opportunities for bio-based packaging technologies to improve the quality and safety of fresh and further processed muscle foods. Meat Sci. 74 (1), 131–142. de Barcellos, M.D., Grunert, K.G., Scholderer, J., 2011. Processed meat products: consumer trends and emerging markets. In: Kerry, J.P., Kerry, J.F. (Eds.), Processed Meats. Improving Safety, Nutrition and Quality. Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge, New Delhi, pp. 30–53. Dhiman, T.R., Anand, G.R., Satter, L.D., Pariza, M.W., 1999. Conjugated linoleic acid content of milk from cows fed different diets. J. Dairy Sci. 82 (10), 2146–2156. Dickinson, E., Narhan, S.K., Stainsby, G., 1989. Stability of cream liqueurs containing low-molecularweight surfactants. J. Food Sci. 54, 77–81. Favalli, S., Skov, T., Byrne, D.B., 2013a. Sensory perception and understanding of food uniqueness: from the traditional to the novel. Food Res. Int. 50, 176–188. Favalli, S., Skov, T., Spence, C., Byrne, D.V., 2013b. Do you say it like you eat it? Sound symbolism of food names and the multisensory product experience. Food Res. Int. 54 (1), 760–771. Fellendorf, S., O’Sullivan, M.G., Kerry, J.P., 2015. Impact of varying salt and fat levels on the physiochemical properties and sensory quality of white pudding sausages. Meat Sci. 103, 75–82. Fellendorf, S., O’Sullivan, M.G., Kerry, J.P., 2016. Effect of using replacers on the physicochemical properties and sensory quality of low salt and low fat white puddings. Eur. Food Res. Technol. 242, 2105–2118.

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices

Fellendorf, S., O’Sullivan, M.G., Kerry, J.P., 2017a. Effect of different salt and fat levels on the physicochemical properties and sensory quality of black pudding. Food Sci. Nutr. 5 (2), 273–284. https://doi.org/ 10.1002/fsn3.390. Fellendorf, S., Kerry, J.P., O’Sullivan, M.G., 2017b. Irish consumer attitudes on salt and fat processed meats. In: 63nd International Congress of Meat Science and Technology, Cork, Ireland. Fellendorf, S., O’Sullivan, M.G., Kerry, J.P., 2018a. Impact on the physicochemical and sensory properties of salt reduced corned beef formulated with and without the use of salt replacers. Food Nutr. Sci. 9, 880–898. Fellendorf, S., Kerry, J.P., Hamill, R.H., O’Sullivan, M.G., 2018b. Impact on the Physicochemical and Sensory Properties of Salt Reduced Corned Beef Formulated with and without the Use of Salt Replacers. LWT-Food Sci. Technol. 92, 584–592. Freitas, M.A., Costa, J.C., 2006. Shelf life determination using sensory evaluation scores: a general Weibull modeling approach. Comput. Ind. Eng. 51, 652–670. Gill, A.O., Gill, C.O., 2005. Preservative packaging for fresh meats, poultry and fin fish. In: Han, J.H. (Ed.), Innovations in Food Packaging. Elsevier Academic Press, London, pp. 204–220. Gori, A., Cevoli, C., Fabbri, A., Caboni, M.F., Losi, G., 2012. A rapid method to discriminate season of production and feeding regimen of butters based on infrared spectroscopy and artificial neural networks. J. Food Eng. 109, 525–530. Grunert, K.G., Jensen, B.B., Sonne, A.M., Brunsø, K., Byrne, D.V., Clausen, C., Friis, A., Holm, L., Hyldig, G., Kristensen, N.H., Lettl, C., Scholderer, J., 2008. User-oriented innovation in the food sector: relevant streams of research and an agenda for future work. Trends Food Sci. Technol. 19, 1–13. Guerrero, L., Gua`rdia, M.D., Xicola, J., Verbeke, W., Vanhonacker, F., Zakowska- Biemans, S., Hersleth, M., 2009. Consumer-driven definition of traditional food products and innovation in traditional foods. A qualitative cross-cultural study. Appetite 52 (2), 345–354. Hempel, A., O’Sullivan, M.G., Papkovsky, D., Kerry, J.P., 2013. Use of optical oxygen sensors to monitor residual oxygen in pre- and post-pasteurised bottled beer and its effect on sensory attributes and product acceptability during simulated commercial storage. LWT Food Sci. Technol. 50, 226–231. IFA, 2017. The Irish Farming Association. Factsheet on Irish Dairying 2017. https://www.ifa.ie/sectors/ dairy/dairy-fact-sheet/. Irish Universities Nutrition Alliance, 2011. National Adult Nutrition Survey. Summary Report. Jimenez-Colmenero, F., Cofrades, S., Lo´pez-Lo´pez, I., Ruiz-Capillas, C., Pintado, T., Solas, M.T., 2010. Technological and sensory characteristics of reduced/low-fat, low-salt frankfurters as affected by the addition of konjac and seaweed. Meat Sci. 84 (3), 356–363. Joyce, P.W., 1906. Food, fuel, and light: public hostels. In: A Smaller Social History of Ancient Ireland. London, Longmans, Green and Co. (Chapter 17). http://www.libraryireland.com/SocialHistory AncientIreland/III-XVII-1.php. Kilcawley, K.N., 2016. Cheese flavour. In: Fox, P.F. (Ed.), Fundamentals of Cheese Science, second ed. Springer, New York. Kilcawley, K.N., O’Sullivan, M.G., 2017. Cheese flavour development and sensory characteristics. In: Papademas, P., Bintsis, T. (Eds.), Global Cheesemaking Technology: Cheese Quality and Characteristics. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. Koutsoumanis, K.P., Stamatiou, A.P., Drosinos, E.H., Nychas, G.J.E., 2008. Control of spoilage microorganisms in minced pork by a self-developed modified atmosphere induced by the respiratory activity of meat micro flora. Food Microbiol. 25 (7), 915–921. Lee, M., Paterson, A., Piggott, J.R., Richardson, G.D., 2000. Origins of flavour in whiskies and a revised flavour wheel: a review. J. Inst. Brew. 107, 287–313. Lozano, P.R., Miracle, E.R., Krause, A.J., Drake, M., Cadwallader, K.R., 2007. Effect of cold storage and packaging material on the major aroma components of sweet cream butter. J. Agric. Food Chem. 55, 7840–7846. Lynch, A.G., Mulvihill, D.M., 1997. Effect of sodium caseinate on the stability of cream liqueurs. Int. J. Dairy Technol. 50, 1–7. ´ g Gallagher, P., 2011. Irish corned beef: a culinary history. J. Culin. Sci. Technol. Mac Con Iomaire, M., O 9 (1), 27–43.

61

62

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Mahon, B., 1998. In: Mahon, B. (Ed.), Land of Milk and Honey: The Story of Traditional Irish Food and Drink. second ed. Irish Amer Book Co. Mallia, S., Escher, F., Schlichtherle-Cerny, H., 2008. Aroma-active compounds of butter: a review. Eur. Food Res. Technol. 226, 315–325. Muir, D.D., Banks, W., 1985. From Atholl Brose to cream liqueurs: development of alcoholic milk drinks stabilized with trisodium caseinate. In: Galesloot, T.E., Tinbergen, B.J. (Eds.), Proceedings of the International Congress on Milk Proteins, Luxemburg, May 7–11, 1984, pp. 120–128. Muir, D.D., Banks, W., 1986. Technical note: multiple homogenisation of cream liqueurs. J. Food Technol. 21, 229–232. Nursten, H.E., 1997. The flavour of milk and dairy products: I. Milk of different kinds, milk powder, butter and cream. Int. J. Dairy Technol. 50, 48–56. O’Callaghan, T., Faulkner, H., McAuliffe, S., O’Sullivan, M.G., Hennessy, D., Dillon, P., Kilcawley, K.N., Stanton, C., Ross, P., 2016. Quality characteristics, chemical composition, and sensory properties of butter from cows on pasture versus indoor feeding systems. J. Dairy Sci. 99, 9441–9460. O’Callaghan, T., Mannion, D.T., Hennessy, D., McAuliffe, S., O’Sullivan, M.G., Leeuwebdaal, N., Beresford, T.P., Dillon, P., Kilcawley, K.N., Sheehan, D.J., Ross, P., Stanton, C., 2017. Effect of pasture versus indoor feeding systems on quality characteristics, nutritional composition, and sensory and volatile properties of full-fat Cheddar cheese. J. Dairy Sci. 100, 6053–6073. O’Sullivan, M.G., 2011. Sensory shelf-life evaluation. In: Piggott, J.R. (Ed.), Alcoholic Beverages: Sensory Evaluation and Consumer Research. Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge (Chapter 4). O’Sullivan, M.G., 2017a. Sensory properties affecting meat and poultry quality. In: A Handbook for Sensory and Consumer Driven New Product Development: Innovative Technologies for the Food and Beverage Industry. Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge, pp. 225–257 (Chapter 11). O’Sullivan, M.G., 2017b. Sensory properties of dairy products. In: A Handbook for Sensory and Consumer Driven New Product Development: Innovative Technologies for the Food and Beverage Industry. Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge, pp. 259–280 (Chapter 12). O’Sullivan, M.G., 2017d. Sensory properties of bakery and confectionary products. In: A Handbook for Sensory and Consumer Driven New Product Development: Innovative Technologies for the Food and Beverage Industry. Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge, pp. 305–324 (Chapter 14). O’Sullivan, M.G., 2017e. Packaging technologies for maintaining sensory quality. In: A Handbook for Sensory and Consumer Driven New Product Development: Innovative Technologies for the Food and Beverage Industry. Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge, pp. 125–149 (Chapter 7). O’Sullivan, M.G., 2017f. The stability and shelf life of meat and poultry. In: Subramaniam (Ed.), The Stability and Shelf Life of Food. Elsevier Academic Press, Oxford, pp. 521–537 (Chapter 18). O’Sullivan, M.G., Kerry, J.P., 2011. Sensory quality of fresh and processed meats. In: Kerry, J.P., Ledward, D.A. (Eds.), Improving the Sensory and Nutritional Quality of Fresh and Processed Meats. Woodhead Publishing Limited, Cambridge, pp. 585–598. Oxford English Dictionary, 2010. Corn, N.1. In: A Small Hard Particle, a Grain, as of Sand or Salt. Oxford University Press. Piggott, J.R., Conner, J.M., Paterson, A., Clyne, J., 1993. Effects on Scotch whisky composition and flavour of maturation in oak casks with varying histories. Int. J. Food Sci. Technol. 28, 303–318. Rule, C.E., 1983. Cream/alcohol containing beverages. US Patent No. 4,419,378. Scerra, M., Foti, F., Cilione, C., Chies, L., Scerra, V., Caparra, P., 2014. Influence of stall finishing of Podolian young bulls raised on pasture on fatty acid composition and oxidative status of meat. Ital. J. Anim. Sci. 13, 3432. Sørheim, O., Aune, T., Nesbakken, T., 1997. Technological, hygienic and toxicological aspects of carbon monoxide used in modified-atmosphere packaging of meat. Trends Food Sci. Technol. 8, 107–112. Stolzenbach, S., Byrne, D.V., Bredie, W.L.P., 2011. Sensory local uniqueness of Danish honeys. Food Res. Int. 44 (9), 2766–2774. Stolzenbach, S., Bredie, W.L.P., Christensen, R.H.B., Byrne, D.V., 2013a. Impact of product information and repeated exposure on consumer liking, sensory perception and concept associations of local apple juice. Food Res. Int. 52 (1), 91–98.

Nutrition and health, traditional foods and practices

Stolzenbach, S., Bredie, W.L.P., Byrne, D.V., 2013b. Consumer concepts in new product development of local foods: traditional versus novel honeys. Food Res. Int. 52 (1), 144–152. The English Breakfast Society, 2014a. The Black Pudding. The English Breakfast Society, 2014b. Traditional British Back Bacon. Thomas, E.L., 1981. Trends in milk flavors. J. Dairy Sci. 64, 1023–1027. Tobin, B.D., O’Sullivan, M.G., Hamill, R.M., Kerry, J.P., 2012a. Effect of varying salt and fat levels on the sensory quality of beef patties. Meat Sci. 4, 460–465. Tobin, B.D., O’Sullivan, M.G., Hamill, R.M., Kerry, J.P., 2012b. Effect of varying salt and fat levels on the sensory and physiochemical quality of frankfurters. Meat Sci. 92, 659–666. Tobin, B.D., O’Sullivan, M.G., Hamill, R., Kerry, J.P., 2014. European consumer attitudes on the associated health benefits of neutraceutical-containing processed meats using co-enzyme Q10 as a sample functional ingredient. Meat Sci. 97, 207–213. Vanderhaegen, B., Neven, H., Verachtert, H., Derdelinckx, G., 2006. The chemistry of beer aging—a critical review. Food Chem. 95, 357–381. Walstra, P., Wouters, J.T.M., Geurts, T.J., 2006a. Mil: main characteristsics. In: Walstra, P., Wouters, J.T.M., Geurts, T.J. (Eds.), Dairy Science and Technology, second ed. Talyor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, London, New York, pp. 3–16 (Chapter 1). Walstra, P., Wouters, J.T.M., Geurts, T.J., 2006b. Milk proteins. In: Walstra, P., Wouters, J.T.M., Geurts, T.J. (Eds.), Dairy Science and Technology, second ed. Talyor & Francis Group, Boca Raton, London, New York, pp. 357–397 (Chapter 4). Weiss, J., Gibis, M., Schuh, V., Salminen, H., 2010. Advances in ingredient and processing systems for meat and meat products. Meat Sci. 86 (1), 196–213. Young, L.L., Reviere, R.D., Cole, A.B., 1983. Fresh red meats: a place to apply modified atmospheres. Food Technol. 42, 65–69.

Further reading Arvanitoyannis, I.S., Bloukas, J.G., Pappa, I., Psomiadou, E., 2000. Multivariate data analysis of cavourmas—a Greek cooked meat product. Meat Sci. 54, 71–75. Bord Bia, 2014. Factsheet on the Irish Agriculture and Food & Drink Sector. http://www.bordbia.ie/ industry/buyers/industryinfo/agri/pages/default.aspx. CSO, 2017. Livestock Survey, December 2016. Central Statistics Office. http://www.cso.ie/en/ releasesandpublications/er/lsd/livestocksurveydecember2016/. Fellendorf, S., O’Sullivan, M.G., Kerry, J.P., 2016c. Impact of using replacers on the physicochemical properties and sensory quality of reduced salt and fat black pudding. Meat Sci. 113, 17–25. FSAI, 2014. Monitoring of Sodium and Potassium in Processed Foods. Period:September 2003 to July 2014. Honikel, K., 2008. The use and control of nitrate and nitrite for the processing of meat products. Meat Sci. 78, 68–76. Hood, D.E., Mead, G.C., 1993. Modified atmosphere storage of fresh meat and poultry. In: Parry, R.T. (Ed.), Principles and Applications of Modified Atmosphere Packing of Food. Blackie Academic and Professional, London, pp. 269–298. Kramlich, W.E., Pearson, A.M., Tauber, F.W., 1973. Processed Meats. AVI Publishing Co. Inc, Westport. Lanari, M.C., Schaefer, D.M., Scheller, K.K., 1995. Dietary vitamin E supplementation and discolouration of pork bone and muscle following modified atmosphere packaging. Meat Sci. 41, 237–250. Morrissey, P.A., Buckley, D.J., Sheehy, P.J.A., Monaghan, F.J., 1994. Vitamin E and meat quality. Proc. Nutr. Soc. 53, 289–295. O’Sullivan, M.G., 2017c. Sensory properties of beverage products. In: A Handbook for Sensory and Consumer Driven New Product Development: Innovative Technologies for the Food and Beverage Industry. Woodhead Publishing Ltd., Cambridge, pp. 281–304 (Chapter 13). Pearson, A.M., Gillett, T.A., 1995. In: Pearson, A.M., Gillett, T.A. (Eds.), Processed Meats. third ed. Chapman and Hall, London, pp. 53–78.

63

64

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Pearson, A.M., Tauber, F.W., 1984. Curing. In: Processed Meats, AVI Publishing Co. Inc., Westport, pp. 46–68 (Chapter 3). Santos, E.M., Gonza´lez-Ferna´ndez, C., Jaime, I., Rovira, J., 2003. Physicochemical and sensory characterisation of Morcilla de Burgos, a traditional Spanish blood sausage. Meat Sci. 65 (2), 893–898. Sebranek, J.G., Bacus, J.N., 2007. Cured meat products without direct addition of nitrate or nitrite: what are the issues? Meat Sci. 77, 136–147. Teagasc, 2013. Mitigation Strategies for Methane Emissions by Dairy Cows in Irish Milk Production Systems. https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2012/5781.pdf. Teagasc, 2017. Environment. Climate. Methane. https://www.teagasc.ie/environment/climate-change/ methane/.

CHAPTER 4

Food, nutrition and health in the UK Sara D. Garduño-Diaza, Santosh Khokharb a Your Choice Nutrition Consultancy, Shaab Al Bahry, Kuwait Food4Nutrition, Leeds, United Kingdom

b

Food is one of the things we can experience in the same way people in the past experienced it. Some of the ingredients are slightly different but if you’re making a heritage food, you can still get the same taste. It’s sort of like a taste of the past, which is pretty cool Jenet Harron

Contents Introduction Historical overview Geography and the natural agricultural landscape Culture and traditions Traditional Victorian food Food during wartime Traditional feasts and celebratory foods Traditional South Asian diets Traditional African/Caribbean diets Cooking methods of ethnic minority groups in the UK Typical foods and food products Traditional British dishes The influence of ethnic foods on traditional British eating behaviors Food preservation, shelf life and environment Traditional food preservation methods in the UK Nutrition and health Summary Future outlook Sustainable diets References

Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00005-6

66 67 69 70 70 70 71 71 71 72 72 73 74 75 75 77 79 80 80 81

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

65

66

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Introduction There is a rich and complex history to our daily meals. Traditional food is the term given to the use of particular food ingredients and food preparation methods has been passed on from one generation to the next (Weichselbaum et al., 2009). Ethnic food in turn can refer to authentic ethnic food (a food from countries other than the home market contributing to a different food culture than the traditional cuisine of the host country) and modified ethnic food (modified ethnic food was defined as “a commercially modified version of food as prepared in an immigrant’s country to suit the taste and preference of the host country”) (Khokhar et al., 2010). In a broader sense, ethnic food can be defined as an ethnic group’s or a country’s cuisine that is culturally and socially accepted by consumers outside of the respective ethnic group. For example, Greek food, Indian food, Italian food, Thai food, and Korean food are all considered ethnic food outside of their own countries (Kwon, 2015). Unfortunately, throughout Europe, some traditional and ethnic foods are at risk of disappearing due to altered lifestyles. This chapter gives data where the figures are available, and points to areas where they are lacking. It shows that knowledge about the links between food production, distribution and consumption and subsequent health pattern is now sufficient to enable these elements to be seen as parts of a greater whole. This whole is influenced by past and present food policies, and can influence future policy making. Constant changes in the composition of national populations are an ordinary event in most Western countries. In Europe, immigrant groups represent between 9% (UK) and 15% (Austria) of the total population of certain European countries (Vasileva, 2011). The most widely- represented minority groups in Europe include South Asians in the UK (Statistics UK Census, 2018), Africans in France (Tribalat, 2004), Turks in Germany (Statistics Bundesamt Deutschland, 2004), Latin Americans in Spain (Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, 2006) and Surinamese in The Netherlands (Centraal Bureau Voor De Statistiek, 2005). Alongside these demographic dynamics come alterations in lifestyle and eating habits for both the main-stream and migrant populations. The ethnic diversity of migrant populations in Europe and many other countries has brought an increased diversity in food cultures, eating habits and food items available in the host countries (Khokhar et al., 2013). The multicultural nature of European populations, together with increased travel and the globalization of the food supply, has led to an increase in the consumption of ethnic foods by both mainstream and ethnic populations (Khokhar et al., 2009). The United Kingdom has a diverse society with a long history of immigration, and it has become increasingly multicultural in the last fifty years. In the 2011 Census (Office for National Statistics, 2001), approximately 14% of people living in the UK described themselves as belonging to non-white ethnic minority groups, compared with 9% of people in the 2001 census. The main ethnic minority groups include Polish (831,000), Indian

Food, nutrition and health in the UK

(795,000), Pakistani (503,000), and German (286,000). Across the English regions and Wales, London was the most ethnically diverse area, with the highest proportion of minority ethnic groups and the lowest proportion of the White ethnic group at 59.8%, in 2011. The West Midlands was the second most diverse with White ethnic group at 79.2% (Office for National Statistics, 2011). Ethnically diverse areas, such as London, had the greatest proportional changes since the 2001 Census, while areas such as Wales, which are the least diverse, had the smallest proportional changes. London had the greatest changes across the majority of the ethnic groups between the 2001 and 2011 Censuses. While White British decreased by 14.9 percentage points, Any Other White and Any Other Asian had increased by 4.4 and 3.0 percentage points respectively. The West Midlands also displayed significant changes across the ethnic groups: White British decreased by 7 percentage points and Any Other White, and Caribbean increased by 1.3 percentage points each. Wales and the North East had the smallest changes across the majority of the ethnic groups, with White British decreasing by 2.8 percentage points and all other ethnic groups increasing by less than a 1 percentage point (Office for National Statistics, 2001) (Table 1). It is important to study and document traditional and ethnic foods to sustain important elements of European cultures. This chapter will focus on traditional and ethnic foods in the United Kingdom. The topic will be discussed from a historical perspective, proceeding to a geographical and agricultural landscape, and wrapping up with the present nutritional perspectives of the UK. Culture and traditions will be covered, as will food composition of representative traditional and ethnic dishes. The scope of this chapter will include the African-Caribbean, South Asian, and Caucasian ethnic groups of the UK, since they represent the largest population groups on the United Kingdom (Office for National Statistics, 2001). Continuous growth in the population of ethnic minority groups increases the need to consider them when designing public health interventions. As a result of the link between diet and health, dietary acculturation (i.e., the changes in the diet that individuals undergo when they come into contact with the diet of another culture) has become an increasingly important public health issue. It has been reported that South Asians living in the UK may present a higher prevalence of the metabolic syndrome associated with dietary acculturation, including a reduction in vegetarianism, an increased intake of caffeinated drinks and altered meal patterns (Gardun˜o-Diaz and Khokhar, 2013a).

Historical overview British cuisine is the set of cooking traditions and practices associated with the United Kingdom. It has been described as “unfussy dishes made with quality local ingredients, matched with simple sauces to accentuate flavour, rather than disguise it” (Spencer, 2011). However, British cuisine has absorbed the cultural influence of those who have

67

68

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Table 1 Components of traditional foods as defined by EuroFIRa Traditional foods

Traditional ingredients: Raw material (species and/ or varieties) or primary product, either alone or as an ingredient, which has been used in identifiable geographical areas and remains in use today (taking into account cases where use was abandoned for a time and then reinstated) and its characteristics are in accordance with current specifications of national and EU legislation.

Traditional composition: The uniquely identifiable composition (in Terms of ingredients) that was first established prior to the Second World War and passed down through generations by oral or other means (taking into account cases where composition was abandoned for a time and then reinstated) and when necessary is differentiated from the composition defined by the generally recognized characteristics of the wider food group to which the product belongs.

Traditional processing: The production and/or processing of a food that: – Has been transmitted from generation to generation through oral tradition or other means and – Has been applied prior to the Second World War and remains in use (taking into account cases where composition was abandoned for a time and then reinstated) despite its adjustment to binding rules from national or EU food hygiene regulations or the incorporation of technological progress, under the condition that production and/or processing remains in line with methods used originally and that the food’s intrinsic features such as its physical, chemical, microbiological or organoleptic features are maintained.

a The EuroFIR definition of traditional foods was acknowledged by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) at the 26th FAO Regional conference for Europe in Innsbruck, Austria, on the 26th–27th June 2008.

settled in Britain, producing many hybrid dishes, such as the Anglo-Indian chicken tikka masala (Panayi, 2011). Celtic agriculture and animal breeding produced a wide variety of foodstuffs for indigenous Celts and Britons. Anglo-Saxon England developed meat and savory herb stewing techniques before the practice became common in Europe. The Norman conquest introduced exotic spices into England in the Middle Ages. In the 18th and 19th centuries, the Colonial British Empire began to be influenced by India’s elaborate food tradition of strong, penetrating spices and herbs (Spencer, 2011). As for Scotland, traditional local food is highly reflective of the natural environment and diverse surroundings of the country. This includes Angus beef from Aberdeen, Sornoway Black Pudding, Shetland salmon and other well-known Scottish signatures such as

Food, nutrition and health in the UK

whisky, ale, scones, shortbread and Haggis (a savory meat pudding traditionally accompanied by mashed potatoes, turnips and a whisky sauce). During the World Wars of the 20th century difficulties of food supply were countered by official measures, which included rationing. The problem was worse in World War II, and the Ministry of Food was established to address the problems. Due to the economic problems following the war, rationing continued for some years, and in some respects was stricter than during wartime. Rationing was not fully lifted until almost a decade after war ended in Europe, so that a whole generation was raised without access to many previously common ingredients. These policies, put in place by the British government during wartime periods of the 20th century, are often blamed for the decline of British cuisine in the 20th century (Zweiniger-Bargielowska, 2002). Well-known traditional British dishes include full fried breakfast, fish and chips (battered, deep fried fish, cod, plaice), the Christmas dinner (turkey roast, port sausages and root vegetables, and Brussel sprouts), the Sunday roast (traditionally beef or pork or chicken with vegetables and potatoes), steak and kidney pie, shepherd’s pie, and bangers and mash (Spencer, 2011). People in Britain however eat a wide variety of foods based on the cuisines of Europe, India, and other parts of the world. British cuisine has many regional varieties within the broader categories of English, Scottish (porridge, oats) and Welsh cuisine (leek soup, Welsh cake) and Northern Irish cuisine (soda bread, stew, Irish cream recipes). Each region has developed its own local dishes, many of which are geographically indicated foods such as Cornish pasties, Yorkshire pudding, Cumberland Sausage, Arbroath Smokie, and Welsh cakes. Much of modern British cooking also draws heavily on influences from Mediterranean, and more recently, Middle Eastern, South Asian, East Asian and Southeast Asian cuisines. The traditional influence of northern and central European cuisines is significant but fading. According to the research by supermarket application Ubamarket, 21.6% of 2004 respondents cited curry as their favorite food to make in the kitchen, putting it above spaghetti Bolognese in second with the classic roast dinner forced to settle for bronze. Rounding off the top five were two more dishes borrowed from other countries: lasagne and chili con carne.

Geography and the natural agricultural landscape In 2015, the agri-food sector in the UK accounted for a total estimated Gross Value Added (GVA) of £109 billion or 6.6% of national GVA. The United Kingdom has a total Utilized Agricultural Area (UAA) of 17.4 million hectares, with 508 thousand hectares of these being farmed organically (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2016). The dairy herd is at a production level of 1.9 million, while total pig numbers are 4.9 million. Sheep and lamb numbers reach 33.9 million. As for agricultural production, the top crops produced in the UK include cereals, temporary grass, and oilseeds.

69

70

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Culture and traditions Traditional Victorian food The Victorians valued good cooking and food. However, there were great differences between what the rich and poorer people ate. The unemployed, and others with little money, survived on little more than potato parings, rotten vegetable refuse and scraps. For the destitute, hunger often forced them to seek a place in the workhouse where a diet of potatoes, cheese, bread and gruel was provided. Those on a slightly higher wage could occasionally purchase some bacon, cheese or sausage and workers in better-paid jobs had more choice and more wholesome food. Meal times were an opportunity for the rich to display their wealth. This was done through rich foods, use of fine cutlery, china and servants. At the start of the Victorian era, French cuisine was in fashion, with as many as 20 dishes served at the same time in two great courses. Tastes changed during the period and, by the 1860’s, dishes were being placed on the sideboard and then served, one after another, by footmen. This was known as serving a meal “a la russe.” Breakfast was an important meal. Even the simplest of middle class breakfasts consisted of bacon, eggs, ham, haddock, toast, coffee and fruits. It was the Victorians who first invented afternoon tea. This was because the evening meal was eaten later than in previous periods and people found they needed a light meal in the late afternoon. From the 1860s, tinned meat was available. At first, this was mainly fat with just a few chunks of meat, but it provided a cheap alternative for the poor, being less than half the price of ordinary meat. The late 19th century saw the range of available tinned food greatly increase, as canners competed with each other, using novel foodstuffs, highly decorated printed labels, and lower prices. By the beginning of the twentieth century, the British taste for eating fish in combination with potato chips was well established, seeing the development of fish and chip shops.

Food during wartime Getting food to the front line was often a problem. The soldiers’ food was sometimes terrible. The British Army employed 300,000 field workers to cook and supply the food, but conditions were very challenging. 3,240,948 tons of food was sent from Britain to the soldiers fighting in France and Belgium during the First World War. As the size of the army grew, and more food supplies were blockaded, rations were cut to 6 oz of meat a day. Later, troops, not in the front line, only received meat on nine days out of every thirty. The soldier’s food was often supplied in cans and was very monotonous. Most of the diet in the trenches was bully-beef (canned corned beef), bread and biscuits or Maconochie stew (a stew of sliced turnips, carrots and potatoes in a thin broth, named for the Aberdeen Maconochie Company that produced it.). By 1916, flour was in such short supply that bread was being made with dried, ground turnips.

Food, nutrition and health in the UK

Traditional feasts and celebratory foods In February or March, Commonwealth countries celebrate Shrove Tuesday or Pancake Day, a feast that marks the beginning of Lent. This day is celebrated by consuming pancakes with sugar and lemon juice. Pancakes are associated with the start of Lent because they are a way to use up and milk, eggs and sugar before the 40-day fasting season of Lent. Later in the year, during Easter celebrations, in the UK the main festive foods include chocolate Easter eggs and hot cross buns. Hot cross buns, a classic British Easter recipe, originated from the Saxons in the 5th and 6th centuries. The Saxons ate hot cross buns to honor their goddess Eostre, the namesake of the festival of Easter. The buns represented the moon with the cross symbolizing the moon’s quarters. To Christians, the cross symbolizes the crucifixion. Hot cross buns are traditionally eaten warm with butter on Good Friday, but can also be part of the Easter Sunday feast (Barrow, 2013). In the United Kingdom, Christmas dinner is traditionally made up of roasted turkey, vegetables, and Yorkshire puddings served with gravy. As described before, a significant festive eating occasion in the traditional British diet is the weekly Sunday roast.

Traditional South Asian diets Migrants from the Indian subcontinent comprise the largest minority group in the UK. The term South Asian is usually used to refer to people from the Indian subcontinent. South Asians within the UK are not a homogenous group in terms of place of origin (e.g., Bangladesh, Punjab, Gujarat, Pakistan, or even East Africa) or religion (Hindu, Muslim, and Sikh). The traditional diets of South Asian people are greatly influenced by religious and regional background. In general, they comprise limited amounts of meat, fish and dairy; while copious amounts of rice, pulses, flat breads, vegetables and fruits are included. Dietary and food preparation practices vary according to both place of origin and religion. The main representative foods per category are summarized on the next section.

Traditional African/Caribbean diets While most of the traditional African-Caribbean dietary practices are compatible with guidelines for healthy eating, most people consume a combination of African-Caribbean foods and European foods (e.g., breakfast cereals, cakes, biscuits, crisps, burgers and chips). In a study that developed food frequency questionnaires (FFQ) to assess the diet of individuals in Cameroon, Jamaica and their migrants in Manchester, the FFQ for use in Jamaica contained 69 food items and that for Cameroon 76 items. However, a total of 108 items had to be included in the Manchester FFQ, owing to the need to cover both Caribbean and European foods (Sharma et al., 1996). Examples of the European foods include: fruit pie or crumble, crisps, grapes, sweets and chocolate bars, Brussels sprouts, and pizza.

71

72

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

In the UK, the food selection of the African-Caribbean population is influenced by social and economic factors, in addition to tradition, knowledge and experience. The availability of traditional foods in the near by surroundings, including staples such as cornmeal, cho-cho, green bananas, plantains, pumpkins, okra and yams, greatly determine the frequency of their consumption. A study of Caribbean-born people and their younger British-born relatives reported that first generation African-Caribbeans consumed more green vegetables and fruit and had lower energy intakes from total and saturated fat compared with the younger UKborn African-Caribbeans (Sharma et al., 1999). Many older African-Caribbean people have maintained cultural food preferences and traditional diets. Men following a traditional diet obtained a lower proportion of their energy intake from fat compared with less traditional eaters.

Cooking methods of ethnic minority groups in the UK Among South Asians in the UK, the most commonly used cooking methods include frying, deep-frying, or combining in the form of a curry. Multi-ingredient recipes are usually cooked in a communal (single) pot, yet there is considerable variation in recipes, fat content and portion sizes of dishes between individuals and even from day-to-day in the same household. Meat, vegetables, rice and pulse dishes are boiled, stewed or simmered, often for several hours (Wharton et al., 1983). Fish is usually baked, fried or curried (Simmons and Williams, 1997). Food waste tends to be limited as curries are often reheated and eaten the next day (Wharton et al., 1983). In addition, some families cook food without discarding water whereas others discard water (e.g., from canned vegetables) before cooking. In a study of Asian men, vegetable oils or vegetable ghee tended to be used in preparing vegetable curries, while ghee or butter tended to be used for preparing meat curries (Smith et al., 1993)

Typical foods and food products British cuisine has historically, and perhaps wrongly, been regarded as bland and lacking in flavor and diversity, especially when compared to other European cuisines. Nevertheless, food historians have recognized and highlighted some of the top contributors of British cuisine. The history of British food has changes along with the Island’s history, being influenced by conquests as well as by international trade and colonization. While great works have been written in respect to British food (Dickson Wright, 2011; Spencer, 2011), this section shall touch briefly upon key culinary representative dishes from the mainstream British population, and then proceed to discuss typical foods and food products of the main ethnic groups found in the UK.

Food, nutrition and health in the UK

Traditional British dishes Representative British traditional foods include fish and chips, scrambled eggs made out of egg powder (popularized during the war and post war periods), pies, egg and bacon sandwiches, Sunday roast, custards and rice pudding. As part of the mainstream British diet, fish and chips are a valuable source of protein, fiber, iron and vitamins. As one of the preferred option for take-away meals, fish and chips are widely available and frequently consumed. A study by Caraher and Lloyd (2010) found fish and chips to be one of the main sources of saturated and trans fats in the British diet. Other studies have found this dish to be a significant source of energy and, surprisingly, dietary fiber (Benelam and Stanner, 2015). The British diet has undergone various adjustments in accordance to historical developments throughout history; war being one of the main modifiable factors. During war and post-war times, the government required a way to feed the population at home as well as those on the fighting front. One strategy was the development and popularization of egg powder as a response of the government to a wartime shortage of fresh eggs (Trueman, 2015). Among others uses, dried eggs could be used to make scrambled eggs or in a cake mixture. Meat pie is an incredibly traditional British pie. It is usually eaten cold, and consists of a thick and crumbly crust pastry encasing pork filling. The pork is roughly chopped, seasoned and moistened slightly with pork jelly that lines the pastry sides. Some of the more popular pies include shepherd’s pie, beef and ale pie, mince pie, fish pie, and game pie. The British kitchen also has a long tradition of noted sweets, particularly with puddings, custards, and creams. Mince pies have been eaten as part of a traditional British Christmas since as long ago as the 16th century. Then, they were made of meat, but are now made with sweet mincemeat, a mixture of dried fruits, sugar, spices, and brandy. Perhaps the most representative of all British family dishes in the Sunday roast. As part of the British culture it represents the coming together of family members and a significant weekly ritual of the various social classes throughout history. Traditional Sunday dinner consists of roasted meat, potatoes, peas, cauliflower, carrots, and accompaniments such as Yorkshire pudding, stuffing, vegetables and gravy. Over the last decades, marked interesting changes have occurred in the British diet. Part of these changes have stemmed from wide-reaching social issues that affect modern eating culture, including the fast pace of today’s lifestyle, whereas others have occurred as a result of alterations in food processing and technological advances. The consumption of meat and meat products, in particular, has seen a great deal of fluctuation, and as meat is an important source of various nutrients in the diet, this is an area that merits further investigation for its public health implications.

73

74

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

The influence of ethnic foods on traditional British eating behaviors The diets of minority groups can vary significantly from the mainstream population of a country. That dietary patterns of migrant group populations differ from those of mainstream populations is well known. In addition, it has been established that all dietary assessment methods possess advantages and disadvantages with a need to develop and validate ethnic-specific dietary assessment tools. Food composition databases provide important data that can be used in a variety of ways to improve the nutritional quality of food and the health of the populations (Khokhar et al., 2009). However, the information that is available on the composition of ethnic foods is currently incomplete and fragmentary which both prevents effective health and disease interventions and limits the provision of dietary advice and information. Following, we present partial findings of the work developed by the ethnic foods work package within the European Commission’s FP6 Network of Excellence EuroFIR (Church et al., 2005). These data will be focused towards the South Asian population as they represent one of the largest minority ethnic group in the United Kingdom (Office for National Statistics, 2001). Meat, fish, and dairy As one of the largest ethnic groups in the United Kingdom, the eating practices of the South Asian population have shaped, and been shaped by, the mainstream traditional eating practices. Hindus generally eat no beef and are mostly lacto-vegetarians. Muslims will not eat pork or products derived from pigs, and will only consume meat that has been ritually slaughtered (Halal meat). As a group, Sikhs tend to be less strict, but they are unlikely to consume pork or beef. These meat-related preferences limit the incorporation of traditional British dishes which will either need to be modified in accordance to ethnic preferences, or avoided all together. As for dairy, traditional products such as Stilton and Cheddar cheese are not part of the regular diet of ethnic groups. Rather, home-made curd cheese (paneer) is normally made from full-fat milk and often fried before consumption. Full-fat, rather than reduced-fat, milk is common, while yoghurt is often served as an accompaniment to main meals. Vegetables and legumes Unlike the cuisine of the mainstream British population, pulses are a common component of South Asian cuisine, and include: moong (green gram), urad (black gram), toor (split pea), masur (lentil), channa (red lentil), chickpeas, black-eyed beans, and kidney beans. Vegetables are usually cooked in fat or oil or as a component of dishes such as curries, although side salads are often eaten at main meals; Commonly consumed vegetables include: aubergines, karela (bitter gourds), valor (beans), okra, courgettes, dodi (white gourd), spinach and cauliflower.

Food, nutrition and health in the UK

Grains South Asian meals are usually cereal-based with side dishes rather than being meat- or fish-based as is the case of the mainstream British population. Chapattis (roti) are the main type of Indian bread, made from unleavened dough and often spread with oil or butter. Ghee is also typically used as a source of fat for cooking. Rice is usually consumed boiled, although pilau (fried) rice may be consumed at weekends and on special occasions. Beverages and other foods Tea consumption is a practice historically adopted by both British and South Asian populations. Tea consumed by Asian families is usually prepared by boiling water, milk, sugar, spices and tea in quantities sufficient for the whole family (half milk, half water). Similarly to the practices of the mainstream British population, tea is drank throughout the day, often along side snacks, both sweet and savory. Fried snacks such as samosa, chevda, ganthia, sev, pakora and bhajia are common. Indian sweetmeats (e.g., burfi, halwa, jalebi, ladoo and gulab jaman), which are high in energy, are served on special occasions. The process by which minority groups adopt the dietary practices of the host country—referred to as “dietary acculturation”—is multidimensional, dynamic, and complex; in addition, it varies considerably, depending on a variety of personal, cultural, and environmental factors. Traditional local foods are often incorporated into the eating practise of the country of origin, with ingredient or preparation modifications as required to make the food more familiar. Likewise, the acculturation process flows both ways, with the local population adopting practices from migrant groups. This is easily observed in the UK where ethnic foods have been amply adopted by the mainstream population, both through restaurants and as part of home cooking.

Food preservation, shelf life and environment A quick look at history books shows there has always been a strong tradition of preserving food using all sorts of clever methods. In the past, food was preserved as the seasons changed to ensure sufficient food during winter. Today, with increased food availability the processes are more focused on extending a product’s shelf life for transportation and trade at a global scale. At a household level, food processing refers more to cooking methods, with the usual aim being to optimize flavor, taste and nutrient intake. This section will focus on traditional food preservation methods in the UK, followed by a look at the most commonly used cooking methods of ethnic minority groups in the UK.

Traditional food preservation methods in the UK Traditional or home preservation of food in the UK is said to have reached its peak in the 19th century, by which time many methods had been developed and put into regular

75

76

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

practice in order to maximize the benefits of produce from farms and kitchen gardens, to deal with surpluses, and to prolong the life of high quality foods. Pickling is a form of food preservation that uses either vinegar or brine to keep food from spoiling. Good cooks in all households, rich or poor, throughout British history had to know what they were doing if they were to get maximum yield and minimum waste from their home-grown produce, whether a tiny vegetable patch or a large kitchen garden. Pickling in brine is essentially curing with salt, this is not be confused with the brining of vegetables before being pickled in vinegar. Any vinegar can be used, however for long-term preservation a vinegar that is 5% acetic (ethanoic) acid is required. Though not strictly essential, herbs and spices give pickles an extra aromatic dimension and take the edge off the harsh vinegar astringency. Most herbs can be used with great effect: thyme, rosemary, bay, savory, oregano, dill and fennel have all been used in traditional British pickling techniques. Salting was also used for traditional food preservation at different stages of British history. There are essentially two types of salting: dry salting, where salt is sprinkled over vegetables and left overnight to drain, and brining, where the produce is immersed in a strong salt solution for 12 to 24 h. A typical brine contains 85 g of salt per liter of water. Vegetables as well as meats have been traditionally preserved by salting. Canning and preserves have also played a significant role as traditional food preservation methods in Britain, especially around the time of the First and Second World Wars (Longmate, 1971). These were the days before refrigeration and freezing was common in household kitchens so housewives still knew and used preservation techniques such as canning. The Ministry of Food educated people with leaflets, radio programs and community demonstrations on the latest and greatest food preserving techniques, to ensure that no food went to waste. For example, eggs could be kept fresher for a bit longer by rubbing them with lard to seal the pores, or for longer periods, by storing them in crocks under water with isinglass mixed in, or by turning them into pickled eggs. Preserving of fruits and vegetables was largely done in Kilner jars: glass jars with glass lids with a spring on them. The procedure involved putting a rubber ring around the neck of each jar before sealing it, and replaced the rubber rings each season. Even if fruit was grown at home, making jams and preserves from it was tricky around this time as sugar was rationed. Many people started saving up their sugar rations right at the start of the summer to help with canning time. Some years, during the summer, the Ministry of Food was able to double the sugar rations to encourage home preserving. The Ministry of Food also advised people on how to cure and preserve meat. Pork or lamp chops could be preserved for up to six weeks by first cooking them, and then putting them in a crock completely covered with fat (Zweiniger-Bargielowska, 2002).

Food, nutrition and health in the UK

Nutrition and health As the burden of chronic non-communicable diseases in the UK remains high (Office for National Statistics, 2001), diet and nutrition continue to be important public health issues because of their role in prevention. Current dietary guidelines on food consumption set in England and Wales by the Department of Health, in Northern Ireland by the Public Health Agency, and in Scotland by the Scottish Government include recommendations to consume more starchy foods, wholegrain where possible, more fruit and vegetables and less fatty and sugary foods (Scottish Government, 2006; Food Standards Agency, 2010; Public Health Agency, 2010). Guidelines also exist at the nutrient level based on the 1991 Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy (COMA) report (Department of Health, 1991) and state, for example, that intakes of non-milk extrinsic sugars and saturated fats should each contribute no more than 11% food energy. They also state that the population average for non-starch polysaccharides intake in adults should be 18 g/d. The National Diet and Nutrition Survey assesses the diet, nutrient intake and nutritional status of the general population of the UK. For 2018, updates are available for years 7 and 8 combined of the on-going data collection and analysis, allowing for an up-to-date description of the current dietary habits of the UK population as described below (National Diet and Nutrition Survey, 2018). In all age groups, mean intake of free sugars exceeded the government recommendation of providing no more than 5% of daily total energy intake for those aged 2 years and over. In all age groups, the mean intake of AOAC fiber was below the new recommendations set by the Scientific Advisory Committee in Nutrition and adopted by the UK Government. Mean consumption of fruit and vegetables in years 7 and 8 (combined) was 4.3 portions per day for adults aged 65 to 74 years and 3.4 portions per day for adults aged 75 years and over. Mean consumption for women aged 75 years and over was significantly lower in years 7 and 8 (combined) than in years 1 and 2 (combined) (3.2 portions and 4.0 portions respectively), but a significant difference was not seen for men or for the those aged 65 to 74 years. Thirty-one per cent of men and 32% of women aged 65 to 74 years, 18% of men and 20% of women aged 75 years and over met the “5 A Day” recommendation. There were no significant differences in the proportion meeting the 5 A Day recommendation between years 7 and 8 (combined) compared with years 1 and 2 (combined) for any age-sex group. The mean daily intake of oily fish indicated that its consumption in both older age groups was below the recommended portion (140 g) per week. The mean consumption of red and processed meat for men aged 75 years and over (66 g), women aged 65 to 74 years (54 g) and 75 years and over (43 g) met the current recommendation that adult average intakes should not exceed 70 g per day. However, mean consumption for men aged 65 to 74 years (73 g) exceeded the recommendation.

77

78

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Mean intake of trans fatty acids provided 0.5–0.7% of food energy for all age/sex groups, and thus met the recommendation (no more than 2% food energy). Red blood cell folate concentration below the WHO clinical threshold indicating risk of anemia (305 nmol/L) was found in 15% of boys aged 11 to 18 years, 28% of girls aged 11 to 18 years, 11% of women aged 19 to 64 years, 14% of men aged 65 years and over, and 10% of women aged 65 years and over. Serum folate concentration below the WHO clinical threshold indicating possible deficiency (13 nmol/L) was found in 16% of children aged 4 to 10 years, 49% of boys aged 11 to 18 years, 73% of girls aged 11 to 18 years, 46% of men aged 19 to 64 years, 45% of women aged 19 to 64 years, 38% of men aged 65 years and over and 27% of women aged 65 years and over. This includes 9% of boys aged 11 to 18 years, 12% of girls aged 11 to 18 years, 8% of men aged 19 to 64 years and 11% of women aged 19 to 64 years who had a serum folate concentration below the WHO clinical threshold for folate deficiency (7 nmol/L). According to Gardun˜o-Diaz and Khokhar (2013b), Caucasians in the UK have an overall higher diet quality than ethnic minority groups. Between African-Caribbean, South Asian and Caucasian ethnic groups in the UK, there are significant differences in the individual components of the diet, specifically for dairy product and breakfast consumption, type of fat used for cooking and regular physical activity. Results from a UK study of diet quality comparison between ethnic and mainstream populations are comparable with those obtained by Gao et al. (2008) where Caucasians scored higher on overall dietary quality than minority ethnic groups in the United States. However, results are contradictory to those of Nicolau et al. (2006) comparing Surinamese and Dutch populations in The Netherlands, where the former scored higher on overall diet quality. When compared with Caucasians, minority ethnic groups in the UK tend to consume more dairy products (Gardun˜o-Diaz and Khokhar, 2013b). These findings differ from other studies where milk consumption was found to be lower among African-Americans than for Caucasian-Americans (Gao et al., 2008). Regular dairy consumption has been associated to lower risk of osteoporosis, hypertension, obesity and type 2 diabetes (Choi et al., 2005). However, full fat versions of milk and dairy products contain high quantities of saturated fat; hence recommendations for their consumption should be distinguished from reduced-fat versions. Among minority ethnic groups in the UK, oil is used most often for cooking among Caucasians, while African-Caribbeans prefer hard fats, including butter and margarine. Fat-rich diets tend to be more flavorful; however, they are also usually higher in energy content. Although dietary recommendations for a reduced intake of total fat exist, attention must be emphasized on the type of fats that are being consumed. The difference in the choice of fat used for cooking may be a significant factor on the overall diet quality and disease prevalence between ethnic minority groups. Similarly, in the UK, regular breakfast consumption is most frequent among Caucasians and less frequent for African-Caribbeans. It has been long concluded and accepted that regular breakfast consumption greatly enhances the overall diet quality (Morgan et al., 1986).

Food, nutrition and health in the UK

The intake of fruits and vegetables, being important sources of vitamins and minerals as well as fiber and phytochemicals, is a component frequently used in various diet indices describing overall diet quality as their intake is found to be inversely-correlated with risk of chronic disease (Antony and Visweswara Rao, 2007). The results by Gardun˜o-Diaz and Khokhar (2013b) show no significant difference between ethnic groups in the UK for fruit and vegetable consumption, although there was a slightly higher intake of fruits and vegetables among the African-Caribbean group; this confirms previously reported results where African-Caribbeans consumed more fruit and green vegetables than their British counterparts (Sharma et al., 1999). The lack of significant difference in fruit and vegetable intake between ethnic groups in the UK may suggest the possibility to rule out this factor as a significant contributor to the difference in prevalence of chronic diseases across the various population groups. Although overall diet quality did not differ greatly across ethnic groups, the differences found in the components of the diet stand out as key aspects to address when planning public health campaigns aimed at reducing the incidence of diet-related noncommunicable diseases in both the mainstream and ethnic population of the UK.

Summary Food reflects everything; it is a microcosm of what is going on at the time. Migrants from the Indian subcontinent comprise the largest minority group in the UK. With the process of migration come alterations in lifestyle and eating habits (Gardun˜o-Diaz et al., 2014). Lack of food composition data, recipe information and portion sizes for ethnic foods are commonly reported problems for dietary assessment of ethnic minority groups. Among ethnic minority groups in the UK, typical adult South Asian diets included traditional cereals (chapatti, rice and paratha) and low consumption of meat dishes; with vegetable curries contributing most towards energy intake (Khokhar et al., 2013). Reliable data on the composition of foods is needed to better understand individual diets, measure nutrient intakes and provide nutritional guidance for improving the health of the populations. Ethnic foods are becoming increasingly popular among all European consumers, and are the main source of nutrients in the diets of ethnic groups. However, there is limited information on the nutrient composition of ethnic foods in Europe (Khokhar et al., 2010). Prevalence rates of diet-related diseases are increasing worldwide. Ethnic groups suffer from similar diet-related diseases that are common in the mainstream population, including obesity, cardiovascular disease and diabetes, but the risk has been reported to be higher in immigrants as compared with the host population. For instance, African Caribbeans living in the United Kingdom are three times more likely (Sproston and Mindell, 2004) and South Asians resident in the United Kingdom are five times more likely (Cleland and Sattar, 2006) to suffer from diabetes than are Caucasians. Changes in dietary patterns are important determinants of health outcomes because of resultant

79

80

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

changes in nutrient intakes, including energy, fat and other essential nutrients (Gilbert and Khokhar, 2008). Many ethnic foods are consumed because of perceived or real health benefits, including the medicinal effect of herbs and spices and presence of bioactive compounds. This emphasizes the need for a more rigorous understanding of diet-related health effects. The importance of ethnic foods is increasingly being recognized by nutrition researchers and health professionals across Europe and the United States of America, as the popularity of such foods grows and evidence emerges about potential nutritional benefits or otherwise.

Future outlook We are losing our relationship to traditional food. It has also been suggested that food intake habits of immigrant groups are likely to become less favorable as healthy dietary components of traditional diets are replaced by less-healthy and readily- available processed foods (Gilbert and Khokhar, 2008). Health inequalities experienced by minority ethnic populations in the UK will, in part, be affected by dietary differences (Chowbey and Harrop, 2016). Information on dietary habits of ethnic groups and the composition of the food that they consume is important so that targeted dietary advice can be given to vulnerable groups. Validated instruments for groups with specific customary eating practices (e.g., shared dishes, eating from hand) are particularly needed (Almiron-Roig et al., 2017). There is also interest in the composition of ethnic foods in terms of the presence of bioactive compounds with putative health benefits. In addition, the multicultural nature of European populations, together with increased travel and the globalization of the food supply, has led to an increase in the consumption of ethnic-style foods by the mainstream population.

Sustainable diets The overlap between what people are told is a healthy way of eating and what can be sustainably produced is not there. It is a contradiction to recommend one way of eating and a different way of food production. The aim of public health expert bodies ought to be to match up these two messages: to recommend a diet that will be both good for human health and for environmental sustainability. For this reason, current dietary guidelines need to be revised. Brazil is leading the way with meal-based recommendations considering the social and environmental aspect of dietary guidelines. New guidelines ought to be designed to be part of a larger, collaborative effort, involving improved public policies, the promotion of healthy environments, and targeted health services to support overall wellbeing. While there is not a single definition of a sustainable diet, because food production is not the same around the world, the principles behind the concept can be highlighted including: being protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems,

Food, nutrition and health in the UK

culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimizing natural and human resources. This in turn will help fuel food and nutrition security, making food available, accessible and safe for people to meet their daily needs in a way that is socially acceptable. The first step in matching up dietary recommendations and sustainable diets is to revise and improve existing recommendations. Overall attention to the sustainability aspect of suggested dietary recommendations is lacking. Suggestions on how to improve dietary sustainability must consider regional differences in nutrient prioritization, agricultural practices, climate variations, economic and social requirements. While each country will need to develop tailored recommendations, general guidelines may be set as a starting point as long as consideration is given to the ever growing ethnic minority groups that populate European territories as is the case of South Asians in the United Kingdom.

References Almiron-Roig, E., Aitken, A., Galloway, C., Ellahi, B., 2017. Dietary assessment in minority ethnic groups: a systematic review of instruments for portion-size estimation in the United Kingdom. Nutr. Rev. 75 (3), 188–213. Antony, G.M., Visweswara Rao, K., 2007. A composite index to explain variations in poverty, health, nutritional status and standard of living: use of multivariate statistical methods. Public Health 121, 578–587. Barrow, M., 2013. British Life and Culture. Special Events. Available from, http://www.projectbritain. com/easter/foods.html. (Accessed 13 March 2019). Benelam, B., Stanner, S., 2015. Development of a methodology to assess the nutrient profile of popular UK meals. Nutr. Bull. 40 (4), 315–325. Caraher, M., Lloyd, S., 2010. Fish and Chips with a Side Order of Trans Fat: The Nutrition Implications of Eating from Fastfood Outlets: A Report on Eating out in East London. Centraal Bureau Voor De Statistiek, 2005. StatLine. Available at: http://statline.cbs.nl/StatWeb/Start.asp? lp¼Search/Search&LA¼NL&DM¼SNLN. (Accessed 2 June 2018). Choi, H.K., Willett, W.C., Stampfer, M.J., Rimm, E., Hu, F.B., 2005. Dairy consumption and risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus in men: a prospective study. Arch. Intern. Med. 165, 997–1003. Chowbey, P., Harrop, D., 2016. Healthy Eating in UK Minority Ethnic Households: Influences and Way Forward. Discussion Paper, Race Equality Foundation. Church, S., Gilbert, P., Khokhar, S., 2005. Synthesis Report No. 3. Ethnic Groups and Foods in Europe. EuroFIR. Available upon request. Cleland, S.J., Sattar, N., 2006. Does Rimonabant pull its weight for type 2 diabetes? Lancet 368, 1632–1634. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, 2016. Agriculture in the United Kingdom. Annual report 2016. Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/ uploads/attachment_data/file/672119/AUK-2016-08jan18.pdf. (Accessed 30 April 2018). Department of Health, 1991. Dietary Reference Values for Food Energy and Nutrients for the United Kingdom. Report on Health and Social Subjects, No. 41, HMSO, London. Dickson Wright, C., 2011. A History of English Food. Random House Editors, England. Food Standards Agency, 2010. Healthy Diet. 8 Tips for Eating Well. Available from:http://www.eatwell. gov.uk/healthydiet/eighttipssection/8tips/. (Accessed 16 May 2018). Gao, S.K., Beresford, S.A.A., Frank, L.L., Schreiner, P.J., Burke, J.L., Fitzpatrick, A.L., 2008. Modifications to the healthy eating index and its ability to predict obesity: the multi-ethnic study of atherosclerosis. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 88, 64–69. Gardun˜o-Diaz, S.D., Husain, W., Ashkanani, F., Khokhar, S., 2014. Meeting challenges related to the dietary assessment of ethnic minority populations. J. Hum. Nutr. Diet. 27 (4), 358–366.

81

82

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Gardun˜o-Diaz, S.D., Khokhar, S., 2013a. South Asian dietary patterns and their association with risk factors for the metabolic syndrome. J. Hum. Nutr. Diet. 26 (2), 145–155. Gardun˜o-Diaz, S.D., Khokhar, S., 2013b. Assessment and comparison of diet quality and physical activity of African-Caribbean, south Asian and Caucasian groups in the UK. Int. J. Food Sci. Nutr. Diet. 2 (5), 45–50. Gilbert, P., Khokhar, S., 2008. Changing dietary habits of ethnic groups in Europe and implications for health. Nutr. Rev. 66 (4), 203–215. Instituto Nacional de Estadistica, 2006. Spain in Figures. Available at: http://www.ine.es. (Accessed 12 June 2018). Khokhar, S., Ashkanani, F., Gardun˜o-Diaz, S.D., Husain, W., 2013. Application of ethnic food composition data for understanding the diet and nutrition of South Asians in the UK. Food Chem. 140 (3), 436–442. Khokhar, S., Gilbert, P.A., Moyle, C.W.A., Carnovale, E., Shahar, D.R., Ngo, J., Bellemans, M., 2009. Harmonised procedures for producing new data on the nutritional composition of ethnic foods. Food Chem. 113 (3), 816–824. Khokhar, S., Marletta, L., Shahar, D.R., Farre, R., Ireland, J.D., Jansen-van der Vliet, M., De Henauw, S., Finglas, P., 2010. New food composition data on selected ethnic foods consumed in Europe. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 64, S82–S87. Kwon, D.Y., 2015. What is ethnic food? J. Ethnic Foods. 2 (1). Available from, https://www. journalofethnicfoods.net/article/S2352-6181(15)00002-5/pdf. (Accessed 26 April 2018). Longmate, N., 1971. The kitchen. In: How we Lived Then – A History of Everyday Life during the Second World War. Random House.. Morgan, K.J., Zabik, M.E., Stampley, G.L., 1986. The role of breakfast in diet adequacy of the U.S. adult population. J. Am. Coll. Nutr. 5, 551–563. National Diet and Nutrition Survey, 2018. Results from Years 7 and 8 (Combined) of the Rolling Programme (2014/2015 to 2015/2016). Available from: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/ government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/699241/NDNS_results_years_7_and_8. pdf. (Accessed 16 May 2018). Nicolau, M., van Dam, R.M., Stronks, K., 2006. Ethnicity, acculturation and education level in relation to quality of the diet: a study of Surinamese residents of the Netherlands. J. Hum. Nutr. Diet. 19, 383–393. Office for National Statistics, 2001. Census. http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census/. (Accessed 27 April 2018). Panayi, P., 2011. Spicing up Britain. Reaktion Books, London. Public Health Agency, 2010. Nutrition. Available from: http://www.enjoyhealthyeating.info/primarylinks/nutrition. (Accessed 16 May 2018). Scottish Government, 2006. Dietary Targets. Available from: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Topics/ Health/health/19133/17756. (Accessed 16 May 2018). Sharma, S., Cade, J., Jackson, M., Mbanya, J.C., Chungong, S., Forrester, T., Bennett, F., Wilks, R., Balkau, B., Cruickshank, J.K., 1996. Development of food frequency questionnaires in three population samples of African origin from Cameroon, Jamaica and Caribbean migrants to the UK. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 50, 479–486. Sharma, S., Cade, J., Riste, L., Cruickshank, K., 1999. Nutrient intake trends among African-Caribbeans in Britain: a migrant population and its second generation. Public Health Nutr. 2, 469–476. Simmons, D., Williams, R., 1997. Dietary practices among Europeans and different South Asian groups in Coventry. Br. J. Nutr. 78, 5–14. Smith, Z., Knight, T., Sahota, P., Kernohan, E., Baker, M., 1993. Dietary patterns in Asian and Caucasian men in Bradford: differences and implications for nutrition education. J. Hum. Nutr. Diet. 6, 323–333. Spencer, C., 2011. British Food: An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History. Columbia University Press, New York. Sproston, K., Mindell, J., 2004. Health Survey for England 2004, Volume 2: The Health of Minority Ethnic Groups. The Information Centre. Statistics Bundesamt Deutschland, 2004. German Central Register on Foreigners. Available at: http:// destatis.de/basis/e/bevoetab10.html. (Accessed 24 June 2018). Statistics UK Census, 2018. Available at: http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci. (Accessed 24 June 2018).

Food, nutrition and health in the UK

Tribalat, M., 2004. Integration des Populations d’origine _etragere. Groupe X-Demographie-EconomiePopulation 2004. Available at: http://xdep.polythechnique.org/tribalat04.htmal. (Accessed 28 June 2018). Trueman, C.M., 2015. Dried eggs. Available from,https://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/world-war-two/ world-war-two-in-western-europe/britains-home-front-in-world-war-two/dried-eggs/. (Accessed 9 February 2019). Vasileva, K., 2011. Population and Social Conditions. Eurostat Statistics in Focus 34/2011. Available at: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/cache/ITY_OFFPUB/KS-SF-11-034/EN/KS-SF11-034-EN.PDF. (Accessed 13 June 2018). Weichselbaum, E., Benelam, B., Soares Costa, H., 2009. Traditional Foods in Europe. EuroFIR Project, Norwich. Available upon request. Wharton, P.A., Eaton, P.M., Day, K.C., 1983. Sorrento Asian food tables: food tables, recipes and customs of mothers attending Sorrento maternity hospital, Birmingham, England. Hum. Nutr. Appl. Nutr. 37A, 378–402. Zweiniger-Bargielowska, I., 2002. Austerity in Britain: Rationing, Controls and Consumption, 1939–1955. Oxford University Press, Oxford.

83

CHAPTER 5

Food, nutrition and health in the Netherlands Luud J.W.J. Gilissen

Wageningen University & Research, Wageningen Plant Research, BU Bioscience, Wageningen, The Netherlands

Contents Introduction Historical overview Geography and the natural Dutch agricultural landscape Culture and tradition Development of the “Dutch Cuisine” Local cuisines and products in the Netherlands Typical foods and food products Agriculture and horticulture Livestock Fishery Food preservation Food and nutrition-related disease-causing factors Future outlook Circular economy in agriculture and farming Flevoland 2050 Vertical farming and “physiological modification” of horticultural crops Innovative fishery Our daily bread Acknowledgments References Further reading

85 86 87 88 88 90 92 92 96 100 101 102 103 103 104 104 104 105 106 106 107

Introduction The Netherlands is a small country (41,500 km2), relatively densely populated (17 million people), and characterized by its flatness with much water, polders, clay and sand, and a dynamic infrastructure. Dutch “agriculture” in its broadest sense (including crop cultivation, livestock farming and fishery) has always been driven by innovation making the Netherlands world leading in this field since several centuries till nowadays. With its tight and efficient networks including primary food production, suppliers, processors, financiers, national and international transporters, and its high-standard agricultural research and education, the present-day Dutch food sector is a major driver of the Dutch economy and trade. And from its deep history, the current crops and livestock, their cultivation and Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00006-8

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

85

86

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

breeding, the food production technologies and the resulting food products, all within the corresponding regional and cultural context at that time, the Dutch food is rich in traditions. This also regards fishery. Dutch agriculture started about seven thousand years ago with the immigration of farmers together with their Neolithic food package from south-west Asia (Anatolia, Asia Minor). They settled here and maintained their agriculture for several thousands of years until the Middle Ages when, first, castles and monasteries put their impact on the development of knowledge and society, and some centuries later, international sea shipping and trade started. These factors changed Dutch agriculture and food. The Dutch involvement in the discovery of new continents and also in the development of whaling in the 16th and 17th century, largely laid the foundation for the strong and rich Dutch economy and the diversity of foods, until present times. In the beginning of the 21st century, growing awareness about the values of nature and the balance of ecosystems is now leading to a paradigm shift directed towards the development of circular economies including and combining agriculture, nature and sustainable food production. The global climate change and the measures needed for responsible mitigation and adaptation will further determine the agenda of future Dutch agriculture and food production, and the development of the Dutch cuisine.

Historical overview To better understand current Dutch agriculture in its full extent, knowledge about its history is relevant. Agriculture in the Netherlands area started some seven thousand years ago when the small population of local hunter-gatherer-fishermen got new neighbors with a different life style: descendants of the first farmers, together with their “Neolithic food package” (Table 1), that had moved north-westwards from Anatolia (Asia Minor, present-day West-Turkey), established their Neolithic agriculture here (Diamond, 1999). For thousands of years, this agriculture remained largely unchanged; it just adapted to the regional landscape, to local soil quality and to population-specific characteristics Table 1 The Neolithic package (Diamond, 1999; Louwe Kooijmans, 2017) Founder crops

Einkorn Emmer Hard wheat Barley Pea Lentil Bitter vetch Chickpea Linseed

Animals for livestock

Triticum monococcum T. dicoccum T. durum Hordeum vulgare Pisum sativum Lens culinaris Vicia ervilia Cicer arietinum Linum usitatissimum

Sheep Mouflon Goat Aurochs Pig

Ovis aries Ovis orientalis Capra aegagrus Bos taurus Sus scrofa

Gazelle

Gazella sp

Donkey

Equus hydruntinus

Food, nutrition and health in the Netherlands

(Louwe Kooijmans, 2017). However, during the last half millennium, rapid successive developments in food production and (inter)national trade with their specific economic waves and wars, formed the basis for the present global position of Dutch “agriculture” with specific activities in crop breeding and cultivation, livestock farming, and fishery. With the establishment of castles and monasteries in the early Middle Ages, agriculture and horticulture got new impulses. Further, overseas intercontinental contacts in the 16th and 17th century introduced several new crops on the European and Dutch market, like potato and maize, and also many spices. Regarding Dutch fishery, whale (with a large fleet of 200 ships already at the end of the 17th century) and herring became commercially highly important items. Later economic waves downward resulted in de-industrialization and de-urbanization at the start of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 1815. However, during the same period, the Dutch increasingly reclaimed fertile arable land from sea, marches and fenlands, resulting in several thousands of “polders” (drained wetlands) covering about half of the today’s country’s land. As a result, the Dutch agriculture now mainly includes intensive livestock farming for the production of meat (from cows and pigs), dairy produce, poultry and eggs, with related grassland, maize and wheat cultivation for feed, next to large-scale agricultural cultivation of potato, sugar beet and onion, and greenhouse farming for vegetable production, whereas herring, cod, flat-fish, and shell-fish have become important Dutch fishery targets (Bieleman, 2010). Indicators of the current agriculture and food situation of the Netherlands are quantified by the FAO (2017).

Geography and the natural Dutch agricultural landscape Roughly spoken, the Netherlands is the geological sink of north-western Europe with the rivers Rhine and Meuse (Maas) as the biggest “waste-pipes.” The agricultural activities in the Neolithic era are basically maintained in the present Dutch agriculture which distinguishes now five regions: (1) The sandy soil areas in the south and east, occupied by many pig and poultry farms and maize cultivation, and in the mid- and north-east with, presently, decreasing agriculture in favor of changes towards nature and forest lands. Specifically, asparagus (in open field beds) and mushroom cultivation (up-ground in specialized growth chambers) is found in the south-eastern Dutch sandy areas. (2) In this sandy region, intersected by the big rivers Meuse, Waal and Rhine along which, after the last Ice Age, a broad river clay area was deposited from east to west in the middle of the country, presently much fruit horticulture (apple; cherry; berries, especially strawberry) takes place. (3) On the sea-clay area ranging from the south-west and west to the northeast with extended agriculture and grass lands (grass covers about 40% of the total Dutch farm land) a huge cow-based dairy industry has been developed, next to the largescale cultivation of potatoes, sugar beet and onions, the latter crops especially grown in the 20th century reclaimed IJsselmeerpolders. (4) In the coastal area, just behind the

87

88

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

dunes where sea clay and dune sand became mixed into the typical “geestgronden,” bulb flower cultivation and greenhouse horticulture (tomatoes; paprika) established. (5) And beyond the dunes, there are the Dutch North Sea fishing grounds. Both sea clay and river clay areas included large water surfaces. The Dutch have built up a high and lasting reputation in reclaiming arable land from sea, marches, fenlands and areas along the rivers, which they called “polders.” The largest polders have been reclaimed from the Zuiderzee (IJsselmeer) with an overall surface of 1400 km2, large enough to promote this area to a new Dutch province: Flevoland. Today, the Netherlands counts about 3000 polders with a total inner dike land surface of 18,000 km2 (1.8 million ha), almost half of the total country’s land (4.2 million ha). All these polder land surfaces have a high agricultural quality with very fertile soils, but are located below the surrounding water levels and need therefore primarily protected by dikes. Interestingly, all polders and dikes are managed since the 13th century by separate and independent governmental water boards, called Waterschappen, which, with the right of say of the local population, are the oldest democratic institutions of the Netherlands (www.nl. wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterschap; www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polder).

Culture and tradition Development of the “Dutch Cuisine” In general, the current “Dutch Cuisine” (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_cuisine) has been characterized by three (historical) factors; (1) farming of crops and domesticated animals; (2) fishing; and (3) trading over sea (colonialism and spice trade). Remarkably, until the 1970s, most families had their dinner at lunch time, but then dinner time changed towards the end of the working day due to economic changes, one of these being the increased education and out-of-home employment of women in production, commercial, health care and education sectors with effects on family logistics also influencing eating times. During the 20th century (especially after World War II), due to the intensified contacts with and immigrations from the Dutch Indies, next to the increasing opportunities to have holidays abroad (e.g., in Mediterranean countries), the large-scale immigration of Moroccans and Turks from the 1970s onwards, and the establishment all over the country of many Chinese (Chinese-Indonesian) restaurants since 1950 and Italian restaurants some decades later, the Dutch Cuisine became more international, not only in the cities but all over the country. Since the 1970s, the three traditional Dutch main eating moments during the day are: the breakfast (bread and other baked products; dairy products including porridge; tea/coffee); the lunch (bread with toppings and some fruit); the dinner (generally consisting of potatoes, more recently replaced by pastas or rice, with vegetables and meat, sometimes preceded by soup and finished with a dairy-based dessert (custard or yoghurt) and some fruit). Below, the development of the Dutch Cuisine will be followed over the last millennium.

Food, nutrition and health in the Netherlands

In the Middle Ages, bread was the staple food but was also used as (an absorbing) plate for other foods (and consumed at the end of the meal). Main dishes included semi-solid pottages consisting of milk, beer, water, root vegetables (potatoes were not yet available) and peas or grain, sometimes enriched with some meat. Beer (“daily-fresh” homebrewed; low in alcohol) was the major drink, initially flavored with “gruit” (herbs), later with hop for longer maintenance (also during transport: beer from the Lower Countries was a major and appraised export product at that time). Cow’s milk was especially used for the production of butter and cheese, which became famous products also in later centuries until present. In the 14th and 15th century, wooden plates replaced the bread ones. Peasants often ate coarse dark (rye) bread with raw apples or cheese for breakfast and during their work in the fields. Soups and stews from beans and game were the main staple food, often poured directly over a hunk of coarse bread, or reversely, the bread in a wooden bowl was suffused with hot water to which a piece of butter and garlic was added: bread soup. The salted Dutch herring was a Dutch monopoly, traded by ship. Next to agriculturally produced cereals, legumes and cabbage crops, garden vegetables and fruits entered into the kitchen. The aristocracy pleased themselves with recipes from several sources, many from France, part of which country was ruled at that time by the same Dukes of Burgundy. Such festivity dishes could include sauces, game, jellies, fish, meat, pies, tarts, eggs, dairy products, candied quinces and even ginger, together making a “Bourgondische” dish. Due to strong economic growth during the 16th and 17th century (the Dutch Golden Age), the festivity dishes with fruits, cheeses, eggs, meat, wine and nuts became now also available to the wealthy mid class. Through imports by the Dutch East India Company (Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie, VOC), consumption of coffee and later tea resulted in new daily habits, and largely replaced beer. Luxury dishes started with green salads and cold or warm cooked vegetables with dressing or butter, herbs or edible flowers, continued with fish- and meat dishes, together with exotic ingredients such as dates, rice, cinnamon, ginger and saffron, and ended with jellies, cheese, nuts and sweet pastries served with sweet spiced wine. Many 17th century paintings show this wealth. However, the ordinary Dutch dish at that time was much more simple: grain or legume pottage served with rye bread. Due to Spanish trade activities to South America at that time, the potato became introduced in Europe. Starting in Italy, in the 12th century, trade with the Orient developed, bringing in many spices into Europe. This extended due to further international trade activities in the 17th and 18th century. Dutch trade to the East Indies contributed significantly to these developments, with clear effects on the composition and the spiciness of the later “Dutch Cuisine.” Many of these spices are still common in the present Western European Cuisine, including in the Netherlands: the trade of pepper, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon and mace, but also of salt, initially brought much income to the VOC and created much Dutch welfare, but ultimately enriched the every-day kitchen. Today, on each restaurant

89

90

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

table in the Netherlands (and not limited to the Netherlands, but all over the western world) a small salt-and-pepper stand is available. In the 18th and 19th century potato gradually became a staple food. The working class people ate wheat- or rye bread and potatoes, pancakes sometimes, fish and other seafood, fruit and vegetables, but usually little meat. Most common simple but malnutritioncausing dishes consisted of only some bread and much potato (three times a day), or bread and herring. Beer (in the south), jenever (gin), chicory coffee and tea were the main drinks. In the 20th century some uniformity was introduced into the Dutch cuisine, partly due to education of young women to prepare simple dishes including boiled potatoes, vegetables and a part of meat. The Wann
ee Kookboek for the Amsterdamse Huishoudschool (1910) got many reprints and is still available (32nd edition 2017!). Next to this general Dutch standard, three regional forms of foods and drinks can now be distinguished and will be described below. Since the late 20th and early 21th century decades, the Dutch Cuisine is rapidly diversifying. Introduction occurred on the Dutch market of many novel international fresh and processed food products. Since the 1970s, an increase has been seen of new easyto-prepare, often highly processed, products from big food industries. But during the last two decades also “organic” and “sustainability” have increasingly become serious items in the purchase of foods. New scientific insights on food and health, and rapid successions of diet hypes with their communication waves on social media, and also the influence of the (mediterranean) immigrant dietary habits have considerably changed the 21st century daily diet and food consumption patterns in the Netherlands. For example, rice and pasta products, often replace the traditional potato in the dinner, and the pizza enables an easy new way of dining, sitting in front of the television. Supermarkets and also small food shops (for example butcher’s shops) increasingly sell ready-to-eat dishes that only need to be heated up (microwave). Ordering and buying foods (complete menus) from supermarkets, and at-home delivery by couriers, is going to develop into a new trend, with the supermarket as the newly self-appointed healthy food advisor.

Local cuisines and products in the Netherlands Three regional forms of Dutch cuisines can generally be distinguished (www.wikipedia. org/wiki/Dutch_cuisine). The Northeast-East Dutch cuisine (above the great rivers) is well-known for its sausages, with every town or village producing its own variety. The smoked sausage “Gelderse rookworst” (ground meat of pork, veal and bacon in a ratio of 4:3:3, spiced with nutmeg, smoked over smoldering beech woodchips) was local and traditional (www. wikipedia.org/wiki/rookworst) but has now been appreciated national-wide (and produced industrially) (www.unox.nl/geschiedenis). Sausage fits well with traditional

Food, nutrition and health in the Netherlands

“stamppot” (mixed, hotchpotched mashed boiled potatoes and boiled vegetables); “hutspot” (the same as “stamppot,” but especially prepared with carrot and onion), “zuurkool-” (sauerkraut) and “boerenkoolstamppot” (curled cabbage hotchpotch) and “erwtensoep” (thick pea soup with other vegetables and potatoes). This pea soup is often served with rye bread, e.g., “Fries roggebrood” (Frisian rye bread), a dark and dense sourdough bread produced from rye meal and whole or broken, overnight soaked, rye grains, with a hard texture and a strong bite (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/rye_bread). Pastries in this region are often spiced with ginger or “succade” (candied lemon or orange peel), e.g., “gemberkoek” (gingerbread). High-proof herbal-based liquors (such as Beerenburg) are favored. Several specific cheeses are well-known (e.g., Friese Nagelkaas— Friesian Clove). Along the northern North Sea (Waddenzee) and the IJsselmeer coast, specific shellfish and fish consumption is common and traditional, e.g., “kokkel” (cocle) and “paling” (eel), respectively. The Western Dutch cuisine is especially recognized for its prominent cow’s milk cheeses. Cheese is a major and very old traditional product in this part of the Netherlands where cattle farming is prominent. Famous Dutch “Farmhouse Cheese” has often been named according to their city of origin: Gouda, Leyden (with cumin), Stolwijk, Edam (small ball-shaped), Leerdammer, Beemster, etc., all with their own characteristics regarding taste and smell, structure and shape. Also a goat milk variant of the Gouda cheese has become famous. A lot of butter is produced in this region, with karnemelk (buttermilk) as a typical regional by-product. Seafood includes herring, mussels, eels, oysters and shrimps. “Kibbeling” (small chunks of battered white fish, often cod) was once a local delicacy but has developed into a nationally widely appraised fast food. Cookies and doughy pastries prepared with much butter and sugar such as the “oliebol” (doughnut ball) and the “stroopwafel” (treacle waffle) both surmounted their regional interest and became national. North-Holland is famous for its chocolate industry, its mayonnaise (on French fries), and typical whole-grain mustard (served a.o. with “bitterbal” (a small round type of croquette) and “kaasblokjes” (small Gouda cheese cubes) served as snack at the “borreltafel” (ap
eritive hour)). Several beer types have been developed in this region (e.g., traditional “kuit bier” by Jopen brewery in Haarlem; pilsner beer by Heineken in Amsterdam), and jenever (juniper-flavored gin) are famous. Also native to the western cuisine is “Advocaat,” a rich and creamy semi-proof liquor prepared from egg, sugar and brandy. The Southern Dutch cuisine is renowned for its many rich Burgundian pastries, soups, stews and vegetable dishes. From this, the Dutch haute cuisine developed with main premium cut meat courses as “Biefstuk,” “Ossenhaas” (beef types) and “Varkenshaas” (pork), served with a variety of fresh and boiled vegetables and fried potatoes. Hachee (hash) is a stew with onions, beef and a thick well-flavored gravy. “Groentensoep” (vegetable soup is prepared from many different (copious) vegetables, and contains “soepballetjes” (small forcemeat balls). “Asperge” (asparagus) (in the southeastern part;

91

92

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

seasonal) and “witlof” (chicory) are highly, and presently all over the country, appreciated vegetables. Mushrooms are versatile in recipe applications as a raw snack, boiled, baked, or fried. Traditional are the champignon ragout in pasty, its use in champignon soup, and in champignon sauce over a steak. Typical pastries are the “Bossche bol” (with a lot of whipped cream inside a thin layer of thawed puff pastry and covered with a thin layer of chocolate) from the city of ‘s-Hertogenbosch, and the “Limburgse vlaai” (pie; a solid flat dough with a filling of prepared fruit, such as cherry or apricot, covered with a woven dough lattice). The “appeltaart” (apple pie) has become a general Dutch pastry, often served with a cup of coffee and offered for a “special” price (“koffie met appelgebak”). Also the “worstenbroodje” (sausage roll) from this region became a nationally popular food. Beer, including two original Dutch Trappist Beers (“La Trappe” and “Zundert”), are famous. Beers are often used in cooking (e.g., in stews).

Typical foods and food products In this section, attention is given to a selection of products which can be called “typical Dutch” for different reasons: their economic value, their local impact, their history, their applicability, their uniqueness. Examples have been chosen from agriculture (cereals; and potato and onions as vegetable crops), from horticulture (the vegetables cabbage, asparagus and mushrooms), from livestock (meat from cow, pig, sheep and poultry, the dairy produts milk and cheese, and eggs), and from fishery (finfish, shellfish).

Agriculture and horticulture Cereals In the Netherlands, wheat cultivation in 2016 included 130 thousand ha producing a bit >1 million tonnes, mainly bread wheat for animal feed use, sometimes for food. Total grain production in the Netherlands has been put at a bit >1.5 million tonnes in 2016. Next to the 1 million tonnes of wheat, the production in 2016 of barley was 215,000 t (for brewing and as feed), maize 250,000 t (for feed), rye 10,000 t (for food), and oat 9.000 t (for food and feed) (www.world-grain.com). Since a few decades, interest in ancient wheat species revived. In the province of Friesland (Pieterburen) and in South-Limburg spelt wheat has been cultivated at small scale, but successfully. Especially artisanal bakeries produce spelt bread and spelt pastries, e.g., spelt “kersenvlaai” (cherry pie) in Maastricht (www.bisschopsmolen.nl). Recently, attention for the exceptional food, nutrition and health qualities (a.o. cholesterol lowering effect) of oats is increasing, which gradually seems to improve its position on the market and its appreciation by the consumer. But the many advantages of oats in food, feed and in the agricultural field, can still be considerably enhanced (Green, 2017). Oats also appear a coeliac-safe and fiber-rich contribution to the gluten-free diet,

Food, nutrition and health in the Netherlands

when properly produced separated from wheat, barley and rye (the gluten-containing cereals) (Smulders et al., 2017). The Dutch Oat Chain has been established for the production of oat products especially for the gluten-free Dutch and international market (www.wageningenUR.nl/oats). Innovative oat recipes (including some gluten-free ones) for every eating moment of the day have recently been published (Bonnier and Kok, 2015). In the province of Zeeland, the initiative “Stichting Op Goede Gronden” (Foundation On Good Grounds) was established in 2009 aiming at maintenance of traditional Zealand agriculture, among others with the production ancient grain types: Zeeuwse Witte (a very old wheat land race), Zephyr and Pirouette (brewing barley varieties dating back to the 1960s), and Zeeuwse haver (an oat landrace from around 1900). However, although this activity was much appreciated, the execution appeared too complex and costly; the initiative had to stop in 2018 (http://www.stichtingopgoedegronden.nl). Despite the advice by Dutch governmental organizations (Health Council of the Netherlands, 2015; Netherlands Nutrition Centre: Brink et al., 2016) to increase the daily consumption of fiber-rich (including whole grain) foods, and despite the ease of acquiring these products, the general intake by the Dutch consumer remains far below the advised threshold. Potato Dutch potato breeders play a world-wide leading role in the production of high quality seed potatoes (Almekinders et al., 2014) of which 700 thousand tonnes are annually exported to 70 countries all over the world (http://www.aardappelpagina.nl/files/ Netherlands_catalogue_of_potato_varieties_2011_Nivap.pdf; De Cicco and Jeanty, 2017). In 2010, the Dutch Wageningen Potato Centre (WPC) and in 2017 the Holland Innovative Potato (HIP) have been established aiming at bridging of research with production industry, and with consumer’s demands, respectively (http://www. potatocentre.com; https://www.potatopro.com). Dutch potato breeding resulted in a wide variety of cultivars for all kinds of applications in food, for feed, and industrially (e.g., for starch in the paper-, building-, textile- and glue-industries). The Dutch Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands (CGN), harbors the Wageningse Aardappel Collectie (Wageningen Potato Collection) with over 1400 accessions (CGN, 2017 Aardappel—knolgewas van wereldformaat; www.wur.nl/cgn). Potato has become a major crop in the Netherlands for consumption (presently, Dutch consumers eat annually 86 kg) and beyond. Potato is a food product particularly advised to consumers by Dutch governmental food and health bodies. The glycaemic index (GI) of potato is relatively low and decreases considerably further with the potatoes previously cooked, and then consumed as cold or reheated; this simple processing step increases the amount of resistant starch that degrades slowly in the stomach and intestine (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato: Fernandes et al., 2005).

93

94

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Onion Onion (Allium cepa) is the most commonly cultivated vegetable crop in the Netherlands. Three color varieties (cultivar groups) are distinguished: white, yellow and red onions. Almost 4000 farms, producing up to 55 tons per ha for sowing onions, are mainly located in the provinces Flevoland (IJsselmeer region) and Zeeland (south-west). Of the total production in the Netherlands of almost 5000 million tons of vegetables (in 2016) on 85,000 ha, onions alone took 1500 million tons on 27,000 ha (www.statline.nl). (www.uienteelt.nl/teelt; http://statline.cbs.nl) (which equals about 2% of the total agricultural area). This includes all the different types of onion cultivation: sowing onions, winter onions, picklers (small onions resulting from dense sowing (for pickling)), first-year planting onions, second-year planting onions, and pearl onions (also for pickling). Organic onion cultivation involves almost 700 ha, with a harvest between 20 and 40 tons per ha, depending on variety, soil quality and cultivation strategy (http://biowad. nl/product). Most Dutch onions (
90%) are exported all over the world (www. molnopex.nl). The onion is a versatile vegetable with many food applications. From several scientific publications it becomes clear that some health benefits of onion may be realistic but should not be overestimated (reviewed by Keusgen, 2002). Cabbage Cabbage in various forms are considered cultivar groups of a single species (Brassica oleracea), originated from the wild cabbage (B. oleracea var. oleracea) naturally growing in the coastal areas of continental Europe. Multiple simultaneous domestications are suggested at different sites in Europe. Cabbage crops include broccoli, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, curly kale, savoy cabbage (green and yellow), white, and red cabbage, Chinese cabbage (B. rapa), at least thirteen types in all. Also kohlrabi and swede (B. napus) are traditional cabbage crops, but forgotten today. The Orange List (CGN, 2016: https://www. deoerakker.nl/oranjelijst.htm) with over 550 varieties contains 35 varieties that are still cultivated for the market. Cabbage is an excellent example of crop improvement through long-term selection. Since the 17th century, the Netherlands played a significant role in the cultivation and breeding of cabbage, which gave a strong boost to the development of the Dutch horticulture, especially to the establishment of the Dutch seed companies. The West-Friesland area, i.e., the north-west part of the Netherlands, where the major Dutch (read international) vegetable seed companies are located, was and still is extremely suitable for the cultivation of high quality vegetables, including cabbage. Presently, Dutch consumers eat 4 kg of cabbage annually. The typical flavor of cabbage is caused by a metabolite type, called glucosinolates (sulfur containing glucosides), which may stimulate the production of detoxifying enzymes in the body. Cabbage (and cruciferous vegetables in general) may reduce the risk of colon cancer. Cabbage is a rich source of the vitamins C and K, and a moderate source of vitamine B6 and folate (https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/cabbage).

Food, nutrition and health in the Netherlands

Mushrooms In the Netherlands, small-scale cultivation of mushrooms (champignon) was set up in the beginning of the 19th century, but increased with the discovery and development of the South-Limburg lime grottos (near to Maastricht) as highly suitable places for cultivation because of constant darkness, temperature and humidity. For a long time, in the Netherlands, the champignon remained a delicacy. Since the 1960s, it has become cultivated up-ground in specialized growth chambers which gave an enormous boost in commercial production. At present, the Netherlands is (with Poland) the biggest champignon producer in Europe, with about 300,000 tons annually produced by about 130 companies (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_mushroom; Sonnenberg and Boekhout, 2017). The champignon in several varieties (the white champignon; the brown chestnut champignon; the Portobello, a large form of the chestnut champignon), next to other in the Netherlands cultivated mushrooms (such as the oyster mushroom, the shiitake, the enokitake, and the king oyster mushroom), have become common and stable food products on the Dutch supermarket shelf. Mushrooms are a healthy low-caloric food source, rich in well-digestible protein (20–30% of dry weight), that does not completely cover the human need for essential amino acids but still can be considered a good complement in a vegetarian diet. Mushrooms have a high food fiber content, with a relatively high amount of beta-glucans (also known from oats and barley) with scientifically proven cholesterol-lowering characteristics. Mushroom are high in minerals: selenium, potassium, phosphorus, copper, and well bio-available iron. Especially the high amount of selenium in mushrooms can contribute to improve the immune system quality of elderly people. Mushrooms are also high in B-vitamins (B1, B2, B3, B5, B6) (www.flandersfood.com). Despite the high nutritional value of mushrooms, its consumption in the Netherlands is still relatively low: 1–2 kg per person per year (Sonnenberg and Boekhout, 2017). Asparagus Asparagus (Asparagus officinalis subsp. officinalis) belongs to the perennial vegetables, of which the young white sprouts are eaten before turning woody. Also green and purple asparagus variants are known, but the traditional Dutch asparagus is the white one. In 2016, the total production area was 3790 ha, with a yield of 18,600 tons (www. statline.cbs.nl). Consumption is traditionally seasonal, from the second Thursday of April until June 24 (celebration of the birthday of John the Baptist). Asparagus contains much water (93%), some dietary fiber and sugars (4%), protein (2%, rich in the amino acid asparagine), and is a good source of B-vitamins and other vitamins (high in K), several minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, manganese, zinc, phosphorus, and chromium (enhancing the ability of insulin in glucose transport from the blood into the tissue cells) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagus). In traditional medicines, asparagus is known as diuretic and to heal kidney and heart problems (www.mdidea.com).

95

96

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Livestock The distribution of livestock over the Netherlands did not change significantly since the Neolithic (Louwe Kooijmans, 2017): cows mainly in the west and north; pigs in the mid- and southeast; sheep herds and farms, and goat farms all over the Dutch area. Lamb meat from the island of Texel is famous. Poultry was not included in the original Neolithic package; poultry was introduced in the early Middle Ages. Poultry farming now mainly occurs in the mid- and southeast Dutch regions. Table 2 below shows the present status of the major livestock animals, with their produce and product-related FE (feed efficiency) or FCR (feed conversion ratio) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_ coversion_ratio). Cow Presently, cattle breeders characterize cow varieties according to their use: for milk production, meat production, milk- and meat production (dual purpose), nature conservation and for hobby. In the Netherlands, for milk production, the Holstein-Frisian, the Fries-Hollands, the Fries Roodbont (Frisian Red and White) and the Groninger Table 2 Livestock (numbers of animals [heads] and product types) in the Netherlands (annual data of 2016; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_coversion_ratio) Meat (kg) [FCR]b

Population (head)

Milk (kg) [FE]a

14.3 billion [1.3–1.7] –

911 million

416 million [4.5–7.5]

–

Pig

4.29 million; 1.6 million dairy cows 11.88 million

–

–

Sheep

1.04 million

1.5 million

nd

Goat

0.5 million

15 million (estimated)

Poultry (chicken)

105 million (35 million laying hens)

225 million [0.8–1.1] –

1.453 billion [4] 13 million (lamb; [4–6]) 2 million

1100 million (broiler chicken [1.6])

645 million (¼ 11 billion eggs) [2, based on 330 eggs/ chicken/year]

Category

Cow

nd, no data; , not applicable. a FCR, feed conversion rate (input per output, kg/kg). b FE, feed efficiency (output per input, kg/kg).

Cheese (kg)

–

Eggs (kg) [FCR]

– –

Food, nutrition and health in the Netherlands

Blaarkop (Groninger Blaze Head) are famous varieties (www.cgn.wur.nl;). For meat production, the Verbeterd Roodbont (Improved Red-and-White) is well known. Several Dutch varieties are useful for both milk and meat production: Brandrode Rund (Firered Cow), Heidekoe (Moor Cow), Kempens Rund (Kempen Cow), Maas-Rijn-IJsselvee (Meuse Rhine IJssel cattle; MRIJ), and the Belgian varieties Oost-Vlaams Wit-Rood Rund (East-Flemish White and Red Cow) and West-Vlaams Rood Rund (West-Flemish Red Cow) (https://www.levendehave.nl/dierenwikis/runderen/runderrassen). In the meantime, many cow varieties have been introduced from various European and international countries into the Netherlands for the different purposes mentioned above (Hiemstra, 2004). Pig After World War II, the Dutch pig sector developed and increased rapidly. Dutch pig breeding organizations started to develop specialized breeding lines to serve in systematic crossing systems: the original all-round Dutch Great Yorkshire specialized father line (for growth, carcass quality, and feed efficiency), and several mother lines (selected for fertility, number of piglets, care for piglets, growth, and slaughter characteristics). Breeding programs are especially developed to explore the phenomenon of heterosis: an increased performance of the progeny compared to the parental lines. This resulted in large increases of the Dutch pig populations: from 3 million animals in the 1960s to around 12.5 million in 2018 producing 1.45 billion kg meat (www.statline.cbs). The breeding strategy has much contributed to the high quality of the present Dutch pigs with an efficient feed conversion rate of 4 (Table 2). The Netherlands is at position 6 (6.5%) on the world pig export market. Almost all parts of the pig can be used for human consumption. Sheep and goat The pasture Blue Texel Sheep (Texel is one of the Dutch Wadden Isles) produces the highest quality of wool and meat. Sheep farming for meat increased especially after 1990, supported by well-directed breeding activities of which those with the Australian Merino resulted in the highest lamb meat quality. Texel’s lamb meat is now also produced for export (www.cgn.wur.nl). The Texel sheep also served for the production of milk (1.5 million liters of milk in 2017), the basis for nutritious sheep cheese. Goats are especially praised for their milk: the Dutch White Milk Goat and the Dutch Toggenburger produce annually 1200 and 800 l, respectively. Due to the introduction of a cow’s milk quotation (in 1984), the number of milk goats rapidly increased to 0.5 million in 2017 (www.cgn.wur.nl; www.statline.cbs.nl). This goat success story had its serious consequences for the original Dutch Land Goat, bred in the Netherlands since several thousands of years. Due to activities initiated by the Rotterdam Zoo Blijdorp and continued by the Stichting Zeldzame Huisdierrassen (SZH), this old goat variety was maintained (www.cgn.wur.nl).

97

98

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Poultry The Dutch “Barnevelder” symbolizes the industrialization of the Dutch poultry sector. This variety was developed in the Dutch city of Barneveld in the 19th century from crosses of the Cochin variety from England with the Chinese Brahma and Langshan varieties, and later with Buff Orpington, which after selection on uniformity in color and type ultimately resulted in the Barnevelder, that became “standardized” in 1921. Especially its strong brown egg shell was appreciated and enabled export, at that time especially to England. The Barnevelder gave an enormous boost to the internationalization of the Dutch poultry sector. Chicken produce egg (laying hens) and meat (broilers). During the 1950s, the USA technology of hybrid chicken breeding became popular for laying hen and broiler production, making use of heterosis effects through crossing of selected inbred lines. This caused the end of the Barnevelder as the leading variety. In the year 2017, most chicken for production of meat and eggs originated from only a few chicken breeding companies, with Hendrix Genetics (Boxmeer, the Netherlands) as one of the world players. To prevent loss of genetic diversity through economics-driven hybrid breeding, many Dutch breeds are stored as breed-specific cock’s sperm at the Centre for Genetic Resources, the Netherlands (CGN) (www.wur.nl/cgn). The Dutch poultry industry is the international leader with a contribution of over 40% to the EU shell egg export and almost 25% of the poultry meat export, in all sharing about 12% of the total global export volume (data from 2012, www.statline.cbs.nl). About 2000 farms are active in poultry; these are historically mainly located in the eastern Dutch provinces, close to Germany, the main export market representing 70% of the total Dutch poultry export value of
425 million € (www.zootecnicainternational.com/). Livestock products Meat. The last 12 years, meat consumption in the Netherlands was highest in 2009 and 2010 (about 79 kg per capita annually) and dropped to a bit 150 g/day) of especially processed red meat products may probably increase the risk of colon cancer with 18%, which means that the chance of not getting colon cancer, which is about 94%, may be reduced to about 93% (Brink et al., 2016; www.vlees.nl). Note here that milk and whole grains may have a protective role against colorectal cancer at a similar rate (Viera et al., 2017). Nevertheless, moderate meat consumption (
500 g/week) in a balanced way together with other foods (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef) fits into a healthy diet: meat adds essential components to our daily nutrition, such as high quality protein, vitamins (niacin, B12) and minerals (iron and zinc). Consumers (especially vegetarians and vegans) that decide to eat only plant-derived food (proteins), need to take measures for protein quality and vitamin compensation. Milk. Cow’s milk contains, on average, 3.4% protein, 3.6% fat (2.4% saturated; 1.1% monounsaturated; 0.1 polyunsaturated), and 4.6% lactose. Calcium represents 120 mg per 100 g. Milk consumption is effective in muscle growth. However, the claim of milk consumption promoting (calcium uptake-related) stronger bones has scientifically not been confirmed. The nutritional composition of goat milk is similar to that of cow’s milk and differs with human milk in protein content (
3.5% in goat and cow milk vs 1.0% in human milk), in lactose content (
4.5% in goat and cow’s milk vs 7% in human milk) and minerals (
0.8% in goat and cow’s milk vs 0.2% in human milk). Sheep milk is highest in fat, protein and mineral content, and equal in lactose compared to goat and cow’s milk (Turkmen, 2017). To digest lactose, humans require the production of the enzyme lactase. Europeans generally maintain lactase production at 90% as they age; Asians and Africans keep their adult lactase production to only 5%. Cheese. Presently, the Netherlands produces over 900 million kg cheese annually, most of this industrially, (660 million kg) of which almost 500 million kg are exported (mainly to Germany, Belgium and France), representing a 3.6 billion Euro market (www. statline.cbs.nl). The Netherlands are the biggest cheese exporter in the world. Next to industrial production, also
500 farms are still active in cheese making; “Boerenkaas” (farmer’s cheese), apprecialted for their specific taste due to the artisinal way of production and ripening. Overall, the Dutch population consumes 250 million kgs of cheese (almost 15 kg per person per year) (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaas). In 2015, “Hollandse Geitenkaas” (Dutch goat’s cheese), first mentioned as such in 1946, received its official PGI (protected geographical indication) according to European legislation. (productdossier BGA Hollandse Geitenkaas: https://www.rvo.nl/sites/ default/files/2014/06/BGA_PD_Hol_Geitenkaas_def.pdf; https://en.wikipedia.org/ wiki/Cheese). Regarding nutrition and health, the values of cheeses vary widely. Cheeses can be characterized according their fat content: for example, full-fat cheese (48 +) contains 42% water and 58% dry matter of which 48% is fat making the total fat content of a

99

100

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

48 + cheese 0.48  58 ¼ 28% fat. Similarly, a 20 + skim-milk cheese will consist of about 11% fat. Fat is essential for texture and taste of the cheese. The suggestion is wrong that (full-fat) cheese is a major contributor to increased LDL-cholesterol and concomitant increased risk of heart and vascular diseases. Many meta-analyses show that full-fat natural cheese, as being a highly fermented product, just significantly lowers LDL cholesterol (Mauseth, 2012; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese). Cheese (Gouda-type) is a high-value protein source (about similar to the fat %), rich in vitamins A, B2, and especially B12, and is a good source of calcium, phosphorus, zinc and selenium. Interestingly, since cheese, and especially aged cheese, are fermented products, the content of lactose is low; many cheeses can be tolerated by individuals with lactose intolerance. Egg. The net Dutch economic value of eggs is 275 million €. Most eggs are exported to the EU, mainly to Germany. Consumption in the Netherlands includes 200 eggs per person per year. A single egg has a weight of about 60 g, containing 8 g protein, 9 g fat, and is relatively high in the minerals sodium, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, iron (especially), and the vitamins A, B1, B2, B6, B12, and choline. Egg white consists of water and protein (10–13%); egg yolk is rich in fat of which only one quarter is saturated fat; it also contains cholesterol. Moderate consumption of eggs (i.e., one per day) does not appear to increase (cholesterol or fat related) adverse health effects in healthy individuals; studies on a possible connection between egg consumption and diabetes type 2 show conflicting results. A more serious health issue was contamination with Salmonella, but nowadays this is very rare (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_as_food). Chicken meat and egg consumption are advised by the Dutch government. Regular consumption of 2–3 eggs per week (3–4 for vegetarians) fits well in a healthy diet (Brink et al., 2016: Netherlands Nutrition Centre).

Fishery According to the type of fish, specialized fleets have been developed in the Netherlands: for flat-fish, round-fish, shrimps and for molluscs. Economically, sea finfish is the most important group. This fish serves two main goals: for food and as raw material (e.g., for glue production). Dutch finfish market has an annual turnover of about 4 billion €, with an export value of 2.5 billion €. Almost 300 companies are involved. Famous Dutch sea fish harbors are Scheveningen, IJmuiden, Colijnsplaat, Lauwersoog and Vlissingen. Fish supplies about 20% of animal protein to human food. In the Netherlands, consumed captured finfish includes especially herring, cod, mackerel and tuna, next to sole and plaice. Along the Dutch coast (Zeeland; Noord-Holland), mussel, oyster, crab and lobster, and shrimps are cultivated (www.zakelijk.infonu.nl/diversen/aquaculture). Annual profit of the shellfish market is about 70 M€. Presently, several finfish species are cultivated in aquacultures, such as salmon (especially in Norway and Scotland). The Dutch Government developed its National Strategic

Food, nutrition and health in the Netherlands

Plan Aquaculture 2014–2020. Till now, fish aquaculture in Europe is a minor fraction of the world aquaculture, largely dominated by Asian countries. In 2023, however, the worldwide production of finfish in aquaculture will surmount the amount of captured fish: over 90 million tons vs 75 million tons, respectively (Anonymus, 2012; Anonymus, 2014: https://www.version1.com/case-study/dept-of-ag/). Finfish provides a good source of high quality protein and contains many vitamins and minerals. Whitefish is low in fat (max 1% with 0.5% omega-3 fatty acid), oily fish like herring is high in fat (10–25% with 2% omega-3 fatty acid). Fish with high fat content generally contains essential fatty acids and fat-soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, all of which are vital for the healthy functioning of the human body. High in omega-3 fatty acids are salmon, flatfish, mackerel, halibut and herring; catfish, cod and tuna are low (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_as_food). The advice from the Dutch government (Brink et al., 2016) is to eat a fish dish once or twice a week. Shellfish in general is a good source of protein, is rich in omega-3 and other monoand poly-unsaturated fatty acids, and in minerals (e.g., zinc, copper, iron, magnesium). Shrimps are relatively low in omega-3 fatty acids. Serious allergic reactions can be caused in about 1% of the population by finfish and particularly by shellfish. Also, specific toxins may accumulate in finfish and shellfish, the amounts depending of the living location and on the position of the individual species in its ecological network (www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_as_food). Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 and 854/2004, and Regulation (EC) No 2074/2005 provide the maximum limits and the monitoring of marine bio-toxins in shellfish. In the Netherlands, outbreaks of poisoning due to marine bio-toxins between 1970 and 2010) were low (
25) (Visciano et al., 2016).

Food preservation Preservation of Dutch food products does not significantly differ from preservation of foods in other countries. Some examples with a long tradition in the Netherlands are the salted herring (Hollandse Nieuwe), the smoked sausage (Gelderse Rookworst), the fermented cheeses (Gouda kaas), the pickled little white onion (Zilveruitje) and wecked fruit (bottled and boiled). Several of these issues are not at all specifically Dutch, but are known as traditional techniques or processes in many countries, worldwide. There may be an exception. Gutting and salting of herring (“haringkaken”) may have been invented by the Dutchman Willem Beukelszoon at the end of the 13th century. This process includes, carried out on the ship immediately after capture, the removal of the gills and the gut but leaving the pancreas before putting the fish in salt (pickle). Keeping the pancreas is essential for the release of specific enzymes that improve the taste as well as the conditions for preservation and transport. However, Scandinavians and Flemings also

101

102

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

claim to have invented this technology, which makes its independent invention in different countries likely (https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Beukelszoon). Presently, the best way of preservation of fresh food of all categoriesis freezing. Froozen products, especially under vacuum, can be kept fresh for very long times (months to years). However, the sustainability of food freezing may be a point of discussion.

Food and nutrition-related disease-causing factors Roughly, food and nutrition-related conditions can be categorized according to their symptoms being acute or chronic. Acute conditions are food allergies, chemical intoxications, and microbial infections. Chronic conditions are related to specific food intolerances (e.g., gluten- and lactose-intolerance), or are caused by complete dietary habits as part of an unhealthy individual life style (causing non-communicable diseases (NCDs), including heart and vascular diseases, obesity, type 2 diabetes, several types of cancer, neurodegenerative disease, and respiratory disease). Obesity in the Netherlands increased from 14% of the population in 2000 to 23% in 2016 (FAO, 2017). Wrong food choices (of mainly highly processed, high in salt and sugar-rich foods and highly sweetend soft drinks often leading to obesity and type 2 diabetes; Lustig, 2017) combined with a low-excercise life style may considerably reduce the quality of life: many individuals suffer from serious life style-related chronic diseases, alltogether causing extremely high health care costs to the entire society. Cynically, these sufferers (especially the addicted smokers among them) generally have a relatively short life expectation, and so is their shorter burden on societal health care costs. In the Netherlands alone, type 2 diabetes causes a health care annual debit item of several billion Euros on the Dutch governmental expenditures. Type 2 diabetes is reversible to a high degree. Preventive and curative measures have to become now common practice in the medical and health-related organizations. Individuals without the major risk factors smoking, hypertension and obesity not only live six years longer without NCDs, but also compress their lifetime with NCDs with two years (Licher et al., 2019). “Life-style medicine” is currently under development in the Netherlands. Its longer term impacts on reducing health care costs and increasing societal health and well-being should surmount the impact of the (noncomplied) advices of the “Dutch Dietary Guidelines” (2015: www.healthcouncil.nl) and the “Wheel of Five” of the Netherlands Nutrition Centre (Brink et al., 2016). The Wheel of Five (Fig. 1) shows the most relevant food categories for the general Dutch population and will keep the individual consumer on the right health track, that has unfortunately gradually become overgrown by many myths and food hypes creating wrong believes about food. Many of these myths and hypes have been unmasked based on scientific arguments (Katan, 2016).

Food, nutrition and health in the Netherlands

Fig. 1 Schijf van Vijf (wheel of five). Five food categories of a balanced healthy food pattern (Brink et al., 2016). Source: Netherlands Nutrition Centre.

Future outlook Circular economy in agriculture and farming How much meat should we eat? Scientists from Wageningen UR found that livestock raised under the concept of “circular economy” could provide almost half of the daily human protein need of 50–60 g. This requires livestock to mainly convert left-overs from arable land and grass resources into valuable food, and feed production being uncoupled from arable land. The boundary for livestock production and consumption is then determined by the available biomass streams. In this concept there is a specific role for the use of manure to prevent nutrient dispersion into the environment. Current livestock industries should make a transition towards an integrated circular economy, with cooperative involvement of governments, private industries, and consumers, to support according policies and necessary investments (Van Zanten et al., 2016, 2018). Further, the Dutch agro industry, together with NGOs, Government and research institutes created a partnership to make Dutch livestock production fully sustainable by 2050 (Brochure Wageningen UR Livestock Research: Leenstra et al., 2014; Muilwijk et al., 2018). In addition, The Dutch Ministry of Agriculture and Fishery published its report on “Agriculture, nature and food: valuable and connected,” positioning the Netherlands

103

104

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

as the frontrunner in the transition towards circular agriculture. This vision has put its focus on 2030 as target date (Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, 2018).

Flevoland 2050 The Dutch province of Flevoland consists of recently (during the 1930–1960s) reclaimed land (polders). Adaptation to the current climate is an annually recurring activity of farmers. Adaptation to the global climate change, however, is different because the effects are long-term and less predictable; the impacts can be very diverse with positive, negative and uncertain risk outcomes for farmers. Regarding potential risks and required adaptations, various Flevoland stakeholders (farmers, policy makers and scientist) started an interactive discussion on different scenarios (Schaap et al., 2018). The discussion revealed that farmers individually will remain focusing on short-term dynamic economic incentives and will not do large investments without certainty on climate impacts to be expected. Cooperative collective adaptation was considered difficult because of spatial and farm-specific variability regarding water table, soil structure and management. Scientists in the discussion were more focussed on technical aspects of adaptation, and, together with policy makers, interested in quantitative details of the risks and costs without considering the future markets. Policy makers were also more interested in the economic costs at the society level. The applied scenario approach in the discussion appeared helpful to focus on “what if” questions regarding uncertain future developments of markets, policy, technology and climate change impacts.

Vertical farming and “physiological modification” of horticultural crops Philips Lighting and Staay Food Group (a fresh fruit and vegetable company) are building the first vertical farm in Europe, located in Dronten, the Netherlands. The indoors vertical farm of 900 m2 will give a growing space of over 3000 m2 for the cultivation of pesticide-free and low bacterial-count lettuce, a growing retailers need. The new facility will serve large-scale retail. Such lettuce being grown, harvested and packaged on the spot, fits into sustainable farming. In addition, LED-based lightning will be used. Philips’ Grow Wise City Farming Center in Eindhoven, the Netherlands (http://www.lighting. philips.com/main/cases/cases/horticulture/philips-growwise-center), is a large research facility for testing a variety of crops under different LED lighting and climate conditions, to improve crop cultivation and taste (press release Philips Lighting) through “physiological modification.”

Innovative fishery Regarding Dutch fishery activities in the North Sea and the North Atlantic, recently (in 2016), a revolutionary vessel type has been designed and developed with focus on overall costs, energy use, ship length and seakeeping, and sustainability. A consortium

Food, nutrition and health in the Netherlands

of Dutch fishing ship builders, fishermen, and the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN), financially and technically supported by the Dutch Masterplan Sustainable Fisheries (MDV) and the European Fisheries Fund, took the responsibility for the design of the vessel especially for electric pulse-fishing of plaice and sole. This new trawler type with its innovative twin rig pulse-equipped fishing gear was planned to become the new standard to replace the aged fishing fleets, in the Netherlands (with a fleet of 275 vessels in total) and neighboring countries like Denmark, Belgium, France and the UK (www.news.maritimeholland.com/2016/11/01/mdv-1-immanuel). Electric pulse-fishing is a Dutch invention. It involves creating an electric field above sections of the seabed stimulating sole and plaice to come up and swim into the net. It is efficient and sustainable, with high yield, low impact on the seabed ecosystem, and low energy costs. However, these facts make the Dutch electric pulse-fishing (too) highly competitive especially to France and Britain fishery economics; successful lobbying of these countries at the EU level will lead to a prohibition of large-scale electric pulse-fishing from 2019. It has been agreed (on the 5th of February 2019) that only 5% of a fishing-fleet of any EU country may continue with electric pulse-fishing. This agreement needs now approval by the European Parliament and the European Council. Will this be the end of pulse fishing? Innovations in Dutch fishery will continue anyway.

Our daily bread Whole grain wheat has been proven healthy, especially due to its high food fiber content which is lacking in refined wheat products. However, regarding wheat consumption, two major issues are under attention. (1) Celiac disease is an inflammation of the small intestine caused by specific immunogenic fragments (epitopes) of gluten proteins from wheat, barley and rye. The only treatment is a life-long gluten-free diet. The base pair sequences of the gluten genes and their epitopes are fully known. This enables the application of the recently developed CRISPR/Cas technology (a Dutch invention: prof John van der Oost, Wageningen UR, is considered pioneer in the CRISPR-mediated genome editing revolution) to edit these gluten genes and epitopes aiming at the development of wheat varieties only carrying non-immunogenic gluten, and contributing to reducing the burden to coeliac patients. The first promising data have been published (Gil-Humanes et al., 2017; Gilissen and van den Broeck, 2018; Jouanin, 2019). (2) During the last decades, about 10% of the Western population, including the Dutch population, is now avoiding wheat products including bread, mainly based on self-diagnosis of symptoms suggesting a form of wheat (or gluten) sensitivity (non-celiac wheat sensitivity, NCWS). The causing factors, however, are still unclear. Wheat gluten and fermentable oligo-, di-, mono-saccharides and polyols (FODMAPS) are scientifically unlikely, but wheat amylase trypsin inhibitors (ATIs) may play a role as

105

106

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

an immune-related inflammatory factor, which first needs to be unambiguously confirmed in human intervention studies. The involvement of placebo and nocebo effects are likely. To unmask the true factors behind NCWS, an international intervention study using modern and ancient wheat species and comparing yeast and sourdough fermentation (the Well-on-Wheat project, www.wellonwheat.org, a Dutch initiative) has been initiated (2016–2019 with follow-up projects funded).

Acknowledgments The author would like to thank Noor Bas, Chris Kik and Sierd Zijlstra (CGN, Wageningen UR) for supplying much information in the form of textbooks, brochures, websites, etc. and for comments on specific text sections. Clemens van de Wiel (Plant Breeding, Wageningen Plant Research, Wageningen UR) deserves many thanks for critical reading of and commenting on several versions of the manuscript. The author is also much obliged to Ingrid van der Meer (business unit manager Bioscience, Wageningen Plant Research, Wageningen UR) to place all necessary facilities (office, computer, etc.) at the author’s disposal.

References Aan de Burgh, M., Niessen, D., 2018. Mest verpest. In: NRC Handelsblad 7–8 April 2018. (in Dutch). Almekinders, C.J.M., Mertens, L., van Loon, J.P., Lammerts van Bueren, E.T., 2014. Potato breeding in the Netherlands: a successful participatory model with collaboration between farmers and commercial breeders. Food Sec. 6, 515–524. Anonymus, 2012. Nationaal Strategisch Plan Aquacultuur. Rijksoverheid (in Dutch). Anonymus, 2014. Irish Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. https://www.version1.com/casestudy/dept-of-ag/. Bieleman, J., 2010. Five Centuries of Farming. A Short History of Dutch Agriculture 1500–2000. Mansholt Publication Series, Vol. 8. http://www.wageningenacademic.com/doi/book/10.3920/978-90-8686-693-9. Bonnier, P., Kok, M., 2015. Havermoutje. Carrera Culinair. ISBN 978 90 488 2584 4 (in Dutch). Brink, L., Postma-Smeets, A., Stafleu, A., Wolvers, D., 2016. Richtlijnen Schijf van Vijf. Stichting Voedingscentrum Nederland, Den Haag (in Dutch). CGN, 2016. Kool in Nederland – Geschiedenis van teelt en veredeling. www.wur.nl/cgn (in Dutch). CGN, 2017. Aardappel – knolgewas van wereldformaat. De oorsprong van de aardappel. www.wur.nl/cgn (in Dutch). De Cicco, A., Jeanty, J.-C., 2017. The EU Potato Sector – Statistics on Production, Prices and Trade. Eurostat.https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php/The_EU_potato_sector_-_statistics_ on_production,_prices_and_trade. Diamond, J., 1999. Guns, germs and steel. WW Norton & Company Inc. ISBN-13:978 0 393 31755 8. FAO, 2017. FAOSTAT: Food Balance Sheets. Rome, Italy: Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Fernandes, G., Velangi, A., Wolever, T.M., 2005. Glycemic index of potatoes commonly consumed in North America. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 105 (4), 557–562. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jada.2005.01.003. Gil-Humanes, J., Wang, Y., Liang, Z., Shan, Q., Ozuna, C.V., Sa´nchez-Leon, S., Baltes, N.J., Starker, C., Barro, F., Gao, C., Voytas, D.F., 2017. High-efficiency gene targeting in hexaploid wheat using DNA replicons and CRISPR/Cas9. Plant J. 89, 1251–1262. Gilissen, L.J.W.J., van den Broeck, H.C., 2018. Breeding for healthier wheat. Cereal Foods World 63 (4), 132–136. https://doi.org/10.1094/CFW-63-4-0132. Green, C., 2017. Oats SWOT Analysis. Oat Innovations. http://www.einpresswire.com/article/ 366339526/oat-swot-analysis. Health Council of the Netherlands, 2015. Dutch dietary guidelines, 2015. Health Council of the Netherlands. The Hague. www.healthcouncil.nl, Publication No. 2015/24E. ISBN: 978-94-6281-104-1.

Food, nutrition and health in the Netherlands

Hiemstra, S.J., 2004. Brandrode Rund. Brochure ‘Brandrode Rund’. Wageningen UR and EURECA 012 AGRI GEN RES 870/2004. (in Dutch). Jouanin, A.A., 2019. Gene editing towards hypoimmunogenic gluten proteins in wheat. PhD thesis, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands, ISBN 978-94-6343-542-0. https://doi.org/ 10.18174/464538. Katan, M.B., 2016. Voedingsmythes – Over valse hoop en nodeloze vrees. Uitgeverij Bert Bakker. ISBN 978 90 351 4111 7 (in Dutch). Keusgen, M., 2002. Health and alliums. In: Rabinowitch, H.D., Currah, L. (Eds.), Allium Crop Science: Recent Advances. CAB International, pp. 357–378. Leenstra, F., Vellinga, T., Neijenhuis, F., de Buisonj
e, F., 2014. Manure – A valuable resource. Wageningen UR Livestock Research (brochure).www.wageningenUR.nl/en/livestockresearch. Licher, S., Heshmatollah, A., van der Willik, K.D., Stricker, B.H.C., Ruiter, R., de Roos, E.W., et al., 2019. Lifetime risk and multimorbidity of non-communicable diseases and disease-free life expectancy in the general population: A population-based cohort study. PLoS Med. 16(2). e1002741.https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pmed.1002741. Louwe Kooijmans, L., 2017. Onze vroegste voorouders. Uitgeverij Bert Bakker. ISBN 978 90 351 2773 9 (in Dutch). Lustig, R.H., 2017. Processed food – an experiment that failed. JAMA Pediatr. 171, 212–214. https://doi. org/10.1001/jamapediatrics.2016.4136. Mauseth, J.D., 2012. Plants and People. Jones & Bartlett Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7637-8550-5. Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality (Netherlands), 2018. Agriculture, Nature and Food: Valuable and Connected - The Netherlands as a Leader in Circular Agriculture (Brochure). Muilwijk, H., Westhoek, H., de Krom, M., 2018. Voedsel in Nederland: Verduurzaming bewerkstelligen in een veelvormig systeem. PBL, Den Haag (Publication No 3239). Schaap, B.F., Reidsma, P., Mandryk, M., Verhagen, J., van der Wal, M., Wolf, J., van Ittersum, M.K., 2018. Adapting agriculture in 2050 in Flevoland; perspectives from stakeholders. AgriAdapt Project Report No 6. Smulders, M.J.M., van de Wiel, C.C.M., van den Broeck, H.C., et al., 2017. Oats in healthy gluten-free and regular diets: a perspective. Food Res. Int. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2017.11.031. Sonnenberg, A., Boekhout, T., 2017. Eetbare paddenstoelen. www.nemokennislink.nl/. (in Dutch). Turkmen, N., 2017. The nutritional value and health benefits of goat milk components. In: Nutrients in Dairy and their Implications for Health and Disease. Elsevier. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12809762-5.00035.8. Van Zanten, H.H.E., Herrero, M., Van Hal, O., R€ oo €s, E., Muller, A., Garnet, T., Gerber, P.J., Schader, C., De Boer, I., 2018. Defining a land boundary for sustainable livestock consumption. Glob Change Biol. 00, 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/gcb.14321. Van Zanten, H.H.E., Mollenhorst, H., Klootwijk, C.W., Van Middelaar, C.E., De Boer, I.J.M., 2016. Global food supply: land use efficiency of livestock systems. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 21, 747–758. Viera, A.R., Abar, L., Chan, D.S.M., Vingeliene, S., Polemiti, E., Stevens, C., Greenwood, D., Norat, T., 2017. Foods and beverages and colorectal cancer risk: a systematic review and meta-analysis of cohort studies, an update of the evidence of the WCRF-AICR continuous update project. Ann. Oncol. 28, 1788–1802. Visciano, P., Schirone, M., Milandri, M., Tofalo, R., Suzzi, G., 2016. Marine biotoxins: occurrence, toxicity, regulatory limits and reference methods. Front. Microbiol. 7, 1051. https://doi.org/10.389/ ficb.2016.01051. Wann
ee, C.J., 1910. Kookboek van de Amsterdamse Huishoudschool. H.J.W. Becht’s Uitgeversmaatschappij N.V., Amsterdam

Further reading Aardappelpagina, 2018. http://www.aardappelpagina.nl/files/Netherlands_catalogue_of_potato_varieties_ 2011_Nivap.pdf. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Aquaculture, 2018. www.zakelijk.infonu.nl/diversen/aquaculture (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Asparagus, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asparagus (Accessed 2018). Beef, 2018. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beef. (Accessed 2018).

107

108

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Beukelszoon, W., https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willem_Beukelszoon. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Biowad, http://biowad.nl/product. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Bisschopsmolen, 2018. www.bisschopsmolen.nl. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Cabbage, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cabbage. (Accessed 2018). CGN, 2018. www.cgn.wur.nl. (Accessed 2018). Cheese, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cheese. (Accessed 2018). Commission Regulation, 2005. (EC) No 2074/2005 of 5 December 2005 laying down implementing measures for certain products under Regulation (EC) No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council and for the organisation of official controls under Regulation (EC) No 854/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Regulation (EC) No 882/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council, derogating from Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council and amending Regulations (EC) No 853/2004 and (EC) No 854/2004. (Text with EEA relevance). De Oerakker, 2018. https://www.deoerakker.nl/oranjelijst.htm. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Dutch cuisine, 2018. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dutch_cuisine. (Accessed 2018). Edible Mushroom. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edible_mushroom. (Accessed 2018). Egg as food, 2018. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egg_as_food. (Accessed 2018). Feed coversion ratio, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Feed_coversion_ratio. (Accessed 2018). Fish as food, 2018. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fish_as_food. (Accessed 2018). Flandersfood, 2018. www.flandersfood.com (Accessed 2018). Hollandse Geitenkaas, 2018. https://www.rvo.nl/sites/default/files/2014/06/BGA_PD_Hol_Geitenkaas_ def.pdf (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Kaas, 2018. https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kaas (Accessed 2018). Levendehave, 2018. https://www.levendehave.nl/dierenwikis/runderen/runderrassen. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Maritimeholland, 2018b. www.news.maritimeholland.com/2016/11/01/mdv-1-immanuel. (Accessed 2018). Mdidea, 2018. www.mdidea.com. (Accessed 2018). Molnopex, 2018. www.molnopex.nl. (Accessed 2018). Oats, 2018. www.wageningenUR.nl/oats (Accessed 2018). Philips, 2018. http://www.lighting.philips.com/main/cases/cases/horticulture/philips-growwise-center. (Accessed 2018). Polder, 2018. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polder. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Potato, 2018. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Potato. (Accessed 2018). Potatopro, 2018. https://www.potatopro.com. (Accessed 2018). Potato Centre, 2018. www.potatocentre.com (Accessed 2018). Regulation (EC), 2004a. No 853/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 Laying Down Specific Hygiene Rules for Food of Animal Origin. Regulation (EC), 2004b. No 854/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 Laying Down Specific Rules for the Organisation of Official Controls on Products of Animal Origin Intended for Human Consumption. Rookworst, 2018. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/rookworst. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Rvo, 2018. https://www.rvo.nl/sites/default/files/2014/06/BGA_PD_Hol_Geitenkaas_def.pdf. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Rye bread, 2018. www.wikipedia.org/wiki/rye_bread. (Accessed 2018). Statline, 2018. http://statline.cbs.nl. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Stichting Op Goede Gronden, 2018. http://www.stichtingopgoedegronden.nl. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Uienteelt, 2018. www.uienteelt.nl/teelt. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Unox, 2018. www.unox.nl/geschiedenis. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Vlees, 2018. www.vlees.nl. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Waterschap, 2018. www.nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waterschap. (in Dutch) (Accessed 2018). Well-on-Wheat, 2018. www.wellonwheat.org. (Accessed 2018). World-grain, 2018. www.world-grain.com. (Accessed 2018). Zootecnicainternational, 2018. www.zootecnicainternational.com/. (Accessed 2018).

CHAPTER 6

Food, nutrition and health in France Diane Julien-David, Christophe Marcic

University of Strasbourg, CNRS, IPHC UMR 7178, Strasbourg, France

Contents Introduction Historical overview The Middle Ages The Renaissance The 17th century The 18th century The 19th century The 20th century Geography and the natural agricultural landscape Culture and traditions The French food model Traditional celebration Typical foods and food products Meat Fish Vegetables and Fruits Grains Beverage Food preservation, shelflife and environment Future outlook Retro is the new sexy References

109 110 110 111 111 112 112 112 113 115 115 116 117 118 120 121 123 125 127 128 128 130

Introduction Traditional food products are an important part of French Culture, identity and heritage. French cuisine has evolved over time as a result of social and political changes in the country. It was codified in the 20th century by Auguste Escoffier to become the modern reference in terms of fine cuisine. It still has an international reputation for its diversity and refinement. It is one of the symbols of the country. That’s why since 2010, the gastronomic meal of the French is inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It described as follows:

Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00007-X

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

109

110

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

The gastronomic meal of the French is a customary social practice for celebrating important moments in the lives of individuals and groups, such as births, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, achievements and reunions. It is a festive meal bringing people together for an occasion to enjoy the art of good eating and drinking. The gastronomic meal emphasizes togetherness, the pleasure of taste, and the balance between human beings and the products of nature. Important elements include the careful selection of dishes from a constantly growing repertoire of recipes; the purchase of good, preferably local products whose flavors go well together; the pairing of food with wine; the setting of a beautiful table; and specific actions during consumption, such as smelling and tasting items at the table. The gastronomic meal should respect a fixed structure, starting with an ap
eritif (drinks before the meal) and ending with liquors, containing in between at least four successive courses, namely a starter, fish and/or meat with vegetables, cheese and dessert. Individuals called gastronomes who possess deep knowledge of the tradition and preserve its memory watch over the living practice of the rites, thus contributing to their oral and/or written transmission, in particular to younger generations. The gastronomic meal gathers circles of family and friends closer together and, more generally, strengthens social ties.

With Mexican cuisine and the Mediterranean diet, registered on the same day, this is the first time that culinary traditions have been inscribed in this list. The French devote a veritable cult to dishes and cooking. The meal is a ritual of happiness. The French cuisine is very varied; each region has its own specialties. The French gastronomy and the French traditional products have evolved along the French history influenced by the diverse geographical landscape. Many typical products are associated with traditional and religious celebrations. An overview of benefits, adverse properties and preservation of these French foods are also described in this chapter.

Historical overview Modern French Gastronomy is a combination of haute cuisine and the cuisines of France’s regions. However, this was not always the case. French cuisine has been changing over the years. This part was written based on the book of Poulain and Neirinck (2004).

The Middle Ages The Middle Ages was a century of food insecurity for the countryside due to the ravages of war, lootings and famines. The peasants’ diet was mainly made up of oatmeal, pork and tubers. The meat was more expensive and therefore more prestigious and was found only on the tables of nobility. In the cities but also in the countryside smoked fish was very much appreciated such as herring. A wide variety of river fish were also eaten. But the Middle Ages is particularly well known for these feasts, an occasion for the aristocracy to asserts its social status through the consumption of expensive and distant products such as spices and also wild game. The very important use of spices had a double use, that of

Food, nutrition and health in France

masking rancid tastes and that of social distinction. The feasts of this time are structured in several services composed of a set of dishes that were placed on the table at the same time. The number of services could vary from 2 to 6 depending on the importance of the meal.

The Renaissance The Renaissance was the period of major change in food history. In the middle of the 16th century, France allied itself with the Medicis, and the Florentines revolutionized all the arts, including culinary art. The discovery of America brought new ingredients on the tables: peas, tomatoes, corn, peppers, coffee, chocolate, turkey and potatoes. The Renaissance was also the time of baking; paste, jams and sweets. Many pies date from this period, rice cake, gingerbread, cabbage paste, spoon cookies, candied flowers (ancient violet sugar), candied fruit peel, nougat and ice cream. The main Italian influence was not only in the cuisine, but also on service, tableware and eating habits. There was the appearance of forks, individual plates and glasses imported from Murano which replaced the cups of vermeil, silver or tin. In the countryside, more meat of all kinds is eaten, especially offal including veal liver, a wide variety of fruits, salads and cheeses from all regions. At the Court, in comparison with the Middle Ages, there was a decrease in meat consumption and an increase of vegetable consumption.

The 17th century The 17th century, called the « Grand Sie`cle », was also known for its gastronomy. The “culinary revolution” is marked by the reign and personality of Louis XIV. During this century, the taste for spices declined, as the democratization of spices in the markets of the cities trivialized its consumption and princely tables replaced them with aromatic plants such as thyme, bay leaves, parsley, the origin of our bouquet garni and chives, tarragon and rosemary. At that time, stews and sauces as well as juices and coulis appeared. This culinary century is also marked by the increasingly massive use of vegetables, the taste for salads and fruit. We also see the appearance of mousses to allow “to eat without having to attend the coarse and prosaic spectacle of chewing”. Tea, coffee and chocolate became fashionable drinks. The first caf
e opened in 1674 under the name “Le Procope” in Paris and became the privileged place of writers and philosophers. Pierre P
erignon dit Dom P
erignon, a Benedictine monk and oenologist of this century, played a major role in the blending and elaboration of champagne, which would delight the royal tables in the 18th century. For the people, this century in which taxes are very high, leads to the depletion of food. Cereals are not only consumed in the form of baked breads, but also in the form of porridge. This soup is a “boiled water” in which are immersed “herbs” and “roots”, carrots and turnips, leeks, blueberries, spinach, parsnips, onions and especially cabbage,

111

112

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

and legumes such as beans, lentils or peas. At best, the soup is seasoned with a piece of bacon cut from salted pork. Meat is scarce, except on festive days, as well as cod and herring on certain days. As for poultry, eggs, butter and wine, they were brought to the market in order to earn a few coins needed to pay the royal tax.

The 18th century The 18th century was a time of culinary renewal: cooking became a science and we then speak of new cuisine as opposed to old. The time great changes will take place in mentalities, good taste, the art of receiving, the use and diversification of food, the arrangement and structure of kitchens. At the end of the 18th century came the French revolution, which led to major political, economic and cultural changes in France. The agricultural revolution and mechanization took off, industry developed and the bourgeois class emerged. From then on, cuisine and tableware became an essential sign of social belonging. It is therefore possible to distinguish in the 18th century three types of kitchens: bourgeois, domestic and farm kitchens. The success of the restaurants is related to the advent of a gastronomic literature spreading the forms and background of haute cuisine contributing to its influence in the world.

The 19th century The 19th century was the golden age of potatoes. Ignored until then, it became one of the pearls of the French gastronomic, notably with the recipe of the souffl
ee potato. Confectionery also took off considerably, reaching the industrial stage in the second half of the 19th century. For the popular masses, cereals and especially bread, are still the basis of meals in the 19th century. The bread is sacred, the soup is eaten at every meal of the day, except for the snack, the potato is a savior vegetable, the wine a very sought-after drink, the meat of butcher’s shop a luxury almost inaccessible, the cake the only and true dessert. The invention of the charcoal-heated cast iron stove, followed by the introduction of cold in the kitchen to preserve food, profoundly changed culinary practices. The 19th century saw the birth of the food-processing industry, the first canneries, the appearance of sugar beet, the first industrial dairies, the invention of margarine, and the development of national brands in both industry and distribution, heralding new industrial habits that would develop in the 20th century.

The 20th century The 20th century began under the golden age of gastronomy, when Paris was the creative centre of cuisine. Under the fire of the Universal Exhibition, great innovations and the first automobiles, the first half of this century was marked, in spite of the two wars, by the

Food, nutrition and health in France

link between tourism and gastronomy. Little by little, a real hotel industry was set up. In doing so, the French table manners and taste becomes the international model. It is in the heart of France that we are now looking for and discovering the gastronomic treasures so far somewhat ignored. The first Michelin guide was published in 1900. From then on, regional kitchens changed their status. Great chefs are inspired by traditional recipes and bring traditional products into French gastronomy.

Geography and the natural agricultural landscape France is the result of a long history that lead to her sovereignty inside borders patiently acquired and the emergence of the concept of nationhood. This territory was constructed over various landscapes (Cheize, 1996). With 551,695 km2 acquired over a thousand-year construction, metropolitan France is the 47th largest country in the World (it is the largest country in Europe). Its density is 115 inhabitants by square kilometer, one of the weakest in Europe. Often represented as a hexagon, France has borders with six other countries. It seats at a geographical, climatic and agricultural crossroads between North and South of Europe. On the West and South parts, France benefits of a maritime and oceanic opening on the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and the Channel. These facades promote its economical and commercial relationships with other continents. On the East and North sides, France opens on the European continent across different channels such as the Rhine, the Alps and the Ardennes plain and plateau. As a whole, France is a lowland country where the plain, low-plateau and midmountain regions prevail over the high mountainous territories (Cheize, 1996). France has a privileged climatic situation explained by mean latitude (42°5 N/51°N) and a double maritime front. Moreover, the layout of the relief on the eastern and southern borders of the country favors a wide opening to oceanic influences and the weather instability linked to the passage of the Polar Front. This explains the succession of different types of weather on the Hexagon. July temperatures rise from south to north in a latitudinal pattern, and January temperatures decrease from west to east in a meridian pattern. The French climate is essentially temperate but can be parted in three major climatic domains. The oceanic domain along the Atlantic coast is characterized by mild climate in winter, cool in summer and humid all year round. The East is subjected to a continental and mountainous degradations (cold winters, hot summers and storms) while the sweet and pleasant Mediterranean amphitheater is characterized by warm, dry summers and mild winters. This French specificity is a particularly favorable climate for agricultural activities. France is a very ancient agricultural power and it is considered as the bread basket of Europe. Its great plains allow the production-oriented cereal agriculture, and the development of market gardening and renowned viticulture. Traditional agricultural and food products are an expression of culture, and way of life resulting from local climatic, agricultural and economic conditions that determine

113

114

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

production and processing practices. Over time, rural areas offer a variety of traditional regional agricultural and food products that reflect human interaction with the environment. Tradition implies the presence of knowledge or attributes handed down from generation to generation. Traditional agricultural and food products have characteristics that distinguish them from other similar and generic products, whether at the level of composition (specific raw materials and primary products—animal species or plant variety—and their combination) or production and processing methods. For processed food products, these methods can give rise to specific culinary traditions (Boto et al., 2013). French agriculture is in a restructuring phase: the number of farms is falling and agricultural activity is concentrated on increasingly larger farms. In 2010, there was 516,000 French farms representing 16% of the agricultural soil in European Union, whereas only 450,000 farms remain in 2016. France is the first agricultural producer in Europe with 18% of the total production representing 71 billion Euros in 2016 (Anon, 2015) (Table 1). Covering more than 282,000 km2 (28 million hectares), or 51% of the total surface area, agricultural landscapes outnumber the so-called natural soils (forests, moors, wastelands, guarrigues…). The cultivable land allows a great diversity of production. The most agricultural regions are located in western and northern France (Haut-deFrance, Normandie, Bretagne, Champagne-Ardenne, Ile-de-France, Auvergne, and Bourgogne) where an average of 70% of the surface of the territory is cultivated. On the contrary, to the South of a diagonal line linking the Gironde estuary to the Vosges, so-called natural soils occupy a part of the territory above the national average (e.g., 84% in Corsica and 44% in Alsace) (Anon, 2014). The quality vineyards in France represent one of the major elements of French agriculture and tradition. These large vineyards are very varied: Bourgogne, Bordelais, Table 1 France’s share and rank in EU-28 agricultural production in 2014 (Anon, 2017a) Product

Share in EU-28 total production

Rank in EU-28

Wheat and spelt Corn (grains) Oilseeds Fruits Vegetables Wines Beef Pork Sheep and goat Chicken Milk

24% 21% 21% 13% 10% 55% 25% 9% 15% 16% 16%

1st 1st 1st 3rd 3rd 1st 1st 3rd 2nd 1st 2nd

Food, nutrition and health in France

Pays-de-la-Loire, Champagne, Alsace, Cognac, each with its own original features and are gradually being integrated into the luxury food industry complex. Wine is one of the most exported French productions. Wheat is the most cultivated cereal ahead of corn and barley. In metropolitan France, the main production areas of cereals, oilseed and protein are located in region Ile de France, Centre, Poitou-Charente, Champagne-Ardenne and Midi-Pyr
en
ees (13 million hectares). The area under forage crops (15 million hectares), intended for animal feed, is 90% grassland (Anon, 2014). With its industrial beetroot (Northern and Eastern France) and cane crops (Antilles), France is the leading sugar producer in Europe. French potato production is mainly located in the northern part of France (Hauts-deFrance, Bretagne, Normandie, Grand Est and Centre). Production of fresh vegetables amounts to 5.5 million tons in 2016 (tomato, carrot, sweet corn, salad, green bean, onion, cauliflower, melon, cabbage, peas…). This production is scattered in the whole country. Fruits are mainly produced in the south and the west of France with a total of 2.5 million tons in 2016. Apple production is in first place, with 60% of the fruit volume. Moreover, the French production of fruit is also composed of plum (8.5%), peach (8%), pear (5%), apricot (4.5%), kiwi (2.5%), strawberry (2.3%), table grapes (2%), walnuts (1.5%) and cherry (1.5%) (Anon, 2017a). Livestock breeding occupies an important place in France, which is explained by the diversity of climatic conditions, soil properties and regional specializations and traditions. The grasslands used for livestock can be found in Bretagne, Basse-Normandie and Pays de la Loire where dairy cows and pigs breeding are currently developed. Oceanic climate allows rapid and continuous grass regrowth. Nearer of the Mediterranean Sea where more rocky ground are found, goats, sheep and cattle are reared for meat (Cheize, 1996). Livestock farming is one of the pillars of the agri-food industry, at the origin of famous products and French traditions (e.g., cheese). France has a large fishing potential thanks to its marine facades. Production of fishery products comes from two essential sectors of different importance: maritime fisheries (about 525,000 tons in northern and central Atlantic, Channel, and North Sea) and aquaculture (production activity of 180,000 tons in river, pond or seaside). Shellfish farming (oyster and mussel) represents a traditional activity developed on the coast of the Atlantic Ocean (Anon, 2017a).

Culture and traditions The French food model The French meal usually consists of an appetizer, main course, salad, cheese and dessert. This ordering of the dishes has a long history, and evolved over the centuries. From the

115

116

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Middle Ages to the Renaissance, the great meals of the period are structured in several services composed of a set of dishes arranged at the same time. The plates are laid in advance, removed all together and replaced by another series, each series constituting a service. Guests use what is within arm’s reach. This way of serving, already common in the Middle Ages, was called “a` la franc¸aise”, as opposed to the service of individual portions introduced in the 19th century and called “a` la russe”. Today, our food model is distinguished by its high level of sophistication in comparison with other culinary traditions. Today, the strong trends of this French model are grouped around six central points (Mathe et al., 2009). Three main meals a day, taken in groups and around a table, at relatively fixed times and common to all; A relatively high preparation time and duration of meals (more than in other European countries); A meal structured by at least 3 components in order; Great importance given to the taste of food; An important dietary diversity; An intervention of know-how transmitted by experience.

Traditional celebration Many culinary rituals are inscribed in our culture, often related to religious celebrations. They take place throughout the year, for example in January, the 6th; Epiphany is celebrated by eating a Kings cake. Several kinds of cake are available, either they are made of puff pastry filled with frangipane (mixture of almond powder and butter) or they are brioche topped with candied fruits. Inside is a bean that will designate the king or queen. Then comes “la chandeleur”, or candlelight festival, which is celebrated every year 40 days after Christmas, on February 2. During this day, the tradition is to eat pancakes. At the end of February or at the beginning of March, there is the tradition of Mardi Gras. Mardi Gras is the day before Lent (40 days of fasting and prayer), Christians could eat “fat”, hence its name. The tradition of making pancakes and donuts comes from the need to exhaust all the supplies of eggs and fats that could not be preserved during the 40 days of Lent. The word Carnival comes from the Latin “carnelevare”, which means “to remove meat” and corresponds to the interdiction of eating meat during Lent. Today, this religious custom is much less respected, but the tradition of Mardi Gras still persists with the making of carnival donuts. During Easter, the Easter egg is the most widely distributed gift; eggs are brought by Easter bells or rabbit in Alsace. In France, Pascal lamb is a culinary tradition respected by many families. Most people are used to prepare a leg of lamb served with potatoes, green beans or flageolets. In Alsace and parts of Germany, a lamb-shaped biscuit is also made. In the Dr^ ome, we prepare the « couve crestoise », a kind of dry cake. Dating from the early

Food, nutrition and health in France

18th century, this “shortbread” is a cake traditionally served for Easter. The « couve » gets its name from its shape: a nest of hens with their eggs. It is a thick cake of about 2 cm, without any yeast, where balls of dough have been added: in the center to simulate the chicken and all around to reproduce the eggs. Then at the end of the year cames Christmas allowing families to gather around a hearty meal. The foie gras, oysters, snails, smoked salmon, game and stuffed poultry are often on the Christmas meal menu. For dessert, a Christmas log is usually served. Depending on the region, several rituals exist during the holiday season. In the south of France, in Provence, 13 desserts personalizing the 12 apostles and Jesus are served. You will find the traditional olive oil bread flavored with citrus zest called “pompe a` l’huile”, local sweets and pastries (such as the famous calissons of Aix), black and white nougat, candied fruits, fresh and dry (grape, almonds, figs, hazelnuts). In eastern France, there are “Mannala” means “little guy” in Alsatian. It is a variety of brioches shaped as little men served in Alsace for St. Nicolas since the fifteenth century. They represent the patron saint of schoolchildren or the three children he saved from the butcher, according to the legend. They are always served with hot chocolate. Sometimes raisins or chocolate chips are added to it. We find a similar tradition in the north of France, where we eat at the time of St. Nicholas and Christmas, a brioche representing the little Jesus swaddled, it named “the shell”. In Alsace, one of the traditions at the time of Christmas is the cooking of Christmas cakes, “les bredeles”, there are a multitude of them which vary in their shapes and flavors: chocolate, cinnamon, anise, jam, citrus peel with butter in the form of stars, fir or animals. In Aquitaine, there are the “guinettes”, cherries with brandy covered with chocolate. In the South-West, called the land of prunes, this fruit is honored on the Christmas table. In the past, grills were used to preserve prunes in the oven. Presently, at the end of the dinner, prunes are placed in the middle of the table, prunes filled with almond paste, chocolate prunes and other delicacies made with prunes or other dried fruits.

Typical foods and food products In France each region has its own traditional recipes. There are a very large number of them. In order to guarantee quality, to fight fraud and to promote traditional products, there are several quality labels, including Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), the Appellation d’Origine Contr^ ol
ee (AOC, national level), the Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) and the Protected Geographical Indications (PGI), which guarantee a link between the product and its terroir. Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) stands for a product for which the principal steps for production are done following a wellestablished technique within the same geographical area, which gives the product its characteristics. It is a European symbol that protects the name of the product all over the European Union.

117

118

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

The Appellation d’Origine Contr^ ol
ee (AOC) refers to products meeting the criteria of the PDO and protects the denomination on the French territory. It can also relate to products not covered by European regulations (e.g., forest products case). It is the notion of soil (terroir) that is the basis of the concept of Appellations d’origine—AO. A terroir is a specific geographical area where production takes its originality directly from the specific nature of its production area. In 2015, there were 366 wines, ciders and eaux-de-vie with the PDO/AOC label; 50 AOP for dairy products and 44 AOP for agri-food products (Anon, 2016a). The protected geographical indication (PGI) identifies an agricultural product, raw or processed, which quality, reputation or other characteristics are linked to its geographical origin. The PGI applies to agricultural, agro-food and wine sectors. PGI is related to skill and gives protection not only at national, but also at international level. In 2015: 126 French agri-food products are registered as PGIs; 74 French wines benefit from this sign, which represents 1/3 of French wine production (Anon, 2016b). The Traditional Speciality Guaranteed (TSG) refers to a product for which its specific qualities are related to a composition, methods of manufacturing or processing based on a tradition. In 2015, only one product (moule du Bouchot), are registred as TSG (Anon, 2016c).

Meat Figures of French production France has 18.7 million head of cattle in 2011. The most widespread breeds of cattle are Charolais, Blonde d’Aquitaine and Limousine; they are destined for meat production, 35% of which live in central France. France has 3.7 million dairy cows. For sheep, France has 7.6 million sheep heads, including 1.3 million ewes reared for milk production (the 6th largest herd in the European Union). For pigs, France has 14 million head, including 1.1 million sows. 70% of the French herd is in the far west. With 32.5 kg per inhabitant in 2011, it is the meat consumed the most in France. France is the third largest producer in the European Union. For poultry, France has 142 million animals. Brittany is the first region for chicken, laying hens and turkeys. Pays de la Loire is the 1st region for roasted ducks and guinea fowl. Aquitaine is the first region for forced-feeding ducks. For goats, France has 1.4 million head, of which 940,000 goats dedicated to produce milk. With 31% of the herd and 70% of industrial goat cheese, Poitou-Charente is the leading region for goat milk (Anon, 2012). Some of these products have quality sign like PDO, AOC or PGI certified. For beef and veal there are 15 of them owning these label of quality, we can cite the beef of Charolles, the bull of Camargue or the calf of Limousin; for sheep, there are 14 meats, among which the Pr
es sal
e of the bay of Somme or lamb of Aveyron; For poultry we can cite the turkey of Bresse or duck used to produce foie gras from the south-west and for pigs there

Food, nutrition and health in France

are 5 pork meats and 43 deli meats under sign of quality such as the Coppa de Corse, the rillette de Tours or the sausage of Morteau (Anon, 2016d). Benefits and adverse properties Meat is a protein-rich food. Animal proteins are relatively high in essential amino acids and generally higher than plant proteins. In general, animal proteins are slightly more digestible than plant proteins. Foods of animal origin are characterized by a greater level of proteins that are high in nutritional value (as measured by composition of essential amino acids, digestibility, etc.). Regarding meat consumption, it is recommended by French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health & Safety (ANSES), not to exceed 25 g per day of deli meats. Consumption of processed meat (deli meats, dried beef, canned meat and preparations for sauces) was classified as “carcinogenic to humans” by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (Circ) in 2015. For red meat it is recommended to eat a maximum of 500 g per week. It has been classified as ‘probable carcinogen’ for men, mainly for colorectal cancer and, to a lesser extent, pancreatic and prostate cancer. It is also recommended to limit the consumption of cooked meat at high temperature (barbecue, frying…) because it promotes the formation of carcinogenic chemicals (such as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and heterocyclic aromatic amines) and to vary the cooking methods (boiled, roasted…) (Anon, 2016e). Traditional recipes Many traditional French dishes are made up of meats such as beef, veal, pork, rabbit, poultry or less common animals such as frogs and snails. For beef-based dishes we can mention Burgundy beef. This dish is prepared by braising the beef in a full-bodied, classic red Burgundy wine. It is then stewed with potatoes, carrots, onions, garlic, and wellseasoned with a bouquet garni. Traditional preparation of this dish is two days, to continually tenderize the meat and to intensify the flavors of the stew. Another traditional dish is “le coq au vin”, chicken braised with wine, lardons, mushrooms, and optionally garlic. A red Burgundy wine is typically used, though many regions of France make variants using local varietals, such as coq au vin jaune (Jura), coq au Riesling (Alsace), coq au pourpre or coq au violet (Beaujolais nouveau), coq au Champagne. Like the “coq au vin”, the traditional boiled chicken was instituted as the French national dish by King Henry IV: «I want every ploughman in my kingdom have boiled chicken on Sundays». Another dish usually eaten during the Christmas and New Year is foie gras. It can be eaten raw, semi-cooked or cooked, and can be offered as a fresh or canned product, consumed alone on toast or gingerbread served with fruit jam (fugue or onion confit) or with other dishes such as meat. According to French law, “foie gras is part of the cultural and

119

120

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

gastronomic heritage protected in France. Foie gras is usually served with a sweet white wine such as Sauterne, Monbazillac or late harvest wine. Another speciality generally served during the holiday season is Burgundy snails, presented in their shells, with garlic butter and chopped parsley, they are baked and served by dozens or half dozen, usually on a specific plate. Wild game is also present on French tables during Christmas holidays, wild boar, roe deer, deer… these meats are generally marinated to make them more tender and prepared in sauces. Another of the French specialities is frog’s legs, now served in butter with garlic, once served in soup. The T^ete de veau is also a typical dish of which one of our previous presidents, Jacques Chirac, greatly appreciated accompanied by a beer. There are several ways to prepare a veal head, in the Grand Dictionnaire de la Cuisine, Alexandre Dumas describes nine different recipes. The calf’s head can be served in its natural state, accompanied by flavored vinaigrette. Most often, in France, it is served with a gribiche sauce or a ravigote sauce.

Fish Figures of French production France has a coastline that allows it to fish for fish and seafood. In 2015, 730 million tonnes of seafood products were sold, 39 million from fish farming, 205 million from shellfish farming and 486 million from fresh fishing. The main species sold are oysters, tuna and mussels. Four seafood products benefit from a protected designation of origin or geographical indication: anchovies from Collioure, scallops from the C^ otes-d’ Armor, oysters from Marennes d’ Ol
eron and Moule de Bouchot from the Bay of Mont-SaintMichel (Anon, 2018a). Benefits and adverse properties Fish is an excellent source of protein, just as much as red meat. It also has fat in varying quantities depending on the species, which are sources of omega-3 fatty acids “omega3s”. Among oily fish, some contain more long chain omega-3 s and are therefore particularly interesting for nutrition. The omega-3 s called “long chain” (EPA or eicosapentaenoic acid and DHA or docosahexaenoic acid) are the ones that prevent cardiovascular disease and are necessary for the development and functioning of the retina, the brain and the nervous system. Salmon, sardine, mackerel and herring have a high content of omega-3 (3 g/ 100 g). Fish also provide minerals such as phosphorus and trace elements such as iodine, zinc, copper, selenium and fluorine, but also vitamins A, D, E and some of the B group, all of which are essential for health. However, fish may also be contaminated by environmental pollutants such as dioxins, polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and methylmercury, environmental contaminants that may have adverse effects on health in the event of overexposure. PCBs and dioxins are found

Food, nutrition and health in France

primarily in the oiliest fish (eel) as well as in some fish that tend to bioaccumulate toxins (barbel, bream, carp, catfish), while methylmercury is found in wild predatory fish. To ensure all the benefits from eating fish and meet people’s needs for long chain omega-3 s while minimizing the risk of overexposure to contaminants, ANSES recommends eating fish twice a week, including one portion of fish high in omega-3 s, and one lean fish. Consumers should also vary both the species of fish and its source, and limit their consumption of PCB bioaccumulating fish to two portions per month for the general population (Anon, 2010a). Traditional recipes Traditional French dishes based on fish or seafood are mainly found in coastal regions. Seafood platters made up of lobsters, crayfish, oysters, mussels… One of the most popular recipes is “moules marinie`res” which is mussels cooked with white wine, shallots, parsley and butter. Another dish made from mussels, the “mouclade Charentaise” is prepared with mussels of bouchot, shallots, Charentes butter, egg yolks, pineau des Charentes or cognac, garlic, a bouquet garni and fresh cream, curry and saffron are also added according to recipes. There is another way of preparing the mussels named “
eclade”. In this preparation the mussels are placed vertically and spirally on a wooden plank and then covered with pine needles, which are fired until the mussels have been cooked. We traditionally eat the “
eclade” with bread and Charente butter, accompanied by white wine from the Charentais region. There are also la “Bourride” which is a soup made with fish and seafood thickened with aioli and served with garlic crunchy bread. “La Tielle” is a round pie made from bread dough with fluted edges and a garnish made of octopus, mixed with a spicy tomato sauce. And the most famous dish “la bouillabaisse” a traditional recipe from the South of France, consists of a fish soup that is eaten with croutons of breads often garlic and spread with sauce rusts, fish served whole, and potatoes. Another typical recipe from Bordeaux is the lamprey, small fish, consumed in the Middle Ages as pie crust, lamprey is the only fish to be bled alive during its preparation. His blood is then mixed with red wine to form the black sauce. This typical seasoning enhances a garnish of leeks, onions and herbs.

Vegetables and Fruits Figures of French production In 2016, 5.6 million tonnes of fresh vegetable were produced, the two main crops were tomatoes and carrots wich account for almost 25% of total crops. For fruits, 2.8 million tonnes were produced in 2016 with the main crops by far were apples followed by peaches and nectarines (Anon, 2018b). French vegetables and fruits production benefits from official quality label (see Table 2).

121

122

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Table 2 List of French vegetables and fruits owing a quality label

Vegetables

Fruits

AOC and PDO

PGI

B
ea du Roussillon (potatoes) Pomme de terre de l’Ile de R
e(potatoes) Lentilles vertes du Puy (green lentil) Oignon Roscoff (onion) Oignon doux des C
evennes (onion) Coco de Paimpol (beans) Piment d’Espelette (pepper)

Ail blanc de Lomagne (white garlic)

M^ache nantaise (lamb’s lettuce)

Ail de la Dr^ ome (garlic) Ail rose de Lautrec (pink garlic) Asperges des sables des Landes (asparagus) Asperges du Blayais (asparagus) Haricot tarbais (beans)

Mogette de Vend
ee (white beans) Poireaux de Cr
eance (leek) Pomme de terre de Merville (potatoes) Lingot du Nord (white beans) Lentilles vertes du Berry (Green lentil)

Melon de la Guadeloupe

Pommes des Alpes de Haute Durance (apple)

Melon du Haut Poitou

Pommes et poires de Savoie (apple)

Melon du Quercy

Pruneau d’Agen (prune)

Mirabelles de Lorraine Fraise de Nıˆmes (strawberry) Cl
ementine de Corse

Kiwi de l’Adour (kiwi fruit) Fraise du P
erigord (strawberry)

Chasselas de Moissac (Grapes) Ch^ataigne d’Arde`che (chestnut) Noix de Grenoble (nuts) Noix du P
erigord (nuts)

Abricot rouge du Roussillon (apricot) Pomme du Limousin (apple) Muscat du Ventoux (grapes) Figue de Sollie`s (fig)

Benefits and adverse properties A public health recommendation in France is “eat 5 fruits and vegetables per day” in order to prevent against the cardiovascular disease, cancer, and premature mortality. In fact, vegetables and fruits contain vitamins, minerals, a lot of antioxidant compounds and fiber to prevent overweight and other diseases. The higher consumption, the greater benefit. For example, with 10 daily doses of fruits and vegetables, 7.8 million premature deaths worldwide could be prevented, according to a recent meta-analysis (Aune et al., 2017). The risk of stroke decreases by 33%, cardiovascular disease by 28% and cancer by 13%. Apples, pears, citrus fruits, salads, green and yellow vegetables, brassica (cabbage…)

Food, nutrition and health in France

are the most protective. In practice, one portion is about 80 to 100 g. Lentils, chickpeas, dried beans and beans are as rich in protein as meat or fish. It is recommended to eat at least 30 g per day. They provide complex carbohydrates, fiber that facilitates intestinal transit, B vitamins and minerals: 100 g provides 30 to 50 mg magnesium, 2 to 3 mg iron and 1 g potassium. A study of 130,000 people over 32 years suggests that a 3% increase in plant protein intake reduces the risk of death by 10% and cardiovascular disease by 12% (Song et al., 2016). One of the adverse effects for fruits and vegetables is the presence of pesticides residues that they could contain. But recent controls made by European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) (2015) showed that 97% of collected foods are under the maximum residue limits (MRL): only 2.6% of fruits and 3.5% of vegetables analyzed were above the MRL. But finding residues doesn’t mean that the products are toxic for human. The MRLs are set so as to remain well below toxicological thresholds, i.e., in such a way that the quantities of residues that an individual is likely to find daily in his diet are under no circumstances toxic, in the short or long term. For fruits or vegetables, the MRL is set for products that are neither washed nor peeled. Therefore, ANSES recommends peeling or washing these products before consumption. Traditional recipes One of the traditional dishes in the East of France is the “Choucroute garnie” made with sauerkraut combined with sausages and other salted meats, potatoes or fishes. Usually, this recipe is served with a glass of white wine. An other dish from the South of France is “ratatouille”, a stewed vegetable dish with tomatoes garlic, onions, zucchini, eggplant, bell peppers, marjoram, fennel and basil, or bay leaf and thyme, or a mix of green herbs like herbes de Provence. One of the traditional French dishes made from potatoes is “Gratin dauphinois”: which is raw potatoes, thinly sliced, and milk, cooked in a buttered dish rubbed with garlic. Also, “Cassoulet” dish originated from the South are made with white beans with duck or goose confit and sausages. Among the French culinary specialities based on fruits we can quote the fruit pie, strawberry pie, mirabelle plum, apple pie. One of the most famous pies is the “tarte tatin” which is an apple pie caramelized with sugar and butter, the dough arranged above the filling. After baking, it is spilled on a plate and served warm with a little fresh or whipped cream. Another speciality from the West of France is “Far Breton”, made with eggs, sugar, flour, milk and prunes. A similar traditional cake is made but with cherries named “clafoutis”.

Grains Figures of French production France produces an average of 70 million tonnes of cereals per year (25% of the European Union’s production). It is the 4th largest wheat producer in the world, covering nearly 9

123

124

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

million hectares. French farmers cultivate about ten species, but the most important are: common wheat, corn, barley, and durum wheat (Anon, 2017b). France also produces rice, 100,000 tons of paddy rice on 20,000 ha cultivated in Camargue which has a PGI appellation. « Le petit
epeautre de Haute Provence », nicknamed “the caviar of cereals”, has also a PGI appellation as well as « bl
e Nord de Bretagne ». Benefits and adverse properties Cereals are one of the essential foods for our body, they provide energy and fiber. They are rich in carbohydrates and fiber; phosphorus and magnesium; contain B group vitamins and are low in fat. It is recommended to eat complete or semi-complete cereals in order to keep their nutritional qualities. It has been shown that consumption of whole grain products reduces the risk of type 2, cardiovascular disease and colorectal cancer. The risk of type 2 diabetes is reduced by 25% for the highest intakes, and reduces the risk of colorectal cancer by 20% for each additional 90 g/day (Anon, 2016e). But in some cereals, there is presence of gluten, a set of proteins found in the grains of many cereals such as wheat, rye or barley. Some people have gluten-related disorders name coeliac disease which is one of the most frequent digestive diseases nowadays. The only known treatment remains the total elimination of gluten from the diet. Traditional recipes One of the symbols of the France is the “baguette de pain”, bread of elongated shape, it is made from flour, water, yeast and salt. Several steps are necessary to obtain the baguette: there is kneading (the ingredients are mixed in a mixer) to obtain a big ball of dough. Then there is the pointing where the dough rests and begins to swell, thanks to the yeast it contains. Then the division, where the dough is divided into small balls of the same weight: the dough pieces. Each dough is then shaped into the desired shape. Then comes another pause, the raw baguettes are placed on a tissue so that they swell again. And finally the baguettes are baked in an oven at 250 °C. The baguettes obtained have a very crunchy and golden crust, while the inside, the crumb, is white and soft. The baguette is usually eaten at the breakfast with butter and jam but also during mealtime. Others symbol of the French is the « croissant », eaten at breakfast, this viennoiserie is made from puff pastry and has the shape of a crescent moon. Like the « baguette » several steps are necesary to make a good « croissant », the quality of the flour and butter used, the fermentation time of the dough, how to incorporate the butter, how to shape the croissant, the heat of the oven, the cooking time….all these parameters are important in the making of the croissant. Pancakes are also a traditionnal recipe, it could be eaten as a main dish or for dessert. The pancakes are made with flour, eggs, milk and sugar. Sometimes flavors such as

Food, nutrition and health in France

vanilla, orange blossom, rum, beer or cider alcohol are added when eaten in desserts and can also be flamb
e with strong alcohol such as Grand Marnier or rum. Wheat flour is usually used for pancakes eaten as dessert and buckwheat flour for salted pancakes. Sweet crepes are usually topped with jam, melted chocolate or sugar, salted crepes can be topped with all kinds of ingredients like ham, eggs, salads, cheese or even seafood. In western France, they are usually served with cider.

Beverage Figures of French production Among the drinks traditionally produced and consumed in France there are wines (white, red, ros
e) spirits and sparkling wines. In 2016, France produced 45,562,133 hectolitres of wine and is one of the top three wine producing countries next to Italy and Spain. In France there are 368 wines and eaux-de-vie with the AOC/PDO appellation and 74 wines with the PGI designation, including 2 ciders (Anon, 2017c). Another drink consumed in France and which allows the production of butter and cheese, is milk. In 2015, 24.6 billion liters of milk (cow, sheep and goat) were collected and used to manufacture: 70% of consumer dairy products (liquid milk, yoghurts, dairy desserts, cheese, butter, cream); and 30% of intermediate products, used in the food, pharmaceutical and chemical sectors (whey, milk powder, casein). In 2016, France had 45 cheeses, 3 butters and 2 creams with the AOC/PDO designation and 7 cheeses and 1 cream with the PGI designation (Anon, 2017d). Benefits and adverse properties In France, there is what is called the “French paradox”, in fact in most countries, a high consumption of saturated fats is associated with a high mortality linked to cardiovascular diseases. However, the situation in France is paradoxical: there is a high consumption of saturated fats but mortality from cardiovascular diseases is low. This paradox can be attributed to wine consumption and more particularly to the presence of polyphenols in wine. Indeed, among all polyphenols present in wine there is one molecule, resveratrol, which has shown promising properties in the prevention and treatment of many chronic diseases including cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurodegenerative diseases, diabetes, obesity, AMD, osteoarthritis, cancers and even on the aging process (Bhullar and Hubbard, 2015). But given the presence of alcohol in wine and the potential risks of this molecule, classified as carcinogenic to humans by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), recommendations concerning the consumption of red wine have to be cautious. Indeed according to the National Cancer Institute, any regular consumption of alcohol, even low, is a risk. Alcohol increases the risk of developing certain cancers such as cancers of the mouth, larynx and pharynx, esophageal cancer, colorectal cancer, breast cancer and liver cancer.

125

126

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Milk and its derivatives (fermented milks, yoghurts, cheeses…) have many nutritional qualities. In fact, they are main sources of calcium, essential nutrient in the constitution of the skeleton and the teeth; rich in proteins, containing all the essential amino acids, lipids, vitamins (B1, B2 et A…) and lactose. According to an ANSES report (Anon, 2016e), total consumption of dairy products reduces the risk of type 2 diabetes by 5–10% for each consumption of 400 g/day of products and this appears to be more evident for yoghurts, cheese and low-fat products. It also seems that the consumption of dairy products will reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease (10–20% for the largest consumers) but this remains to be confirmed. However, some data suggest that dairy consumption is associated with an increased risk of prostate cancer (7% for each 400 g/day increase in dairy products and 9% for each 50 g/day increase in cheese). Traditional recipe France is known for its wines and cheeses. Wine production as well as cheese making is done everywhere in France. There are a multitude of products but each region has its specificities. In the west of France, the specialty is cider, a sparkling wine obtained after fermentation of apple juice. It is generally consumed with pancakes. There is also the calvados, a spirit, obtained by distillation of the cider, and consumed at the end of meal as “digestive”. A well-known liqueur produced in France is cointreau, a spirit made from sweet and bitter orange peel. We can also mention guignolet, made from sour and black cherries; cognac, a strong alcohol obtained by double distillation of specific white wines from the Poitou-Charentes region, is aged in oak barrels for at least 30 months; and Armagnac brandy, like cognac, is obtained by double distillation of white wines from the South West region. This region also produces excellent cheese such as Roquefort (raw sheep’s milk), Laguiole and Cantal (raw cow’s milk). Corsica also offers a great variety of wine and liqueurs such as Cap Corse, a sweet quinquina wine, with decoctions of aromatic plants and macerated oranges; C
edratine, a liqueur produced from a mixture of citrus fruits and Mediterranean aromatic plants; and myrtle liqueur, obtained by alcoholic maceration of myrtle berries or a mixture of berries and leaves rappu, it is a sweet Corsican wine made from partially fermented grape must whose grapes have been raisined, i.e., the grapes harvested are spread out in the sun to enrich the grape with sugar. Among the cheeses produced in Corsica there is Brocciu, made from lactoserum. Another typical drink from the South of France and drunk as an aperitif is Pastis, an alcoholic drink perfumed with aniseed and licorice. In the Alps region there is the “chartreuse”, a naturally green liqueur made from 130 herbs and other plants macerated in alcohol and steeped for about 8 h. The exact recipes of Chartreuse remain trade secrets and are known at any given time only by the two monks who prepare the herbal mixture. This region also produces cheeses like abundance, reblonchon, tomme and vacherin des Bauges. During the winter one of the specialties consumed is raclette, a dish made from the melted cheese, scraped as it melts, and

Food, nutrition and health in France

traditionally served with potatoes and charcuterie or Savoyard fondue, a mixture of cheeses (comt
e, beaufort, gruye`re de Savoie) melted in a catelon in which pieces of bread are dipped. The most famous sparkling wine is produced in the Grand Est region of France, champagne, usually drunk for special occasions, as an aperitif or with the dessert. Alsace also produces a lot of wine, one can quote the Gew€ urztraminer, a very sweet wine, tasted as an aperitif or Riesling perfect to accompany sauerkraut. It is in the Dijon region that the yellow wine is produced, which has the particularity of being bottled in a bottle called the clavelin (a 62 cL specifical form bottle).

Food preservation, shelflife and environment Food preservation is a process as old as human civilization. Food, by its nature begins to spoil from the moment it is harvested. Food preservation is crucial when speaking of food hygiene and health: each single preservation treatment is mainly designed with the aim of delaying the inevitable alteration of quickly perishable foods between production and consumption and so to increase shelflife. Food preservation is an action or method, designed to maintain foods at a desired level of quality (Prokopov and Tanchev, 2007). Among the most primitive forms of food preservation that are still in use today are such methods as smoking, drying, salting, freezing, and fermenting.(historical origins of food preservation). Nicholas Franc¸ois Appert, a French confectioner, could be considered the father of modern food preservation. In 1795, Napoleon and the French government offered a reward to anyone who could devise an improved method for practical food preservation. In 1806, he was given 12,000 francs as a reward for his preservation process containing only four steps: 1. Putting the item in containers for processing; 2. Corking or sealing the container; 3. Processing the filled containers in a hot water bath, with the processing time being determined by the contents. 4. Removing the processed containers from the hot water bath and cooling. This method is basically the low sterilization procedure of canning method used today (Micali et al., 2016). The following traditional methods are used in France to preserve food from pathogen agents and stop the oxidation: application of heat, such as canning and preserving, pasteurization, evaporation, sundrying, dehydration and smoking, application of cold, as ill cold storage, refrigeration and freezing, the use of chemical substances such as salt, sugar, vinegar, benzoic and lactic acids, fermentation, examples being acetic, lactic, alcoholic, etc., such mechanical means as vacuum, filtration and clarification processes, devices or agents for preventing chemical deterioration or bacteriological spoilage (the use of oil, paraffin and water glass are included here), combinations of two or more of the above

127

128

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Future outlook French consumers’ representations and expectations of the food of tomorrow are characterized by a paradox. There is indeed the coexistence - even among the same individuals - of two attitudes which, at first glance, seem contradictory: on the one hand, the expression of a real interest in innovations in the field of food; on the other, a growing mistrust of new “industrial” foods and technologies in general. In France, studies show resistance to technological innovation (Anon, 2010b). At the same time, consumer behavior shows a desire for reassurance (safety) and confidence (identity) and translates into the return to the roots and tradition, a quest for naturalness and authenticity, a purchase of “old tradition” products. In order to find authenticity, French consumers buy products that are better identified and certified, raw or less processed. They favor quality and emphasize product traceability, proximity and origin, in particular official quality and origin markings such as the Protected Designation of Origin (PDO), the Protected Geographical Indication (PDI) and the Traditional Specialty Guaranteed (TSG). By 2025, this tendency will be strengthened due to the French consumers’ concern on the origin and the security of the food products. All the food crisis and threats that rose since the beginning of the century (horse meat traceability issue, avian influenza, BSE crisis, baby milk contamination, relationship between diet and illness…) lead the consumers to the quest of healthy, safe, unadulterated, minimal transformed products (Anon, 2017e). Traditional foods are perceived by the clients as products from family habits, passed on by previous generation or associated to a territory (Pantin-Sohier et al., 2015). Within the very competitive market of traditional food, innovation should not be cut off from traditional products and must be stimulated by the producers and the industries if they want to persist (Pantin-Sohier et al., 2015). Tradition will live only if the industries evolve a reinterpretation process of the client’s demand. New ways of thinking the traditional products will generate new opportunities in terms of nutrition, sensoriality, convenience and use, innovative process, marketing positioning. Traditional producers have several levers available compatible with the tradition such as organic raw materials, product range expansion, reduction of fat/sugar content, safer processes, longer shelf life, intelligent packaging.

Retro is the new sexy As nostalgical consumption and fondness to nostalgical brands (retro marketing) are proved to be important for 72% of the French consumers, traditional foods have to adapt to new modes of consumption and to target tomorrow’s consumer (i.e., young people) (Chardenon, 2015). Consumer’s expectations must boost the innovative processes of traditional producers combining modernity and authenticity. A new trend called retro-

Food, nutrition and health in France

innovation is rising in the industries. Producers have to enhance “pleasure” of consumption by developing new traditional recipes or attractive and sophistical packaging. Proximity is another leverage that is currently fashionable and that will spread in the future. Consumers find more and more interest in regional and local products (“I know where it comes from and what is inside”). Industries are developing territorial brands with strategies and specifications variable from one region to another. 100% French ingredient sourcing is an argument highlighted on the packaging as a sales pitch. It gives the consumers a feeling of familiarity and confidence and reinforces the values of tradition and transparency (Huguenel-Durand, 2018). Agricultural production is also diversifying to attract new target clients with “forgotten” species or varieties. In order to innovate and ameliorate general cooking including traditional food products, scientists developed molecular cooking also called molecular gastronomy. Their objectives were to explore and understand the physical, chemical and biochemical phenomenon happening during food preparation and consumption. The results of these researches allowed the traditional cuisine to improve and innovate regarding the texture, the aromas, and flavors and to develop new fabrication processes (This, 2015). Some wanted to provoke a rupture in traditional cuisine, so they decided to shift to note-by-note cooking. This note-by-note cooking was created by Herv
e This, a French eccentric physical chemist at the Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique (INRA). After creating the molecular cooking by researching and understanding the food chemistry reactions of the traditional cooking and innovate in using original utensils, new ingredients and modified processes, he considers that “cuisine” is both science and art as it arouses our emotions. This idea led him to reinvent cooking: instead of using traditional ingredients (meat, fish, fruit, vegetables) to make traditional recipes, Herv
e This prefers now to cook using chemical compounds (This, 2014). He can thus create food with new forms, colors, flavors, aromas, consistence and nutritional constitution. Some famous chefs already tried this evolutionary note-by-note cooking and served dishes. Julien Binz from a starred restaurant in Alsace proposed a meal 100% note-by-note with a beet/cherry/almond cloudy sorbet for the starter followed by a smoked and rosty chicken vegetal pea protein as a main dish and completed with a cucumber—pine “macaron”. This view of the future of traditional food and food in general rise many questions about many facets. The agricultural practices will need to adapt not to produce ingredients but valorize the product to obtain cooking molecules like fibers, vitamins, aromas. New researches are needed to evaluate the sensorial effect of the mixing of various chemical compounds. Politics and economics will have to redesign the traditional agriculture known to be unviable for the numerous inhabitants on our planet. Although this innovation is still at dawn, several advantages to this new way of thinking about traditional food are emerging: new tastes, new flavors, less food wasting, less energy consumption, more food for the planet.

129

130

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Traditional food and innovation are considered by the majority as opposite. Association between these two concepts is very challenging for the food industry. The future traditional food products need to be improved with respect to product quality, to packaging which preserves the sensory quality and improves the shelf life, to health and safety and to marketing (K€ uhne et al., 2010). The French food model remains a standard in most homes in the country, but it started to hybridize in contact of innovations, constraints of life rhythms, influences of different social classes and communities, age classes, globalization, etc. Traditional products are still a way of enhancing the French consumers’ quest in pleasure, serenity and conviviality (Anon, 2013).

References Anon, 2010a. Consommation des poissons, mollusques et crustac
es: aspects nutritionnels et sanitaires pour l’Homme (Consumption of fish and shellfish: nutritional and health aspects for humans). Rapport. Anses (in French). Anon, 2010b. Biotechnology. Special Eurobarometre 341/Wave 73.1-TNS Opinion & Social. . Anon, 2012. L’agriculture, la for^et et les industries agroalimentaires (Agriculture, forestry and agri-food industries). Agreste, Ministe`re de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation (in French). Anon, 2013. Le mode`le alimentaire franc¸ais: adaptation ou disparition? (The French food model: adaptation or extinction?). Colloque du 19 novembre 2013Fond franc¸ais alimentation et sant
e (in French). Anon, 2014. L’agriculture fac¸onne toujours les paysages franc¸ais (Agriculture still shapes the French landscape). Revue AlimAgri. Ministe`re de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation (in French). Anon, 2015. Agriculture franc¸aise. Chiffres cl
es (French agriculture. Key data and figures). Revue Agricultures et Territoires. Assembl
ee Permanente des Chambres d’Agriculture (in French). Anon, 2016a. L’Appellation d’origine prot
eg
ee, L’Appellation d’origine contr^ ol
ee, Origine et savoir-faire, des leviers de qualit
e conjugu
es pour identifier les produits li
es a` leur terroir (The Protected Designation of Origin, the Controlled Designation of Origin, Origin and know-how, all combined quality levers to identify products linked to their terroir). Institut national de l’origine et de la qualit
e (in French). Anon, 2016b. L’Indication g
eographique prot
eg
ee, la garantie d’un produit li
e a` son territoire (The Protected Geographical Indication, the guarantee of a product linked to its territory). Institut national de l’origine et de la qualit
e (in French). Anon, 2016c. La Sp
ecialit
e traditionnelle garantie, la promesse de la tradition (Traditional speciality guaranteed, the promise of tradition). Institut national de l’origine et de la qualit
e (in French). Anon, 2016d. Chiffres cl
es 2016, viandes et charcuteries sous signes de la qualit
e et de l’origine (Key data 2016, meat and charcuterie under signs of quality and origin). Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualit
e (in French). Anon, 2016e. Actualisation des repe`res du PNNS: r
evision des repe`res de consommations alimentaires (Update of PNNS benchmarks: revision of food consumption benchmarks). Rapport d’expertise collective. Anses (in French). Anon, 2017a. La statistique, l’
evaluation et la prospective agricole (Statistics, evaluation and agricultural prospective studies). GraphAgri France. Ministe`re de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation (in French). Anon, 2017b. Des chiffres et des c
er
eales (Statistics and cereals). Association passion c
er
eales (in French). Anon, 2017c. Economie de la filie`re vitivinicole franc¸aise (Economy of the French wine sector). Comit
e National des Interprofessions des Vins a` appellation d’origine et a` indication g
eographique. Anon, 2017d. Chiffre cl
es 2016, des produits sous signes de la qualit
e et de l’origine. Produits Laitiers AOP et IGP (Key data 2016, products with signs of quality and origin. PDO and PGI dairy products). Institut National de l’Origine et de la Qualit
e (in French).

Food, nutrition and health in France


tude prospective sur les comportements alimentaires de demain et
elaboration d’un dispositif Anon, 2017e. E de suivi des principales tendances de consommation a` destination des entreprises de la filie`re alimentaire (Prospective study on tomorrow’s eating habits and development of a system to monitor the main consumption trends for companies in the food chain). Ministe`re de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation (in French). Anon, 2018a. The Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector in France. FranceAgriMer, Ministe`re de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation. Anon, 2018b. Facts Sheets, Fruit and Vegetables. FranceAgriMer, Ministe`re de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation. Aune, D., Giovannucci, E., Boffetta, P., Fadnes, L.T., Keum, N., Norat, T., Greenwood, D.C., Riboli, E., Vatten, J.L., Tonstad, S., 2017. Fruit and vegetable intake and the risk of cardiovascular disease, total cancer and all-cause mortality—a systematic review and dose-response meta-analysis of prospective studies. Int. J. Epidemiol. 46 (3), 1029–1056. https://doi.org/10.1093/ije/dyw319. Bhullar, K.S., Hubbard, B.P., 2015. Lifespan and healthspan extension by resveratrol. Biochim. Biophys. Acta 1852 (6), 1209–1218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.bbadis.2015.01.012. Boto, I., Phillips, S., Fay, F., Vassilikis, G., 2013. G
eographie alimentaire: renouer avec l’origine dans le syste`me alimentaire (Food geography: reconnecting with origin in the food system). Centre technique de coop
eration agricole et rurale (CTA) Bureau de Bruxelles (in French). Chardenon, A., 2015. Pour les Franc¸ais, les marques ne font pas assez preuve d’authenticit
e (For the French, brands do not show enough authenticity). LSA (in French). Cheize, R. (Ed.), 1996. La France (France). Armand Colin, France (in French). Huguenel-Durand, E., 2018. Comment innover dans le secteur des produits alimentaires «de tradition»? (How to innovate in the sector of “traditional” food products?). https://www.expertheque.fr/ comment-innover-dans-lunivers-des-produits-alimentaires-de-tradition/ (in French). K€ uhne, B., Vanhonacker, F., Gellynck, X., Verbeke, W., 2010. Innovation in traditional food products in Europe: do sector innovation activities match consumers’ acceptance? Food Qual. Prefer. 21, 629–638. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodqual.2010.03.013. Mathe, T., Tavoualris, G., Pilotin, T., 2009. La gastronomie s’inscrit dans la continuit
e du mode`le alimentaire franc¸ais (Gastronomy is in line with the French food model). Cahier de recherche du
DOC, n° 267 (in French). CRE Micali, M., Fiorino, M., Parisi, S., 2016. The Chemistry of Thermal Food Processing Procedures. Springer, New-York. Pantin-Sohier, G., Lancelot Miltgen, C., Camus, S., 2015. Innover dans le secteur traditionnel: l’importance de l’authenticit
e et de la typicalit
e perc¸ues (Innovating in the traditional sector: The importance of perceived authenticity and typicality). D
ecis. Market. (AERES B, CNRS 3, FNEGE 3) 77, 63–84 (in French). Poulain, J.P., Neirinck, E. (Eds.), 2004. Histoire de la cuisine et des cuisiniers. Techniques culinaires et pratiques de la table en France, du Moyen-Aˆge a` nos jours. (History of cooking and cooks. Culinary and practical table techniques in France, from the Middle Ages to the present). LT Jacques Lanore, France (in French). Prokopov, T., Tanchev, S., 2007. Food Safety: A Practical And Case Study Approach. Springer Science +Business Media, LLC, New-York. Song, M., Fung, T.T., Hu, F.B., Willett, W.C., Longo, V.D., Chan, A.T., Giovannucci, E.L., 2016. Association of animal and plant protein intake with all-cause and cause-specific mortality. JAMA Intern. Med. 176 (10), 1453–1463. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.4182. This, H., 2014. Note-by-Note Cooking: The Future of Food. Columbia University Press. This, H. (Ed.), 2015. La gastronomie mol
eculaire, de la cuisine mol
eculaire a` la cuisine note a` note. (Molecular gastronomy, from molecular cuisine to note-by-note cooking). Techniques de l’ing
enieur, France (in French).

131

CHAPTER 7

Food, nutrition and health in Germany Carola Strassner

Sustainable Food Systems/Nutrition Ecology, M€ unster University of Applied Sciences, Department of Food—Nutrition—Facilities, M€ unster, Germany

Contents Introduction Historical overview Looking back some two thousand years Germany’s more recent history Germany today Geography and the natural agricultural landscape The North German Plain The Central German Uplands The South German Uplands Food-related land and water use in Germany Culture and traditions Holidays, traditional celebrations and their food Culinary arts and habits Traditional foods from gardens, fields and vineyards Typical foods and food products Fruit Vegetables, legumes and mushrooms Nuts and seeds Grains Dairy products and eggs Meat Fish Beverages Condiments Food preservation and shelf-life Physical preservation techniques Chemical preservation techniques Biological preservation techniques Further preservation techniques Present health, nutritional and food safety conditions Summary Open questions Future outlook References Further reading

Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00008-1

134 134 134 135 137 138 138 138 139 140 140 140 142 142 144 144 145 146 146 147 149 149 150 150 151 151 151 152 152 153 154 154 154 155 158

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

133

134

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Introduction Mental imagery of foods and traditions are abundant when people think of Germany: sausages, sauerkraut, beer and Black Forest Cherry Cake are just the first that may spring to mind. High mountains, dark forests and sky-blue lakes are vistas perhaps associated with dairy cattle, dirndls and lederhosen. Life and lifestyles in the midst of Europe— but just how modern and how traditional are they? This chapter will discuss German food and drink both past and present, and the status of its citizens as a result of ingesting those foods and beverages.

Historical overview Looking back some two thousand years The area in central Europe that today is a united Germany looks back on about two millennia of German-speaking inhabitants (mainly Germanic tribes) that were hardly ever united. Instead, the region was divided into larger and smaller states of all kinds. In the 8th century Charlemagne (Charles the Great) established an empire covering southwest Germany, central France and northern Italy and more, with a forcible Christianization of the resident peoples. Pope Leo III acclaimed him emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in Rome but the fragmentation began already upon his death. In the early centuries of the second millennium, France, England and Spain develop centralized monarchies but Germany is composed of many independent and competitive territories. Alliances and exchanges extend into eastern, western and southern regions and over the middle of the second millennium the northern territories form the Hanseatic League, an increasingly powerful trading network. Freeing itself of papal decision rights, the empire title becomes the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. The decline of power over the later centuries is linked to the upheaval surrounding the Protestant Reformation. This period is particularly characterized by alternating periods of war and peace. The plundering, ravages and horror of the so called Thirty Year War remain a strong part of German and European peace narrative giving immense importance to the Peace Treaty of Westphalia in 1648 and Prussia as one of the largest states to come out of this. The empire was abolished as late as 1806 by the French while Napoleon’s armies imposed French rule. However, by 1815 a Confederation of German states was created after the Congress of Vienna. High relevance to the development of food culture in today’s Germany can be argued for the Roman influence, which brought fruit tree cultivation and grapevines. The difference between Southern and Western regions of Germany on one side and Northern and Eastern regions on the other side can be overlain along the Roman Frontier, known colloquially as the Limes, and more formally as the Upper Germanic-Raetian Limes. In essence the Limes was a kind of fortified Great Wall spanning 550 km between the

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

Danube and the Rhine. Until the time of the greatest extent of the Roman Empire (around 2nd century CE), it was a barrier to their barbarian neighbors, the native Germanic tribes. The few hundred years of Roman occupation strongly influenced the local cuisine; for example, it was the Romans who brought wine and viticulture to Germany.

Germany’s more recent history Two hundred years after the Peace of Westphalia the Frankfurt Parliament became the first freely elected parliament in Germany. The mid-18th century heralds the start of rapid industrialization in Germany. This included establishment of sugar refineries and trade in Hamburg (Heinzelmann, 2016:158–160) as sugar was needed to accompany the colonial coffee (see below) and sweetmeats served with the bitter beverage. At this time coffee replaced the usual breakfast soup and groats (Heinzelmann, 2016:155). The Prussian monarchy gains strength: Frederick the Great, having been bequeathed a healthy economy and well-trained citizen army by his father, emerges in the 18th century as an ambitious leader. However, it would be a Prussian aristocrat, Bismarck, who achieved German unification in 1871. Though not nearly as extensive as other European colonial powers, Germany begins colonial expansion under the emperor Wilhelm II. Though former colonies are accorded only a low economic value and the most important exports were non-foods (Patch, 1937), they did contribute to the development of food trade in Germany (as elsewhere): many of the supermarkets today once were a Kolonialwarenladen (colonial store) (Werdin, 2004). Coffee, cocoa, tea and spices as well as sugar, bananas and rice were typical foods shipped in and made accessible to a wider public. Germany’s plans to expand were brought to a halt by its defeat in the First World War (1914–1918). The Weimar Republic, the period between the First and the Second World War (1939–1945), is characterized by large-scale unemployment and runaway inflation—characteristics shared internationally as the Great Depression in the late 1920s. In January 1923 1 kg bread costs 163 Mark, in November 233 million Mark (Braun, 2007). Citizens took to trading services for food, for example, a theater in Berlin offered its cheapest seats for two eggs and it’s most expensive for a pound of butter (Kunzel, 2010). This time brought the rise of Hitler as ruling chancellor in Germany and paved the way for the rise of his political party, the National Socialist German Workers’ Party, known as the Nazis. Absolute power was entrenched by the creation of a totalitarian regime under which crimes against humanity were committed (Holocaust genocide). After losing the war, Germany was occupied by the Allied Forces: French (south-west), British (north-west), American (south-east) and Soviet (north-east but excluding Berlin). The entry of foods common to the food culture of the respective occupying forces can still be reconstructed from living memory today. Besides the war and its socio-political and economic aftermath, such as providing civilians with the lowest food rations (1700 cal/person and day, down to 1550 in the British occupied zone)

135

136

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

compared to other groups e.g., displaced persons (2300 cal/person and day), Germany was subjected to a famine and harsh winter 1946–7, exacerbating food insecurity (Rheinish 2013:151–187). In 1946 US food relief was sent through voluntary agencies such as CARE (Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe). They contained meat and fruit preserves, fat, milk, coffee, sugar, honey and egg powder. Being mostly American foodstuffs, hitherto unknown foods such as corned beef were introduced to Germany (Burak, 2011:403). With the creation of the communist German Democratic Republic (GDR) in 1949 under Soviet occupation, Germany was split into two states commonly known as East Germany and West Germany. While East Germany became very restrictive and economically weak, West Germany thrived and became one of the world’s richest nations. The cuisine of the former was influenced by neighboring Polish, Russian and other Soviet bloc cuisines. Communal feeding programmes in worker’s canteens and especially in all-day schools were exceedingly important. In contrast, West Germany refused to adopt school meal programmes until very recently. Today some traditional GDR foods have survived, such as Rotk€appchen sparkling wine, Spreewalder gherkins and Bautz’ner mustard. The post-war era from 1945 to 1991 is also known for the “cold” conflict (Cold War) between the Soviet Union and the Warsaw Pact States with Soviet Communism, and the USA with its allies (NATO) and Western Capitalism (and Imperialism) as their respective and distinctive systems of choice. This division ran through Germany and even the city of Berlin; it ended with the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9th November 1989 paving the way to the reunification of East and West Germany, some two generations after the split. The more recent period in Germany’s history can also be characterized by migratory streams with their concomitant mixing and mash-ups of cultures. In the 19th century many Germans emigrated to America; around the two world wars persons were forcibly displaced or took flight from persecution, becoming refugees both to and from Germany, whereas most immigrants to Germany arrived from the mid-1950s onwards. So-called guest workers were recruited by then West Germany from Italy, Greece, Turkey and former Yugoslavia, while East Germany received contract workers from Vietnam and Mozambique. Today streams come from asylum seekers and free movement of EU citizens. All in all just over 20% of Germany’s residents have a migration background. Influences on food culture in Germany are stronger from the former groups than from the latter. One manifestation is in the steady growth of Italian, Greek, Turkish, former Yugoslavian and Vietnamese restaurants throughout Germany. Mushaben (2008:203) studied ethnic enclaves in Berlin, mentioning a rise in Italian restaurants from about 20 during the sixties (Thoms (2011) puts them at under ten) to more than one thousand today. A second manifestation is the specialist greengrocers catering to the Mediterranean food culture (BAMF, 2005:26), typically stocking aubergines, zucchini, sheep’s milk cheese, olives and flat breads, as well as bazaars (Vietnamese: H€ uwelmeier, 2013). A third

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

manifestation is the adoption of foods into everyday German living, such as pizza and cappuccino, gyros and d€ oner kebab in pita bread, or Balkan red pepper and grilled meats (M€ ohring, 2011; BAMF, 2005:33).

Germany today The Federal Republic of Germany, with over 80 million inhabitants is the largest population of the European Union. It comprises 16 federal states of which 3 are city states (Berlin—the capital, Hamburg, Bremen) and 13 are states with larger territories. The states now have considerable political and legal jurisdiction though federal law takes precedence. Population density overall is at more than 235,000 people per sq. km. Three quarters of the population live in urban areas though few cities breach a million inhabitants (Berlin, Hamburg, Munich and Cologne) but 75 have populations greater than 100,000. Germany sees itself today as a modern, liberal and democratic country at the heart of Europe. Political participation is broad in a federally organized, strong welfare state. It is the world’s fourth-largest economy, soundly orientated to export (every second Euro is earned here) in which agricultural commodities and processed foods play a significant role (BMEL, 2015; GTAI, 2018). Top exported food products are ranked for 2017 as chocolate and other cocoa food, pork, cheese and curd, and bread and baked goods (WTO, n.d.). Food expenditure (including beverages and tobacco) has dropped from 44% in 1950 (West Germany) to about 14% since 2000 (Destatis, 2019; Statista, 2019b). Society in Germany is host to a pluralistic, cultural diversity. Four officially recognized national minorities live in Germany: the Danish, Frisian and Sorbian groups and the German Sinti and Roma; all are German nationals. Of these only the Frisians have retained special food traditions: East Frisians maintain a special tea tradition (see also 5.8 Beverages) while North Frisians enjoy a kale feast after the Biikebrennen, annual bonfires lit on February 21st to drive away winter (GNTB, n.d.). The Sorbs are a Slavic minority living in the East of Germany with strong Easter traditions, but these are more handcraftoriented. Describing further ethnic diversity is a bit more difficult, as measurement of ethnic affiliation, common in countries such as USA or UK, is not made in Germany. The country does, however, gather data on migration background of its recent immigrants (Salentin, 2014). Of the one in ten German voters with a migrant background, about half originate from former Soviet countries (Poland, Russia, Kazakhstan, Romania) and Turkey. After Europe as a continental region of origin, Asia, Africa and then North America follow. M€ ohring (2014) shows that guest workers hired to work in the WestGerman post-war food service industry and later started their own culinary businesses, contributed strongly to the acceptance of ethnic foods into the German diet.

137

138

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Geography and the natural agricultural landscape Located in central Europe, Germany covers an area of more than 350,000 sq. km; a little smaller than Sweden and Spain and a little larger than Finland and Norway. Three main geographic regions can be distinguished: the North German Plain, the Central German Uplands and the South German Uplands.

The North German Plain Its northern border is a coastline comprising 1600 km along the North Sea and 2100 km along the Baltic Sea, separated by the Jutland Peninsula (Denmark). There are a number of islands on both coasts but the coastal features differ: sand, dunes, marsh and mudflats on the North Sea side contrast with shallow bays, inlets and some steep banks to the east. These lowlands are part of the greater North European Plain and contain a number of shallow lakes, especially in the northeast. With a maritime climate, a moderate precipitation and dominant soil type of infertile acid sands, agriculture in this region has been characterized by crops that do well in poor ground such as rye, cabbages and potatoes as well as oats and fodder beets. These are part of traditional dishes such as Gr€ unkohl und Pinkel (kale and pinkel sausage) or Gr€ unkohl und Kassler (kale and smoked pork chops). South towards the Central Uplands there is an area of more fertile loess soil, which supports wheat, sugar beet and cattle. Dairy cows but also fattening cows are farmed in the northwest, as are pigs and laying and fattening hens. Maize, some field vegetables and in specialized areas fruit is grown (e.g., apples and cherries in the Altes Land south of Hamburg). Barkmann et al. (2017) describe land use and socioeconomic variations moving from east to west, including increasing livestock pasture farming, decreasing proportion of arable land and forest with farm size, increasing economic power and population density and decreasing average age of population. Though the coastline is relatively small fishing is a traditional seasonal industry and seafood dishes figure prominently in north-west German cooking e.g., Krabbensalat (North Sea shrimp salad) or Labskaus (a mash-up of beef, onion, potatoes, beetroot topped by a fried egg and a pickled herring). Coastal fishery at the North Sea primarily harvests shrimp, plaice and sole. Pollock, herring, mackerel and cod are important to near offshore fishing. On the Baltic coast cod, herring and sprat make up almost 90% of the harvest. Both ecosystems have had their fish communities eroded over the past decades— on the North Sea the decline especially for cod spans about a century while in the Baltic Sea a major change impacting cod and herring largely due to excessive fishing was noted in the late 1980s (Centenera, 2014).

The Central German Uplands The Central Uplands divide the North German Plain from the southern German foothills and mountains. With few elevations above 1000 m asl, they span the states of (southern)

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

North Rhine-Westphalia, Lower Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt as well as RhinelandPalatinate, Saarland, Hesse, Thuringia and Saxony. The terrain is more varied here (and in the south) with deep river valleys, low mountain ranges (e.g., Taunus, Harz, Erzgebirge) and mainly coniferous forest (Thuringia). Ancient beech forests once dominated Germany but large-scale forest clearance since the end of the first millennium made way for agricultural land use. The Rhenish Slate Mountains (Rhine Massif) on the west encompasses the river valleys of the Moselle and the Rhine with many vineyards to the south. The low areas are well suited to grain, fruit and potatoes. Once a major mining and now a post-industrial region, the Ruhr Basin has the highest population density (Rhine-Ruhr metropolitan region) in an otherwise relatively evenly populated country. Traditional foods for the Ruhr region today clearly show the industrial worker history and the first wave of immigrant worker origin (meat with thick sauces and potatoes, stews and thick soups). These were some half a million polish-speaking Prussians by 1910, followed by a second wave a century later, this time of Turks (Lucassen, 2006). Grilled sausages, Frikadellen (meat patties also known as Buletten), d€ oner kebab, half a roasted chicken and French fries are typical street foods in this area.

The South German Uplands The south German scarplands, also known as the Swabian-Franconian Jura, pass over into Alpine foothills (Allg€au) in Baden-W€ urttemberg and Bavaria, bordering Switzerland, Austria and the Czech Republic from west to east. The Bavarian Alps are home to the highest elevation in Germany, as well as glacial lakes and alpine meadows while the foothills contain lakes with steep, wooded banks. Germany’s largest lake, Lake Constance (Bodensee) is located on its southern border. Conifer forests are found on the Alpine slopes and in the Black Forest of the southwest but a mixture of deciduous and coniferous forests make up the Bavarian and Bohemian Forests in the eastern regions, and the Black Forest in the southwest. The source of one of the longest rivers in Europe, the Danube, is located here. The lowland terraces in the river valleys (Rhine, Main and Neckar) have a warm, dry climate and fertile loess-loam soils suited to productive orchards and vineyards. Wheat, barley and dairy cows are also commonly farmed in this area. The Hallertau region in Bavaria is home to the country’s and the world’s largest hop-growing area. Traditional foods in this region include Laugenbrezeln (a knot-shaped white bread roll dipped in lye), Weißwurst (a white sausage, peeled and eaten with sweet wholegrain mustard), Leberk€ase—containing neither liver nor cheese, which would be the literal translation—(a pale pink-colored meatloaf served in thick slices on bread(roll) or with potato salad and beer), and Lebkuchen (a kind of chewy, spicy ginger honeycake cookie often found in heart shapes with icing at folk fairs). Food in the south-east of Germany is also characterized by Austrian influence with many flour-based dishes (Mehlspeisen) such as shredded pancakes (Kaiserschmarrn) and a wide variety of dumplings

139

140

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

(Kn€ odel). On the far west of south Germany, in the Baden region, the proximity to France is a strong influence on the culinary practices. Riesling wine plays an important role and traditional foods include Flammkuchen (crispy pizza-type dish of very thin pastry topped with cre`me fraıˆche, chopped onions and bacon), Zwiebelkuchen (onion cake), K€asesp€atzle (egg noodle casserole with onions and cheese), Schwarzw€alder Schinken (Black Forest ham) and Schwarzw€alder Kirschtorte (Black Forest cherry cake).

Food-related land and water use in Germany Overall, Germany uses almost a third of its land for forests and almost half for agriculture, of which 10–15% is permanent pasture. Agriculture is specialized. Neither the forests nor the rivers, lakes or marine coast play a major role in commercial German food production, though aquaculture and inland fisheries do contribute. In its ten-point plan of action, the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (2016) recognizes the value of artisanal fishing and aquaculture farming. About a fifth of the fish produced commercially originates in traditional river and lake fisheries, including species such as eel, perch, pikeperch, pike and whitefish. Aquaculture contributes freshwater and diadromous fish as well as crustaceans (e.g., shrimp) and molluscs (e.g., mussels, oysters). In particular, trout farming in Germany’s south and mountain foothills is profitable, followed by carp fishing in freshwater ponds (Centenera, 2014). Innovations are being pursued in aquaponic farming systems, a combination of plant and animal production. First harvests of tomatoes and catfish have been marketed from central Berlin production sites (Kriener, 2014).

Culture and traditions Holidays, traditional celebrations and their food Meals on ceremonial occasions such as for rites (weddings, birthdays, funerals, etc.) or holidays usually include meat, fish or fowl. For example, a typical Christmas dinner consists of roast goose, duck or turkey served with red cabbage and potato dumplings. Food and drink is at the centre of many celebrations and fairs, such as the famous Oktoberfest, many local Kirmes (funfairs) and the carnival week leading to Lent as celebrated in the regions around Rhineland (Karneval), Bavaria (Fasching) and Baden-W€ urttemberg (Fasnacht). Nonetheless many strong traditions centring on food persist. Besides the Easter and Christmas periods, New Year’s Eve (Silvester) is celebrated with various foods and fireworks. Sparkling wine or some bubbly drink is used to “Prost” in the New Year at midnight while pink marzipan or chocolate pigs are considered lucky charms. Poultry is avoided because the luck would fly away. Most of the traditional Silvester meals are humble, such as lentil soup (central and east regions), sauerkraut (Rhine area), potato

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

salad and sausages, herring salad, K€asesp€atzle (cheese noodles) or Buletten (meatballs). Karpfen Blau (blue carp) is traditionally eaten at New Year or at Christmas served with potatoes, especially on the north-west coast. The carp turns blue because of a vinegar marinade. This tradition is deeply rooted in Christian symbology around fish and water, in fish as an appropriate fasting break and in desired riches (carp produce hundreds of thousands of eggs per spawn). The Berliner (also Krapfen or Kreppel) is a traditional sweet food, a jam-filled donut eaten at New Year throughout Germany. Today’s younger generations are choosing Raclette or fondue as Silvester meals, which emphasize a communal aspect and more informal shared food preparation at the dining table. The Christmas season’s traditions begin four Sundays before Christmas Eve (24th December) with Advent (from Latin adventus, arrival). Though this time used to be one of fasting, today giving or receiving Advent calendars with 24 windows covering a small chocolate each are now common practice. December 6th, Nikolaustag used to be the day on which the Catholic Saint Nicholas brought presents to children but also a frightening companion. The tradition was later secularized. In the post-war era children would find small gifts (nuts, tangerines, cookies) in their shoes, whereas today people may exchange a small chocolate in the shape of Nikolaus. Traditional Christmas foods include roast goose with apples and raisins, optionally stuffed, served with cabbage or chestnuts. This may have been co-opted from St. Martin’s Day on November 11th, which was traditionally celebrated with a roast goose (Martinsgans) and used to herald in a 40-day fasting period until Christmas. Earlier traditional Christmas Day meals were roast pork and today many of the New Year’s foods are eaten on Christmas Eve, especially potato salad and sausages. The Easter festivities take place on five main days: Gr€ undonnerstag (Green Thursday), Karfreitag (Good Friday), Karsamstag (Holy Saturday), Ostersonntag and Ostermontag (Easter Sunday and Monday). Though the “Gr€ un-” in Thursday comes from an old word meaning to cry or whimper, the color associations have been assimilated into traditional herb-based dishes served on this day, such as a Kr€autersuppe (herb soup). Fish is a traditional food served on Good Friday and lamb on Easter Sunday. Eggs in all forms—chocolate and candy included—play an important role. In the period preceding Easter, Carnival and Lent are further living traditions. Lent is the 40-day period of fasting leading up to Easter and traditionally starts on Ash Wednesday, the last day of the Carnival cycle. The tradition of fasting is still observed by some and many more practice abstinence of single foods such as sweets and chocolates, meat, coffee or alcohol (forsa, 2018b). Catholic fasting is understood as one simple meal in the evening and abstaining from meat on Fridays. Finding ways around the rules included understanding everything living in water as fish, so that, fish being permitted, otter and beaver were also once eaten. Beer and other liquids were also permitted, even—interestingly enough—chocolate. Cistercian monastery lore explains the birth of Maultaschen (Swabian ravioli filled with meat and/or spinach) as a hiding place for meat once cooked up by a monk (later also bread and pastry).

141

142

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

In Germany carnival (known as Karneval in the north-west and Fasching in the south) is also called the fifth or foolish season (n€arrische Zeit). It is a week of regionally diverse festivities beginning on the Fat Thursday before Ash Wednesday. It used to be a time of rich eating prior to fasting but today drinking festivities and sweets thrown from the floats at parades (or eating Krapfen, Bavarian doughnuts, also Berliner) have replaced the older traditions. Rose Monday (Rosenmontag) in Cologne is home to the largest and longest of these parades. Owing to migration a second monotheistic religion is gaining cultural significance in Germany: Islam. This is the third largest religious community in the country estimated at about 5% of the population. Two-thirds of German Muslims come from Turkey while the remaining third come from a global spread of nations. Muslim food law and traditions play an increasing role in the development of public meal spaces such as at schools and kindergartens. As a consequence pork meat in school canteen menus became a contested hot topic, with politicians and NGOs criticizing schools taking pork off the menu or leaving it on. And finally, once a large and vibrant community, the Jewish community was destroyed by the Holocaust, but a very small community has been revived and are represented by the Central Council of Jews in Germany today.

Culinary arts and habits Households are small and still characterized by nuclear families, which largely follow traditional sit-down meals at tables in dining areas. Food is prepared in small kitchens designed for efficiency, hygiene and good workflow; its prototype known as the Frankfurt Kitchen was designed by the architect Margarethe Sch€ utte-Lihotzky in 1926 (Hochhaeusl, 2013). More formal customs such as a tablecloth, textile napkins, flowers and candles or other decorations and full cutlery settings are followed less and less, meanwhile informal lifestyles and patchwork households gain ascendancy. Set mealtimes too, are being eroded, but daytimes are still structured by breakfasts (usually rolls or cereals), lunches (often the warm meal of the day) and supper—also known as Abendbrot (literally Evening Bread), indicating the main component, often taken with cold meats, cheese and salads or pickles. A second breakfast and an afternoon in-between meal may be eaten in addition.

Traditional foods from gardens, fields and vineyards Today food in Germany is mainly acquired from supermarkets and discounters, though specialty butcher and bakery shops and markets are also given some patronage (forsa, 2018a). Bakeries benefit from the more on-the-go eating and snacking style, while traditional butcher shops are closing in droves—between 2005 and 2015 more than 4000 butcher shops closed their doors for good. Markets, farm shops and organic retail outlets are used by few intensively or by some for supplementary buys. Groceries needed

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

daily are bought in stores that can be reached on foot or within 15 min driving time. Market research shows a nascent use of internet platforms for buying food “for the pantry,” not only delivery of ready-to-eat meals. Almost all respondents (97%) in a representative survey indicated that they choose foods on the basis of taste (liking the foods) and also whether the foods are local (78%), followed by product information (57%) and economy (57%). Labels were further important criteria, the most important for half the respondents was the national organic label, followed by a Fair Trade label but not even 40% looked out for animal welfare labels (forsa, 2017). Most towns today have an organic specialty shop and all major retailers stock a growing organic range. Often, town squares are still used for farmer’s fresh produce markets and special festivities. These inner city areas were rezoned into pedestrian shopping precincts about 50 years ago, and now are home to many eateries including cafes, restaurants and bars, reflecting changing social habits surrounding dining out. In Streuobstwiesen fruit (-obst-) trees are scattered (Streu-) in a meadow (-wiesen). This is a traditional and environmentally valuable form of fruit growing, whereby the orchards may be mixed fruits (e.g., cherries, plums, apples, pears) or usually apples (mixed varieties). It has multifunctional properties, producing old varieties of fruit, providing pasture to ungulates (mostly sheep) and meadow grasses for hay as well as living room for highly biodiverse biota (G€ ull, 2015; R€ osler, 2015). Their commercial relevance is gradually returning after a post-war deterioration. Today environmental NGOs and others organize citizen fruit picking and juice making with a mobile press. Gardening to cover or contribute to personal food needs is undergoing changes in Germany, particularly in and near the larger cities. Kleing€arten (literally: small gardens) or Schreberg€arten, named after the Leipzig naturopath, Dr. Daniel Schreber who promoted natural playing areas for children during the industrialization mid 1850s still exist in colonies on the peripheries of urban areas. Since their socially-motivated inception they were important for household fruit and vegetable production but this was successively replaced by flowering trees and shrubs as food supply became plentiful and easily accessible. Gardening for fresh food is currently undergoing a renaissance along with more cognizant consumerism and a desire for community connection. The allotments are part of this but urban gardening is tapping into unused urban areas that are not part of the formally organized allotment associations. Additionally, the organizational form is becoming more communal: people prefer to garden together or for a group, e.g., intercultural gardens, not as individual persons or for individual households. The social aspect is more important than the fruits and vegetables produced and prepared for storage. (BSU, 2008:71–97; MUNLV, 2009). There are thirteen official wine regions, almost all in the south, many with several hundred years of history. These are places of wine-(maker)-festivals (Weinfeste, Winzerfeste) and more than 100 varieties of grapes such as Riesling, M€ uller-Thurgau, Trollinger and the Pinot varieties noir, gris and blanc (Sp€at-/Grau-/Weissburgunder). Franconian

143

144

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

wine is mainly from Silvaner grapes and bottled in a unique, squat, round wine bottle known as Bocksbeutel. Vineyards are often on steep slopes next to a river, such as the Mosel, Rhine, Main or Saar. There are rustic, seasonal wine taverns known as Straussen (bunch) in Baden, Besens (brooms) in W€ urttemberg or Hecken (hedge) in Franconia, designated as operating by the bunch of flowers, broom of twigs or freshly cut tree branch at the entry door. Here mostly white but also some red wines are enjoyed where they are grown with traditional local foods including Vesperplatte (like a ploughman’s platter) and Schlachtplatte (literally a slaughter-dish comprising blood sausage, liver sausage and various meats). With the decline of small family farms, the Erntedankfest (harvest festival) has largely disappeared off the annual calendar, but drinking Federweißer, the season’s sparkling new white almost-wine in autumn, usually with a serving of Zwiebelkuchen (onion tart), is a beloved custom.

Typical foods and food products The German Nutrition Society (DGE) describes ten guidelines for a wholesome diet (DGE, 2013), the first of which is to enjoy a diversity of foods. Markets and gardens within its borders certainly offer a wide choice and adequate quantities easily accessible to most citizens. Interest in health-promoting, sustainable diets is steadily growing, though significant diet change lags somewhat behind (Gose et al., 2016). Consumers place a high value on environmental qualities and demand more local, organic and fairly traded food products. Germany has the largest market for and is one of the key producers of organic food in the EU (BMEL, 2017).

Fruit The natural seasons for various fresh fruits harvested in Germany are not very long, perhaps 2–3 months between May and October apiece. Nevertheless, various native and imported fruit play an important role in the diet. Strawberries and rhubarb are welcome signs of spring, followed by a bumper summer array of cherries, berries (blackberries, blueberries, lingonberries, black currants, red currants, gooseberries, raspberries) and plums as well as apricots, peaches and nectarines. Autumn brings grapes, apples, pears and to a lesser degree quinces and elderberries. The most popular imported fruit is the banana, averaging at more than eleven kg per capita consumption (Statista, 2019a) but kiwis, pineapples, mangos and a range of citrus are typical autumn-winter fruits. Although preferring fresh fruits (sometimes as sliced and ready-to-eat), households enjoy dried (e.g., in mueslis or as snacks), frozen and canned fruits too. Indeed, fruit is also consumed in the form of fruit juices and nectars, more so than in any other EU country (Lieberz, 2016). They are, furthermore, used to distil fruit brandies (also known as Obstler) such as Kirschwasser (cherry liquor) and Himbeergeist (raspberry liquor), or craft a kind of apple cider unique to Frankfurt-am-Main, known as Ebbelwoi

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

(apple wine) in the local dialect. Rumtopf (rum pot), once a popular way to preserve summer fruits in rum and sugar until serving it as a dessert in winter, has fallen out of fashion but Rote Gr€ utze is still popular: This dessert is made of any mix of red summer berries and cherries cooked with sugar and starch to a thickened mix served cold with vanilla pudding, ice cream or on cream-cheesecakes. Fruits and especially summer fruits are also customary ingredients in cakes, pies and strudels (e.g., Kirschtorte, Zwetschgenkuchen, Apfelstrudel), though the afternoon coffee-and-cake tradition at a specially set table has also fallen out of fashion. Typically, fruits are eaten as bread spreads in the form of jams and jellies, mostly at breakfast time. Though consistently given high priority in a wholesome diet (Boeing et al., 2012), fruit consumption in Germany has been steadily on the decline and has largely not met the recommended two portions a day (about 250 g) as shown in national consumption surveys (DGE, 2011).

Vegetables, legumes and mushrooms Potatoes (11.6 million t), cabbage (800,000 t), carrots (500,000 t) and onions (400,000 t) are the most important basic vegetables grown in Germany. Imported fresh vegetables in contrast are crowned by tomatoes (700,000 t) and paprika (300,000 t). Tomatoes are also the most popular in terms of consumption (about 10 kg per capita), followed by carrots (7.8 kg per capita) and cucumbers (6.2 kg per capita). Experts note that these selections are more easily eaten raw and hence reminiscent of fruit (DFHV, 2012) and also less likely to taste bitter. The leek family, green beans and mushrooms are further found in traditional dishes. When the strawberry season starts in Germany, consumers know that asparagus season starts too: this highly popular vegetable has the most agricultural acreage devoted to it (27,000 ha or a fifth of vegetable-growing land in Germany) producing 120,000 t in 2016. White asparagus is favored vastly over green, earning it the appellation “white gold,” and is typically bought at roadside stands during the season, which ends punctually on Midsummer (Johannistag). Indeed, Germany has an asparagus route (Spargelstrasse) 750 km long and crossing four federal states. Traditionally it is eaten with a Sauce Hollandaise, perhaps with ham and/or potatoes though lighter and more modern combinations are gaining restaurant menu space. Dietary recommendations suggest at least three portions of vegetables per day for micronutrients, dietary fiber and phytochemicals, together with fruit making up the five-a-day rule. But similarly to fruit, most citizens don’t reach the 400 g per day recommended for adults (Heuer et al., 2015). Legumes may be included—lentils, chick peas and dried beans—but these are still often associated with older generation stews or soups or coffee substitutes (Garbanzo Beans, Lupin) and only slowly gaining independent culinary attraction, their uptake into the Slow Food Ark of Taste notwithstanding. Recent political and scientific focus on plant-sources for dietary protein may help.

145

146

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Nuts and seeds Given the relatively small amount of nuts and seeds consumed in relation to other food groups, it is not surprising that they are hardly mentioned in the ten guidelines of the German Nutrition Society for a wholesome diet, nor does Germany produce significant amounts of nuts (Lieberz, 2015). However, import and consumption have been steadily rising and especially nuts are found in a number of typical diet niches. These include being eaten raw (shelled) or roasted (e.g., roasted chestnuts and candied almonds at winter folk festivals), salted as snacks, in mueslis, cakes and cookies (especially at Christmastime), breads (e.g., walnut bread), as salad toppings and in the form of plant oils—typically rapeseed and sunflower seed—and specialty oils such as poppy seed or flaxseed. A further niche specialty is nut butters, but also some nut milks. However, the most important two nuts for the German food market are for ingredients in other foods and these are almonds (marzipan, chocolate, cereals, bakery items) and hazelnuts (nougat as well as confectionary, pastry and bakery products). The latter are an important ingredient in the very popular hazelnut and cocoa spread Nutella (OECD, 2012:17), found as a typical breakfast food on German tables. The former—in the form of marzipan—is an important sweet for the Christmas season, and can be found, e.g., in Christmas stollen, a traditional fruit-and-nut cake. Persipan—made with apricot and peach kernels instead of almonds— is increasingly used in confectionary. The history of stollen-baking in the city of Dresden goes back to the 15th century; the authentic Dresden Stollen carries the Protected Geographical Indication (PGI) label of the EU. The Hanseatic City of L€ ubeck is home to many marzipan manufacturers (e.g., Niederegger) and has also protected its 100-year old production tradition with a PGI label.

Grains Wheat (including spelt), rye, barley, oats, triticale and maize are the most significant cereals grown in Germany (BMEL, 2016). Besides use for beer brewing (barley) and fodder (triticale, maize and certain qualities of other cereals), grains are processed largely in the milling and baking industries. Flour is used to make breads and rolls, pretzels, cakes, biscuits and noodles as well as dumplings, pastries and frozen bakery products. Germany does have an own noodle tradition, albeit lesser known: Swabian Sp€atzle and Kn€ opfle, Schupfnudeln, Maultaschen and other noodle production mostly in BadenW€ urttemberg. The southern regions are also home to other more flour-based dishes and meals including dumplings (Serviettenkn€ odel) and sweet dishes (Mehlspeisen). Nevertheless, Germany is better known as a bread nation: It is ranked as the fifth largest bakery market worldwide and the largest in the EU (Bernard, 2016). The German Bread Institute claims that there are over 3000 bread specialities being sold in Germany; almost twothirds comprise a mix of wheat and rye flour, toast breads rank next, followed by seed loaves and wholegrain breads. It is considered a valuable dietary component especially

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

due to dietary fiber, and wholegrain products are recommended over highly refined flour-based products. Bread culture and artisan craft in Germany is now considered UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, with old traditions such as presenting new neighbors with bread and salt to wish them always plenty of food and funds, still being practiced in more rural areas. Paul Richards refers to Westphalian ham and pumpernickel bread as a well-known delicacy in his 1918 edition of the book Baker’s Bread. Baked with coarser, dark-grade rye flour, rye groats, water, salt and some sourdough, this black bread may be varied by the addition of molasses for a slightly sweeter taste, or by aromatic seeds such as caraway, anise, coriander or fennel. Traditionally, this is a slow baked bread, taking at least 16 h in closed tins, according to the German Lebensmittelbuch (official collection of food standards and product descriptions), that results in the typical bittersweet caramel-type aroma and the long shelf life. Besides its use for savory bread meals, it is found as ingredient in soups and desserts, such as Westf€alische Stippmilch and Holsteiner Verschleiertes Bauernm€adchen. Both dishes are variations of a layered dessert made primarily with fruit (Morello cherries in the former, apples in the latter), quark cream and pumpernickel (roasted with sugar in the latter). Westphalian pumpernickel has been recognized as a regional speciality (PGI) by the EU.

Dairy products and eggs Milk and dairy products are considered important elements of a healthy diet in more than 40 countries worldwide i.e. due to their proteins, vitamin B group, calcium and trace elements. German recommendations suggest daily consumption of 200–250 g/d milk/ yoghurt and 50–60 g/d cheese (Hilbig et al., 2009). Average consumption does not quite reach this goal—it’s at 190 g/d—but it is an important source for vitamins B12 and B2, zinc and iodine nonetheless (Watzl, 2017). Epidemiological data suggest that the consumption of milk and dairy products is associated with a lower risk of a range of diseases (Pfeuffer and Watzl, 2018) though nutrition experts consistently favor low-fat versions over full-fat. Milk in Germany is typically from dairy cows, to a lesser extent from dairy sheep and goats. Products processed in some 150 dairies include cheeses (mostly in Bavaria), yoghurts, cream, butter and some fermented foods. A wide variety of cheeses are found throughout Germany as an integral part of dishes and meals, e.g., Obatzda, a cheese spread prepared by stretching older Camembert or Brie with butter, spicing it with paprika and mixing in onions, salt, pepper and a dash of beer. About three-quarters of all German cheeses are produced in Bavaria, but the federal states on the northern coast are also important cheese-producing regions. Schleswig-Holstein is home to a 500-km long cheese route comprising about 40 artisanal cheese makers on cow, sheep and goat dairy farms. A number of German cheeses have been influenced by neighbors, e.g., Belgians (Limburger), Dutch (Tilsiter) and Swiss (Emmentaler).

147

148

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Of the 400 or more varieties some, such as Blue vein cheeses (e.g., Bavarian Blu or Edelpilzk€ase) gained acceptance only in the nineties. The German Cheese Ordinance (K€aseverordnung) clearly sets out six categories of cheese based on the water content of the non-fatty matter. These are the categories with traditional German examples (and assimilated from neighboring countries): (i) extra hard cheeses (Hartk€ase) e.g., Allg€auer Emmenthaler, Bergk€ase (ii) hard, sliced cheese (Schnittk€ase) e.g., Edamer, Appenzeller (Gouda) (iii) semi-hard sliced cheese (halbfester Schnittk€ase) e.g., Butterk€ase, Holsteiner Tilsiter (Balkan cheese (feta-type)) (iv) sour curd cheese (Sauermilchk€ase) e.g., Harzer Roller, Handk€ase, Kochk€ase, Nieheimer (v) soft cheese (Weichk€ase) e.g., Limburger, Romadur, Munster (Camembert, Brie) (vi) fresh, non-matured (not ripened) cheese (Frischk€ase) e.g., Quark, cream and cottage cheeses (ricotta, mozarella) Three examples of traditional German cheeses are listed in the Slowfood Ark of Taste and registered in the EU’s PDO/PDI. Nieheimer sour curd cheese is produced in the eponymous town in North Rhine-Westphalia. The old cheese tradition is explained in the local cheese museum, which is one of four museums together with one for bread, ham and beer making up the Westphalian Culinarium. Nieheim is on the Cheese Route and hosts a biannual cheese market. Weißlacker soft cheese is an authentic Allg€au cheese produced in Swabia and around Ravensburg and Lake Constance in BadenW€ urttemberg. Also known as beer cheese (Bierk€ase), it is traditionally eaten in beer gardens with sliced rye or pumpernickel bread and may be accompanied by chopped raw onion, melted on K€asesp€atzle or thinly sliced in sausage salad. W€ urchwitzer Milbenk€ase is an unusual mite-ripened cheese with a 500-year old history in the small town of W€ urchwitz in eastern Germany. Eaten with the mites, it is typically grated, mixed with butter and spread on bread slices. Cheese is mostly eaten as a topping for bread or more recently as a melt in heated dishes. Traditional German cheesecake is a shortcrust pastry filled with a quark mix and baked to a yellow-golden-brown color. Eggs are a further important element of a healthy diet and the German Nutrition Society recommends up to three eggs per person and day, including “hidden eggs.” Studies seem to show that consumption meets this but recent data does not include cakes and pastries. Hen’s egg protein is of high nutritional quality and eggs can contribute to vitamin and mineral requirements. German consumers are increasingly vocal about animal welfare and try to choose free-range or even organic eggs. Besides being a typical breakfast food, eggs are eaten in pancakes and waffles or hardboiled in salads. A traditional spring dish comprises hardboiled eggs and a creamy Green Sauce made with seven herbs (borage, chervil, cress, parsley, burnet, sorrel, chives). Further accompaniments may be potatoes, asparagus, together with fish or Tafelspitz (boiled beef).

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

Meat This food group enjoys high consumption rates among the German population, on average double as high as the recommendations for a healthy diet (300–600 g meat/sausage per capita per week). In recent years, consumption is decreasing very slightly and meat substitutes are making market inroads, perhaps due to repeated calls to lower meat consumption linked to climate change and animal welfare. The many associated health risks of a high-meat diet have so far failed to change patterns. The political dimension of meat and consequences of the system are highlighted by the so-called Meat Atlas, published annually by the Heinrich Boell Foundation, an environmental NGO. Pork is the most commonly eaten meat (more than 38 kg/capita), veal, beef and game (deer, pheasant, wild boar, duck) is also popular, but poultry (chicken, turkey) is steadily gaining ground (11 kg/capita). Favorite meat products, though, are hams and sausages in all their myriad variants. Hams may be cooked or raw, smoked, spiced, dried and stored in different ways. Sausages number almost 1500 varieties across scalded (Br€ uhwurst), cooked (Kochwurst) and raw (Rohwurst) types. Traditional dishes even include cold salads made of sausages (Wurstsalat) typically served with beer. Lyoner, a type of Br€ uhwurst, has a mild flavor and a firm, uniform composition and is usually used for Wurstsalat. The sausage is cut into thin strips, mixed together with diced pickles, onion rings, mayonnaise and mustard or marinated in vinaigrette.

Fish During the Middle Ages two varieties of fish use became dominant. One came from maritime fishery, especially herring (Pedro and Nunes, 2007), and involved one of the oldest methods of fish preservation, indeed of meat preservation, namely salting. The other came from monastic pisciculture, supported by the preference of fresh over salted fish. Beveridge and Little (2002) confirm the common carp as key to pond farming’s development in continental Europe in the last two millennia. Fish advanced to a dietary staple for some time and the tradition of serving fish on Fridays that was adopted during this time, still can be seen on many German canteen menus today. River fishing also contributed to this: traditional river fishing at the Sieg River’s entry into the Rhine is one of the recognized German intangible cultural heritages. Today fish occupies an increasingly difficult position in German diets: lauded by nutrition experts as an excellent food and source of unsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, trace elements and proteins but criticized heavily as a highly endangered and dwindling resource (Greenpeace, 2016; WWF, 2018). The DGE recommends one to two servings of fish per week (150–220 g); on average, citizens meet the recommendations, but not all. Consumers choose mostly frozen (27%) and canned (26%) fish, fresh (12%) and smoked (13%) fish are less popular choices (FIZ, 2017). Fish and seafood specialty shops represent only 5% of sales, supermarkets and discounters account for almost 90%.

149

150

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Within Germany there is a clear North-South gradient for fish consumption, with higher consumption clearly hugging the Northern coastline (FIZ, 2017). To-go or street food variations mostly offer fish on a roll (Fischbr€ otchen). One of the traditional dishes still enjoyed today is Red Herring Salad. Bite-sized pieces of Herring or Matjes filets are mixed with cooked red beet, hard-boiled eggs, apples and onions in a yoghurt or sour cream dressing. Herring is still widely favored as a traditional New Year’s dish in many regions.

Beverages For a healthy diet the DGE recommends drinking at least one-and-a-half liters of nonalcoholic beverages every day. Half of this is covered by water consumption in Germany, a quarter by tea and coffee. The remaining quarter mainly comprises fruit juices and soft drinks (Heuer et al., 2015). Spas, mineral and carbonated water occupy a special place in Germany. There are about 450 brands of bottled water and many natural springs, often associated with health, healing and a supply of minerals in the diet. The federal government regulates mineral water sold as a foodstuff by means of the Mineral and Table Water Regulation (MTVO). Some of the reservoirs and aquifers have been used since Romans first settled in Germany. Coffee and tea are typically served at breakfast, but also enjoyed throughout the day. Today East Frisian tea customs—pouring tea over candied sugar (Kluntjes) and adding cream—are part of the German inventory of intangible cultural heritage. Alcoholic beverages are widely enjoyed in Germany, which is well-known as a land of beer. Drinking beer in beer gardens, sitting outside under chestnut trees, are images strongly associated with Germany and in particular Bavaria. German beer is brewed according to the Purity Law (Reinheitsgebot) which stipulates that only barley malt, hops, yeast and water may be used to make beer. Traditional varieties include Pilsner, Pale Lager / Export, Wheat Beer (Hefeweizen), Dark Lager and Bock Beer. Brandy and schnapps are also popular, as are wines. Seasonal customs include Federweißer (very young, new wine) enjoyed with Onion Tart (Zwiebelkuchen) in autumn and spiced mulled wine (Gl€ uhwein) as a traditional winter’s drink, especially at Christmas markets.

Condiments Though a small food group and nutritionally mostly associated with low-salt recommendations, condiments deserve a short mention. Both cruet (salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar) and bouquet garni pour bouillon (leek, carrot, celeriac) are traditional condiments in cooking, but Germany stands out as part of a central European region with a lack of traditional glutamate source. Perhaps this did not need to develop in a region relatively richly supplied with animal protein (dairy, meat, fish) but even so many comparable countries or regions have a traditional (e.g., soy sauce, fish sauce) or modern

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

(e.g., marmite, vegemite) counterpart. For a short time in the post-war era, a dark, hydrolysed vegetable protein-based sauce known as Maggi (Nestle) was found on home tables and can still be found in some canteens today.

Food preservation and shelf-life Since human habitation in Northern continental Europe there has been a need for techniques to make food last longer, in order to survive weather and harvest vagaries. Today food preservation takes place in the private household—on the decline—and in commercial food production—on the increase. Options are still basically categorized to chemical, physical or biological means used to slow down or stop microbiological activity and therewith spoilage.

Physical preservation techniques By 2017 effectively all German households had a fridge or fridge-freezer (UBA, 2018), the most common thermal treatment to slow food spoilage. Stand-alone freezers are the only household appliance whose numbers are decreasing: In 1988, 70% of West-German households (43% of East-German households) had a freezer, in 2013 this figure had dropped to 53% for West-German households (41% for East-German) (Geißler, 2014). At the same time commercial supply of frozen foods has risen steadily to an average annual per capita consumption of 46.3 kg excluding ice-cream. Frozen foods cover all food groups, particularly vegetables, fruit, baked items and ready-to-eat meals (especially pizzas). Blanching may take place to inactivate enzymes prior to freezing vegetables. Rapid freezing, known as cook-freeze, and rapid cooling, known as cook-chill, are also routinely employed as preservation techniques in the catering and restaurant industries. Extending shelf-life by heating has a long tradition in German households, so much so that the term “einwecken” comes from the tempered glass jars used for home pasteurization and sterilization, produced by the company Weck since 1900 (Weck, n.d.). Used extensively in the post-war years by families with allotment gardens (Schreberg€arten), fruit and vegetables were typically conserved in late summer and stored in cellars. Dehydration is very little used in private capacities (for fruit, vegetables, herbs and mushrooms), mostly due to the high-energy need, perceived as energy waste. Treating foods with ionizing radiation is under a general ban in Germany. Irradiation is only permitted for dried herbs and spices as oppose to some other EU member states which permit it for more foodstuffs.

Chemical preservation techniques Foodstuffs are treated with certain substances in order to delay development of or kill microorganisms. In household such techniques using sugar are still well-known to make

151

152

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

jams and jellies from fruits. Using salt (solutions) to cure meats, preserve fish or extend the shelf life of butter is mostly a commercial process in Germany today. Liquids such as vinegar (for vegetables), oil (for vegetables), alcohol (for fruit) and brine (for animal products, beans) are typically used in specific food groups, mirroring preferred tastes and traditions. Using smoke to preserve meat also has a long tradition in Germany, though this is mainly carried out by professionals today, using both cold and hot smoking techniques. Commercial food production can enlist the aid of 41 additives that function to preserve foods as authorized in the EU. Examples include sorbic acid (E200), which occurs naturally in fruit and is used i.e. in the preservation of cheese, benzoates (E210–213) used e.g., in the preservation of fruit juices, sulphites (E221–228) typically used in wine treatment, and nitrites and nitrates (E249–252) typically used in processed meat products.

Biological preservation techniques Lactic acid fermentation applied to cabbage to make what has been called Germany’s superfood—sauerkraut—is probably the best-known food of the country. It is eaten as a salad or side dish, hot or cold, and more easily digested due to slackening of the plant tissue. Though still carried out in small-scale farms, sauerkraut production is otherwise completely commercial in bulk fermentation tanks (Breidt et al., 2013). Bio-preservation by food producers also sees the use of enzymes, not just lactic acid bacteria. Food and drink analysts claim that lactic acid fermentation is increasingly important to juice innovations, offering improved vitamin and enzyme levels, for example in vegetable juices.

Further preservation techniques Industrial technologies are rapidly developing in the field of food processing, and in the application to preservation. Modified atmosphere, while not new, is used across all food product categories, especially for fresh products both in warehouses (e.g., fruit) and in packaging fresh or chilled products (e.g., ready cut salads). Linde AG, a German technology company with a 139-year history, is a key player in the Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP) global market. Retail food products packaged under modified (or controlled) atmosphere are better accepted in Germany than in the USA. At the same time, the common practice of packaging meat under high (70–80%) oxygen has been criticized by consumer watchdogs because of possible sensory aberrations (L€ ucke and Schreiber, 2014). The use of high pressure processing (HPP) in fruit and vegetable juice treatment has recently reached commercial markets and enjoys consumer acceptance in Germany because it maintains color (Gopal et al., 2017) and is regarded as a more natural technique. Needing neither thermal treatment nor additives, this method of preservation meets German consumer preference for “clean” and minimally processed foods. Along with Italy, Spain and the UK, Germany is classified as an early adopter of HPP technology and contains a number of equipment specialists such as ThyssenKrupp AG (MarketandMarkets, 2016).

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

Further technologies including ultrasound, light, pulsed electrical fields, magnetic fields, edible coatings and encapsulations are not widespread in commercial applications yet (Berghofer et al., 2015).

Present health, nutritional and food safety conditions Every four years the German Nutrition Report is published by the DGE on behalf of the Federal Republic at the directive of the Federal Ministry of Consumer Protection, Food and Agriculture. In its most recent report on the nutritional situation in Germany (DGE, 2016), it presents a mixed picture of advantages and disadvantages connected with the consumption of various food groups, as described above. On a nutrient level, there is some concern about the unsatisfactory vitamin D supply due to local solar altitude; older persons are considered a risk group for developing a vitamin D deficiency. While folate supply overall is adequate, women of a child-bearing age are deemed at risk and public health campaigns strive to readdress this (Mensink et al., 2016; Krawinkel et al., 2014; BfR, 2017). Sodium consumption is deemed too high, as measured by urinary excretion, and choosing low-salt foods similarly continues to be a repeated message to both consumers and the food industry. A long-standing critical nutrient is iodine; the measure used to counteract low supply is iodised salt—both for household use but especially in industrial food formulation. The development of overweight and obesity in the population, and specifically in children, is being given much attention, for example by programmes aimed at education settings (pre-primary, primary and secondary schools). Roughly 10% of children are overweight when they start school, of these around 4% are obese. More than 40% of adult men and almost a quarter of adult women are overweight (pre-obese). The prevalence of obesity in Germany is high and cause for grave concern in the light of the high concomitant risks for coronary heart disease and diabetes mellitus (RKI, 2016). Improvements can be mainly attributed to better detection and disease management rather than dietary related interventions, for example in workplace settings, or changes. However, it may take some time before the National Action Plan (IN FORM—German national initiative to promote healthy diets and physical activity) aiming to promote healthy diets and physical activity (BMELV and BMG, 2013) shows success. Health risks from food spoilage are relatively low and well controlled. Food safety in Germany is accorded high status and has its own federal Department of Food Safety (Bundesinstitut f€ ur Risikobewertung (BfR)), which reports to the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture (BMEL). Food safety surveillance is complex in structure and the responsibility for inspection and control lies with the federal states, which employ scientifically trained experts including food chemists and veterinary doctors. Hygiene and hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) implementation are part of food professionals’ training countrywide.

153

154

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Summary Given its geographical space in central Europe and its history of human activity spanning some millennia, Germany today presents a rich trove of foods, production and processing techniques and cultural traditions. It has absorbed and transmuted many influences, often out of necessity. In this well-to-do country, its citizens enjoy a high standard of living and have easy access to all food groups in all forms. Population mobility and lifestyle changes will continue to play a role in diet and health developments in the next years.

Open questions • Food and food culture related skills and techniques are being steadily lost or eroded. In the balance, what is lost and what is gained? Where will household-scale innovation come from? Can food literacy be taught successfully solely at schools? If there were long-term disaster situations in Germany, how well would its citizens cope with managing healthy food and water? • Processed foods are rapidly making up the greater share of foods eaten and yet highly processed foods are consistently deemed better to avoid in respective sets of recommendations. Are practicable categories of processed foods needed for consumers to guide shopping, such as those of von Koerber et al. (2004), and for public health researchers to explore data, such as the NOVA classification (Monteiro et al., 2016)?

Future outlook The Federal Statistical Office (2009) projects that in 2060 every third person in Germany will be 65 years or older and there will be twice as many 70-year-olds as newborns. The aging population in Germany necessitates the facilitation of healthy aging from as early as possible—food, nutrition, diet and activity will play even more important roles than they already do today. Bioeconomy oriented efforts may bring side streams and new food sources to our plates (e.g., see Schl€ uter et al., 2017). Food fraud and food counterfeiting may both increase further. Indeed, food futures in Germany may be largely twofold, according to current trajectories: (1) Further industrial scale development of food products, formulations and technologies, favoring larger and larger scales with continued high safety standards and controls, even more concentration to vertically integrated Big Food Players, and (2) niches or pockets of artisan foods and producers with direct marketing, small independent craft operations with predominantly local communities of support or even seasonal participation in production gatherings on farms, in gardens and semiprofessional kitchens, carried by those who favor fresh and simple foods.

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

References BAMF – Federal Office for Migration and Refugees, 2005. The Impact of Immigration on Germany’s Society. Federal Office for Migration and Refugees. Migration and Integration Research Department, N€ urnberg. 65 p. Barkmann, T., Siebert, R., Lange, A., 2017. Land-use experts’ perception of regional climate change: an empirical analysis from the North German Plain. Clim. Chang. 144, 287–301. Berghofer, E., Schoenlechner, R., Schmidt, J., 2015. Neue Verfahren und Techniken bei der Lebensmittelherstellung und Lebensmittelversorgung - Bedeutung f€ ur Konsumentinnen und Konsumenten. BMG – Bundesministerium f€ ur Gesundheit (Austria), Sektion II, Vienna. 424 p. Bernard, R., 2016. Bakery products in Germany. Global Analysis Report, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. 15 p. Beveridge, M.C.M., Little, D.C., 2002. The history of aquaculture in traditional societies. In: CostaPierce, B.A. (Ed.), Ecological Aquaculture. The Evolution of the Blue Revolution. Blackwells, Oxford, pp. 3–29. Bf R – Bundesinstitut F€ ur Risikobewertung, 2017. Nutzen-Risiko-Abw€agung einer fl€achendeckenden Anreicherung von Mehl mit Fols€aure: Stellungnahme Nr. 027/2017 des BfR vom 13. September 2017. otw1OpenAgrar - Bundesinstitut F€ ur Risikobewertung. BMEL – Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 2015. Understanding agricultural exports. BMEL, Berlin. BMEL – Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 2016. Understanding Farming. BMEL, Berlin. BMEL – Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture, 2017. Extract from the “Organic Farming – Looking Forwards” Strategy. BMEL, Bonn. 29 p. BMELV and BMG – Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, and Federal Ministry of Health, 2013. IN FORM German National Initiative to Promote Healthy Diets and Physical Activity. Federal Ministry for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection, Berlin, p. 32. Boeing, H., Bechthold, A., Bub, A., Ellinger, S., Haller, D., et al., 2012. Critical review: vegetables and fruit in the prevention of chronic diseases. Eur. J. Nutr. 51 (6), 637–663. Braun, H., 2007. Inflation, 1914–1923. In: Historisches Lexikon Bayerns. Available online:http://www. historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/Lexikon/Inflation_1914-1923. (Accessed 17 January 2019). Breidt, F., McFeeters, R.F., Perez-Diaz, I., Lee, C.-H., 2013. Fermented vegetables. In: Doyle, M.P., Buchanan, R.L. (Eds.), Food Microbiology: Fundamentals and Frontiers. fourth ed. ASM Press, Washington, D.C. BSU – Beh€ orde f€ ur Stadtentwicklung und Umwelt (Hamburg), 2008. Kleing€arten mit Zukunft – Lebenswerte Stadt. Dokumentation Kongress: 11. Mai 2007. Freie und Hansestadt Hamburg, Hamburg 113 pp. Burak, W.-D., 2011. Unser t€aglich Brot … Technomuseum Landesmuseum f€ ur Technik und Arbeit in Mannheim. 454 p. Centenera, R., 2014. Fisheries in Germany. European Parliament, Directorate-General for Internal Policies, Policy Department B: Structural and Cohesion Policies, Fisheries, European Union. 40 p. Destatis, 2019. Consumption Expenditure – Germany. Available onlinehttps://www.destatis.de/EN/ FactsFigures/SocietyState/IncomeConsumptionLivingConditions/ConsumptionExpenditure/Tables/ PrivateConsumption_D.html. use. StuDFHV – Deutscher Fruchthandelsverband e.V, 2012. Akzeptanz und Konsum von Obst und Gem€ die. Deutscher Fruchthandlsverband e.V, Bonn. 28 p. DGE - Deutsche Gesellschaft f€ ur Ern€ahrung, 2013. 10 Guidelines for a Wholesome Diet. Art.-No. 122403, nineth ed. 1 p. DGE – Deutsche Gesellschaft f€ ur Ern€ahrung, 2011. Bedeutung von Obst und Gem€ use in der Ern€ahrung des Menschen. DGEinfo 8, 114–118. DGE – Deutsche Gesellschaft f€ ur Ern€ahrung, 2016. 13th DGE-Nutrition Report Summary. Deutsche Gesellschaft f€ ur Ern€ahrung e.V, Bonn, p. 48. Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), 2016. Marine Conservation and Sustainable Fisheries. BMZ, Bonn and Berlin. 12 p. Federal Statistical Office, 2009. Germany’s Population by 2060. Federal Statistical Office, Wiesbaden. 49 p.

155

156

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

FIZ – Fisch-Informationszentrum, 2017. Fischwirtschaft. Fisch-Informationszentrum e.V, Hamburg, p. 32. forsa, 2017. So will Deutschland essen. forsa, Berlin. Available online: https://www.bmel.de/SharedDocs/ Downloads/Ernaehrung/Forsa_Ern%C3%A4hrungsreport2018.pdf?__blob¼publicationFile. (Accessed 12 January 2019). forsa, 2018a. So will Deutschland essen. forsa, Berlin. Available online: https://www.bmel.de/SharedDocs/ Downloads/Ernaehrung/Forsa_Ernaehrungsreport2019-Tabellen.pdf?__blob¼publicationFile. (Accessed 12 January 2019). forsa, 2018b. Fasten 2018: Mehrheit verzichtet auf S€ ußes. Available online. https://www.dak.de/dak/ download/pressemitteilung-forsaumfrage-1965332.pdf. (Accessed 16 January 2019). Geißler, R., 2014. Materielle Lebensbedingungen. Available online: http://www.bpb.de/izpb/197993/ materielle-lebensbedingungen?p¼all. (Accessed 15 January 2019). GNTB – German National Tourist Board, n.d. Traditions and custom in destination Germany. German National Tourist Board (GNTB), Frankfurt/Main, 76 pp. Gopal, K.R., Kalla, A.M., Srikanth, K., 2017. High pressure processing of fruits and vegetable products: a review. Int. J. Pure App. Biosci. 5 (5), 680–692. Gose, M., Krems, C., Heuer, T., Hoffmann, I., 2016. Trends in food consumption and nutrient intake in Germany between 2006 and 2012: results of the German National Nutrition Monitoring (NEMONIT). Br. J. Nutr. 115, 1498–1507. Greenpeace, 2016. Fisch Einkaufsratgeber. Greenpeace e.V., Hamburg. Available online: https://www. greenpeace.de/sites/www.greenpeace.de/files/publications/20160120_greenpeace_fischratgeber_ 2016_0.pdf. GTAI – Germany Trade and Invest, 2018. The food and beverage industry in Germany. Industry overview issue 2019/2020, GTAI, Bexbach. 16 p. G€ ull, R., 2015. Streuobstwiesen. Statistisches Monatsheft Baden-W€ urttemberg 12, 38–42. Heinzelmann, U., 2016. Was is(s)t Deutschland. Tre Torri Verlag, Wiesbaden. Heuer, T., Krems, C., Moon, K., Brombach, C., Hoffmann, I., 2015. Food consumption of adults in Germany: results of the German National Nutrition Survey II based on diet history interviews. Br. J. Nutr. 113, 1603–1614. Hilbig, A., Heuer, T., Krems, C., Straßburg, A., Eisinger-Watzl, M., et al., 2009. Wie isst Deutschland? Ern€ahrungs Umschau 1, 16–23. Hochhaeusl, S., 2013. From Vienna to Frankfurt inside core-house type 7: A history of scarcity through the modern kitchen. Architect. Hist. 1 (1), 24. H€ uwelmeier, G., 2013. Bazaar pagodas in Berlin. Gendered religious identities among Vietnamese Migrant Women. MMG Working Paper 13-03, Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religious and Ethnic Diversity, G€ ottingen. 20 p. von Koerber, K., M€annle, T., Leitzmann, C., 2004. Vollwert-Ern€ahrung. Konzeption einer zeitgem€aßen € und nachhaltigen Ern€ahrung: mit 63 Tabellen und 16 Ubersichten. 10., vollst. neu bearb. und erw. Aufl. Haug, Stuttgart. . Krawinkel, M.B., Strohm, D., Weissenbron, A., Watzl, B., Eichholzer, M., et al., 2014. Revised D-A-CH intake recommendations for folate: how much is needed? EJCN 68, 719–723. Kriener, M., 2014. Fisch in Seenot – Aquakultur als Ausweg? Dossier. Commissioned by Slowfood Deutschland e.V. Kunzel, M., 2010. Die Inflation. Deutsches Historisches Museum, Berlin. Available online:https://www. dhm.de/lemo/kapitel/weimarer-republik/innenpolitik/inflation. Lieberz, S., 2015. Product brief – dried fruits and nuts. In: GAIN Report Number GM15038. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Berlin. 15 p. Lieberz, S., 2016. Product brief fresh fruits. In: GAIN Report Number GM16031. USDA Foreign Agricultural Service, Berlin. 13 p. Lucassen, L., 2006. Poles and Turks in the German Ruhr Area. Similarities and differences. In: Lucassen, L., Feldman, D., Oltmer, J. (Eds.), Paths of Integration: Migrants in Western Europe (1880–2004). Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam, pp. 27–45. L€ ucke, F.-K., Schreiber, S., 2014. High-oxygen modified atmosphere packaging of organic meats? In: Straumite, E. (Ed.), Proceedings, 9th Baltic Conference on Food Science and Technology “FOODBALT-2014”, Jelgava (Latvia), 8/9 May 2014.

Food, nutrition and health in Germany

MarketsandMarkets, 2016. High Pressure Processing Equipment Market by Orientation Type (Horizontal and Vertical), Vessel Volume, Application (Fruits & Vegetables, Meat, Juice & Beverages, Seafood), End User Category, and Region – Global Forecast to 2022. Report, 118 p. Mensink, G.B.M., Weißenborn, A., Richter, A., 2016. Folatversorgung in Deutschland. J. Health Monit. 1 (2), 26–30. M€ ohring, M., 2011. Die t€ urkische Gastronomie in der Bundesrepublik. Eine Migrations- und Konsumgeschichte. In: Dossier Heinrich B€ oll Stiftung, Zuhause in Almanya. T€ urkisch-deutsche Geschichten und Lebenswelten.. M€ ohring, M., 2014. Food for thought: rethinking the history of migration to West Germany through the migrant restaurant business. J. Contemp. Hist. 49 (1), 209–227. Monteiro, C.A., Cannon, G., Levy, R.B., Moubarac, J.-C., Jaime, P., et al., 2016. NOVA. The star shines bright. World Nutr. 7 (1–3), 28–38. MUNLV NRW – Ministerium f€ ur Umwelt und Naturschutz, Landwirtschaft und Verbraucherschutz des Landes Nordrhein-Westfalen, 2009. Zukunft des Kleingartenwesens in Nordrhein-Westfalen. Forschungsbericht zur Kleingartensituation in Nordrhein-Westfalen. MUNLV NRW, D€ usseldorf. Mushaben, J.M., 2008. The changing faces of citizenship. Integration and mobilization among ethnic minorities in Germany. Berghahn Books, New York. OECD, 2012. Mapping global value chains. Policy Dialogue on aid for trade. In: Trade and agriculture directorate, Trade Committee, Working Party of the Trade Committee. Patch, B.W., 1937. Germany’s demand for colonies. Editorial research reports, I CQ Press, Washington, DC. Retrieved from, http://library.cqpress.com/cqresearcher/cqresrre1937020500. Pedro, S., Nunes, M.L., 2007. Reducing salt in seafood products. In: Kilcast, D., Angus, F. (Eds.), Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, Technology and Nutrition, Reducing Salt in Foods. Woodhead Publishing, pp. 256–282. Pfeuffer, M., Watzl, B., 2018. Nutrition and health aspects of milk and dairy products and their ingredients. Ernahrungs Umschau. 65 (2). 22–33.e14–e17. Rheinish, J., 2013. The Perils of Peace. The Public Health Crisis in Occupied Germany. Oxford University Press, Oxford. RKI – Robert Koch-Institute, 2016. Health in Germany – the most important trends. Federal Health Reporting. Jointly provided by RKI and Destatis. RKI, Berlin. R€ osler, M., 2015. Streuobstbau in Deutschland. Naturschutzbund Deutschland (NABU), Berlin. 4 p. Salentin, K., 2014. Sampling the ethnic minority population in Germany. The background to “Migration Background” Methods Data Anal. 8 (1), 25–52. Schl€ uter, O., Rumpold, B., Pudel, F., Bolling, J., Bußler, S., et al., 2017. Insecta Conference 2017 Book of Abstracts 7–8th September 2017 Berlin, Germany. Bornimer Agrartechnische Berichte Heft 97, LeibnizInstitute f€ ur Agrartechnik und Bio€ okonomie e.V. (ATB), Postdam, 160 p. Statista, 2019a. Per capita consumption of bananas in Germany from 2005/06 to 2015/16 (in kilograms). Available online, https://www.statista.com/statistics/514802/per-capita-consumption-of-bananasgermany/. Statista, 2019b. Anteil der Ausgaben der privaten Haushalte in Deutschland f€ ur Nahrungsmittel, Getr€anke und Tabakwaren an den Konsumausgaben in den Jahren 1850 bis 2017. Available online, https://de. statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/75719/umfrage/ausgaben-fuer-nahrungsmittel-in-deutschland-seit1900/. Thoms, U., 2011. From migrant food to lifestyle cooking: the career of Italian cuisine in Europe. In: Institute of European History (IEG). European History Online (EGO), Mainz. http://www.ieg-ego.eu/thomsu2010-en. (Accessed 11 January 2019). UBA – Umweltbundesamt, 2018. Ausstattung privater Haushalte mit Gebrauchsg€ utern. Available online. https://www.umweltbundesamt.de/daten/private-haushalte-konsum/konsum-produkte/ausstattungprivater-haushalte-gebrauchsguetern#textpart-1. Watzl, B., 2017. Milch und Milchprodukte: Sind aktuelle Verzehrempfehlungen wissenschaftlich begr€ undet? Ern€ahrungs Umschau 4 (17), M224–M228. Weck, n.d. Die Geschichte der Firma WECK. Available online: https://www.weck.de/docs/Geschichte_ WECK.pdf (accessed 16.09.2018).

157

158

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Werdin, T., 2004. Vom Kolonialwarenladen zur Distributionsindustrie Reminiszenzen aus 50 Jahren Entwicklung der Ern€ahrungswirtschaft und die Rolle der LZ als deren Begleiter. Lebensmittel Zeitung 1, 27. WTO – World Trade Organization, n.d. Germany. Statistics data base country profiles. Available online: http://stat.wto.org/CountryProfiles/DE_e.htm. WWF, 2018. Einkaufsratgeber Fisch und Meeresfr€ uchte. WWF Deutschland, Berlin. Available online: https://www.wwf.de/fileadmin/fm-wwf/Publikationen-PDF/WWF_Einkaufsratgeber_Fische_und_ Meeresfruechte.pdf.

Further reading Baldereschi, F., Ciociola, S., Giannini, E., Milano, S., Ponzio, R. (Eds.), 2012. Slow Food Presidia. Slow Food Foundation for Biodiversity. 169 p. Bf ZE – Bundeszentrum f€ ur Ern€ahrung, 2019. Website, especially pages under “Ern€ahrung” and “Lebensmittel”. Bundesanstalt f€ ur Landwirtschaft und Ern€ahrung (BLE), Bonn. BMI – Federal Ministry of the Interior, 2015. National minorities, minority and regional languages in Germany, third updated edition Federal Ministry of the Interior, Berlin. 81 p. € Bustorf-Hirsch, M., 1991. Haltbarmachung in der Oko-K€ uche, second ed Falken Verlag GmbH, Niedernhausen/Ts. Federal Statistical Office of Germany, n.d. Wiesbaden. IFPRI, 2015. Germany. 2015 Nutrition country profile. Global nutrition report. 2 p. Lotter, C., 2018. Essen. APuZ – Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte. 68 (1–3). 48 p. Metzger, C., 2013. Culinaria Deutschland Deutsche Spezialit€aten. Ullmann Medien. Nagel, J., 1998. Zu Gast bei Goethe. Wilhelm-Heyne-Verlag, M€ unchen. Rahlf, T., 2015. Deutschland in Daten. Bundeszentrale f€ ur politische Bildung/bpb, Bonn. 338 p. Rust, H., 2012. Vorrat halten, second ed. Aufl., M€ unchen, Alois Kn€ urr Verlags GmbH. Sch€ onfeldt, S.G., 1980. Das große Ravensburger Buch der Feste & Br€auche: Durch das Jahr und den Lebenslauf. Maier, Ravensburg. Weichselbaum, E., Benelam, B., Costa, H.C., 2009. Traditional Foods in Europe. Synthesis Report No 6, EuroFIR Project Management Office/British Nutrition Foundation, Norfolk, UK. 76 p. Weinreb, A., 2011. Matters of taste: the politics of food in divided Germany, 1945–1971. Bull. GHI 48, 59–82. Zimmermann, N., Zimmermann, H., 2017. Landschaftsg€arten – Gartenlandschaften Schluss und Dorf Riede. Verein zur F€ orderung des Schlosses in Riede e.V, Bad Emstal-Riede.

CHAPTER 8

Common nutrition and health issues Michael Wacker

BASF Schweiz AG, Regionals Zentrum f€ ur Arbeitsmedizin, Kaisten, Switzerland

Contents Food trends What is healthy? Illusory world of diets An unexpected approach Regional and seasonal food Again potatoes? What about alcohol? References

159 160 162 164 165 167 168 169

Food trends In the reconstruction phase following the Second World War quantity and tastiness dominated the diets of most people in Western Europe. Today it reflects a late trickle-down effect. The consumption of large quantities of food used to be an upper-class privilege, as did obesity. This is now reversed. The upper classes consume expensive and exotic food, but in relatively small quantities. Stoutness, once a striking corpulence advertisement for one’s well-fed status, is no longer socially acceptable. After all sections of the population had enough to eat, it became generally important to eat very healthy. The myth of healthy nutrition is characterized by more or less rapid changes in food fashions.a Availability is of course important. The last half of the 20th century saw an increase in the availability of a greater range of good quality fresh products and greater willingness to vary diets and select dishes from all over the world. As waves of different foods hit Europe, eating habits changed. At first these foreign foods and spices, like new fashion trends, were a privilege of a few insiders, but they were soon imitated and adapted for a wider audience. Once the supply of the foods become plentiful and varied, fashion took over, and the novelty became a trend. There are all kinds of good and clever arguments why this new food trend is exceptionally healthy, and it seems easy to overlock some unwished side-effects. a

It is a myth wanting to know what a healthy diet is. It is subject to fashion streaming: in the 1980s only sunflower and thistle oil was considered healthy, olive oil and rapeseed oil were unhealthy. Olive oil became healthy in the 1990s, rapeseed oil in the 2000s, sunflower oil became than unhealthy.

Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00009-3

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

159

160

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Thus, vegan diets (Mann, 2008), high fiber diets (Clark and Slavin, 2013) and low carb diets (Paoli, 2014), all masquerade as healthy. It goes along with the modern obsession with diets. In fact, they are all nutritionally suspicious, but are used to show how up to date we are. As with all fashion industries, food trends thrives on change. The industry can only survive if people’s tastes are constantly induced to change. This is reflected by the increasing numbers of food books and food broadcasts which lead educated and literate middle-class readers to feel guilty if they don’t keep up. Previously, diets were only for medical reasons, rarely to do with weight and appearance as such. The rheumatism regime, the macrobiotic diet or the Gerson therapy are ostensive examples. Now for most people diets are mainly concerned with weight reduction, significantly referred to slimming, the slim figure rather than the healthy body being the aim despite pious claims to the contrary. They are a major part of the food-fashion industry. In fact, none of them work. If any of them did, then there would not be so many and we would not be faced almost weekly with the announcement of a new and infallible one.

What is healthy? A new evidence-based guideline of the German Nutrition Society recommends: “A diet based on wholemeal products, 5 portions of vegetables and fruit per day and low-fat variants of milk and dairy products as well as meat and meat products lower the consumption of animal fats. Under consideration of an equal energy balance, vegetable oils with a high proportion of α-linolenic acid (ALA) and oily fish rich in long-chain n-3 fatty acids can therefore be additionally integrated into the diet. This favors an increase in the intake of n-3 fatty acids. Vegetable oils with a favorable ratio of linoleic acid to ALA should be preferred. Considering the German dietary habits, rapeseed oil and walnut oil best fulfill this criterion” (Wolfram et al., 2015). That sounds good but how can we transfer this in our daily life with canteen food and how long do we have to wait for the next guideline? I try to make it simple and tell my clients in my consultation hours: If they really want a guideline, they could follow two simple rules: divide your plate in four parts and fill it to one part with a source of protein (fish, meat or vegetable sources), one part with cereals and the rest with fruits, vegetables and salads. Also, they should eat colorful food. Colorful is healthy: Anyone who takes care to provide his body throughout the week with different colored fruits and vegetables, nourishes balanced in any case. If you follow the 5-per-day rule, you are already doing a lot right. But it gets even better if not only cucumbers, apples and tomatoes are on the menu, but also yellow peppers, carrots, blue grapes and cauliflower. Because it’s not just the amount of fruits and vegetables that matter, but diversity is just as important. Think of the colors of the rainbow! The plant pigment lycopene ensures that fruits and vegetables are red (American Institute for cancer recherche, 2016). It belongs to the

Common nutrition and health issues

group of carotenoids. Among other things (Djuric and Powell, 2001), lycopenecontaining foods should have a stimulating effect and get blood and heart moving. Red vegetables are tomatoes, red peppers, chili, radishes and the berries such as raspberries, strawberries and cranberries, but also rosehips, cherries and watermelons belong to the red group. For the orange and yellow coloring carotenoids (Szalay, 2018) are responsible. Among other things, these antioxidants protect against free radicals and thus slow down skin aging. In addition, the foods with the sun color are said to stimulate the immune system, digestion and metabolism. Yellow and orange vegetables are yellow zucchini, pumpkin, carrots, yellow and orange peppers. Among the fruits, there are lemons, pineapple, sea buckthorn, mirabelles, bananas, apricots, oranges and mangoes. Also, some spices with health promoting effect can be found in this color group such as ginger, saffron and turmeric. Chlorophyll makes plants appear green. The dye is said to have a cleansing and detoxifying effect. In addition, green foods often contain lutein, which is thought to protect the eyes and aid in cell building (AOK Vigozone, 2007). Green vegetables are kohlrabi, green peppers and broccoli, various types of lettuce, various types of cabbage, green asparagus, cucumbers and herbs like rosemary, basil, dill and parsley. Regarding fruits, apples, green grapes, pears and kiwis are high up on the popularity scale. Collective experience rather discourages eating blue or purple foods. These colors are reminiscent of putrefaction and poison, and from a nutritional point of view rather have a deterrent character. But in our modern world we know that many blue or purple foods have a delicious taste and healthy effects, above all because of the blue and violet plant dyes (anthocyanins (R€ omer 2012)), which are often even considered as miracle antiaging weapons. They should improve vision and memory and have an anti-inflammatory effect. Finally, they are said to have a preventive effect against premature skin aging and a positive influence on the blood vessels. As vegetables there are blue beans, eggplant, beetroot, lolo rosso salad. In fruits it is: elderberries, blackberries, blueberries, plums, figs and black currants. White is not a color represented in the rainbow, but it is worth to also eat white foods. They are full of vitamins and minerals. Particularly noteworthy are garlic and onion, as they contain allicin—a sulfur-containing substance, which is responsible for the typical smell (PubChem Open Chemestry Database, 2018). Allicin has antibacterial and antiinflammatory properties, protects the blood vessels and promotes blood circulation. The white vegetables include asparagus, fennel, celery and cauliflower. White fruits are rare. Some nutritionists add apples, pears and bananas in this category because the pulp is white. Even if nutritionists are not always in agreement, whether apple, pear and cucumber are now green or white and bananas yellow or white, diet by color is still a viable principle with which you cannot go wrong. It ensures that diversity comes to the table and thus a colorful mix of nutrients.

161

162

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Illusory world of diets To lose weight (and this is only healthy in extreme cases), the only useful diet is to eat much less food and do exercise. Obese people tend to sit 2 h more per day than slim people. By changing their lifestyle habits, they would be able to save 350 kcal per day, which could add up to 14 kg per year. To lose 10 kg only with a diet, they would have to save around 90.000 kcal, which equals 180 bars of chocolate or 350 sausages or 2800 kg of carrots (Stahl, 2018), and this without considering all the metabolic changes in diets. The business of how not to eat too much has paradoxically turned into one of the biggest topics of food industries. It has become the science of what to eat without gaining weight. However, it is more or less impossible to lose weight with any reasonable calorific regime. Studies have shown that diets lead to weight gain (K€arkk€aiinen et al., 2018). Because the body does not know the difference between dieting and starving, once a severe dietary regime is concluded, it will voraciously store food as fat as a protection against further unreasonable famine. We have 158 different biological mechanisms to prevent starvation (Stahl, 2018) and none to prevent overweight. But that’s the way it is with diets, trends and fads play offend their largest part. Diets are part of a general utopianism that characterizes Western society: the search for the perfect life comes to embrace the search for the perfect food. And, like other utopianisms, this easily tips over into fanaticism. With religious zeal people organize to hunt down restaurants that offend against the latest dietary fads. Political parties, with missionary ardors, try to enlighten others with veggie days in factory canteens or with tax on sugar to prevent poor children from obesity. In the pursuit of perfection, to be on a diet illustrates that you are a worthy and serious person, not a philistine. It is the Puritan Ethic applied to food. To feel guilty because of meal consumption is now concerning more and more people who thought until now that their eating habits are completely normal. The bookstores have long bookshelves full of recent publications on the issue “clean eating” with recipes for Detox-Soups. In Internet blogs, we see legions of beautiful young people with plates full of meat free, carbohydrate free, gluten- and lactose-free trend dishes. The advertising message is modern food is healthy food. People should care about the short- and longterm consequences of their meals to their body and soul. Who does not heed the rules will come to regret tomorrow and guzzle himself to death. This lead to a kind of mass hysteria called “Orthorexia nervosa” an eating disorder characterized by an excessive preoccupation with healthy food (Bratmann, 2014). Some people feel better when they drink their fair-trade coffee with organic milk and later with lactose-free and then with almond- or soya milk. When the coffee tastes great, it is fine. If they have allergies, intolerances or an irritable bowel syndrome, it is a good approach. But if not, this could be a problem. About 10–15% of the European population has a lactose intolerance (Enattah, 2002). 80% of people who buy lactose-free food have none (Bundeszentrale f€ ur Ern€ahrung, 2018). The annual growth rates in this segment are 10–20%. Only 0.2–0.4% of all

Common nutrition and health issues

Germans (Schuppan and Zimmer, 2013) and up to 1% of all Europeans have a medical reason for a benefit of gluten-free food. It is an issue of spirit of the age that foodstuff is seen as an “enemy on my plate” by healthy people. It is a paradox in a time were the food is better controlled and safer than ever before. People are better and better informed about the structure of their aliment. But they often become overtaxed by the large quantity of information. Some people react in a pseudo-religious way. It is a matter of good and bad behavior, guilt, conscience, sacrifice and the wish of eternal life. Who points the way through the jungle of huge surplus on food, nutrition studies and contradicting dietary recommendations becomes a savior. To pay homage to the health-food-religion let the modern men be part of something in the post factual time. And they find their high priest in food bloggers with photos from their latest Ac¸ai-Bowl on Instagram. The problem is that the number of overweight people or diabetics doesn’t decrease. And there is not even a placebo effect that people who subsist with healthy food feel much better. The brave new world of eating better is only achieved by those who have succeeded before: thin, attractive, wealthy people who can afford neo food supplements like maca, reishi, chaga-mushrooms. For all others the conclusion of the Cochrane study for artificial antioxidant supplements apply: “We found no evidence to support antioxidant supplements for primary or secondary prevention. Beta-carotene and vitamin E as supplements seem to increase mortality, and so may higher doses of vitamin A. Antioxidant supplements need to be considered as medicinal products and should undergo sufficient evaluation before marketing” (Bjelakovic et al., 2012). To ensure the antioxidant power of vitamin E, it is sufficient to use plant oils such as wheat germ oil, elevated levels of beta-carotene include orange, red and deep green vegetables (e.g., carrots, cabbages, spinach, peppers, tomatoes) and orange fruits (e.g., apricots and mangoes). Even in case of a seasonal cold you do not need any vitamin supplements. Home remedies such as a chicken soup contain a complex mixture, which influence the immune system in many ways. While having a cold, white blood cells, including so-called neutrophils, are released, which are responsible for inflammatory processes. The soup can block these blood cells in the organism and thus reduce inflammatory processes in the body. At the same time, the chicken soup contains the protein cysteine. This also has an anti-inflammatory effect and has a decongestant effect on the mucous membranes. Furthermore, the contained high zinc concentration helps a lot better than for example vitamin C. A problem with the common cold is often the dried out mucous membranes. Hot soup keeps the mucous membranes moist and thus protects against further germs. Even the hot steam can prevent the spread of viruses. The best way to enrich the chicken soup is by adding chili or ginger, which can increase the effect.

163

164

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

An unexpected approach An apparent countertrend is the proletarian chic style of cooking with the wide popularity of the barbecue, including rich spicy sauces along with large cuts of meat. Why, we might ask, are men responsible for cooking outdoors and women for cooking indoors? Because the myths have it that cooking with fire is dangerous and should be left to the men. This is probably a hangover from the romanticizing of the caveman in a time of political correctness and a way for men to feel macho while wearing aprons and preparing food. This may explain why the working class, which usually lags in the food fad business, is right on top of the cookout. Usually the workers had neither the time nor the means to be faddists. But times have changed. Today, you can stand hours in front of your smoker for a pulled pork or grill a steak on a BBQ with the price of a compact car. What is the health effect of this? Contrary to what is commonly believed, the highest health hazard when you grill something is the risk of burns (4000 injured per year in Germany (Deutsche Gesellschaft f€ ur Plastische, 2010)). The second largest danger is the use of a wire to clean the cooking grid (1500 injured in the United States in 12 years (Baught et al., 2016)). Beside this, you can almost ignore the risk of adenoma genesis from heterocyclic aromatic amines (HAA) (Rohrmann et al., 2009) and of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH) (Gassmann, 2013). The way from an adenoma to colorectal cancer is far and in case of doubt you can participate in a colon cancer prevention. It is undoubted that high temperature grilling over glowing coals forms several carcinogens. The question is the in vivo effect in human body and what influences has the preparation of the food. Stavric shows the unexpected protective effect of burned sausages and steaks (Food & Hygiene, 2014). They act as active carbon, absorb benzopyrene, and let them pass unresorbed the digestive tract. The considered dangerous charred meat parts turn into a prophylactic treatment. Vegetable substances as quercetin in caper and lovage reduce the benzopyrene absorption whereas corn oil solves benzopyrene and increase it. Since over 20 years, there is no doubt that it is possible with commercial marinades to prepare grilled products with reduced mutagenicity without compromising their sensory quality (Tikkanen et al., 1996). Smith illustrates the antioxidative effect of self-made-marinades. His rosemary-thyme marinade reduces the HAA by 87%. Similar effects have oreganothyme-garlic and mustard-sage-basil (Zittlau, 2014). The effect of marinating meat with Pilsner beer, nonalcoholic Pilsner beer and Black beer on the foaming of PAHs in charcoal-grilled pork is convincing too (Viegas et al., 2014). The antiradical activity in a so-called DPPH assayb of Black beer was 68.0%. Followed with nonalcoholic beer with 36.5% and the Pilsner with 29.5%. b

The 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydazyl radical scavenging assay is routinely practiced for the assessment of antiradical properties of different compounds.

Common nutrition and health issues

And, of course, there is the question of the dosis. You must eat the equivalent of 50 kg of burned chicken meat, that generate much more HAA then red meat, to absorb as much toxic substances as in one single cigarette ( Jirku, 2014). Grilling is the healthies way to prepare food. It is low in fat because the fat is baked. It is flavorful and protects our gastric mucosa. The high temperatures reduce the bioavailability of heavy metals like mercury and kill off strong dangerous Escherichia coli strains (Luchansky et al., 2011).

Regional and seasonal food And beside this? There is the trend of regional and seasonal food, awareness of the environmental impacts of what we eat and the return to so called old plants. But what is regional? Regional cuisine is a cuisine based on national, state or local regions. There is no common definition of the size of the region concerned. Sometimes the boundaries of regionality are a few miles around a place, sometimes it can affect a whole country. Regional cuisine may vary depending on availability and trade, different climatic conditions, cooking traditions and practices, and cultural differences. Regional traditions, customs and ingredients for preparing food often combine with dishes that are unique to a particular region. The terminus local can be expanded. The American historian Steven Ozment has descripted German contemporary eating habits and draws the picture of five identities in one (Ozment, 2005). And this may be a good template to illustrate the situation for most Western Europeans. First, they identify themselves with local specialties e.g. if they are from Nuremberg they might like Nuremberg Rostbratwurst. On the next level is the region e.g. as Franconians, they likely prefer their sauerkraut, accompanying their sausages, milder than in other regions and with caraway seeds. As Bavarians, they drink their beer less bitter than in the northern countries. When they are traveling around, they are looking for good German sourdough bread and, if they are very far away, they become Europeans, missing their morning coffee or tea with milk, or bread and butter. The claim to want to eat locally is certainly reasonable and understandable. As in many other areas of life, there is often a field of conflict between “should,” “want” and “can” in nutrition: If you ask in asparagus regions, people are proud of their regional delicacy and in any region with asparagus cultivation people think their asparagus is the best. The taste depends on the local soil conditions and taste preferences are formed in the youth. Maybe the best advice to those liking asparagus: whenever it is possible to eat regional asparagus, do it. There will be different answers when asking passers-by on the Basle marketplace whether Alsatian or Baden asparagus, which was perhaps harvested a few kilometers away over the Rhine, is a regional asparagus. Does it have to be from the city area and the

165

166

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

canton of Baselland? What about the Swiss asparagus from the Zurich region? Even if the definition of local asparagus is broad, the harvest is not enough. We have seen an increase in asparagus consumption per capita and year since the 1980s. In Switzerland it increased for example by 300% to approximately 1.5 kg. Only about 30 years ago, the consumption of green asparagus was discovered as a “real” vegetable. Today, asparagus consumption is divided equally into white and green asparagus. The local production does not supply these needs (Marinello, 2018). Swiss and Germans both eat 1.5 kg per capita and year, French and Dutch a little less. Switzerland around Chur and Zurich produced 250 t in 2014 (Marinello, 2018). This is two percent of the demand. In the Netherlands around Limburg, the harvest was 14.000 t, all over France in the south east, south west and Loire valley 20.550 t and throughout Germany around Beeltiz, Nienburg or Schwetzingen 114.000 t. All this is too little to satisfy the hunger for this fine vegetable. In the emerging countries with the largest production volume like Peru (378.000 t) and China (6.850.000 t) the needed asparagus was harvested (Statista, 2016). We must come to terms with the fact that not all our food can be produced for the local market and that the days of local self-sufficiency are over (self-sufficiency means that, at least in the case of failure, there is not enough for everyone). We must let farmers work efficiently so that they can feed all humanity and if we do not want to give up certain foods, we must buy them also from outside. So, what does seasonal mean? In a time where you can buy strawberries and asparaguses all the time, some people start to reflect the traditional value of food and feel deeply ingrained in the collective consciousness of the happiness of a good harvest. Seasonal food is rightly regarded as especially digestible. Even if berries are available in the supermarket all year round, we connect them with special sweetness in their season. Here they have also the shortest transport routes and mostly the best ecological balance. Also, only fully ripened fruits and vegetables also develop their complete nutrient profile. Fruits harvested unripe at the other end of the world were prematurely separated from the strain, through which nutrients are sourced. As a result, at least on the nutrient side, development was stopped. Since the bioactive substances are formed only at the end of the ripening period, naturally mature vegetables and fruits contain much more of it. And because these mostly cell protecting substances also include countless flavors, mature foods are more aromatic. A diet that is based largely on regional products that are harvested in a ripe state, ensures the nutrient richness of the food: a lettuce head harvested in the summer has up five times higher content of flavonoids, phytochemicals important for staying healthy, as a specimen harvested in the spring. If it comes from a greenhouse in the winter, it contains less vitamins, but more nitrate, which plants degrade worse in the absence of light. There is more that speaks for the right harvest time. In September the time for shellfish and mussels starts in the Netherlands, Belgium, the British Islands and the coast regions of France and Germany. The traditional time is to eat them in the months with

Common nutrition and health issues

“r” until end of February or April, depending on the water temperature. This is due to algal bloom, mostly occurring during summer months. This refers to high concentrations of an algae toxin (saxitoxin) that causes the “paralytic shellfish poisoning” to humans. Symptoms can occur 10–30 min after ingestion, and include abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, nausea, burning lips, gums, tongue, face, neck, arms, legs, and toes. Today shellfish are regularly inspected and tested for toxin levels. It’s not very likely that any shellfish reaching the market would contain harmful levels of the toxin. Many shellfish, especially oysters and mussels, are also now farmed instead of harvested from the wild, further decreasing the chance of contamination. But the other argument for the “r” rule is that shellfish usually spawn during the summer months. A rest is needed to let the shellfish repopulate. Spawning shellfish also taste different than at other times of the year, and they have a flavor and texture that makes them for many people inedible. When I started to work in Switzerland, I have learned that cheese have seasonality too. Between September and April, when the high mountains are snow-covered, Swiss Mont-d’Or Vacherin pops-up in cheese shops, as it has for the last century. His French brother is available from September to May. This soft, pungent cow cheese is freshly made from the villages around the Jura region. Covered with white wine and garlic, then cooked in its round wooden packaging, digging into this viscously, creamy cheese, served warm over boiled potatoes, is a delightful winter ritual. Especially in the winter time, the health-promoting properties of cheese can be distinguished. It has a lot of protein, which helps to build the cells, to renew the muscle tissue and the skin and to strengthen the immune system. Cheese is very rich in B vitamins, which also have a positive effect on the energy balance and the immune system and are involved in the development of the nervous system. Among other things, vitamin B12 is responsible for the production of red blood cells. Its high calcium content is very conducive to bone growth in children and adolescents, prevents osteoporosis in the elderly and generally provides healthy teeth. Cheese also provides the body with many important minerals, such as zinc and selenium, that help maintain muscle mass, reduce fatigue, and act as antioxidants.

Again potatoes? I have already written in chapter two about the ritual meaning of new potatoes in June for example in Ireland, but all over the rest of Europe too. It is the symbol for a new period of opulence. They were harvest when they are very young, with thin skin and taste creamy when they are cooked or roasted. There are over 5000 potato varieties in the world, but we only use a few hundred in Europe. The common classification depends on the maturing time and the cooking characteristics. But again, from the medical point of view, the color is very interesting, too. They could be yellow as usual, red or even violet/blue. All the colored potatoes have, compared with «normal» potatoes, a high rate of potent natural antioxidants. Old potato varieties are currently experiencing a renaissance.

167

168

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

They have sonorous names like Shetland Black, La Ratte or Bamberger Hoernchen and look with their excessive coloring even a little exotic. The effort to go to the weekly market is worthwhile. Like all potatoes, they are an excellent source of vitamin C and support the immune system, especially in winter. The contained potassium has a dehydrating effect, the B vitamins strengthen the nerves and stimulate the metabolism. Their fiber also ensures good digestion. The old potato varieties have even more to offer: Since they have adapted to the conditions of a region over many generations, they need less fertilizer or pesticides. They grow more slowly and therefore form more valuable ingredients than their mass-grown relatives. In addition, the historic varieties contain a greater variety of phytochemicals and have more anti-inflammatory effects. The red and blue/ violet varieties contain plenty of anthocyanins: these lower the cholesterol level, keep the vessels elastic and thus prevent cardiovascular diseases. Furthermore, their Kukoamine counteracts increased blood pressure. Therefore, the old potato varieties are not only a real gain for our palates, but also for our health.

What about alcohol? Those who engage in regional and seasonal specialties should never forget the beverages. The return to seasonal specialties promotes the increasing popularity of festival beers in recent years. A “German-Style-Festbier” is a special beer brewed for a special occasion. Especially good opportunities for these beers are very big festivals, such as Christmas, but also church days and beer festivals. “Festbier” is available in many flavors, from tasty— strong, mildly hopped to piquant and full-bodied. There are dark and light beers, but also mixed. It is usually brewed in the south of Germany in autumn, but sometimes beer is also produced as a spring specialty. The name “Festbier” is closely related to “Maerzenbier,” like the famous Oktoberfest. Since it only used to be possible to brew without refrigerated warehouses until March, due to the likelihood of the beer spoiling while fermenting in the summer, because of high airborne bacteria activity. The longer lasting beer, which was brewed stronger, was named Maerzenbier (March beer). To have enough beer, it had to be brewed for the long summer in larger quantities. From October, the brewery’s marketing year started again, because it was cold enough to be able to start beer production again. To celebrate the new brewing year, the Oktoberfest was celebrated and the rest of the “Maerzenbier,” was distributed as a “Festbier.” Two other examples are the Belgian style Saison Beer, also called Farmhouse Ale from Wallonia and the “Bie`re de Garde” (beer for keeping), a strong pale ale traditionally brewed in the Nord-Pas-de-Calais of France, both brewed in the cooler, less active winter months in farmhouses and stored for drinking in the summer months. Farmers possibly also brewed during the quieter period to provide work for their staff. They were originally served until the End of summer when the main consumers were seasonal farm workers.

Common nutrition and health issues

Drinking these beers has also a health effect. Moderate alcohol consumption reduces the likelihood of cognitive dysfunction and Alzheimer’s disease in old age—by as much as 23% (Neafsey and Collins, 2011). In particular, beer is good because the plant polyphenol Xanthohumol in hops protects brain cells from decay (Yao et al., 2015). Xanthohumol also has anti-inflammatory, antioxidant properties. These seasonal beers are rich in hops for the long storages. A study by the Italian Fondazione di Ricerca e Cura showed that moderate consumption of alcohol is generally good for cholesterol levels and reduces the risk of heart disease by about 31%. Previously, this property was mainly attributed to wine, but on beer it is according to the study as well (Costanzo et al., 2011). Winter is the time for a red wine called “Beaujolais Nouveau” which is released in November as a “vin de l’annee.” It is a wine for immediate drinking, and there is no reason to keep it for a few years. The standard Beaujolais AOC wine is released the following year and can be stored much better. But the most important winter wine is mulled wine. Mulled wine is a hot wine drink, usually seasoned with sugar, cinnamon and cloves, which is drunk mainly in winter. But there are also connoisseurs who appreciate lemon and tangerine, nutmeg, eucalyptus, ginger, vanilla, star anise, and even blackberry recipe varieties. As a wintry hot drink, mulled wine prevents seasonal illnesses such as colds and viral infections of the lungs. This is due, on the one hand, to the antiviral effect of the tannins contained in the wine, which specifically attack the proteins in the viruses. On the other hand, the antiviral and antibacterial effect of carnations and cinnamon, which is known since ancient times as a cure for colds. Nevertheless, caution is required when enjoying mulled wine, because as a hot drink the alcohol gets into your blood more quickly. In addition, sugar has a similar effect—you get drunk faster. So, we go back 2300 years and quote Aristotle: “And just as food and drink destroys their health if they are consumed in too much or too greedy a mass.” Although it sounds so easy, in our time of abundance it is so difficult to follow this rule. The balancing of measure and reason was struggled just as much over 2000 years ago as it is today. In the meantime, by writing all of this, I have decided to maybe go on a diet. American scientists call it “Intuitive Eating.” We physicians call it “Sensory Intelligence.” It is extremely healthy and easy to follow, unless you have a severe clean eating neurosis. The most important rule: eat everything you like, do not be afraid of colorful food and move.

References American Institute for cancer recherche, 2016. http://www.aicr.org/press/press-releases/2016/tomatoesother-foods-containing-lycopene-may-protect-against-prostate-cancer-study-finds.html. (Accessed 11 November 2018). AOK Vigozone, 2007. Pflanzenfarbstoffe: Essen nach dem Regenbogen-Prinzip. https://www.vigozone. de/fit-gesund/pflanzenfarbstoffe-essen-nach-regenbogen-prinzip. (Accessed 12 November 2018).

169

170

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Baught, T.P., Hadley, J.B., Chang, C.W.D., 2016. Epidemiology of wire-bristle grill brush injury in the United States, 2002–2014. Otolarygol. Head Neck Surg. 154 (4), 645–649. Bjelakovic, G., Nikolova, D., Gluud, L.L., Simonetti, R.G., Gluud, C., 2012. Antioxidant supplements for prevention of mortality in healthy participants and patients with various diseases. http://www.cochrane. org/CD007176/LIVER_antioxidant-supplements-for-prevention-of-mortality-in-healthy-participantsand-patients-with-various-diseases. (Accessed 1 October 2018). Bratmann, S., 2014. What is orthorexia? http://www.orthorexia.com/what-is-orthorexia/. (Accessed 24 January 2018). Bundeszentrale f€ ur Ern€ahrung, 2018. Laktosefreie Lebensmittel -Wer braucht sie wirklich? https://www. bzfe.de/inhalt/laktosefreie-lebensmittel-563.html. (Accessed 13 November 2018). Clark, M.J., Slavin, J.L., 2013. The effect of fiber on satiety and food intake: a systematic review. J. Am. Coll. Nutr. 32 (3), 200–211. Costanzo, S., Di Castelnuovo, A., Donati, M.B., Iacoviello, L., de Gaetano, G., 2011. Wine, beer or spirit drinking in relation to fatal and non-fatal cardiovascular events: a meta-analysis. Eur. J. Epidemiol. 2 (11), 833–850. € Deutsche Gesellschaft f€ ur Plastische, 2010. Rekonstruktive und Asthetische Chirurgie. https://www.dgpraec. de/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/2010-04-27_Grillen_Paulinchen.pdf. (Accessed 25 November 2018). Djuric, Z., Powell, L.C., 2001. Antioxidant capacity of lycopene-containing foods. Int. J. Food Sci. Nutr. 52, 143–148. Enattah, N.S., 2002. Identification of a variant associated with adult-type hypolactasia. Nat. Genet. 30 (2), 233–237. Food & Hygiene, 2014. Kann «verkohltes» Fleisch Krebsrisiko senken? Behr’s Verlag, Hamburg, pp. 18–19 (7). Gassmann, F., 2013. Polycyclische aromatische Kohlenwasserstoffe (PAK) in Gegrilltem – Untersuchungsergebnisse 2012. https://www.lgl.bayern.de/lebensmittel/chemie/kontaminanten/pak/ue_2012_pak_ gegrilltes.htm. (Accessed 25 November 2018). Jirku, K., 2014. Grillen: Viel besser als sein Ruf. https://www.derstandard.de/story/2000003432474/ grillen-viel-besser-als-sein-ruf. (Accessed 23 November 2017). K€arkk€aiinen, U., Mustelin, L., Raevuori, A., Kaprio, J., Keski-Rahkonen, A., 2018. Successful weight maintainers among young adults – a ten-year prospective population study. Eat. Behav. 29, 91–98. Luchansky, J.B., Porto-Fett, A.C., Shoyer, B.A., Call, J.E., Schlosser, W., Shaw, W., Bauer, N., Latimer, H., 2011. Inactivation of Shiga toxin-producing O157:H7 and non-O157:H7 Shiga toxinproducing Escherichia coli in brine-injected, gas grilles steaks. J. Food Prot. 74 (7), 1054–1064. Mann, N., 2008. How over vegan diet made us ill. The Independent 16 June 2008. http://www. independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/healthy-living/how-our-vegan-diet-made-us-ill848322.html. (Accessed 1 September 2018). Marinello, 2018. Spargel aus der Schweiz. http://www.marinello.ch/produkte/fruechte-und-gemueseauswahl/spargel-aus-der-schweiz.html. (Accessed 29 January 2018). Neafsey, E.J., Collins, M.A., 2011. Moderate alcoholic consumption and cognitive risk. Neuropsychiatr. Dis. Treat. 7 (1), 465–484. Ozment, S., 2005. A Mighty Fortress: A New History of the German People. Harper Perennial, p. 316. Paoli, A., 2014. Ketogenic diet for obesity: friend or foe? Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 11 (2), 2092–2107. PubChem Open Chemestry Database, 2018. Allicin. https://pubchem.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/compound/ 65036#section¼Top. (Accessed 13 November 2018). Rohrmann, S., et al., 2009. Heterocyclic aromatic amine intake increases colorectal adenoma risk: findings from a prospective European cohort study. Am. J. Clin. Nutr. 89, 1418–1424. R€ omer, G., 2012. Anthocyan. DocCheck Flexikon. https://flexikon.doccheck.com/de/Anthocyan. (Accessed 13 November 2018). € Schuppan, D., Zimmer, K.P., 2013. The diagnosis and treatment of celiac disease. Deutsches Arzteblatt 110 (49), 836. Stahl, M., 2018. Adipositas – Pandemie: Abkl€arung und Therapiem€ oglichkeiten. Allgemeine Innere Medizin Refresher Congress Centern Basel. 2 February 2018.

Common nutrition and health issues

Statista, 2016. Erntemenge der f€ uhrenden Anbaul€ander von Spargel weltweit im Jahr 2014 (in Tonnen). https://de.statista.com/statistik/daten/studie/223466/umfrage/top-10-produzenten-von-spargelweltweit/. (Accessed 29 January 2018). Szalay, J., 2018. What are carotenoids? https://www.livescience.com/52487-carotenoids.html. (Accessed 12 November 2018). Tikkanen, L.M., Latva-Kala, K.J., Heini€ o, R.L., 1996. Effect of commercial marinades of the mutagenic activity, sensory quality and amount of heterocyclic amines in chicken grilled under different conditions. Food Chem. Toxicol. 34 (8), 725–730. Viegas, O., Yebra-Pimentel, I., Elena Martı´nez-Carballo, E., Simal-Gandara, J., Ferreira, I.M.P.L.V.O., 2014. Effect of beer marinades on formation of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in charcoal-grilled pork. J. Agric. Food Chem. 62 (12), 2638–2643. Wolfram, G., Bechthold, A., Boeing, H., Ellinger, S., Hauner, H., Kroke, A., Leschik-Bonnet, E., Linseisen, J., Lorkowski, S., Schulze, M., Stehle, P., Dinter, J., 2015. Evidence-based guideline of the German Nutrition Society: fat intake and prevention of selected nutrition-related diseases. Ann. Nutr. Metab. 67, 141–204. Yao, J., Zhang, B., Ge, C., Peng, S., Fang, J., 2015. Xanthohumol, a polyphenol chalcone present in hops, activating Nrf2 enzymes to confer protection against oxidative damage in PC12 cells. J. Agric. Food Chem. 63 (5), 1521–1531. Zittlau, J., 2014. Gerade verkohltes Fleisch kann Krebsrisiko senken. https://www.welt.de/gesundheit/ article129137548/Gerade-verkohltes-Fleisch-kann-Krebsrisiko-senken.html. (Accessed 23 November 2017).

171

CHAPTER 9

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production Sergiy Smetanaa, Bernadette Oehenb, Shashank Goyala,c, Volker Heinza a German Institute of Food Technologies (DIL e.V.), Quakenbr€ uck, Germany Department of Socio-Economic Sciences, Research Institute of Organic Agriculture—FiBL, Frick, Switzerland c EURA AG, Erfurt, Germany b

Contents Introduction Historical overview: Culture and traditions as a factor for the food production systems Development of agriculture as a function of natural agricultural landscape Typical foods and food systems and environmental impact Food preservation, shelf-life and environment High temperature preservation Low temperature preservation Food additives Food preservation through water amount control Modern nutritional conditions and environmental impact Summary: Open questions and outlook The recent challenges for sustainable food production Gaps remain in product-related LCA comparisons Gaps remain in national oriented systems of environmental impact Outlook References Further reading

173 176 178 179 182 184 184 185 186 187 192 192 194 194 195 195 200

Introduction Food production in its holistic system representation is one of human activities driving environmental impacts associated with climate change, loss of biodiversity and alteration of the nitrogen cycle. Food required for the growing population is one of the causes of exceeding limits of growth (Meadows et al., 1972) or planetary boundaries (Rockstr€ om et al., 2009), considerably influencing all the spheres of environment. Food production and consumption is responsible for high impacts in climate change through emission of greenhouse gases (GHG) accounting for around 15–28% of the overall human induced emissions (Garnett, 2011; Vermeulen et al., 2012). Agri-food activities are also the biggest single land user on the planet, as they are using more than 34% of the global land area, Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00010-X

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

173

174

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

excluding Antarctica and Greenland (Ramankutty et al., 2008; Foley et al., 2011). The occupation of land is leading to high impact on natural landscapes and their transformation into agricultural and industrial areas (land use change), which accelerates biodiversity loss to 100–1000 times higher than natural level, leading to dangerous potential consequences (Rockstr€ om et al., 2009). Agricultural activities also account for enormous recirculation of nitrogen in anthropic systems, which is already much higher than combined effects of all Earth’s terrestrial processes (Rockstr€ om et al., 2009). For the last half century, the intensity of nitrogen cycles increased eight-fold (Lassaletta et al., 2014). The hydrosphere is also being highly influenced by heavy use (up to 70%) of freshwater for irrigation and high levels of water pollution (FAO, 2012; Brauman et al., 2016). The listed problems represent just a minor excerpt of existing issues rather than an exhaustive list. Complete image of agri-food system is much more complex and interlinked with socio-economic, nutritional, ethical, cultural, political and other elements (Fig. 1), which can be properly assessed and analyzed only with a holistic approach, which accounts for a diversity of elements and complexity of interactions. Holistic approaches are probably the only way to account and avoid potential negative rebound effects, when potentially positive solutions result in higher unexpected changes in the system. The complexity of the agri-food production-consumption system is calling for needs to include system solutions leading to system transformations or transitions. It is well acknowledged that single technical and technological solutions by themselves do not lead to a more sustainable state of the system, and a “flow” of push and pull solutions is required to transfer the conventional agri-food system into a more sustainable condition (Markard et al., 2012). In order to shift a complex system, a number of solutions should be applied in multiple domains: (1) the adoption of sustainable primary production methods, (2) changes in diets composition, reducing the intake of animal-origin foods and (3) a decrease of the amount of food that is lost and wasted within the supply chain (De Laurentiis et al., 2016; Foley et al., 2011). Alternative food production-consumption systems, which rely on a more traditional way of agri-food production such as community supported agriculture, local food processing, and distribution directly from farms have gained popularity in the last decades (Nemecek et al., 2016). These systems have proven to offer better resource efficiency in some cases (Markussen et al., 2014; Schramski et al., 2013) and were also proposed as solutions to reduce food waste (Caputo et al., 2014). Despite of these positive characteristics, such “traditional” systems are often less efficient than industrial large-scale production and processing systems in terms of resource usage, which in many cases leads to higher environmental impact (Kulak et al., 2015; Meier et al., 2015). This chapter will provide an overview of the causes for the evolution of “traditional” and modern agri-food systems in Western countries and reflect on the environmental impact of such system variations. It will deal with a variety of “beliefs” associated with sustainability efficiency and factual influences of agri-food system components on the environment, as well as their connection with other components of more complex social system.

Fig. 1 Complexity of food systems. (Courtesy of ShiftN.)

176

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Historical overview: Culture and traditions as a factor for the food production systems European cuisine is rich in regional specialties and dishes. The cuisine reflects the environmental conditions (e.g. soil, precipitation, temperature) and linked agricultural production, culture, religion, knowledge in processing and storage as well as the history of the region. The most famous diet in Europe is probably the “Mediterranean diet,” which developed over the past 5000 years in the Mediterranean regions and became known for its presumed positive effect on health. But also in Western Europe—Ireland, United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, France and Germany—heterogeneous environments, history and cultures shaped dietary behavior and food preferences. The environmental heterogeneity is, for example, reflected in the diversity of bread in Europe: French baguette, Italian “Ciabatta,” rye bread in Germany, Belgium and the Baltic states, “Bara Brith” in Ireland and “Zopfbrot” in Switzerland. Today, as a result of the individual history of the countries and regions as well as contemporary tourism and migration within and between continents, food recipes and ingredients have spread worldwide. European citizens are familiar with typical food from outside Europe, e.g. sushi from Japan, tacos from Mexico, kebab from Turkey, and curry from India. Slimani et al. (2002) describe specific dietary patterns of almost 40’000 men and women in centers of 10 European countries. In brief, Italy and Greece showed a dietary pattern characterized by plant foods (except potatoes) and lower consumption of animal and processed foods, compared with the other countries in the study. For France and Spain, more complex dietary patterns have been found with similar shares in the consumption of plant foods and animal products. In contrast, the diet in Nordic countries, The Netherlands, Germany and the United Kingdom is relatively high in potatoes and animal products, as well as processed and sweetened/refined foods. In these countries, consumption of legumes and vegetable oils is low. Moreover, Slimani et al. (2002) found in their study, that in the last 30–40 years, substantial changes in diet have been observed in both northern European and Mediterranean countries, reducing the differences traditionally existing between European dietary patterns. The authors describe a shift towards diets with a higher share of animal-based products, i.e. meat, eggs, milk and dairy products. In parallel, the consumption of cereals and potatoes decreased. Also Westhoek et al. (2011) describe European diets in general as relatively resource demanding, mainly because the intake of animal proteins is high, compared to the average global intake. Investigating dietary patterns is one way to look at food consumption in Europe. In this chapter, we will focus on typical dishes for European regions, in other terms, traditional foods. The challenging thing in this perspective is that traditional food is a fuzzy concept. From a consumer perspective, there is no clear distinction between traditional

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production

food, local dietary patterns or typical dishes. What is probably relevant is whether the ingredients for the production of these foods and dishes actually come from the typical or traditional regions. Currently, the EU offers several options to register food products (EC, 2018a,b). As already explained in Chapters 11 and 12 of this book, protected designation of origin—PDOs guarantee that the product is from a specific region and follows a traditional production process, while protected geographical indication—PGI emphasizes the relationship between the specific geographic region and the product, where a particular quality, reputation, or other characteristic is mainly attributable to its geographical origin. Traditional specialty guaranteed (TSG) highlights the traditional aspects such as the way the product is made or its composition, without being linked to a specific geographical area (EC, 2018a,b). However, what are consumers’ expectations of traditional foods? Guerrero et al. (2009) asked consumers in six European countries, what traditional food means to them. The authors found that across Europe, traditional food is differently perceived by consumers. Based on this study, Kristbergsson and Oliveira (2016) came up with four dimensions of traditional food based on consumers’ perspectives. The first dimension of traditional food is “habits and natural”. It refers to food eaten every day or on a regular basis, being part of the daily life and also used for special occasions (Christmas, Easter). Similar to the EU definition, traditional food must be anchored in the past. The second dimension is “origin and locality”, which in traditional food is linked to food origin and cannot be exported or transferred to other regions. The third dimension is “processing and elaboration”. In this context, traditional cuisine, the gastronomic heritage and artisanal character are of great importance. The fourth dimension is “sensory properties”. Sensory characteristics were mentioned as one of the simplest and easiest ways to recognize and identify the authenticity and traditional character of a food product. By using these four dimensions, the authors were able to find differences between European countries. Kristbergsson and Oliveira (2016) concluded that traditional food benefits from an overall favorable image. Their analysis demonstrated, that from a consumer perspective traditional food is not linked to the terms “environmentally friendly” or “sustainable agricultural production and processing”. Such food is connected to networks engaged in local food production and short supply chains (Cucco and Fonte, 2015). Studies show that consumers are more and more interested in regional food, which does not necessarily mean traditional food or crop varieties (Oehen and Meier, 2018). Probably, consumers perceive regional food from local production as environmentally friendly, or they wish to support the local economy. Other people prefer local food as an opposition to globalization and industrialization of the food sector (Winter, 2004). Westhoek et al. (2015) defined the term “traditional” in the context of food systems. According to the authors, food systems around the globe can be categorized as “modern”

177

178

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

and “traditional” food systems and the European food system can be characterized as “modern” food system. Modern food systems are characterized by long, strongly consolidated supply chains, specialized, market-oriented farmers and fishermen and an abundance of processed food. Food is typically bought in supermarkets, or out-of-home (restaurants, food service and catering). “Traditional” food systems have relatively short supply chains, with several activities (producing, processing and trading) concentrated at the farm, leading to a situation, where farmers and fishermen are simultaneously producers, processor and trader of their produce. Looking back at the history of agricultural production in Europe could provide some context information to understand the concept of traditional food and food systems in Europe.

Development of agriculture as a function of natural agricultural landscape In the last 200 years, the regions in Ireland, United Kingdom, the Netherland, Belgium, Switzerland, France and Germany have undergone dramatic changes in agricultural production and food consumption. Climate variations (small ice age), limited knowledge about storage and processing of food, epidemics and wars, which made agricultural production and trade difficult, lead to inadequate food supplies. Hunger was a regular experience and dearth and famine affected citizens several times across Europe. These experiences raised awareness for agronomy and food production among scholars, but also among the citizens and politicians. In that time, farmers learned to plant clover grass to feed livestock and use the manure to fertilize arable land (Hirschfelder, 2017). These ideas were first developed in the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Germany. An additional driver for the growing interest in agri-food production was economy. Several times in the European history, wars led to sea blockades, cutting Europe off from supplies from their overseas territories. This guaranteed European farmers and traders high cereal prices and led to an expansion of the areas under cultivation including the privatization of the commons. However, when the blockades ended, prices for agricultural products dropped again. A particular case of food shortage took place from 1815 to 1817. It started with the Tambora eruption in 1815 and led to a decline in agricultural production in the United States and some regions in Europe, e.g. Alsace, Switzerland, Baden-W€ urttemberg, Bavaria, Britain and Ireland. High prices, malnutrition and disease, caused numerous deaths and contributed to migration, unrest and political and social changes in France, Bavaria and Switzerland (Br€ onnimann and Kr€amer, 2016). Br€ onnimann and Kr€amer (2016) mention, that the Tambora crisis affected Regions differently. Regions with low population density and diverse farming systems mainly for self-supply were more robust compared to more developed regions with

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production

a higher degree of industrialization and laborers depending on food supply. Looking back, the “Year without Summer” shows, how hunger can be a consequence of political causes. While some governments bought grain abroad at an early stage in order to lower prices for citizens, others lacked the political will to use all available means to prevent hunger. After new famines linked to World War I and II, agricultural policy focused on increased yields based on the use of pesticides (herbicides, fungicides, insecticides), mineral fertilizers produced with the new Haber-Bosch process, rise of livestock and plant breeding, as well as farm specialization and mechanization. Supported by policy and in contrast to traditional diets in some regions, food of animal origin began dominating the diet of the general population. Food of animal origin is an excellent source of protein and contains essential vitamins and trace elements as well, especially important for children and young adults. Furthermore, animals in agricultural production allowed converting permanent and temporary grassland into food and manure as well as recycling food waste and by-products. Today’s industrial meat and dairy production devours one third of the global cereal production. The history of European food production illustrates that farmers and the linked supply chains constantly adapted to changing environmental, social, political and economic surroundings. Hence, in some cases, traditional food might not be that old and traditional dishes might not be linked exclusively to local production, as food was also traded. One example is the dish “Riis u poor” (Rice and Leek) from canton Uri, Switzerland. In the region, rice was not produced. Farmers encountered rice, when they drove their cattle to the markets in northern Italy, while leek was produced in their house gardens. Therefore, such a dish indicates an example of traditional food formation through traditional behavior acquired from regional and transregional sources via trading activities. Fighting hunger was the main topic in agricultural food production and framed food policies of the young governments in Europe. Crop yields per hectare are generally high in the EU, especially in North Western Europe, crop yields are generally close to the current attainable maximum (Mueller et al., 2012). Together with the development of food processing industries, nourishing the growing population in Europe was achievable. Today, food production and processing depends strongly on all kinds of inputs, technology, and knowledge and only a small share of European citizens are involved in farming and have access to land. As shown several times in European history, the high dependency on external inputs is critical in times of unrest and wars.

Typical foods and food systems and environmental impact Food is one of the essential components of human lives. Human live, societal interactions, cultural traditions, economic advances or even wars are not possible without food. It is a basic human need and yet causing multiple iterations for interpretations and

179

180

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

analyses. Food is involved in all human activities and supporting life from the beginning (birth) to the end. Needs in food can be accounted in nutritional requirements and in more complex systems connected with culinary traditions of food consumption. The complexity of food consumption in typical or traditional food systems is associated with a great diversity of cooking and serving rituals. However, such rituals play a minor role when environmental impact is estimated. Environmental impact of food requires a holistic approach when food production, processing and consumption is foreseen as a system. System or life cycle perspective defines a few main stages or elements of food chains. The agricultural stage of the food system is the most important from environmental perspective. This stage is responsible for the high environmental impacts globally (Fig. 2) and for most of the food products. Moreover, this is the stage mainly defining how traditional or modern a food system is. In many cases and for a few important impact domains “traditional” practices of agriculture are less resource efficient than modern industrial technologies (Seufert and Ramankutty, 2017; Muller et al., 2017). As the agricultural stage defines the environmental impact of food to a larger extent, this stage is also having a large influence on the impact of the whole life-cycle of food. Food processing is usually acknowledged as a less impacting stage and most authors set food processing in the scope of 5–16% of overall impact for most products (Meier and Christen, 2012; Meier, 2015). However, more traditional, family based, processing practices could have a higher environmental impact than comparable industrially set practices. At the same time, some authors indicate that selection of processing can be influential for other parts of the food chain and can result in substantial changes of environmental

Fig. 2 Contribution of global agriculture to greenhouse gas emissions, including emissions derived from land use changes. (Adapted from Bellarby, J., Foereid, B., Hastings, A., 2008. Cool farming: climate impacts of agriculture and mitigation potential.)

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production

impacts (Aganovic et al., 2017). Food processing is also responsible for the final nutrient composition and physical structures in food. Some foods like meat and potato processing is responsible for high impact associated with the need to allocate part of the biomass as “waste” (slaughterhouse waste, potato peels). Despite a common believe in society, high levels of processing of food (so called “overprocessed” food) is not aiming to supply antinutrients (components interfering with nutritional components in food and diminishing their nutritional value) for consumers. Today it is believed that “overprocessed” meat is supplying carcinogens, bread is delivering gluten, and processed vegetables are full of phytic acid, oxalates and lectins. But modern processing is aimed to mimic traditional way of processing and such foods are usually characterized by a higher bioavailability of nutrients (Hotz and Gibson, 2007). However, a positive potential of supplying consumers with higher amounts of nutrients results in negative consequences when people overconsume such foods. Therefore, processing of food might lead to increased rates of nutrients supply to population, which in current conditions does not require such rates of nutrients supply (more detailed description following). This turns society to diets, that provide less nutrients or require the organism to spend more energy on digestion. Traditional foods are also commonly misbelieved to be more efficient because of shorter transport routes (Edwards-Jones et al., 2008). “Traditional” food systems in these cases are conjoined with local food production systems. As mentioned earlier, many consumers are sensitive to the origin of the food they consume. They often give preference to food produced “locally” or “regionally.” Such approach is seen as supportive for local or regional economies, preservation of “traditional” and cultural value and preservation of the environment. “Local,” “regional” or “domestic” production is therefore considered to be preferable due to a lower amount of “food miles”. Short distances indeed can play a certain role in lowering environmental impact of vegetable and fruit products (Robertson et al., 2014; Stoessel et al., 2012), but for most foods the difference in environmental impact of food products originating from a “globalized” food production system and those from a “local” one would be minimal or insignificant (Edwards-Jones et al., 2008; Coley et al., 2009; Mundler and Rumpus, 2012). Means of transportation play a significant role in the food system. There is a sustainability order of transportation generally accepted among sustainability experts and supported by multiple studies addressing their respective environmental impact. These are, from lower to higher (transportation of one tonne for one km or tkm): ship–rail–road–airfreight (Nemecek et al., 2016). Taking this into consideration, delivery of one tonne raw material from another continent with a ship might have a similar impact on the environment as a truck delivery from surrounding cities. Absence of significant differences between transportation distances is explained by variations in means and modes of transportation, efficiencies of modern logistic systems and usually less efficient local transportation systems (Coley et al., 2009; Mundler and

181

182

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Rumpus, 2012). Therefore, use of local transportation system as a main argumentation for lower environmental impact of traditional food is not supported by facts. Food packaging is also considered to have a high impact on the environment, as around 30% of municipal wastes is allocated to packaging material (Marsh and Bugusu, 2007). However, in most cases modern packaging is light-weight and relatively high environmental impact of packaging is related to a few types of food, which require high weight packaging associated with high use of resources for the production (e.g. glass bottles). For example, packaging is very important for beverages, canned foods and small-pouch products (Hospido et al., 2005; Caldero´n et al., 2010). For other food products, it is often neglectable. However, most of the studies do not include the potential impact of packaging on the environment if it was released “as it is” and not treated. Life cycle assessment usually includes the need for “end of life of product,” when wasted food or food packaging is treated with relevant technologies. Variation in packaging materials (e.g. plastic vs paper) is very extensively studied and presented in numerous publications (Marsh and Bugusu, 2007), indicating that application of paper packaging versus plastic is not the best strategy, in terms of sustainability. Traditional foods are often positioned as being “healthier” for people and the environment by choosing a paper over plastic packaging. Such choices are not more environmentally friendly due to the production of packaging but might have a positive effect if the “discharge” into the environment is considered. A short analysis of food environmental impact does not allow for the indication of benefits or limitations of traditional foods. However, one of the outcomes should be the selection of more environmentally friendly products in association to the agricultural stage of production. The same type of food produced with similar agricultural systems but with variations in geographical areas and types of harvesting might result in great result variations.

Food preservation, shelf-life and environment Food preservation plays a dual role, when considered in relation to the environmental impact. From one side food preservation allows for the longer storage of food (thus potentially reducing the environmental impact), but on the other hand allows for longer transportation routes, which may level the benefits of longer storages. However, the first and the most important function of food preservation is in safety of biomass for human consumption. Reduction of negative potential consequences related to human health is indicating the considerable environmental and sustainable benefit of food preservation methods. Food preservation incorporates different actions to keep desired properties of food for extended periods of time. Depending on the part of the agri-food chain the role of preservation varies from crop protection and complete harvesting to the reduction of

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production

microbial load of ready-to-eat packaged foods. While food losses at the beginning of supply chains are well targeted and limited in Western countries, assurance of food safety and reduction of food wastes at consumer stage remains a great problem (Hebrok and Boks, 2017; Stenmarck et al., 2016). Processing of food biomass with different technologies is becoming vital. It is important, therefore, to determine the characteristics of food that needs to be preserved. Such characteristics are defined by the safety needs (microbial and chemical safety), physical parameters (cutting and biting properties, hardness, crispness, smoothness, etc.) and consumer attitude (clearance or cloudiness of juices, homogenization of emulsions, meat color, etc.). Even a few characteristics mentioned above indicate the complexity of the question when it comes to the assessment of food production systems. The main component of food is biomass, which is deteriorative and decaying by nature. Some foods have shorter storage life while others have longer under the same conditions. There are several causes for the spoilage of food, which refer to microbial, chemical, physical and mechanical effects. Few examples of each cause are: physical damage—bruising, cracking, compacting, shrinking, phase change, mechanical separation, etc.; chemical damage—oxidation and rancidity, reduction, acidification, etc.; microbial damage—toxin production, bacterial growth, infestation, etc. Food preservation is the key to control food properties and to ensure proper delivery of nutrients. Moreover, food processing assuring safety of food consumption more and more acts as a driver for product innovation (Chen and Rosenthal, 2009). The main reasons of food preservation application are connected to the need of dealing with limitation of inefficient agricultural planning, production of value-added products, and the provision of variation in diets with enhanced life of product (Rahman, 1999). The agricultural sector produces raw materials, applicable for different industries. Currently agricultural practices are the same for growing crops, intended for food or feed applications. Food preservation then acts in supply chains as quality enhancing technology, providing added-value for agricultural products, thus increasing the bioavailability of nutrients. Consumers are also a driver of food preservation, as they demand healthier, more diverse and more convenient foods. Among these factors, dietary variation is important for underdeveloped countries to relieve the stress on specific grain types (Rahman, 2007) and fulfill the needs in diverse foods according to the health requirements (Wahlqvist, 2003). For developed countries, on the other hand, diversification of food products is leading to an unnecessary diversity of foods, and often to increased levels of food waste at retail and consumer levels (G€ obel et al., 2015). The search for diversification and fulfillment of taste is leading to the increased environmental impact also due to the increased transportation rates of seasonal products. Hence, non-seasonal foods can be found all year and at places where they are not grown. Food preservation techniques are also playing a crucial role in enabling fulfillment of current needs of consumers.

183

184

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

High temperature preservation The application of high temperature for food preservation inactivates most microorganisms responsible for spoilage. The most common application of high temperature treatment relates to the processes of blanching, pasteurization and canning. Blanching is the process in which food products are exposed to hot water or steam. It helps in the reduction of microbial load, but the main purpose of blanching is to inactivate enzymes responsible for degradation and breakdown of nutrients (Xiao et al., 2017). Pasteurization and flash pasteurization or HTST (high-temperature short-time) are nowadays used for many liquid food products. Pasteurization is heating of food at temperature range of 62 to 90 °C for a duration that varies from seconds to minutes. Due to application of heat, minor changes occur in the nutritional quality of food and its sensory characteristics (Ramesh, 1999). There are non-thermal techniques also which are used to pasteurize foods such as high-pressure processing (HPP) and pulsed electric field (PEF) (Fellows, 2017). Pasteurization at high temperatures and short time can lead to lower changes of sensory characteristics or nutritional values, compared to extended pasteurization times. Basically, canning is a process of packaging food in an air-tight container and then subjecting the container to a thermal process, leading to food sterilization. Canning results in food products sealed in containers suitable for storing at room temperature while maintaining the food safety for a long time. The basic principle of canning is killing microorganisms in the food using heat, with further sealing of the containers to separate it from microorganisms in the environment.

Low temperature preservation Low temperature close or below freezing point reduces the rate of metabolic and chemical reactions in biomass. Microbial growth slows down because micro-organisms are enzyme-catalyzed, and they depend on temperature for their growth. Low temperature preservation has as mild effect on the nutritional quality of food but there could be a change in sensory properties. Freezing and subsequent thawing changes the texture of the food, which is not favorable for food industry. Freezing is a way of low temperature preservation, which can be applied in several various techniques. Plate freezing relies on food sandwiched between plates which offer minimal resistance to heat transfer. The use of plates for food freezing is efficient, but at the same time has limitation due to the need of direct physical contact of processing equipment to the food. Direct physical contact of “freezing element” is posing challenges in terms of increased risk of contamination, changes of food or packaging properties due to the mechanical stress. Another direct contact technology—fluid bed freezing is intended to the reduction of boundary layer (sometimes disposable plastic films) between food and air-permeable mesh belt in a freezing tunnel, when food is transported through high

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production

velocity cold air, oriented upwards through the mesh belt which results in efficient freezing process. Blast freezing (both direct and indirect contact method) relies on the active circulation of cold air in a place where food is kept. Generally, it takes longer for food to freeze. Long exposure of food to dry freezing air often results in “freezer burning” on the food surface. It can, however, be avoided using a glaze of water on the surface of the food. Immersion and cryogenic freezing are usually applied for high value products, which might not be affected by the absorption of immersion media. This direct freezing method involves usage of liquid nitrogen, or mixtures of water with non-toxic salts, sugar, or alcohol as freezing media, in which food products are immersed. This results in quick freezing rate, while maintaining the quality of the food product even after thawing. Lowering the temperature is a common practice used in food industry to dry products, while retaining their characteristic properties (eliminate protein denaturation, Millard reaction etc.). Freeze drying is a process in which water is sublimated to accomplish the dehydration of food. Sublimation is the process in which solid phase is converted to gas phase without surpassing the liquid state (Sancho-Madriz, 2003). Freeze-dried foods exhibit superior sensory and nutritive qualities when compared with products dehydrated by other methods. This method can be used to dehydrate high-value solid and liquid foods such as shrimp, strawberries, coffee, and juices, and it is also used by the pharmaceutical industry. Similar freezing processes can be used for drying of liquidized biomass. Spray freeze drying involves a solution being atomized into droplets, solidifying on contact with cold liquid, and sublimating at low temperature and pressure (Ishwarya et al., 2015). The applications of spray freeze drying fall into three major categories: (1) encapsulation of active compounds sensitive to the surrounding atmosphere, (2) drying of pharmaceutical products and (3) drying of high value foods.

Food additives Food preservation using food additives refers to the involvement of antimicrobial agents to slow down the growth of micro-organisms in food and application of antioxidants to avoid the deterioration of fats and oils. Some additives such as vinegar (for pickling), salt or sulfur dioxide (for wines) have been used for centuries. Food additives have multiple effects and are applied in various proportions (for instance, salt is a preservation agent, but it also changes the flavor). Many food additives exist naturally, are synthetic replicas of naturally occurring substances or completely artificial. There are a number of additives used in food industry including antioxidants, acids, salts, emulsifiers, coloring agents, minerals, vitamins, sweeteners etc. There are different specific purposes of application for different additives (emulsifier to give homogeneity, stabilizers and gelling agents to give viscosity).

185

186

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Adding salt or sugar to food is an old food preservation method. On adding salt or sugar, water moves from inside the cell to the outside solutes via osmosis, causing dehydration of the cell, this is known as plasmolysis, which inhibits the growth of microorganisms. Sugaring and salting have an important role in lowering the water activity of foods. Curing, along with preservation, changes the flavor, tenderness and color of food products. With the introduction of advanced preservation techniques, the main objective of curing is to give a unique taste to a given food (Sancho-Madriz, 2003). Smoking is also a traditional way of preservation, which is now generally used for fish and meats. The smoke is obtained by burning a type of a wood, containing formaldehyde and phenolic compounds. These compounds have antimicrobial properties which preserve the food and the application of heat dries up the food product. Smoking is preferred more for its unique flavor introduction, rather than preserving quality.

Food preservation through water amount control Water content in the food could be controlled either by physically removing water from foods or by decreasing the water activity. Reduction of water activity prevents microbial growth and toxin production by molds and bacteria. It also prevents germination of spores in food. Commonly used solutes are sucrose and sodium chloride. However, other salts might also be used (sodium tripolyphosphate and sodium nitrite) for specific purposes according to their functionality. Solutes are used most commonly in liquid form but for some cases foods are directly exposed to dry solutes. In case the food is placed directly in contact with dry solute, the surface moisture of the food helps to dissolute and forms a saturated solution. Solute preservation is applied to several traditional products. Brine solutions are injected to bulk products (such as meats) to reduce time taken for salt solution to penetrate. Physical removal of water from food is relying on application of changed temperature and pressure to achieve efficient evaporation. Higher temperatures without pressure changes result in evaporation of water through the surface of a product (air drying). Heat applied at reduced pressure cause sublimation of water and more efficient water removal (freeze drying). There are many reasons for the importance of food processing. It serves the following purposes to consumers and society: (1) preservation to extend the shelf-life of a food product or beverage; (2) safety in terms of detection and inactivation of any foodborne microorganisms which can cause illness. Not only microbiologically, it ensures the reduction of toxic agents which occasionally cause death (ACS, 1968; Hall, 1977); (3) delivering highest quality which includes texture, aroma, taste, color and nutrient content; (4) continuous availability of seasonally growing food products; (5) sustainable use of resources to ensure the efficient use of water, energy and other resources and minimized impacts on environment; (6) convenience to consumers by limiting the amount of

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production

preparation efforts, e.g., frozen foods; and (7) ensuring health and wellness of consumers by producing “functional foods” which meets the consumers’ expectations in terms of ingredients in a food product (Floros et al., 2010). The relation between extended shelf-life and food waste reduction is not straightforward. Consumption patterns (Plumb et al., 2013; European Commission, 2010; Katsarova, 2014; Gjerris and Gaiani, 2013; Grunert et al., 2014) in combination with complex food supply chains (Vorst et al., 2005; Donk et al., 2007; Donselaar et al., 2006; Verdouw and Wolfert, 2010; Christopher et al., 2009; Taylor and Fearne, 2009; Gedenk et al., 2010; Roth et al., 2008), imply that extension of shelf-life of food products does not ensure their consumption before they reach “best before” date. Another aspect is the demand for “fresh products” which may result in perception of processed products to be less fresh (Amani and Gadde, 2015). However, the concept of “freshness” is not scientifically substantial. Therefore, traditional food production is supported by several food processing technologies, which can ensure the efficiency of microbial load reduction and improvement of nutrients availability.

Modern nutritional conditions and environmental impact There are quite a few studies published recently, analyzing the nutritional quality of crops and foods in modern diet of population in Western countries. Based on evidences from extensive field studies of crops (Loladze, 2002, 2014; H€ ogy and Fangmeier, 2008; Taub et al., 2008), literature reviews on nutritional properties of foods available in supermarkets (Walker et al., 2010) indicate the overall decline in microelement richness and nutritional diversity. Modern population is getting more and more exposed to higher calorific density in foods, but reduced availability of multiple macro and micronutrients. This might lead to health problems associated to non-communicable diseases (Eyles et al., 2012). Therefore, future food systems should, more than ever before, concentrate not only on sustainable supply of foods to feed the increasing population, but also on doing it with increased attention on balanced nutrition. Meat production and consumption, and associated impact on the environment, is one of the most popularly discussed topics in sustainable food systems (Herrero and Thornton, 2013; Steinfeld et al., 2006). Some countries establish policies aiming for the reduction of meat consumption (Kromhout et al., 2016), many non-governmental groups evolve promoting more vegetarian life styles. However, such efforts do not seem to result in reduction of meat consumption (Fig. 3). World and regional consumption rates of meat continue to grow. Humans’ love towards meat products is associated with unique beneficial nutritional properties. Meat and meat products are essential components of our diet, they contain necessary nutrients for human development and functioning like proteins, fat, fatty acids,

187

188

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Fig. 3 Meat production rates in absolute numbers per region (A) and livestock type (B). Mt—megatonne, total meat production in dressed carcass weight, excluding offal and slaughter fats; includes cattle, poultry, sheep/mutton, goatmeat, pork and wild game. Figures are based on data from UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and adapted from ourworldindata.org/ meat-and-seafood-production-consumption.

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production

cholesterol, sodium, nitrite, vitamins, which can have both positive and negative effect on health. However, the role of meat can only be fully understood by determining the amount of these nutrients in meat in proportion to other foods, i.e. considering the elements in our diet all together ( Jimenez-Colmenero et al., 2001). Further processing of meat results in changes of nutrients, which in most cases lead to the improvement of their bioavailability. Initial varieties of meat biomass multiplied by a few main processing techniques resulted in enormous diversity of meat dishes. There are more than 200 types of cooked meat dishes that are protected as traditional specialty or with specific geographical origin in the European Union.a Nutritional properties of meat dishes come at a price. The biggest environmental impacts in meat production are coming from agricultural stage (Nijdam et al., 2012; Smetana et al., 2015a,b), while further processing and transportation is playing a minor role. Another crucial point for environmental impact relates to consumer stage. Consumers tend to cook quite inefficiently, using a lot of energy, water and, at the end, waste a lot of food. Traditional food cuisine practices, relying on the use of meat as component in dishes, would consequently be responsible for high environmental impacts. Fish is another type of animal-based biomass and a valuable source of proteins and oils. Currently, fish products are supplying more than 140 million tons of biomass (FAO, 2016). Similar to meat, the highest environmental impacts are associated with fish feed (for farmed fish) (Pelletier et al., 2009) and fish catching and processing in case of wild fish (Aubin, 2013). However, fish is considered a less impacting source of proteins comparing to most meat products and being the same impact level as chicken or pork (Ellingsen and Aanondsen, 2006; Nijdam et al., 2012). Plant based biomass is considered by scientific literature as a very environmentally friendly source of food (Nijdam et al., 2012; Smetana et al., 2018a,b). And indeed, most of the vegetables, legumes, fruits and grains have relatively low environmental impact (Fig. 4). However, separate types of plant biomass can be responsible for high water footprint (fruits, nuts, rice). Moreover, plant biomass relates to challenges to deliver all necessary nutrients for humans. Digestibility of plant tissues is more challenging and does not deliver some essential amino acids and microelements (vitamins B12, D3, docosahexaenoic acid, heme-iron, carnosine). While digestibility issues can be improved by cooking, certain nutrients should be supplemented either with other food sources (animal origin) or with additives. Plants on the other hand are an excellent source of fibers, necessary for proper functioning of gut and gut microbiome. Proper functioning of human organisms is a core purpose of food. Despite tremendous developments in assuring balanced nutrition, there are a lot of problems associated with malnutrition (both nutrient deficiencies and overnutrition). There are advanced technologies of food production that are as efficient as never before. Harvesting and a

http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/quality/door/list.html.

189

190

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Fig. 4 Environmental footprint of 1 kg of food consumed (A) carbon footprint in kgCO2 eq.; (B) land use in m2; (C) blue water use in l. (Adapted from Meier, T., Christen, O., 2012. Gender as a factor in an environmental assessment of the consumption of animal and plant-based foods in Germany. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 17(5), 550–564.)

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production

processing agri-food techniques reached high technology readiness levels and can assure the most efficient use of natural resources. Nutrients can be grown, collected and processed for long storage and application with minimal losses along the supply chains. The core problem of inefficient nutrient transfer from agricultural areas to consumption is in concentration of resources in certain regions. Concentration of agri-food production (especially its industrial version) is allocated to agri-food business clusters (Smetana et al., 2017), which provides additional benefits of concentrated production chain in a relatively small area. Increased efficiency of production is leading to final product price reduction, improvements in safety and higher production rates. Easy access to cheap but nutritionally dense foods results in increased (concentrated) consumption and unbalanced impacts on human health. Disbalanced nutrition in its turn triggers problems with overweight and obesity, diabetes, coronary and non-communicable diseases (Misra and Khurana, 2011; Steyn et al., 2004; Formiguera and Canto´n, 2004). Concentration of resources in some regions, on the other hand, results in lack of those in other regions. Such concentration of available nutrients does not correspond to the population distribution, which causes deficiencies or overconcentration problems. On global level, the overconcentration of available nutrients is observed in more developed Western countries, while deficiencies are more common in developing countries. The problem of unbalanced distribution of nutrient production and consumption is further observed on national level as well. Such regional concentration of food production leads not only to overconsumption of nutrients but also to increased environmental impact in those areas. Environmental challenges, associated with concentrated production of food nutrients, are related to air pollution (greenhouse gas emissions such as methane from ruminant enteric fermentation and manure management), land occupation and water pollution (fertilizers and pesticides leakage due to crops growing). Traditional systems of farming, food processing and distribution from the perspective of even resource distribution might be more beneficial, but not always efficient enough when it comes to the assessment of resource consumption in relevance to specific function. It is a big challenge to assess the environmental impact of food (both produced with industrial or traditional systems) due to the controversial direct and indirect impact of food items. There are a few groups of researchers who continuously assess nutritional impacts of food (direct impact) along with their environmental (indirect) impact (Heller et al., 2013; Sonesson et al., 2017; Hallstr€ om et al., 2018; Chaudhary et al., 2018; Stylianou et al., 2016). Both, the quality of food and health condition of the food recipient (consumer) in a great degree define the consumer’s quality of life and the environmental impact of his or her activities (Smetana et al., 2018a,b). Association of environmental impact with human health is one of the most promising approaches to include the properties of food, health state of population or single consumer, and affected parameters of the environment by agri-food production system, healthcare system and consumer life style. The most promising in this domain are approaches combining

191

192

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

nutritional and life cycle environmental impacts on human health using disability adjusted life years (DALYs) as common metric (Stylianou et al., 2016; Fulgoni et al., 2018; Smetana et al., 2018a,b). Both LCA and DALY methodologies are time-based and can represent data in relevance to impact on human health. DALY is a health burden measure, which combines lost or injured years that a person could have lived normally if he or she would not have been exposed to a certain risk of contamination or misconsumption of nutrients (Murray, 1994). A recent study (Fulgoni et al., 2018) indicated the dietary risk components of nine main food groups (milk, nuts and seeds, processed meat, red meat, sugar sweetened beverages (SSB), non-starchy vegetables, legumes, fruits, and whole grains) and seven nutrients (calcium, fiber, seafood omega-3 fatty acids, sodium, trans fatty acids, polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), and saturated fatty acids) (Table 1). Presented results are still rather indicative but they provide a viable approach for further combination with environmental data and personalized nutrition (Smetana et al., 2018a,b). Further research, data collection and methodologies development are required in order to fulfill the needs and to create a viable methodology applicable for the analysis and comparison of food produced and processed by different systems.

Summary: Open questions and outlook The recent challenges for sustainable food production Current food production and consumption are considered unsustainable regarding consumer health, but also at the cost of losing agrobiodiversity and soil fertility and increasing eutrophication, emissions of greenhouse gases, and pollution by pesticides. Multiple problems also exist with proper account for a lot of agri-food processes (especially in processing and food consumption domain). Within the EU, agriculture is the largest contributor of nitrogen pollution. Although nitrogen losses from agriculture have been reduced, still more than half of the river and lake water bodies in Europe are reported to be in less than good ecological status or potential (Westhoek et al., 2015). Scientists have identified nine key processes that regulate the stability and resilience of the global ecosystem. For each process, a safe operating space for humanity was defined. According to their concept, these boundaries should not be transgressed (Rockstr€ om et al. 2009; Steffen et al., 2015). The study showed, that in four of these nine processes, those boundaries have already been crossed as a result of human activity. Three of them are linked to agriculture: • loss of biosphere integrity (i.e. biodiversity), • land-system change, and • altered biogeochemical cycles (phosphorus and nitrogen) (Steffen et al., 2015). Generally said, the pressure mainly comes from agricultural production systems relying on external inputs such as fossil fuel for machinery, water, synthetic pesticides, and

Table 1 Mean intakes of dietary risk factors in the United States as measured in WWEIA/NHANES compared to the Global Burden of Disease theoretical minimum-risk exposures, values represent DALY associated nutritional impacts (higher rates correspond to the higher risk) in correspondence to the minimal exposure rates Dietary risk factor

Age 19 + years a

GBD

All

SSB (g/day) 0–5 306
15 Vegetables 290–430 153
3 (g/day) Legumes 50–70 19.4
0.9 (g/day) Milk (g/day) 350–520 164
5 Fruit (g/day) 200–300 152
6 Omega-3 0.2–0.3 0.07
0.01 (g/day) Fiber (g/day) 19–28 7.8
0.1 Whole grains 100–150 18.8
0.7 (g/day) Nuts and 16–25 11.3
0.8 seeds (g/day) Red meat 18–27 40.6
1.1 (g/day) Processed 0–4 28.4
1.5 meat (g/day) Calcium 1000–1500 958
12 (mg/day) PUFAs 9–13 8.0
0.1 (% of energy) Sodium 1000–5000 3435
32 (mg/day) Trans-fat 0–1 0.91
0.01 (% of energy)

Men

Age 19–50 years Women

All

411
19 157
3

Men

376
25 161
5

239
14 146
5

23.7
1.1

15.1
0.9b 21.4
1.2

b

c

Age 51 + years Women

All

Men

Women

496
32 163
7

321
20 150
5

175
13 149
5

209
20 159
8

133
12b 140
6

24.4
1.6

18.2
1.1b 16.8
1.3

22.8
1.6

11.6
1.6b

b

195
10 134
3b 166
10 154
7 149
7 142
5 0.08
0.01 0.07
0.01 0.07
0.01

200
18 129
6b 162
7 188
9 139
7b 141
5 145
8 163
8 173
12 155
80 0.08
0.01 0.08
0.01 0.08
0.01 0.08
0.01 0.08
0.02

9.0
0.2 20.4
1.1

6.6
0.1b 8.2
0.2c 17.2
0.5b 16.1
0.9c

9.3
0.3 17.6
1.3

12.5
1.0

10.1
0.8

10.7
1.4

51.9
2.2

29.5
1.2b 46.1
1.7c

35.6
2.5

8.5
0.3 24.4
1.6

6.2
0.2b 20.2
0.6

13.2
1.5

15.0
1.9

11.6
1.8

58.8
2.7

32.5
1.8b 33.7
1.2

42.4
2.2

26.1
2.0b

21.4
1.1b 30.0
2.0

37.8
3.2

21.7
1.4b 26.5
1.6

32.5
2.5

21.1
1.6b

1078
18

840
11b

1014
17c

1151
25

868
14b

888
17

977
25

809
19b

7.7
0.1

8.2
0.1b

7.8
0.1c

7.6
0.1

8.1
0.1b

8.2
0.1

7.9
0.2

8.5
0.1

3977
52

2904
23b

3658
34c

4213
58

3067
31b

3154
47

3649
73

2716
33b

9.9
1.1

7.0
0.1b 7.3
0.2 14.5
0.6 22.2
0.9 8.7
0.9

0.90
0.01 0.92
0.02 0.88
0.01c 0.87
0.02 0.90
0.02 0.94
0.02 0.95
0.02 0.94
0.02

Note: WWEIA/NHANES: dietary surveys What We Eat in America the dietary component of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey; SSB: sugar-sweetened beverages. a Global Burden of Disease (GBD): Theoretical minimum-risk exposures extracted from Gakidou et al. (2017). b Means are different between men and women within each age group, P < 0.01 as assessed via z-scores. c Means are different across age groups, P < 0.01 as assessed via z-scores. Adapted from Fulgoni, V., Wallace, T., Stylianou, K., Jolliet, O., 2018. Calculating intake of dietary risk components used in the global burden of disease studies from the what we eat in America/National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Nutrients 10(10), 1441.

194

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

non-recycled fertilizers, animal feed, and a relatively small number of crop species. Having in mind the planetary boundaries, this is, were the main challenges for agriculture and food are today in time, when agricultural production is also challenged by climate change. Besides, this situation illustrates that the current model of sustainability, with its balanced perspective on the environment, social and economic development, might not be appropriate to solve today’s challenges in food production.

Gaps remain in product-related LCA comparisons In LCA, the evaluation and comparison of food production systems cover only the assessment of the environmental impacts of the whole product cycle. However, LCA does not take into account local impacts. So far, the impact on local biodiversity, soil quality, and higher carbon storage in soils under organic farming (reducing the effect on global warming) have generally not been included in LCAs (Meier et al., 2015). Where product-based LCAs of foods from intensive agriculture concluded that these are highly eco-efficient, they neglect to state that the intensive production may result in a long-term loss of soil fertility and soil carbon as a result of salination due to intensive irrigation. In regions with intensive livestock production nitrate threshold values in groundwater are often exceeded, and increasing levels of eutrophication have been found in semi-natural habitats and watercourses containing pesticide residues. If the assessment of the ecological sustainability of agricultural products is reduced to the environmental impact per unit of product, the local environmental impact or an overall exceedance of natural capacities will, therefore, become negligible. An exclusively product-based environmental assessment is therefore not sufficiently comprehensive and does not allow for a final verdict on the ecological sustainability of agricultural products.

Gaps remain in national oriented systems of environmental impact Environmental impact assessment techniques at higher hierarchical levels (national and global) based on LCA approaches such as Extended Input-Output Analysis (Weber et al., 2009; Schaffartzik et al., 2014), multi-indicator sustainability assessment (Chaudhary et al., 2018), or Regional Sustainability Assessment Methodology (Smetana et al., 2015a,b, 2016) introduce accounting for the connections between different aspects of sustainability domains. Such methodologies allow to indicate if there are potential drawbacks between environmental impact, nutrition, health, economic development and other aspects of Sustainable Development Goals. However, the biggest limitation of such approaches’ application in combination with LCA is the lack of relevant data. Currently collection of the data, their integration into databases, their automated support, and release to public are the main challenges that should be solved in order

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production

to create a fully functional and practically applicable sustainability assessment methodology, reflecting potential outcomes and rebound effects of sustainability-oriented changes.

Outlook Currently, many natural resources are not being used sustainably or efficiently in the European food system, leading to significant environmental impacts (such as greenhouse gas emissions and water pollution) as well as risks for future food provision. These inefficiencies not only occur at the production level but also with consumption patterns not adapted to the carrying capacity of the ecosystem. To conclude, there is an urgent need for agricultural production systems that are more environmentally sustainable while producing sufficient quantities of food. According to Meier et al. (2015), there is a need to include regional locational factors in the context of sustainability assessments of agricultural products, as they determine the level of intensity of production that a specific site can sustainably maintain. The growing interest in traditional food and supply chains and the involvement of citizens in local food networks might be in support of developing locally adapted food consumption patterns. However, such systems should not only rely on traditional practices of food production, but also on the recent development and efficient downscaling of agricultural techniques, logistic schemes and processing equipment. Without inclusion of such advances, traditional practices of food production will not be an environmentally efficient solution for future generations. Farmers have to cope with economic, political, technical, scientific, and social developments, for which they need the skill of being adaptable to change. Not traditional, but new forms of agricultural production are needed to cope with recent challenges in food production, by combining learning from the past with recent knowledge.

References ACS, 1968. Symposium on Natural Food Toxicants. American Chemical Society. Aganovic, K., Smetana, S., Grauwet, T., Toepfl, S., Mathys, A., Van Loey, A., Heinz, V., 2017. Pilot scale thermal and alternative pasteurization of tomato and watermelon juice: an energy comparison and life cycle assessment. J. Clean. Prod. 141, 514–525. Amani, P., Gadde, L.-E., 2015. Shelf life extension and food waste reduction. In: Research in Agricultural and Applied Economics, pp. 1–8. https://doi.org/10.18461/pfsd.2015.1502. Aubin, J., 2013. Life cycle assessment as applied to environmental choices regarding farmed or wild-caught fish. CAB Rev 8 (11), 1–10. Brauman, K.A., Richter, B.D., Postel, S., Malsy, M., Fl€ orke, M., 2016. Water depletion: an improved metric for incorporating seasonal and dry-year water scarcity into water risk assessments. Elementa Sci. Anthrop 4, 000083. http://doi.org/10.12952/journal.elementa.000083. Br€ onnimann, S., Kr€amer, D., 2016. Tambora and the “Year Without a Summer” of 1816. A Perspective on Earth and Human Systems Science. Geographica Bernensia G90. 48 p. Caldero´n, L.A., Iglesias, L., Laca, A., Herrero, M., Dı´az, M., 2010. The utility of Life Cycle Assessment in the ready meal food industry. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 54 (12), 1196–1207.

195

196

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Caputo, P., Ducoli, C., Clementi, M., 2014. Strategies and tools for eco-efficient local food supply scenarios. Sustainability 6 (2), 631–651. Chaudhary, A., Gustafson, D., Mathys, A., 2018. Multi-indicator sustainability assessment of global food systems. Nat. Commun. 9 (1), 848. Chen, J., Rosenthal, A., 2009. Food processing. In: Campbell-Platt, G. (Ed.), Food Science and Technology. John Wiley & Sons Ltd., Oxford, pp. 207–246 Christopher, M., Towill, D.R., Aitken, J., Childerhouse, P., 2009. Value stream classification. J. Manuf., Technol. Manag. 20 (4), 460–474. Coley, D., Howard, M., Winter, M., 2009. Local food, food miles and carbon emissions: a comparison of farm shop and mass distribution approaches. Food Policy 34 (2), 150–155. Cucco, I., Fonte, M., 2015. Local food and civic food networks as a real utopias project. Socio. hu 2015 (3), 22–36. De Laurentiis, V., Hunt, D., Rogers, C., 2016. Overcoming food security challenges within an energy/ water/food nexus (EWFN) approach. Sustainability 8, 95. Donk, D.P., Akkerman, R., Vaart, T.v., 2007. Opportunities and realities of supply chain integration: the case of food manufacturers. Br. Food J., 110 (2), 218–235. Donselaar, K.v., Woensel, T.v., Broekmeulen, R., Fransoo, J., 2006. Inventory control of perishables in supermarkets. Int. J. Prod. Econ., 104 (2), 462–472. EC, 2018a. https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/food-safety-and-quality/certification/qualitylabels/quality-schemes-explained_en. EC, 2018b. http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/quality/door/list.html?locale¼en. Edwards-Jones, G., Canals, L.M.I., Hounsome, N., Truninger, M., Koerber, G., Hounsome, B., Harris, I.M., 2008. Testing the assertion that ‘local food is best’: the challenges of an evidence-based approach. Trends Food Sci. Technol. 19 (5), 265–274. Ellingsen, H., Aanondsen, S.A., 2006. Environmental impacts of wild caught cod and farmed Salmon—a comparison with chicken (7 pp). Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 11 (1), 60–65. European Commission, 2010. Preparatory Study on Food Waste Across EU 27. European Commission, Paris. Retrieved from European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/eussd/pdf/bio_ foodwaste_report.pdf. Eyles, H., Mhurchu, C.N., Nghiem, N., Blakely, T., 2012. Food pricing strategies, population diets, and non-communicable disease: a systematic review of simulation studies. PLoS Med. 9(12): e1001353. FAO, 2012. Coping With Water Scarcity: An Action Framework for Agriculture and Food Security, FAO Water Reports. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome. FAO, 2016. The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture 2016. Contributing to Food Security and Nutrition for All. FAO, Rome. 200 p. Fellows, P.J., 2017. Food Processing Technology Principles and Practice. Woodhead Publishing Series in Food Science, United Kingdom. Floros, J.D., Newsome, R., Fisher, W., Barbosa-Ca´novas, G.V., Chen, H., Dunne, C.P., et al., 2010. Feeding the world today and tomorrow: the importance of food science and technology: an IFT scientific review. Comp. Rev. Food Sci. Food Safety 9 (5), 572–599. Foley, J.A., Ramankutty, N., Brauman, K.A., Cassidy, E.S., Gerber, J.S., Johnston, M., Mueller, N.D., O’Connell, C., Ray, D.K., West, P.C., Balzer, C., Bennett, E.M., Carpenter, S.R., Hill, J., Monfreda, C., Polasky, S., Rockstr€ om, J., Sheehan, J., Siebert, S., Tilman, D., Zaks, D.P.M., 2011. Solutions for a cultivated planet. Nature 478, 337–342. Formiguera, X., Canto´n, A., 2004. Obesity: epidemiology and clinical aspects. Best Pract. Res. Clin. Gastroenterol. 18 (6), 1125–1146. Fulgoni, V., Wallace, T., Stylianou, K., Jolliet, O., 2018. Calculating intake of dietary risk components used in the global burden of disease studies from the what we eat in America/National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. Nutrients 10 (10), 1441. Gakidou, E., Afshin, A., Abajobir, A.A., Abate, K.H., Abbafati, C., Abbas, K.M., Abu-Raddad, L.J., 2017. Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 84 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990–2016: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016. Lancet 390 (10100), 1345–1422. Garnett, T., 2011. Where are the best opportunities for reducing greenhouse gas emissions in the food system (including the food chain)? Food Policy 36, S23–S32.

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production

Gedenk, K., Neslin, S.A., Ailawadi, K.L., 2010. Sales promotion. In: Krafft, M., Mantrala, M. (Eds.), Retailing in the 21st Century. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg, pp. 393–407. Gjerris, M., Gaiani, S., 2013. Household food waste in Nordic countries: estimations and ethical implications. Etikk i praksis: Nordic J. Appl. Ethics, 7 (1), 6–23. G€ obel, C., Langen, N., Blumenthal, A., Teitscheid, P., Ritter, G., 2015. Cutting food waste through cooperation along the food supply chain. Sustainability, 7 (2), 1429–1445. Grunert, K.G., Hieke, S., Wills, J., 2014. Sustainability labels on food products: consumer motivation, understanding and use. Food Policy, 44, 177–189. Guerrero, L., Gua`rdia, M.D., Xicola, J., Verbeke, W., Vanhonacker, F., Zakowska-Biemans, S., … Scalvedi, M.L., 2009. Consumer-driven definition of traditional food products and innovation in traditional foods. A qualitative cross-cultural study. Appetite 52 (2), 345–354. Hall, R.L., 1977. Safe at the plate. Nutr. Today, 12 (6), 28–31. Hallstr€ om, E., Davis, J., Woodhouse, A., Sonesson, U., 2018. Using dietary quality scores to assess sustainability of food products and human diets: a systematic review. Ecol. Indic. 93, 219–230. Hebrok, M., Boks, C., 2017. Household food waste: drivers and potential intervention points for design—an extensive review. J. Clean. Prod. 151, 380–392. Heller, M.C., Keoleian, G.A., Willett, W.C., 2013. Toward a life cycle-based, diet-level framework for food environmental impact and nutritional quality assessment: a critical review. Environ. Sci. Technol. 47 (22), 12632–12647. Herrero, M., Thornton, P.K., 2013. Livestock and global change: emerging issues for sustainable food systems. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 110 (52), 20878–20881. Hirschfelder, G., 2017. Grundz€ uge der Agrargeschichte (Band 1–3). Zeitschrift f€ ur Volkskunde 113 (2), 314. H€ ogy, P., Fangmeier, A., 2008. Effects of elevated atmospheric CO2 on grain quality of wheat. J. Cereal Sci. 48 (3), 580–591. Hospido, A., Moreira, M.T., Feijoo, G., 2005. Environmental analysis of beer production. Int. J. Agric. Resour. Gov. Ecol. 4 (2), 152–162. Hotz, C., Gibson, R.S., 2007. Traditional food-processing and preparation practices to enhance the bioavailability of micronutrients in plant-based diets. J. Nutr. 137 (4), 1097–1100. Ishwarya, S.P., Anandharamakrishnan, C., Stapley, A.G., 2015. Spray-freeze-drying: a novel process for the drying of foods and bioproducts. Trends Food Sci. Technol. 41 (2), 161–181. Jimenez-Colmenero, F., Carballo, J., Cofrades, S., 2001. Healthier meat and meat products: their role as functional foods. Meat Sci. 59 (1), 5–13. Katsarova, I., 2014. Tackling Food Waste: The EU’s Contribution to a Global Issue. European Parliamentary Research Service, Brussels. Kristbergsson, K., Oliveira, J., 2016. Traditional Foods. Springer. Kromhout, D., Spaaij, C.J.K., De Goede, J., Weggemans, R.M., 2016. The 2015 Dutch food-based dietary guidelines. Eur. J. Clin. Nutr. 70 (8), 869. Kulak, M., Nemecek, T., Frossard, E., Chable, V., Gaillard, G., 2015. Life cycle assessment of bread from several alternative food networks in Europe. J. Clean. Prod. 90, 104–113. Lassaletta, L., Billen, G., Grizzetti, B., Garnier, J., Leach, A.M., Galloway, J.N., 2014. Food and feed trade as a driver in the global nitrogen cycle: 50-year trends. Biogeochemistry 118 (1–3), 225–241. Loladze, I., 2002. Rising atmospheric CO2 and human nutrition: toward globally imbalanced plant stoichiometry? Trends Ecol. Evol. 17 (10), 457–461. Loladze, I., 2014. Hidden shift of the ionome of plants exposed to elevated CO2 depletes minerals at the base of human nutrition. elife. 3: e02245. Markard, J., Raven, R., Truffer, B., 2012. Sustainability transitions: an emerging field of research and its prospects. Res. Policy 41 (6), 955–967. Markussen, M.V., Kulak, M., Smith, L.G., Nemecek, T., Østerga˚rd, H., 2014. Evaluating the sustainability of a small-scale low-input organic vegetable supply system in the United Kingdom. Sustainability 6 (4), 1913–1945. Marsh, K., Bugusu, B., 2007. Food packaging—roles, materials, and environmental issues. J. Food Sci. 72 (3), R39–R55. Meadows, D.H., Meadows, D.H., Randers, J., Behrens III, W.W., 1972. The limits to growth: a report to the club of Rome. Universe Books, New York, p. 205.

197

198

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Meier, T., 2015. Sustainable nutrition between the poles of health and environment. Potentials of altered diets and avoidable food losses. Ernahrungs Umschau 62 (2), 22–33. Meier, T., Christen, O., 2012. Gender as a factor in an environmental assessment of the consumption of animal and plant-based foods in Germany. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 17 (5), 550–564. Meier, M.S., Stoessel, F., Jungbluth, N., Juraske, R., Schader, C., Stolze, M., 2015. Environmental impacts of organic and conventional agricultural products – are the differences captured by life cycle assessment? J. Environ. Manage. 149, 193–208. Misra, A., Khurana, L., 2011. Obesity-related non-communicable diseases: South Asians vs White Caucasians. Int. J. Obes. 35 (2), 167. Mueller, N.D., Gerber, J.S., Johnston, M., Ray, D.K., Ramankutty, N., Foley, J.A., 2012. Closing yield gaps through nutrient and water management. Nature 490 (7419), 254. Muller, A., Schader, C., Scialabba, N.E.H., Br€ uggemann, J., Isensee, A., Erb, K.H., … Niggli, U., 2017. Strategies for feeding the world more sustainably with organic agriculture. Nat. Commun. 8 (1), 1290. Mundler, P., Rumpus, L., 2012. The energy efficiency of local food systems: a comparison between different modes of distribution. Food Policy 37 (6), 609–615. Murray, C.J., 1994. Quantifying the burden of disease: the technical basis for disability-adjusted life years. Bull. World Health Organ. 72 (3), 429. Nemecek, T., Jungbluth, N., Canals, L.M.I., Schenck, R., 2016. Environmental impacts of food consumption and nutrition: where are we and what is next? Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 21 (5), 607–620. Nijdam, D., Rood, T., Westhoek, H., 2012. The price of protein: review of land use and carbon footprints from life cycle assessments of animal food products and their substitutes. Food Policy 37 (6), 760–770. Oehen, B., Meier, C., 2018. Strategies to valorise agrobiodiversity. In: Proceedings of the 13th European IFSA Symposium. Pelletier, N., Tyedmers, P., Sonesson, U., Scholz, A., Ziegler, F., Flysjo, A., Silverman, H., 2009. Not all salmon are created equal: life cycle assessment (LCA) of global salmon farming systems. Environ Sci. Technol. 43 (23), 8730–8736. Plumb, A., Downing, P., Consulting, I., Parry, A., WRAP, 2013. Consumer Attitudes to Food Waste and Food Packaging. WRAP, pp. 1–75. Rahman, M.S., 1999. Purpose of food preservation and processing. In: Rahman, M.S. (Ed.), Handbook of Food Preservation. CRC Press, New York, pp. 1–9. Rahman, M.S., 2007. Preservation of fresh food products. In: Rahman, M.S. (Ed.), Handbook of Food Preservation. CRC Press, Florida, pp. 1–18. Ramankutty, N., Evan, A.T., Monfreda, C., Foley, J.A., 2008. Farming the planet: 1. Geographic distribution of global agricultural lands in the year 2000: Global Agricultural Lands in 2000. Glob. Biogeochem. Cycles 22, 1–19. Ramesh, M.N., 1999. Food preservation by heat treatment. In: Rahman, M.S. (Ed.), Handbook of Food Preservation. Marcel Dekker Inc., New York, pp. 95–172. Robertson, K., Garnham, M., Symes, W., 2014. Life cycle carbon footprint of the packaging and transport of New Zealand kiwifruit. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 19 (10), 1693–1704. Rockstr€ om, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, A., Chapin, F.S., Lambin, E.F., Lenton, T.M., Scheffer, M., Folke, C., Schellnhuber, H.J., et al., 2009. A safe operating space for humanity. Nature 461, 472–475. Roth, A.V., Tsay, A.A., Pullman, M.E., Gray, J.V., 2008. Unraveling the food supply chain: strategic insights from China and the 2007 recalls. J. Supply Chain Manage., 44 (1), 22–39. Sancho-Madriz, M.F., 2003. Preservation of Food. Elsevier Science Ltd., pp. 4766–4772. Schaffartzik, A., Sachs, M., Wiedenhofer, D., Eisenmenger, N., 2014. Environmentally extended inputoutput analysis. In: Social Ecology Working Paper. vol. 154. Institute of Social Ecology, IFF, AlpenAdria Universitaet Vienna. Schramski, J.R., Jacobsen, K.L., Smith, T.W., Williams, M.A., Thompson, T.M., 2013. Energy as a potential systems-level indicator of sustainability in organic agriculture: case study model of a diversified, organic vegetable production system. Ecol. Model. 267, 102–114. Seufert, V., Ramankutty, N., 2017. Many shades of gray—The context-dependent performance of organic agriculture. Sci. Adv. 3 (3), e1602638.

Environmental sustainability issues for western food production

Slimani, N., Fahey, M., Welch, A., Wirf€alt, E., Stripp, C., Bergstr€ om, E., Veglia, F., 2002. Diversity of dietary patterns observed in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) project. Public Health Nutr. 5 (6b), 1311–1328. Smetana, S., Mathys, A., Knoch, A., Heinz, V., 2015a. Meat alternatives: life cycle assessment of most known meat substitutes. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 20 (9), 1254–1267. Smetana, S., Tama´sy, C., Mathys, A., Heinz, V., 2015b. Sustainability and regions: sustainability assessment in regional perspective. Reg. Sci. Policy Pract. 7 (4), 163–186. Smetana, S., Tama´sy, C., Mathys, A., Heinz, V., 2016. Measuring relative sustainability of regions using regional sustainability assessment methodology. Geogr. Anal. 48 (4), 391–410. Smetana, S., Tama´sy, C., Mathys, A., Heinz, V., 2017. Sustainability assessment of agribusiness clusters: a case study based on regional sustainability assessment methodology. Ger. J. Agric. Econ. 66 (3), 159–171. Smetana, S., Aganovic, K., Irmscher, S., Heinz, V., 2018a. Agri-food waste streams utilization for development of more sustainable food substitutes. In: Designing Sustainable Technologies, Products and Policies. Springer, Cham, pp. 145–155. Smetana, S., Bornkessel, S., Aganovic, K., Heinz, V., 2018b. Alternative food production systems: from insects and microalgae to emerging processing technologies and smart LCA systems. In: 11th International Conference on Life Cycle Assessment of Food 2018 (LCA Food) in Conjunction with the 6th LCA AgriFood Asia and 7th International Conference on Green and Sustainable Innovation (ICGSI) on “Global Food Challenges towards Sustainable Consumption and Production” 17–19 October 2018, Bangkok, Thailand. Sonesson, U., Davis, J., Flysj€ o, A., Gustavsson, J., Witth€ oft, C., 2017. Protein quality as functional unit—a methodological framework for inclusion in life cycle assessment of food. J. Clean. Prod. 140, 470–478. Steffen, W., Richardson, K., Rockstr€ om, J., Cornell, S.E., Fetzer, I., Bennett, E.M., Folke, C., 2015. Planetary boundaries: guiding human development on a changing planet. Science 347 (6223), 1259855. Steinfeld, H., Gerber, P., Wassenaar, T., Castel, V., Rosales, M., De Haan, C., 2006. Livestock’s Long Shadow. FAO, Rome. Stenmarck, A., Jensen, C., Quested, T., Moates, G., Buksti, M., Cseh, B., Scherhaufer, S., 2016. Estimates of European Food Waste Levels. IVL Swedish Environmental Research Institute. Steyn, N.P., Mann, J., Bennett, P.H., Temple, N., Zimmet, P., Tuomilehto, J., Louheranta, A., 2004. Diet, nutrition and the prevention of type 2 diabetes. Public Health Nutr. 7 (1a), 147–165. Stoessel, F., Juraske, R., Pfister, S., Hellweg, S., 2012. Life cycle inventory and carbon and water foodprint of fruits and vegetables: application to a Swiss retailer. Environ. Sci. Technol. 46 (6), 3253–3262. Stylianou, K.S., Heller, M.C., Fulgoni, V.L., Ernstoff, A.S., Keoleian, G.A., Jolliet, O., 2016. A life cycle assessment framework combining nutritional and environmental health impacts of diet: a case study on milk. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 21 (5), 734–746. Taub, D.R., Miller, B., Allen, H., 2008. Effects of elevated CO2 on the protein concentration of food crops: a meta-analysis. Glob. Change Biol. 14 (3), 565–575. Taylor, D.H., Fearne, A., 2009. Demand management in fresh food value chains: a framework for analysis and improvement. Supply Chain Manage. Int. J., 14 (5), 379–392. Verdouw, C., Wolfert, S., 2010. Reference process modelling in demand-driven agri-food supply chains: a configuration-based framework. In: Trienekens, J., Top, J., Vorst, J.V., Beulens, A. (Eds.), Towards Effective Food Chains—Models and Applications. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen, pp. 225–246. Vermeulen, S.J., Campbell, B.M., Ingram, J.S., 2012. Climate change and food systems. Annu. Rev. Environ. Resour. 37, 195–222. Vorst, J.V., Beulens, A.J., Beek, T.A., 2005. Innovations in logistics and ICT in food supply chain networks. In: Jongen, W., Meulenberg, M. (Eds.), Innovation in Agri-Food Systems. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Wageningen, pp. 245–292. Wahlqvist, M.L., 2003. Regional food diversity and human health. Asia Pac. J. Clin. Nutr. 12 (3), 304–308. Walker, R.E., Keane, C.R., Burke, J.G., 2010. Disparities and access to healthy food in the United States: a review of food deserts literature. Health Place 16 (5), 876–884. Weber, C., Matthews, D., Venkatesh, A., Costello, C., Matthews, H., 2009. The 2002 US Benchmark Version of the Economic Input-Output Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) Model. Green Design Institute, Carnegie Mellon University.

199

200

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Westhoek, H., Rood, T., Berg, M.V.D., Janse, J., Nijdam, D., Reudink, M.A., et al., 2011. The Protein Puzzle: The Consumption and Production of Meat, Dairy and Fish in the European UnionPBL. Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, The Hague/Bilthoven. Westhoek, H., Ingram, J., van Berkum, S., Hajer, M., 2015. The European food system and natural resources: Impacts and options. In: 148th Seminar, November 30–December 1, 2015, The Hague, The Netherlands (No. 229279). European Association of Agricultural Economists. Winter, M., 2004. Geographies of food: agro-food geographies – farming, food and politics. Prog. Hum. Geogr. 28, 664–670. Xiao, H.-W., et al., 2017. Recent developments and trends in thermal blanching – a comprehensive review. Inform. Process. Agric. 2017, 101–127.

Further reading Bellarby, J., Foereid, B., Hastings, A., 2008. Cool farming: climate impacts of agriculture and mitigation potential. Greenpeace International, The Netherlands, p. 43. Bray, G.A., Kim, K.K., Wilding, J.P.H., World Obesity Federation, 2017. Obesity: a chronic relapsing progressive disease process. A position statement of the World Obesity Federation. Obes. Rev. 18 (7), 715–723. Lindg€arde, F.O., 2000. The effect of orlistat on body weight and coronary heart disease risk profile in obese patients: the Swedish Multimorbidity Study. J. Intern. Med. 248 (3), 245–254. Popkin, B.M., Horton, S., Kim, S., Mahal, A., Shuigao, J., 2001. Trends in diet, nutritional status, and dietrelated noncommunicable diseases in China and India: the economic costs of the nutrition transition. Nutr. Rev. 59 (12), 379–390. Prahl, H.W., Setzwein, M., 2013. Soziologie der Ern€ahrung. Springer-Verlag. Sahoo, K., Sahoo, B., Choudhury, A.K., Sofi, N.Y., Kumar, R., Bhadoria, A.S., 2015. Childhood obesity: causes and consequences. J. Family Med. Prim. Care 4 (2), 187. € Spiekermann, U. (2001). Historischer Wandel der Ern€ahrungsziele in Deutschland-Ein Uberblick. In: Oltersdorf, U., Gedrich, K. (Hg.), Ern€ahrungsziele unserer Gesellschaft. Die Beitr€age der Ern€ahrungsverhaltenswissenschaft, Karlsruhe, 977-112. Tanumihardjo, S.A., Anderson, C., Kaufer-Horwitz, M., Bode, L., Emenaker, N.J., Haqq, A.M., Stadler, D.D., 2007. Poverty, obesity, and malnutrition: an international perspective recognizing the paradox. J. Am. Diet. Assoc. 107 (11), 1966–1972.

CHAPTER 10

Legal and regulatory issues in the EU: Elements affecting traditional and ethnic foods in the law of the EU and two of its Member States: the UK and the Netherlands B.M.J. (Bernd) van der Meulena, Maria Harrisb, Alberto Mancusoc a European Institute for Food Law, Amsterdam, The Netherlands DWF Law LLP, Manchester, United Kingdom c Opera S.r.l., Rome, Italy b

Contents Introduction Food law General labeling protection for traditional and ethnic foods Prohibition to mislead Misleading consumers—UK Legislative framework Food Standards Agency guidance Special labeling protection for TEFs Protected designations in the UK Protected designations in the Netherlands Food safety Categorical safety of traditional and ethnic foods Hygiene Concluding remarks References

201 202 202 202 202 203 204 206 206 206 209 211 218 218

Introduction Most countries covered in this volume are EU Member States. However, Switzerland maintained neutrality, and the UK disentangles itself from the EU. This chapter updates and expands the section on the EU in the GHI book Regulating Safety of Traditional and Ethnic Foods (Prakash et al., 2016) elaborating examples from two of the EU countries covered in this book (the UK and the Netherlands). Switzerland is addressed in a separate chapter.

Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00011-1

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

201

202

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Food law In the beginning of the twenty-first century EU food law was recast. The new regulatory infrastructure is based on Regulation 178/2002 laying down the general principles and requirements of food law, establishing the European Food Safety Authority and laying down procedures in matters of food safety. Hereafter: the “General Food Law” (“GFL”). The first sentence of its first article indicates the delicate balance it intends to strike: “This Regulation provides the basis for the assurance of a high level of protection of human health and consumers’ interest in relation to food, taking into account in particular the diversity in the supply of food including traditional products, whilst ensuring the effective functioning of the internal market” (emphasis added). Food law in the EU protects life and health of consumers and consumers’ interest to be able to make informed choices regarding foods purchased and consumed. Traditional and ethnic foods (“TEFs”) are foods like any other. They must comply with all food legal requirements, unless exceptions are made. This chapter addresses consumer choice and food safety in relation to TEFs.

General labeling protection for traditional and ethnic foods Prohibition to mislead To enable consumers to make informed choices the GFL and Regulation 1169/2011 on food information to consumers (“FIC”) prohibit businesses to mislead consumers. The FIC states: “Food information shall not be misleading, particularly: (a) as to the characteristics of the food and, in particular, as to its nature, identity, properties, composition, quantity, durability, country of origin or place of provenance, method of manufacture or production; (b)(…)”. This provision specifically for food, is in line with the more general Directive 2005/29/EC concerning unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market (“the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive”). It is conceivable that food labeling or advertisements would be considered misleading when they present food products as traditional, or ethnic when in reality they are not. However, we have not found actual examples.

Misleading consumers—UK Legislative framework In the UK, under the Trade Descriptions Act 1968 one could not use a trade description which was false or misleading in relation to any goods. This included food labeling. The Trade Descriptions Act 1968 did not provide definitive rules on specific words which can and cannot be used. The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 (“the 2008 Regulations”) implemented the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive into UK law. The purpose of the Unfair Commercial Practices Directive was to harmonise legislation across

Legal and regulatory issues in the EU

the EU. To avoid duplication or conflict, the 2008 Regulations replaced some existing legislation in the UK, such as the Trade Descriptions Act 1968. The 2008 Regulations contain a general prohibition on “unfair commercial practices,” part of which are “misleading actions”. Misleading actions are defined as something which; Contains false information and is therefore untruthful, or the overall presentation deceives or is likely to deceive the average consumer, in relation to a number of matters including the existence or nature of the product and the main characteristics of the product, even if that information is factually correct; and Causes or is likely to cause the average consumer to take a transactional decision he would not have taken otherwise. The main characteristics of a product are defined as including the benefits, risks, method of manufacture, and the geographical or commercial origin of the product. Misleading omissions are also defined as an unfair commercial practice and are prohibited in the same way as misleading actions. As with the Trade Descriptions Act, the 2008 Regulations do not contain guidance on any specific words or terms such as “traditional” or “ethnic”. The Food Safety Act 1990 (as amended) provides the framework for all food legislation in the UK and contains provisions pertaining to consumer protections. Section 15 makes it an offence to sell food not of the nature, substance or quality demanded, or to falsely describe or present food which is likely to mislead as to the nature, substance or quality of the food. It does not contain provisions relating to the use of specific words.

Food Standards Agency guidance As set out above, the terms “traditional” and “ethnic” are not legally defined in UK food law. There is no guidance in relation to the use of the word “ethnic,” but this may be because that term does not translate particularly well in English and the word “traditional” is more likely to be used, or other words such as “original,” “authentic,” “real” or “genuine.” The Food Standards Agency (“FSA”) did, however, publish guidance in 2008 (“the Guidance”) on the use of certain terms in food labeling including “traditional.” The full guidance entitled “Criteria for the use of the terms Fresh, Pure, Natural etc. in food labelling” covers a broader area, but a summary of its contents in relation to the term “traditional” is set out below. The term “traditional” should only be used in certain circumstances. It is widely used to describe a product or method of preparation when newer alternatives are available on the market. The guidance states that “traditional” should only be used to describe a recipe, fundamental formulation or processing method for a product that has existed for a “significant period.” Generally, a significant period would be somewhere in the region of

203

204

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

25 years in line with Regulation 509/2006 on Agricultural Products and Foodstuffs as Traditional Specialities Guaranteed (now replaced by Regulation 1151/2012). The ingredients and processes used should have been available, substantially unchanged, for that same period. To properly use the word, there should be evidence to substantiate its use. Recipes for products which could have been described as “traditional” can change over time to accommodate consumer demands and expectations. In these cases, whilst they should no longer be described as a traditional product, they could instead be described by explaining the nature of the tradition of the product. The example provided by the FSA is of a Christmas pudding which is no longer made in the traditional way with animal fat. This should not be described as a “traditional Christmas pudding” but could be described as a “Christmas pudding traditionally eaten on Christmas day with brandy butter.” The FSA Guidance also contains advice on the use of the words “original,” “authentic,” “real” or “genuine.” The Guidance states that unlike “traditional,” “original” does not imply that the product has remained unchanged for a substantial period of time and therefore could be applied to new products which are the first of their type to be placed on the market. It is often used in the UK to convey unflavoured versions of products where other variants are offered, or to indicate the first variant in a series of products. It should only be used where the origin of the formulation of that food can be traced. Use of the term “authentic” again carries different guidance from the FSA. It should be used to indicate the true origin of a product where the description may be in wider generic use, to convey to consumers that a product has particular characteristics that have not been adjusted for the British palate. It can be used to imply that a product has remained unchanged through the passage of time, or that it originates from the area implied by its name. The example given by the FSA is “authentic Lancashire Hot Pot.” The Guidance goes on to say that the use of words such as “real” and “genuine” should generally be avoided and only used: To emphasise the geographic origin of a product where it could be confused with other products of the same name not from that location; To describe the recipe used to make a product when the origin is specified; To emphasise the purity of single varieties of ingredients where such purity is essential to deliver specific characteristics.

Special labeling protection for TEFs The EU has a rich and diverse food culture. Part of this culture was brought under the umbrella of special protective legal measures. Three different protected designations have been introduced for certain types of traditional foods, depending on the larger or lesser connection to certain geographic areas (Bremmers and Van der Meulen, 2014). These are

Legal and regulatory issues in the EU

the PDO, PGI, and TSG. A protected designation of origin (PDO; e.g., Camembert de Normandie) is the name of a region or specific place used to describe an agricultural product or foodstuff originating in that region or place (or exceptionally, a certain country), the quality or characteristics of which are essentially or exclusively due to that geographical environment and of which the production steps all take place in a geographic area (Article 5 Regulation 1151/2012). If the specific processing requirements are met in the designated region, the European Commission (“EC”) can authorise the exclusive use of the designation. To obtain a PDO, the area must be precisely defined and all stages of production, processing, and preparation, from the raw materials to the finished product, must take place in the area that lends its name to the product. The characteristics of the product must be essentially or exclusively due to the place of origin. A PGI, protected geographic indication (e.g., Ardennen ham or Danablu cheese), is a name that indicates that a product originates in a specific place, region, or country whose given quality, reputation, or other characteristic is essentially attributable to its geographic origin, and at least one of the production steps takes place in the defined geographic area (Article 5(2) Regulation 1151/2012). In contrast to the PDO, the ties between area and product are much less strict for a PGI. The characteristics of the product do not have to be essentially or exclusively due to the indicated area. For a PGI, it suffices that one characteristic of the product can be attributed to the area—for example, its reputation. The third protected designation is the TSG (traditional speciality guaranteed). To obtain TSG status, a product must possess features distinguishing it from other products, and it must be traditional. The specific features required for TSG recognition are that the product is the result of a traditional practice of production, processing, or composition, or it is produced from raw materials or ingredients with traditional origin (Article 18(1) Regulation 1151/2012). Traditional in this context means a proven usage on the EU market for a time period showing transmission between generations. This usually means a minimum of 30 years (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1 Official EU logos for protected designations.

205

206

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

The EC registers recognised protected designations in the public register DOOR.a

Protected designations in the UK The table in Fig. 2 shows all protected designations from the UK.

Protected designations in the Netherlandsb In the Netherlands a more limited use has been made of the option to acquire EU protected designations. These are presented in Fig. 3. In addition to these, four requests for a PDO for wine are pending at the EC. These are the names: Vijlen, Oolde, Ambt Delden and Achterhoek Winterswijk. In many countries, certain traditional products derive a measure of protection from product standards. Product standards, also known as vertical legislation, define aspects such as composition and production methods in legal prescriptions. The use of the name is reserved for products that comply with the standard. Under the EU principle of mutual recognition, standards lost much of their relevance. In the Netherlands most are deregulated. However, to protect consumer expectation with regard to the names of the products previously subject to standards, the government introduced in 1997 a Decree on reserved names (Warenwetbesluit Gereserveerde aanduidingen). This decree lists names of certain traditional products indicating that the name may only be used for products conforming to a given compositional requirement (Fig. 4). Further protected designations in the Netherlands can be found in decrees on Meat, minced meat and meat products, on Flour and bread, and on Dairy (Fig. 5). National protections of designations may affect international trade as certain names can only be used for products that meet the definition. However, the principle of mutual recognition ensures that products that conform to standards in the country of origin cannot be prohibited to enter the market.

Food safety The ambition of the GFL is that food law in the EU is science-based, through risk analysis. Risk analysis is defined as a process consisting of three interconnected components: risk assessment, risk management, and risk communication. Risk management is the decision-making process. For the current topic, it is important that according to the GFL, risk management decisions shall consider risk assessment and other legitimate factors. These include traditional factors. Food shall not be placed on the market if it is unsafe (Article 14 GFL). Food is “deemed to be unsafe if it is considered to be: (a) injurious to health; (b) unfit for human a b

See: http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/quality/door/list.html. Based on Appelhof et al. (2018).

Legal and regulatory issues in the EU

consumption.” Article 14 does not distinguish between foods that are intrinsically unsafe and foods that have turned bad. In further legislation, however, this distinction is implicitly present. Furthermore, a distinction can be made between safety issues that are specifically addressed in legislation and safety issues that are not specifically addressed. Food Category Beers

TSG

Bread, pastry, cakes, Traditional Bramley Apple Pie confectionary, Filling biscuits and other bakers' wares Cheese

PDO

PGI Kentish Ale Kentish Strong Ale Rutland Bitter Cornish Pasty

Beacon Fell Traditional Lancashire Cheese Bonchester Cheese Buxton Blue Cheese Dovedale Cheese Single Gloucester Staffordshire Cheese

Dorset Blue Cheese

Stilton Blue Cheese Stilton White Cheese Swaledale Cheese Swaledale Ewes Cheese West Country Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese Ciders

Cream Fresh fish, molluscs and crustaceans and products derived there from

Exmoor Blue Cheese Orkney Scottish Island Cheddar Teviotdale Cheese Traditional Ayrshire Dunlop Cheese Traditional Welsh Caerphilly/Traditional Welsh Caerffili Yorkshire Wensleydale Cheese

Gloucestershire cider Gloucestershire perry Herefordshire cider Herefordshire perry Traditional Welsh cider Traditional Welsh perry Worcestershire cider Worcestershire perry Cornish Clotted Cream Conwy Mussels Fal Oysters Isle of Man Queenies

Arbroath Smokies Cornish sardines London cure smoked salmon Lough Neagh Eels

Fig. 2 Protected designations from the UK. Continued

207

208

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Fresh meat and offal

Fruit, vegetables and cereal

Traditionally farmed Gloucestershire old spots pork Traditionally reared pedigree Welsh pork Traditional farm fresh turkey

Isle of Man Manx Loaghtan lamb Lakeland Herdwick meat

Scotch lamb

Orkney beef

Welsh beef

Orkney lamb Shetland lamb

Welsh lamb West Country beef West Country lamb Armagh bramley apples

Jersey royal potatoes Yorkshire forced rhubarb

Wool Other Products

Fenland celery New season Comber potatoes/Comber earlies Pembrokeshire early potatoes/Pembrokeshire earlies Vale of Evesham asparagus Carmarthen ham Melton Mowbray pork pie Newmarket sausage Stornoway Black Pudding Traditional Cumberland sausage

Meat products

Wine

Scottish Farmed Salmon Scottish wild salmon Traditional Grimsby smoked fish West Wales coracle caught salmon West Wales coracle caught sewin Whitstable oysters Scotch beef

Darnibole wine English wine Welsh wine Native Shetland wool East Kent Goldings Hops Anglesey Sea Salt/Halen Mon Welsh Laverbread

English regional wine Welsh regional wine

Fig. 2, Cont’d

that complies with specific legal provisions governing food safety shall be deemed to be safe insofar as the aspects covered by the specific provisions are concerned. This brings four possible safety configurations depending on whether the safety issue relates to characteristics of the product and whether the issue has been dealt with in specific legislation. This can be graphically depicted as shown in Fig. 6.

Legal and regulatory issues in the EU

Category

TSG

PDO

Cheese

Boerenkaas (farm cheese)

Boeren-Leidse met sleutels

PGI

Kanterkaas, Kanternagelkaas, Kanterkomijnekaas

Hollandse geitenkaas (Goat cheese from Holland)

Noord-Hollandse Edam

Edam Holland

Noord-Hollandse Gouda

Gouda Holland

Brabantse Wal asperges (asparagus)

De Meerlander (potato)

Opperdoezer Ronde (potato)

Westlandse druif (grape)

Confectionary / sugar Basterdsuiker / Basterdsuicker / Basterdsuijcker / Basterdsuijker (sugar) Suikerstroop (sugar syrup) Fresh fish, molluscs and crustaceans and products derived there from

Hollandse maatjesharing / Hollandse Nieuwe / Holländischer Matjes (fish)

Fruit, vegetables and cereal

Wine

Maasvallei Limburg Mergelland

Fig. 3 Protected designations from the Netherlands.

Categorical safety of traditional and ethnic foods Foods that have a history of use are considered safe based on experience. The legislature has indicated specific categories of foods that cannot be considered safe on the basis of experience and must be submitted to safety assessment in an authorisation procedure before they are admitted to the market. These categories include food additives (substances added to food for a technological purpose), genetically modified organisms and novel foods. Almost by definition such foods will not be traditional or ethnic in the EU. Usually TEFs will belong to a category that can legally be considered safe based on experience. Only foods that are traditional or ethnic outside the EU or for population groups that are new to the EU, may come within the category of novel foods. Novel foods are foods that do not have a history of significant use in the EU prior to 1997. These include foods

209

210

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

that do have a history of use outside the EU (so-called exotic foods). The Novel Foods Regulation 2015/2283 has a special procedure for market access for exotic foods. The burden to prove a history of at least 25 years of safe use outside the EU is, however, quite heavy.

Name

Composition May only be used for:

Azijn (vinegar)

a liquid containing acetic acid as a characteristic constituent, at least 4 grams per 100 ml.

mayonnaise

an egg oil-containing emulsion containing at least 70% fat and at least 5% egg yolk

Vruchtenwijn (fruit wine)

fermented beverages from juice of fruit other than grapes with an alcoholic strength of at least 8,5%

Roomijs (ice cream – with emphasis on ‘cream’)

ice cream intended for use in frozen condition, that: - contains no fat other than milk fat; - has a milk fat content of at least 5%; and - contains no protein other than milk proteins.

Mosterd (mustard)

foodstuff composed of mustard or mustard flour, vinegar or acetic acid liquid, with dry matter content of at least 20% and mustard oil content of at least 20% of the salt free dry substance.

Lemonade / frisdrank (soft drink)

a non-alcoholic drink consisting of: - Water, natural mineral water or spring water; and - Sugars or sweeteners; Which may have been added: - Carbonic acid; - Flavours - Edible ingredients of fruits or plants; or - Fruit or vegetable juices.

Bier (beer)

a drink obtained through alcoholic fermentation of wort, predominantly prepared from starch and sugar raw materials, hops and brewed water, provided that at least 60% of wort is from barley or wheat malt, which consists of: - Barley or wheat flour; - Other starch raw materials; - Raw sugar; - Hop and its various processed forms;

Fig. 4 Protected names in the Dutch decree on reserved names. Continued

Legal and regulatory issues in the EU

- Brew water, water meeting the requirements laid down in or under the Drinking Water Act and which may be adapted to the specific requirements in the mineral composition and acidity of the brewing processes of the different beers; - Yeast to which may have been added: - fruit or fruit juices and flavours, provided that the use of these ingredients is permitted only for the preparation of beers other than beers of the type of pils (pilsener) - processing aids and additives complying Regulation 1333/2008 Pils (pilsner / lager) light coloured beer with a wort extract content of 11 to 13,5%. Bok / bock (male goat)

beer with a wort extract above 15,5%.

Advocaat

a distilled drink complying with point 41 of Annex II to Regulation 110/2008 which: a. is yellow in colour; b. has an alcoholic, sugar and pure egg yolk content in accordance with Annex II to Regulation 110/2008; c. is exclusively prepared with egg yolk and protein derived from chicken eggs which are undamaged and comply with Regulation 1820/2006 on certain marketing standards for eggs and Directive 98/437 on hygiene and health issues at the Preparation and placing on the market of egg products

Protected names not further elaborated in this table Dutch

Translation

Alcoholvrij bier

alcohol-free beer

Alcoholarm bier

low alcohol beer

Oud bruin

old brown / sweet beer

Korenwijn

wheat wine

Vieux

Old brandy

Brandewijn

Brandy

vruchtenbrandewijn Fruit brandy Likorette

Weakly distilled drink

Fig. 4, Cont’d

Hygiene While TEFs from inside the EU may benefit from an assumption of safety as to their category, traditional and customary production methods may give rise to concern regarding their condition.

211

212

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Dutch Gehakt Half on half Rozijnenbrood Krentebrood Karnemelk Yoghurt Vla Pap Chocolademelk Slagroom Kaas Goudse kaas Edammer kaas Kwark

Translation Minced meat Minced meat 50% beef 50% pork Raisin bread Currants bread Buttermilk Yoghurt Custard Porridge Cacao (drink) Whipped cream Cheese Gouda cheese Edam cheese Curd cheese

Fig. 5 Further examples of designations protected by Dutch law.

Food safety Properties of food category Condition of a given food

Regulated Additives, GMOs, Novel Foods M(R)L’s, shelf life

Not regulated Art. 14 GFL unsafe Art. 14 GFL unsafe

Fig. 6 Food safety.

In the EU, a package of regulations (the “Food Hygiene Package”/”FHP”) was enacted in 2004 covering all foods (Regulation 852/2004) and foods of animal origin (including dairy) (Regulation 853/2004). This FHP imposes on all food businesses operators (“FBOs”) (except primary producers) the obligation to apply procedures based on HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point). This caused concern regarding the possible impact on traditional production methods and traditional products. Among the most vocal to voice such concern was Slow Food. It presents itself as “a global, grassroots organization, (…) to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions, counteract the rise of fast life and combat people’s dwindling interest in the food they eat, where it comes from and how our food choices affect the world around us.”c A survey of Dutch small-scale producers requested by Slow Food showed several concerns, including: hygiene legislation is designed for large businesses; it requires big investments in premises and equipment; traditional methods are under threat if traditional materials like wood cannot be used for utensils; certain products cannot be made if raw materials like blood, raw milk, and so-called BSE-risk material can no longer be used; and if hygiene relies on sterility, processes relying on microorganisms, in particular microorganisms from the environment, are in the danger zone (Van Asselt et al., 2006). The FHP addresses such concerns through a flexible approach. Regulation 852/2004 uses the wording “where necessary,” “where appropriate,” “adequate” or “sufficient.” According to an EC Guidance document c

See: www.slowfood.com.

Legal and regulatory issues in the EU

(SANCO/1731/2008 Rev. 6), where the Annexes to the Regulation use this terminology, it is up to the FBO in first instance to decide whether a requirement is necessary, appropriate, adequate or sufficient to achieve the objectives of Regulation 852/2004. Operators may justify their choice under the procedures based on the HACCP principles or under the operational procedures of his business. For example: “floor surfaces are to be maintained in a sound condition and be easy to clean and, where necessary, to disinfect. This will require the use of impervious, nonabsorbent, washable and nontoxic materials unless food business operators can satisfy the competent authority that other materials used are appropriate” (Regulation 852/2004, Annex II, Chapter II, Article 1(a)). This option given FBOs to convince authorities of their choices is repeated with regard to the materials used for wall surfaces, doors, and surfaces and equipment that come into direct contact with food (Regulation 852/2004, Annex II, Chapter II, Article 1(b)(e)(f ) and Chapter III, Article 2(b)). Flexibility can be applied by all the FBOs, providing they implement an adequate and effective Food Safety Management System. The Regulations provide ample possibilities to adapt the technical requirements of the FHP to the nature of the food business concerned. To foster different food products present in the EU, to allow for small-scale producers to continue operating without being negatively affected by the FHP and, at the same time, ensure the rights of consumers to safe food, the Regulations provide possibilities to adapt the technical requirements of the FHP. These flexibility provisions have been tailored to facilitate trade of foods produced locally and/or traditionally. Flexibility provisions are foreseen for specific categories of food businesses and specific situations. The FHP aims to be flexible especially in dealing with traditional and disadvantaged productions (Mancuso et al., 2018). According to recital 19 Regulation 853/2004, “Flexibility is appropriate to enable the continued use of traditional methods at any of the stages of production, processing or distribution of food and in relation to structural requirements for establishments. Flexibility is particularly important for regions that are subject to special geographical constraints (…). However, flexibility should not compromise food hygiene objectives.” Regulation 852/2004 expresses a similar thought in recital 16. The concept of flexibility is based in Article 13 Regulation 852/2004 and Article 10 Regulation 853/2004. Further provisions for the adoption of flexibility measures, specifically for traditional foods, are included in Regulation 2074/2005. Possibilities for flexibility offered in the FHP are the following. 1. To grant adaptations (Article 13(3) and (4) Regulation 852, Article 10(3) and (4) Regulation 853), of certain requirements laid down in Annexes of the FHP. Adaptations mean that Member States (“MSs”) have the possibility to adapt the requirements laid down in the Annexes of the FHP in specified circumstances. The main purpose of these “adapted” National measures is limited to specified circumstances:

213

214

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

(i) (ii)

to enable the continued use of traditional methods of production, to accommodate the needs of food businesses situated in regions that are subject to special geographic constraints, (iii) to adapt requirements on the construction, layout and equipment of establishments. 2. To grant derogations/exemptions from certain requirements laid down in Annexes of the FHP: (a) derogations/exemptions from certain requirements in Annexes (Art. 13(2) Regulation 852/2004, Art. 10(2) Regulation 853/2004); (b) foods with traditional characteristics (Article 7 Regulation 2074/2005). 3. To exclude some activities from the scope of the FHP. MSs may adopt National measures adapting the FHP requirements to enable the continued use of traditional methods at any stage of production, processing, or distribution of food or to accommodate the needs of food businesses situated in regions that are subject to special geographic constraints. They are may adapt EU requirements regarding the construction, layout, and equipment of establishments, especially in case of small businesses. Article 7 Regulation 2074/2005 states that MSs may grant establishments manufacturing foods with traditional characteristics individual or general derogations from the requirements concerning: • premises where such products are exposed to an environment necessary for the partdevelopment of their characteristics: walls, ceilings and doors that are not smooth, impervious, non-absorbent or of corrosion resistant material, natural geological walls, ceilings and floors; • type of materials of which the instruments and the equipment used specifically for the preparation, packaging and wrapping of these products are made: use of copper vats, use of wooden equipment, use of wrapping material made of natural fibres or other material of plant origin in the production, storage and wrapping of milk products; • cleaning and disinfection: adaptation of frequency and products used in a manner that still allows the development of environmental typical microflora. Flexibility for traditional foods is limited to premises, equipment and relevant cleaning and disinfection. This regulation also addresses the concept “traditional.” Article 7(1): “foods with traditional characteristics” means foods that, in the Member State in which they are traditionally manufactured, are: (a) recognized historically as traditional products, or (b) manufactured according to codified or registered technical references to the traditional process, or according to traditional production methods, or (c) protected as traditional food products by a [Union], national, regional or local law.” This definition of “traditional” must be taken in consideration for the application of flexibility provisions. It is much broader than the definition in Regulation 1151/2012 on quality schemes for

Legal and regulatory issues in the EU

agricultural products and foodstuffs. Indeed, while the number of food products recognised according to Regulation 1151/2012 is quite limited, several MSs adopted National legislation protecting a huge number of traditional foods (for example, in Italy around 300 foods are registered at EU level, while more than 4700 products have been recognised as traditional at National level). As a consequence, many traditional products could benefit from derogations concerning premises and equipment, providing that the MS concerned adopts relevant National measures. National derogations for traditional foods must be notified to the EC according to a simplified notification procedure. The adoption of National measures for traditional foodstuffs does not require a notification under Directive 2015/1535, and for this reason notifications on traditional food cannot be found in the TRIS database. For this reason, it is difficult to have a clear picture of the derogations for traditional foods that have been granted by the MS at National level. In the countries covered by the current volume, more specifically in the Netherlands and the UK, we have not found any derogations related to traditional foods. Nevertheless, several MS adopted specific derogations to allow the continuation of production of traditional foodstuffs, with flexibility measures focused on premises and equipment. For example, the use of wooden barrels for maturation is essential to produce many traditional dairy products. The opposite of national exemptions for traditional foods is foreseen in Article 10(8) (a), Regulation 853/2004. The EU sets strict hygiene requirements for the use of raw milk. The EU does not require milk and milk products to be pasteurised. It even grants MSs the competence to allow the use of raw milk not meeting these requirements (Article 11(10) Regulation 853/2004). Article 10(8)(a), Regulation 853/2004, by contrast, allows MSs to establish or maintain national rules prohibiting or restricting the placing on the market within their territory of raw milk or raw cream intended for direct human consumption. Exploratory empirical research on cheese (Van der Meulen, 2009) has suggested that the derogations needed in practice to sustain traditional ways of production do not go beyond the options available in the FHP. Whether the derogations are granted, however, depends entirely on the MSs concerned. Beside derogation for traditional foodstuffs, the use of traditional methods must be taken in consideration separately. According to EC Guidelines for food business operators (SEC(2010) 985 final), “If foods are traditionally produced in Member States and there is a need to adapt other requirements than those for traditional products, the EU legislation allows to Member States to adopt National measures in order to adapt requirements in Hygiene Regulations.” This sentence clarifies that, whenever “tradition” is connected with premises (walls, doors, ceilings, floors) or material of equipment, flexibility shall refer to Regulation

215

216

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Legal basis Definition Type of flexibility Flexibility that can be applied

Notification

Measures available on TRIS

Traditional foods Reg 2074/2005, Art. 7 According to Reg. 2074/2005 Derogations Premises (in relation to the development of the product), equipment, relevant cleaning and disinfection Simple information (neither a standstill period nor comments from other MSs and the Commission are applicable) NO

Traditional methods Reg. 852/2004 Art. 13(3) and (4), Reg 853/2004 art. 10(3) and (4) No definition Adaptations All requirements of the annexes (Annex II Reg. 852 and Annex III Reg. 853) According to the FHP: it shall be done at the stage of the draft, a standstill period applies, national measures can be adopted after consensus YES

Fig. 7 Differences traditional foods and traditional methods.

2074/2005; when the “tradition” relates to other requirements and particularly with the process, flexibility applies for «traditional methods». Main differences between traditional foods and traditional methods are further summarised (Fig. 7). 26 notifications related to traditional methods have been found in the TRIS database (Fig. 8). Most of these notifications are not finalised, meaning that, according to the information available on the TRIS database, the relevant flexibility measures have not been applied in the MSs concerned (Fig. 9).

Fig. 8 Notifications in TRIS.

Legal and regulatory issues in the EU

Fig. 9 Finalised and not finalised notifications in TRIS.

Examples of traditional methods are included in the Guidelines of DG SANCO for Competent Authorities: traditional dried reindeer meat (FI), raw-dried meat products from minced and non-minced meat (BG), immediate evisceration of poultry (FR). Further examples of adaptations for traditional methods can be found in the TRIS databased including the following. Austria (2005 0536 A) notified adaptations for small slaughterhouses considering the activity of slaughtering in these establishments as a traditional method. In the UK, the production of minced meat from meat that has been matured for a longer period than allowed in Reg. 853/2004, is considered as a traditional method (2007 0493 UK, not finalised). Italy notified as traditional method the activity of selling whole carcasses of suckling ovine and caprine animals and other suckling animals with the viscera of the thoracic cavity, the liver and the greater omentum still attached (2009 0023 IT, not finalised). Based on the contents of the notifications, it can be observed that in some cases, confusion exists between “traditional food” and “traditional methods.” Furthermore, some notifications mention “derogations” for traditional methods, while, according to the legal framework, for «traditional methods» adaptations are foreseen, not exemptions or derogations. Lacking a definition of “traditional method,” this is interpreted in a broad sense by MSs, allowing to adopt flexibility measures for a wide range of situations, also considering that adaptations for traditional methods can in theory be adopted for all the technical requirements included in the annexes of Regulations 852/2004 and 853/2004. d

http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/tris/en/index.cfm/search.

217

218

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Concluding remarks In two chapters this book has addressed the legal and regulatory environment confronting TEFs in the countries covered in this volume. One chapter on Switzerland, the country outside the EU and this chapter on the EU with examples from the UK and the Netherlands. This volume is one in a series published in the framework of GHI. This context indicates that at least some attention should be given to trade barriers caused by legal and regulatory requirements and to possible solutions through harmonisation. Partly, this analysis must await the appearance of other volumes in this series. One point highlighted in both chapters is the burden of proof borne by businesses who wish to import into the EU or Switzerland foods that are traditional in other parts of the globe but novel here. Switzerland sets a standard which we recommend the EU and others to follow: the recognition of foreign safety assessment. In this volume, problems due to irrational differences between legal frameworks of the countries discussed have not surfaced, since Switzerland has aligned its framework to the EU and all other countries discussed are EU MSs. In other words, harmonisation among the countries discussed in this volume is already in place.

References Appelhof, T.L., Van der Meulen, B.M.J., Domeier, D., 2018. Labelling of Food Abroad. Food Labelling in the Netherlands. Behr’s Verlag Hamburg. Bremmers, H.J., Van der Meulen, B.M.J., 2014. Chapter 14: Food labelling and beyond. In: Van der Meulen, B.M.J. (Ed.), EU Food Law Handbook. Wageningen Academic Publishers. Mancuso, A., et al., 2018. Analysis of flexibility principles in food safety in the EU and consequent assessment of the notification criteria (2004-2017). Eur. Food Feed Law Rev. 13 (3), 220–232. Prakash, et al., 2016. Regulating Safety of Traditional and Ethnic Foods. Elsevier. Van Asselt, P., et al., 2006. Kleinschalige Producenten en Grootschalige Hygienewetgeving. Research Report for Slow Food. http://edepot.wur.nl/10974. Van der Meulen, B.M.J., 2009. Reconciling food law to competitiveness. In: Report on the Regulatory Environment of the European Food and Dairy Sector. Wageningen Academic Publishers, Gelderland, The Netherlands.

CHAPTER 11

Traditional food, legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland Camille Aouinaïta, Danilo Christena, Karola Krell Zbindenb a Agroscope, Conthey, Switzerland Attorney-at-Law, Markwalder Emmenegger, Muri, Switzerland

b

Contents Food, nutrition and health in Switzerland Introduction Historical overview Geography and the natural agricultural landscape Culture and traditions Traditional celebrations and their food Culinary arts and habits Presentation of the PDO and PGI products in Valais Typical foods and food products Summary Legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland Regulatory issues in Switzerland Food law and other legislation related to traditional food Protection of origin Novel food Exceptions on safety regulations for certain Food Business Operators Special animal breeding and keeping rules References

219 219 220 220 221 221 221 224 227 229 229 229 230 230 234 235 236 237

Food, nutrition and health in Switzerland Camille Aouinaït, Danilo Christen

Introduction Switzerland is often associated with mountains, lakes, snowy landscapes, cheese and chocolate. This small country located in the center of Europe is characterized by a variety of local cultures, traditions and culinary habits. This chapter presents the traditional and typical food products produced and consumed in Switzerland. The southern region of the country is particularly reviewed through the use of labeled products. Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00012-3

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

219

220

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Historical overview The structural change that affects the agricultural sector in Europe is visible in Switzerland. The number of farms decreased by 48% between 1990 and 2013 in the Frenchspeaking Switzerland, along with an increase of the biggest farms (i.e., over 50 ha) (Bl€attler et al., 2016). In 2017, in Valais 2956 farms were registered, employing 9583 people and 37,341 ha (3.5% of the Swiss Utilized Agricultural Land), of which 60% in mountain areas (Departement de l’education, de la culture et du sport et al., 2012; Federal Statistical Office, 2018). The average value of agricultural production in western Switzerland in 2012–2014 (3 billion Swiss francs a year) contributed to 30% of the total agricultural production of the country (Bl€attler et al., 2016). The Swiss agriculture is diversified with field crops, special crops and animal production. Intensive and extensive agriculture is practiced in the country; exploitation is often difficult because of the slope and fragmentation of the plots (Departement de l’education, de la culture et du sport et al., 2012). Crop production prevails in western Switzerland, with more than 60% of the value of total agricultural production of this region. Eggs, poultry, milk and cattle gained importance, whereas field crops and viticulture decreased their share in the value of agricultural production in the French-speaking Switzerland (Bl€attler et al., 2016). In Valais, 23,000 ha in mountain areas and 68,000 ha of mountain pastures are managed by more than 4000 peasant families. Fifty varieties of vines are cultivated on 4900 ha, which corresponds to one third of the Swiss vines (e.g., Petite Arvine, Amigne, Cornalin and Humagne). 2500 ha of fruit and vegetable crops with more than 96% of Swiss apricots (Bl€attler et al., 2016; Valais Wallis Promotion, 2016). Field crops account for 2000 ha, especially rye. The rye bread is an ancestral food product (Bl€attler et al., 2016) with an annual production of approximately 600 tons (Valais Wallis Promotion, 2016). 13,500 cows, 57,000 sheep, 7000 goats and 200,000 chickens constitute the livestock in this region. Important symbols of the Swiss mountains are the cow of the race of Herens, the Nez-Noir sheep and the Col-Noir goat (Chambre Valaisanne d’Agriculture, 2014). The cheese Raclette du Valais PDO is produced with 40 million kg of milk per year. It is a mountain cheese semi-hard, made from raw cow’s milk.

Geography and the natural agricultural landscape Switzerland is a small country with an area of 41,285 km2, shaped by the Alps, hills, lakes and rivers. Six% of the freshwater supply in Europe comes from the Swiss Alps. The proximity with the Atlantic Ocean provides specificities to the Swiss climate; a temperate and humid air providing adequate rainfalls in the different regions of the country. The North and the South of Switzerland are distinguished in terms of climate thanks to the Alps that

Traditional food, legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland

act as a barrier. The South is affected by the Mediterranean Sea (Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, 2018).

Culture and traditions Traditional celebrations and their food Different festivals are celebrated in Switzerland. Many of them are related to seasonal agricultural events occurring in the year like the start of the vineyard works in spring, the Alpine ascent and descent during summer, the wine festivals, the Ch€asteilet cheese € sharing, the Alplerchilbi or Sennenchilbi in central Switzerland, the onion market in Bern, the Benichon or Chilbi in Fribourg (House of Switzerland, 2017; MySwitzerland.com, 2019a). Regarding the latter, the cuchaule is the typical specialty of Benichon. This is a sweet bread with saffron, with Benichon mustard. It is accompanied with stew, mutton stew with “botzi pears,” smoked ham and leg of lamb. The dessert comprise meringues, donuts, bricelets, cooked wine pie and “cuquettes.” The carnival is celebrated in each canton to mark the end of the winter season. Battles of cows of the race of Herens are organized in the canton of Valais between spring and autumn. The chestnut festival occurs in autumn, especially in the canton of Ticino. Chestnut is prepared in different forms like roasted chestnuts, jam, honey, pies or ice cream (MySwitzerland.com, 2019b; Swiss Confederation, 2017).

Culinary arts and habits The consumption habits of the Swiss population are evolving towards an increase in highly processed foodstuffs and convenience food with a large part of the diet based on processed food (Agristat, 2017). Nevertheless, the awareness of the population of the role of diet in health is raising. Consequently, a growth of the consumption of chickpeas, nuts, lentils, fruits, rapeseed oil, heat-resistant oils has been noted, along with the decrease in the use of palm oil (Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, 2019) (Fig. 1). The consumption of fruits and vegetables is stable between 2007 and 2016, while the use of alcoholic beverages and grains slightly decrease. Simultaneously, a moderate increase in the use of nuts, vegetable oils and pulses has begun since a few years (Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, 2019) (Fig. 2). The use of milk and dairy products significantly decreased between 2007 and 2016, while the consumption of animal-based products is stable. The awareness of the need to reduce the part of the diet dedicated to products from animal origin has increased in the population (Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, 2019) (Fig. 3). The decline of the use of drinking milk towards flavored beverages and alternatives milks (e.g., rice, almond and soya beverages) reflects the current food trends. The availability of processed products that contain milk components (e.g., ready-to-eat foods,

221

Kg/capita /year 120

Fruits Vegetables Alcoholic beverages

100 Grains 80

Potatoes,other roots, tubers and starch

60

Sugar,sugar alcohols and honey

40 20

0

Vegetable fats Nuts,oleaginous fruits and legumes Stimulants

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Fig. 1 Use per capita of foodstuffs of vegetable origin from 2007 to 2016 in kg per year (Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, 2019). The consumption of fruits and vegetables is stable, while the use of alcoholic beverages and grains slightly decrease. Simultaneously, a moderate increase in the use of nuts, vegetable oils and pulses has begun since a few years.

Kg/capita /year 260 240

220

80

60

40

Milk and dairy products Meat Eggs

20

0

Fish and seafood Animal fats

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Fig. 2 Use per capita of foodstuffs of animal origin from 2007 to 2016 in kg per year; milk and dairy products in kg of whole milk equivalent per capita and per year (Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, 2019). The use of milk and dairy products significantly decreased between 2007 and 2016, while the consumption of animal-based products is stable. The awareness of the need to reduce the part of the diet dedicated to products from animal origin has increased in the population.

Traditional food, legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland

Kg of whole milk equivalent/captia /year 90 80 70 60 50 40

Cheese Drinking milk

30 20

Cream Milk preserves Other dairy products

10 Yogurt

0

Séré

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Fig. 3 Use per capita of milk and dairy products from 2007 to 2016 in kg per year; milk and dairy products in kg of whole milk equivalent per capita and per year (Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, 2019). The consumption of milk and dairy products is particularly sharp for drinking milk. It is partially replaced by flavored beverages and alternatives milks (e.g., rice, almond and soya beverages). The processed products containing milk components like milk powder or milk concentrate is a reason explaining this decrease.

chocolate, biscuits, ice cream, sauces) has been extended in the previous years (Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, 2019). Regarding the consumption habits, the most frequently skipped meal is breakfast (5% of the surveyed population), especially by the younger, by men, and in the German-speaking region. Approximately 2% never having lunch and 1% never having dinner in a week (Bochud et al., 2017). Among regular breakfast consumers, four types of meals have been identified: sandwiches (i.e., white bread, butter and sweet spread); sweet cereals; sausages and cheese; and bircherm€ uesli. These differences are highlighted between linguistic regions of the country. The French-speaking region favor the first type of breakfast. However, the Germanspeaking part favors the salted meals and bircherm€ uesli. Regarding cooking habits,

223

224

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

cooking hot meals is more frequently done by women. Young people often cook a hot meal for dinner, more than older people. The time spent cooking hot meals is longer for women (43 min) than for men (32 min), with little differences across linguistic regions (Bochud et al., 2017).

Presentation of the PDO and PGI products in Valais In this section, the focus is put on the southern region of the country: the canton of Valais. In this region, the production of foodstuffs is diversified, contributing to the development and preservation of varied landscapes. Along with population growth, high qualitative soil conservation is essential (Departement de l’education, de la culture et du sport et al., 2012). In the canton of Valais, the most emblematic traditional products are apricot, cheese (Raclette), dried meet and wine. Furthermore, several labeled products originate from the region. The Protected Designations of Origin (PDO) system certifies that the product has been completely developed in the region from which it comes, while the Protected Geographical Indications (PGI) allows raw materials to be sourced in Valais or elsewhere. For more information on the PDO-PGI regulations, see chapter on Traditional and Ethnic Food in Switzerland (Fig. 4). The Raclette du Valais PDO is a typical Swiss dish, where the cheese is melting and scraped, served with potatoes and dried meat (Raclette du Valais AOP, 2018) (Fig. 5). The Valais dried meat PGI is often served with Valais rye bread PDO as « entrees » in a plate from Valais (« Assiette Valaisanne »). Fresh local white wine can easily be combined with this dish (Fig. 6).

Fig. 4 Raclette du Valais PDO (Raclette du Valais AOP, 2018). The Raclette du Valais PDO is a typical Swiss dish, where the cheese is melting and scraped, served with potatoes and dried meat.

Traditional food, legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland

Fig. 5 Valais dried meat PGI accompanied with Valais rye bread PDO (Association Suisse des AOP-IGP, 2019). The Valais dried meat PGI is often served with Valais rye bread PDO as « entr ees » in a plate from Valais (« Assiette Valaisanne »). Fresh local white wine can easily be combined with this dish.

Fig. 6 DPO and PGI products in Switzerland in 2015 (Association Suisse des AOP-IGP, 2019). In November 2015, more than two thirds of the Swiss PDO-PGI products come from the Frenchspeaking Switzerland (Bl€attler et al., 2016): Raclette du Valais PDO, Valais rye bread (Walliser Roggenbrot) PDO, Valais dried meat PGI, Valais raw ham PGI, Valais bacon PGI, Valais Pear Eau de Vie PDO, Abricotine PDO et Mund Saffron PDO (Dayer, 2014; Valais Wallis Promotion, 2016).

225

226

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

In November 2015, more than two thirds of the Swiss PDO-PGI products come from the French-speaking Switzerland (Bl€attler et al., 2016): Raclette du Valais PDO, Valais rye bread (Walliser Roggenbrot) PDO, Valais dried meat PGI, Valais raw ham PGI, Valais bacon PGI, Valais Pear Eau de Vie PDO, Abricotine PDO et Mund Saffron PDO (Dayer, 2014; Valais Wallis Promotion, 2016). Abricotine PDO Abricotine PDO is produced with 90% of the tasty Luizet variety. The introduction of this variety dates from 1838. The minimum alcohol content is 40% volume. The product is registered since 2003. Fruit production, storage, fermentation, distillation and bottling of Abricotine PDO are exclusively performed within the boundaries of the canton of Valais. Apricots must be located at a maximum altitude of 1100 m (Genolet, 2009). The highest qualitative apricots are selected to produce the beverage. Optimum maturity, healthy and clean aspects with a minimum size of 35 mm are important criteria to respect. Once sorted, the fruits are crushed to give a homogeneous puree allowing a complete fermentation of the sugars. The distillation is then done as quickly as possible. The traditional distillation of fruit alcohols is a tradition in Valais. Approximately 117,000 bottles of 70 cl of Abricotine PDO are annually produced, requiring one million kg of apricots (Association Suisse des AOP-IGP, 2019). Valais Pear Eau de Vie PDO The Valais Pear Eau de Vie PDO is only produced with Williams pears, abundant in the Valais orchards. This product is characterized by its intense taste of pear. The minimum alcohol content of Abricotine PDO is 40% and was registered in 2001 (Association Suisse des AOP-IGP, 2019). Valais rye bread PDO The rye bread must weight 0.25, 0.5 or 1 kg and at least contain 90% of rye and maximum 10% of wheat. It was registered in 2004 (Association Suisse des AOP-IGP, 2019). The dough is exclusively made with water, salt, flour, yeast and leaven. The ingredients are mixed and kneaded to obtain a homogeneous paste. This traditional product dates back from the 13th century. The adaptation of rye to the extreme weather conditions and high altitudes in remote valleys makes it an appropriate cereal. Raclette du Valais PDO Raclette du Valais PDO registered in 2007, is a fat, semi-hard cheese, made with raw cow’s milk. The producers must comply with specific criteria related to the shape (29–31 cm diameter circle), weight (5 kg) and crust of the cheese. The cheese in Valais was used as a bargaining chip four centuries BCE. The term Raclette is used since 1874 (Association Suisse des AOP-IGP, 2019).

Traditional food, legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland

Mund Saffron PDO The Mund Saffron PDO is grown on the territory of the municipality of Mund (Upper Valais). The spice comes from a plant named Crocus sativus. The saffron harvested from the three pistils in the heart of the flower are dried and reduced to powder. Three kilos of saffron are annually produced; 180 flowers are needed to produce 1 g of the spice. Dried meat PGI According to the Association of Dried Meat Producers, dried meat PGI is prepared with Swiss meat, essentially with the thigh of cattle. After salted and spicy, the meat is suspended and dried for five to sixteen weeks in the dry and sheltered from light (Association Suisse des AOP-IGP, 2019). The transforming process of drying was chosen thanks to the relatively dry climate in Valais. Raclette, dried meat, Mund saffron and rye bread have existed in the region for a number of centuries, while the distillation of Abricotine PDO and Valais Pear Eau de Vie PDO products began in the middle of the 20th century (Genolet, 2009).

Typical foods and food products The Swiss cuisine is influenced by German, French and northern Italian cuisine. National traditional food dishes include the cheese fondue, in which the small pieces of bread are dipped in the melted cheese; Raclette, where the cheese surface is scrapped with a knife and served on potatoes; r€ osti (potatoes pancakes); bircherm€ uesli (oatmeal, lemon juice, condensed milk, grated apples, walnuts and almonds) and chocolate. Furthermore, culinary specialties are found in diverse regions across the countries. Regarding the cheese, Each area of the country has its own types of cheese; such as the Vacherin cheese, the Appenzeller, the Sbrinz, the Emmentaler, the Gruye`re and the T^ete de Moine. In Ticino, chestnuts are processed in diverse products are available at many feasts (e.g., bread, pasta, praline chocolates). Polenta is another specialty from this canton. This is a puree made from maize, mixed with cheese and served as an accompaniment or as a main dish. In Appenzellerland, the gingerbread “Biberli” is famous, as much as the cheese tart, scalded sausages and the drink Alpenbitter. Sausages are popular throughout the country, with more than 350 different varieties. In the French-speaking part of Switzerland, raw pork sausages or poached or cooked on vegetables (Pape Vaudois). In the German-speaking part, the OLMA bratwurst from St. Gallen is best eaten without mustard and with the hands. It can also be consumed fried with r€ osti in a pan to create the highly traditional bratwurst with onion sauce dish. Fish dishes are well-known near the lakes of Geneva, Neuch^atel and Biel with trout and perch.

227

228

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

In the canton of Bern, the Berner Platte is famous. This is made with different varieties and part of the meats and sausages (e.g., beef tongue, smoked belly of pork, smoked pork chops, pork shoulder), cooked with juniper-spiced sauerkraut, pickled turnips, dried beans and boiled potatoes. The traditional Zibelechueche (onion tart) and the Bernese Haselnusslebkuchen are highly consumed in the canton. The latter is an aromatic dough produced with ground hazelnuts, egg and sugar. Meringues are served with whipped cream are served as a dessert. The Basler flour soup traditionally served during the carnival is consumed with cheese, onion tart, suuri L€a€aberli (sour, liver strips) and Basler Leckerli, (gingerbread biscuits). M€assmogge are colorful sweets filled with a brown hazelnut mixture. It is a seasonal specialty especially cooked at the Basel Autumn Fair (Basler Herbstmesse) at the end of October. The Z€ urcher Geschnetzelte is a veal dish served with a cream sauce and r€ osti. A sweet popular dish is the H€ uppen, biscuit rolled into a tube shape filled with a chocolate mixture. The Zuger Kirschtorte is cake consisting of a biscuit center, soaked in kirsch and containing thin layers of butter cream. € Alplermagronen (macaroni, potatoes, cheese, cream and roasted onions) hail from Central Switzerland. The Luzerner Ch€ ugelipastete (vol-au-vent filled with sausage meatballs in a white sauce), stews like Hafenchabis (lamb or pork stew with cabbage) and Stunggis (pork and vegetable stew) are popular dishes. In the canton of Grisons, typical dishes consist of Pizzoccheri (stew made with buckwheat pasta, vegetables and cheese), Capuns (rolls made of chard or cos lettuce and filled with Sp€atzle dough), Maluns (grated potatoes mixed with flour and cooked slowly in butter), Churer meat tart, Birnbrot (a thin layer of bread dough filled with a mixture of fruit, nuts and dough), and the B€ undnerfleisch (an air-dried raw salt meat made from beef leg), the B€ undner Nusstorte (crust tart with nut filling) among others. The Swiss wines are served with the typical regional dishes exposed above. A lot of indigenous varieties are produced in the country (MySwitzerland.com, 2019c). The Valais region is characterized by a variety of typical food and food products. For the fruits, apricot is the most known product, with around 96% of the national production occurring in Valais. This fruit is highly consumed as fresh fruits. However, the brandy Abricotine PDO is produced with a traditional variety that has been mainly replaced by “new varieties” for their post-harvesting behavior (i.e., maturity postharvesting, storage and transport behavior). Another liquor is Williamine that is produced with the William pear. The Raclette cheese is usually consumed with white wine, like Fendant from Valais. Along with this plate, dried meet is an integral part of the Valais-origin plates. It can be accompanied with Valais rye bread PDO, and pickles through an “assiette valaisanne.” This plate is composed with products from Valais like cheeses, raw ham, bacon and onions. The pear and apricot brandy can be consumed after typical Valais plates. They are also used as ingredients in deserts (e.g., panna cotta with apricots and Abricotine PDO, chocolate and pear cake with Valais Pear Eau de Vie PDO).

Traditional food, legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland

A diet rich in fruits and vegetables is associated with a reduced risk of chronic diseases. In apricots, four phenolic compound groups are found: procyanidins, hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, flavonols, and anthocyanins (Betul Akina et al., 2008). The major carotenoid present in apricot fruits is β-carotene, γ-carotene and β-cryptoxanthin, in various concentrations depending on the cultivar. Potassium is the predominant nutrient found in apricot fruits and malic and citric acids are the most abundant organic acids found. Vitamin C is the major vitamin in fruits and sucrose for carbohydrate. The major phenolic compounds are chlorogenic acid, neochlorogenic acid, rutin, catechin, and epicatechin, with differences of concentrations among cultivars (Roussos et al., 2016).

Summary In Switzerland, the diversity of products provided by local farmers and artisans like butchers, bakers, cheese makers and distillers is substantial. Traditional food production is preserved for different sectors. The Swiss culinary know-how has been influenced by international cultures, especially through the neighboring countries. Nonetheless, the Swiss identity of the food supply is wide and rich of local particularities (e.g., Frenchspeaking versus German-speaking areas). The use of labels to differentiate regional products should be extended to more traditional and local products that do not have the resources to support the involvement in a certification procedure. Consumers are increasingly demanding local products, produced by conventional or organic agricultural practices. This interest has been shaped by motivations on the environmental, health and economic levels. Finally, consumers should be able to buy foods and food products that are locally produced with traditional practices that are affordable for the majority of the population. It provides support for smallholder farmers; diffuse the know-how and expertise of local producers and transformers along with entailing positive externalities for the environment (e.g., reduction of transport from production locations to consumption locations).

Legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland Karola Krell Zbinden

Regulatory issues in Switzerland Switzerland is not a Member State of the European Union. However, Switzerland is located in the heart of the EU and mostly exchanges the food products consumed and produced in the country with EU Member States. The Swiss legislator has harmonized and is constantly harmonizing the Swiss food law with the European food law.

229

230

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

This contribution covers some Swiss particularities saved for political cultural and traditional reasons. Traditional and ethnic values still play a major role in Switzerland, even though the country is composed of four linguistic and cultural regions, with a high standard of living and thus very mobile people and a large number of expatriates from all over the world. This articles gives reference to Swiss food law and corresponding laws aiming at the protection of traditional or ethnic food products.

Food law and other legislation related to traditional food In Switzerland all food must be safe for human health and my not mislead the consumer. The safety of foodstuffs in the market is based on a two-tier system: on the one hand, the self-control of the food business operators who are responsible for the safety of the foodstuffs and the compliance with the law in accordance with article 26 of the Federal Act on Foodstuffs and Utility Articles (Foodstuffs Act, FSA, SR 817.0), and on the other hand, the risk-based control exercised by the cantonal food control authorities, which are supervised by the Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office.a All Swiss food law, which is divided into several horizontal Regulations ordinated by the Federal Council and even more vertical Regulations ordinated by the Department of the Interior and here the FSVO, is based on the Foodstuffs Act. Apart from food law, further regulations with respect to the designation and naming of traditional foods emerge from other regulations on the labeling of agricultural quality products and their processed products, like the Regulation on the protection of the designations of origin and geographical indications for agricultural products, the so called “Swissness legislation” based in the Federal Act on the protection of trademarks, the Regulation on the mentioning “mountain” and “alp” for agricultural products.

Protection of origin Designation of origin and geographical indications Switzerland and the EU mutually recognize each other’s designations of origin (PDO) and geographical indications (PGI).b In addition to this, several bilateral agreements on geographical indications and indications of provenance protect certain names against misuse in trade have been concluded.c Protected geographical indications and names of states and cantons may only be used in accordance with the law of the country of origin. a b

c

FSVO, https://www.blv.admin.ch/blv/en/home.html (Accessed 1 January 2019). See the Agreement of 21 June 1999 between the Swiss Confederation and the European Community on trade in agricultural products; Annex 7 on wine products, Annex 8 on spirits and Annex 12 on the protection of designations of origin and geographical indications for agricultural products and foodstuffs (SR 0.916.026.81). IGE, Bilateral agreements on the protection of geographical indications and indications of source, https:// www.ige.ch/en/law-and-policy/international-ip-law/bilateral-agreements/agreements-ongeographical-indications.html (Accessed 1 January 2019).

Traditional food, legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland

The agreements contain lists of protected geographical indications by product groups, which comprise for example natural products such as wine, agricultural products, and industrial products such as watches, chocolate or textiles. PDO and PGI are high-quality Swiss agricultural and culinary specialities with a strong link with the region from where they come, they are mostly produced by artisans such as cheese makers, butchers, bakers or distillers PDO and PGI are listed in the PDO/ PGI Ordinance and certified by the Swiss PDO-PGI Association.d Swiss wines are not included in this category (Art. 1 para. 4 PDO/PGI Ordinance), but enjoy their own protection system. While PDO must guarantee that all the stages of production of the speciality concerned (the production, processing and refining), from the production of the raw material to the processing of the finished product, take place in the defined area of origin, only one production stage (production, processing or refining) must be carried out in the region of origin for PGI. The Swiss Register of PDO and PGI protects the names and traditional names for agricultural products in a defined geographical area with detailed specifications. The product specification precisely defines the characteristics of the product, organoleptic properties and textures, its production area and its production methods. This last element will be the most controlled. The specifications also indicate the certification bodies which must certify that the product complies with the specification. Swiss wine Swiss wine mostly remains a national product and is rarely exported. Designations for wine are regulated in the Regulation on viticulture and importation of wine.e Basically, the Swiss Wine Regulation distinguishes three classes of wine: Wines with a registered designation of origin, country wines, and table wines (in French: appellation d’origine contr^ olee, vin de pays, vin de table), which constitute the product name. “Swiss table wine” is a wine made from grapes harvested in Switzerland with a minimum natural sugar content of 13.6°Brix for white grapes and 14.4°Brix for red grapes.f Wine with a registered designation of origin (“Wine KUB/AOC”) is a wine designated by the name of a canton or geographical area of a canton.g The cantons shall lay down the requirements applicable to Wine KUB/AOC, in particular a definition of the geographical area (cantonal, regional or local) for the production of the grapes, a list of authorized grape varieties, and a list of permitted cultivation methods or other viticultural and oenological elements. The Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) maintains and publishes a d

https://www.aop-igp.ch/en/about-pdo-pgi/definition-pdo-pgi/ (Accessed 1 January 2019). Wine Regulation, SR 916.140. f Article 24 para. 1 of the Wine Regulation. g Article 21 para. 1 of the Wine Regulation. e

231

232

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Swiss register of controlled designations of origins for wine.h “Country Wine” is Swiss wine designated by the name of the country or a part thereof whose area exceeds that of a canton.i Country wine with its own traditional designation may bear a traditional name defined by the legislation of the canton. Wine descriptions, like “Selection,” “Ch^ ateau” and listed in annex 1 of the Wine j Regulation, can be used for Swiss wines in conformity with additional requirements for grapes and/or wine production, which are laid down in the legislation of the canton where the grapes are produced. The use of these terms is protected, even if the term is accompanied by an expression such as “kind,” “type,” “manner,” “imitation,” or “method.” “Mountain” and “Alp” products Two Swiss Regulations provide the conditions of use for the mentioning of “mountain” and “alp” for agricultural products or foodstuffs produced from them, FOAG, Berg und Alp.k They apply to the description and names of food products, information in commercial documents and in advertising. In order to carry the designation “mountain product,” the agricultural product must come from the mountain area and be processed in the mountain area, including the neighboring municipalities. If the products are processed outside the mountain area, only the origin of the agricultural product may be indicated (“yoghurt from mountain milk”). For “mountain cheese,” both milk production and cheese fermentation must take place in the mountain area. Similar rules apply for “alp products.” The definition of decisive alp and mountain regions in distinction to the plain region as well as the delimitation criteria between each of these areas are regulated by the FOAG. Products in compliance with the legal conditions may also use the official signs for mountain and alp (see Figs. 7 and 8). The “Mountain and Alp Regulations” do not cover the designation “alps” as a geographical region. A “Muesli from the Alps” does not have to fulfill the strict requirements. “Swissness” “Swiss made” sells. Several studies have shown that the bonus generated by the Swiss brand reaches up to 20% of the selling price compared to comparable goods from other origins, h

FOAG, https://www.blw.admin.ch/blw/de/home/nachhaltige-produktion/pflanzliche-produktion/ weine-und-spirituosen.html (Accessed 1 January 2019). i Article 22 para. 1 of the Wine Regulation. j https://www.admin.ch/opc/de/classified-compilation/20071607/index.html#app1ahref0 (Accessed 1 January 2019). k https://www.blw.admin.ch/blw/de/home/instrumente/kennzeichnung/berg-und-alp.html (Accessed 1 January 2019).

Traditional food, legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland

Fig. 7 Official sign for Mountain products.

Fig. 8 Official sign for alp product.

Federal Council, Message relatif a` la modification de la loi sur la protection des marques et a` la loi federale sur la protection des armoiries de la Suisse et autres signes publics (Projet ≪Swissness≫) du 18 novembre 2009, 7712 et 7726, and cited studies EPFZ 2008, Universite de St-Gall et al. 2008, 2010, 2013. The value of the Swiss label gives rise to numerous abuses, both at national and international level, which undermines its credibility.l To preserve the benefit generated by the “Swiss” indication of provenance and the use of the Swiss cross, the criteria for its use have been clarified. The so called “Swissness legislation” with regard to the indication of source in articles 47 ss. of the Federal Act on the protection of Trade Marks and Indications of Source (TmPA, SR 232.11) came into force in 2017. Swiss indications of source are “Made in Switzerland,” “Swiss Recipe” or “Swiss quality” and figurative signs such as the Swiss cross, the for its form and height widely known mountain “Matterhorn” or the folk hero Wilhelm Tell. It is prohibited to use indications of source, which are inaccurate or may mislead on the origin of the product. The origin of a natural product is determined in article 48a TmPA by the location of extraction, the place of harvest, the place of hunting or fishing, or the place where the animals are kept. The use of a Swiss indication of origin for foodstuffs requires firstly that at least 80% of the raw material available in Switzerland that compose the product must come from Switzerland and secondly that the step that gives the product its unique characteristics must take place in Switzerland (e.g., the processing of milk to cheese). l

Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property, IGE, Swissness: Background and goals https://www.ige. ch/en/law-and-policy/national-ip-law/indications-of-source/swiss-indications-of-source/backgroundand-goals.html (Accessed 1 January 2019).

233

234

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Products—particularly natural products—which are not grown in Switzerland (cocoa or coffee, for example) are excluded from the calculation. The calculation of availability depends on the so called “self-supply rate” for the respective agriculture product. These rates and thus an insufficient availability of a raw material is determined in a Regulation of the FOAG. Purely economic reasons (e.g., cheaper raw materials abroad) do not justify a status of “non-availability.” A Swiss indication of origin for milk and milk products requires that these products are 100% Swiss. These rules allow the sale of “Swiss coffee,” if the coffee beans are roasted in Switzerland. “Swiss chocolate” must be produced in Switzerland. It is irrelevant whether a stage of cocoa mass processing took place abroad or whether fermented cocoa beans are used. Water is in principle excluded from the calculation, except where it constitutes an “essential component” like in “Swiss mineral waters” or “Swiss beer.”

Novel food The Swiss Regulation on Novel Foods (SR 817.022.2) and the definition of these food products are generally equivalent to the European Regulation with the particularity that the crucial territory for the question of “novel” includes Switzerland. An approval procedure for novel foods in Switzerland is in place. The FSVO is responsible for the evaluation of authorization dossiers.m An authorization is not required for all novel food products listed in annex 1 of the Novel Food Regulation. These include firstly all novel foods that have been authorized in the EU according to Regulation (EC) No 258/97 or Regulation (EU) 2015/2283. This means that novel foods on the EU Union list can be marketed in Switzerland. This does not apply to genetically modified novel foods that require an additional GMO authorization in Switzerland. Secondly, a few particular products are authorized: Since 1 May 2017, three insects are authorized as foodstuffs in Switzerland. Tenebrio molitor at larval stage (mealworm), Acheta domesticus, adult form (cricket), Locusta migratoria, adult form (locust) can be sold whole, cut or ground to consumers, if they come from a controlled breeding farm and if they have been frozen for an appropriate period and have undergone heat treatment or other suitable process sufficient to destroy vegetative bacteriae. In the labeling insects as ingredients must be emphasized like any other allergenic ingredient. Chia seeds (Salvia hispanica) are authorized as traditional novel foods in ingredients in all food products according to annex 2 of the Novel Food Regulation, if the daily portion of the food product does not contain more than 15 g of chia seeds and if a maximum content of 10% in food products or 3% in beverages is respected. They may be sold separately to the consumers with an indication that a daily dose of 15 g may not be exceeded. m

https://www.blv.admin.ch/blv/fr/home/lebensmittel-und-ernaehrung/rechts-undvollzugsgrundlagen/bewilligung-und-meldung/bewilligung.html (Accessed 1 January 2019).

Traditional food, legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland

Hemp (Cannabis sativa) is a plant of the family Cannabaceae (Cannabaceae) and consists of more than 80 cannabinoides, of which THC and cannabidiol (CBD). Hemp can be used in foodstuffs without authorization, if the maximum levels of delta-9tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) are respected, Regulation on Maximum Contaminant Levels (SR 817.022.15). Hemp with a THC content of less than 1% is not considered as a narcotic drug. No authorization is required for a foodstuff, if the CBD content of Cannabis sativa used in that foodstuff does not exceed the natural content (conventional cultivation methods). CBD extracted from such hemp (or synthetically produced) is considered as novel food and requires an authorization as novel food. The same is required for a hemp variety that contains a higher amount of CBD because of a novel breeding method. The FSVO has issued 14 pages of explanation of the different forms to market hemp products with CBD in Switzerland.n

Exceptions on safety regulations for certain Food Business Operators Small Food Business Operators In analogy to EU hygiene law, the Swiss legislator has foreseen some flexibility to take into account the capacities of small Swiss farm structures. Primary production establishments, who supply consumers exclusively with primary products of their own production, in small quantities, either directly or through local retailers, are not subject to the obligation to apply HACCP procedures. Small Food Business Operators are exempt from extensive self-control and documentation as well, see articles 26, para. 3 and 78, para 3 Regulation on foodstuffs and utility articles (SR 817.02). A food business operator is considered to be “small,” if it employs up to nine employees. The Swiss Regulation on Food Hygiene employs terms as “if necessary,” “adapted” or “appropriate,” or “suitable.” The aim is to maintain flexibility under defined conditions, while ensuring food safety, for the benefit of small and very small enterprises to enable them to use traditional methods and products. On farm slaughtering As a general rule, animals must be slaughtered in authorized establishments. However, an exception is made for occasional on farm slaughtering of poultry or domestic rabbits limited to small quantities (a maximum of 10 animals per week and a maximum annual production of 1000 kg). In this case, the on-farm slaughter activity must be reported to the control authority. In all cases, the requirements concerning animal protection and animal health, in particular for the disposal of animal by-products, must be observed. The cutting and processing of meat from theses animals have to respect the general rules of good manufacturing and hygiene practice and self-control. n

https://www.blv.admin.ch/blv/en/home/lebensmittel-und-ernaehrung/rechts-und-vollzugsgrundlagen/ bewilligung-und-meldung/bewilligung/cannabis-cannabidiol.html (Accessed 1 August 2019).

235

236

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

Production of milk at pastures, in summering regions oralps Dairy farming is the most important sector of Swiss agriculture, accounting for around 20% of the production of the entire agricultural sector. Most of the milk marketed in Switzerland is processed into cheese (43%), followed by butter (15%), drinking milk (11%) and cream (8%) and yoghurt (3%). Swiss law supports the milk production in Switzerland with several exceptions from the general rules. On summer farms, the areas used for milk processing must only be clearly distinct from the areas where cooking and eating take place. Traditional processing in a cauldron suspended above the fire is permitted. Containers, appliances, instruments, equipment and other objects coming into contact with milk or milk products may be made of wood if they are in perfect condition and cleaned thoroughly with water heated to at least 85 °C. Religious slaughtering Art. 178 of the Swiss Regulation for Animal Protection (SR 455.1) states that vertebrates and walking decapods must be stunned at the time of killing (mandatory stunning). If dizziness is not possible, all appropriate measures must be taken to minimize pain, suffering and anxiety. Thus, the production of kosher or halal meat according to traditional religious rituals, which assume not to stun the animal before bleeding, is prohibited in Switzerland. There is no exception based on traditional or ethnic character. The importation of kosher and halal meat to ensure an adequate supply of such meat to the Jewish and Muslim communities is reserved.

Special animal breeding and keeping rules With the aim to protect animal health and to prevent animals against mistreatment, specific rules for livestock breeding and the keeping of animals exist in the Swiss Regulation for Animal Protection (SR 455.1) that do not have equivalent rules in the EU. Article 66 RGA requires sufficient feeding and watering facilities for poultry and domestic pigeons. Domestic poultry must have a floor area throughout the light phase covered with appropriate litter of at least 20% of the area in which the animals can move. In addition, provision must be respected with regard to appropriate nests with soft bedding or covering such as artificial grass or rubber mats, easily accessible to the animals. Article 65 RGA foresees minimum requirements for the dimensions of cages for domestic rabbits so that the rabbits can extend their entire length and sit at least part of it with a height allowing upright. Further requirements are a darkened area where rabbits can retreat, compartments where they can nest, the possibility to pad these compartments with straw or other suitable material and move away from the bunnies by gaining another compartment or an elevated surface. Agricultural products produced using production methods banned in Switzerland can still be imported and marketed in Switzerland, but they must be labeled in an appropriate

Traditional food, legal and regulatory issues in Switzerland

manner when they are delivered to the Swiss consumer. These specific labeling requirements are regulated in Regulation on agricultural declaration for products produced by production methods prohibited in Switzerland (Regulation on agricultural declaration, SR 916.51) and concern the following products: a. meat from equine, bovine, ovine, caprine and porcine animals (except wild boar), domestic rabbits, backyard poultry (except laying hens) and farmed wild game; b. meat preparations and meat products, provided that the meat content is at least 20% by mass; c. eggs of domestic hens (Gallus gallus domesticus); d. preparations based on eggs of domestic hens (Gallus gallus domesticus) (egg preparations). The products must be labeled with a mentioning like “Originate from hens kept under conditions banned in Switzerland” or “May have been produced using hormonal performanceenhancing substances” or “May have been produced using non-hormonal performance-enhancing substances such as antibiotics.”

References Agristat, L., 2017. Bilan alimentaire (BA) 2016 (No. 17/10). Association Suisse des AOP-IGP, 2019. Les AOP-IGP [WWW Document]. https://www.aop-igp.ch/fr/ au-sujet-des-aop-igp/definition-aop-igp/. (Accessed 14 March 2019). Betul Akina, E., Karabulutb, I., Topcu, A., 2008. Some compositional properties of main Malatya apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.) varieties. Food Chem. 107, 939–948.  tude sur l’agriculture romande. Bl€attler, T., Eiselen, B., Huber, M., Knapp, L., Paus, M., Pidoux, M., 2016. E Strategies d’avenir pour une agriculture romande dynamique. Haute ecole specialisee bernoise. Bochud, M., Chatelan, A., Blanco, J.-M., Beer-Borst, S., 2017. Anthropometric characteristics and indicators of eating and physical activity behaviors in the Swiss adult population. Results from menuCH 2014-2015 (No. Contract Nr. OFSP 16.010537/204.0001/-1476 and contract Nr. FSVO 0714000510.). Federal Office of Public Health and the Food Safety and Veterinary Office. Chambre Valaisanne d’Agriculture, 2014. L’agriculture en Valais [WWW Document]. Agrivalais. http:// www.agrivalais.ch/consommateurs/agriculture-en-valais/. (Accessed 14 March 2019). Dayer, S., 2014. Economie valaisanne. Bien plus que le tourisme et l’agriculture. In: Canton du Valais. Departement de l’economie et de la formation. Departement de l’education, de la culture et du sport, Departement de l’economie, de l’energie et du territoire, Service de l’enseignement - Service de la formation professionnelle, Delegue EcoleEconomie, 2012. Valais. Economie. Tourisme. Developpement Durable, Sion, Suisse. Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office, 2019. Bulletin nutritionnel Suisse 2019. Federal Office of Meteorology and Climatology MeteoSwiss, 2018. The Climate of Switzerland - MeteoSwiss [WWW Document]. https://www.meteoswiss.admin.ch/home/climate/the-climateof-switzerland.html. (Accessed 25 March 2019). Federal Statistical Office, 2018. Exploitations agricoles, emplois et surface agricole utile par canton, en 2017. Genolet, V., 2009. L’utilisation des produits du terroir au sein des restaurants valaisans. House of Switzerland, 2017. 8 traditions suisses pour le patrimoine culturel de l’UNESCO [WWW Document]. House Switz. https://houseofswitzerland.org/fr/swissstories/histoire/8-traditions-suisses-pourle-patrimoine-culturel-de-lunesco. (Accessed 21 March 2019). MySwitzerland.com, 2019a. Cuisine Typique [WWW Document]. MySwitzerland.com.https://www. myswitzerland.com/fr/cuisine-typique.html. (Accessed 21 March 2019).

237

238

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

MySwitzerland.com, 2019b. Customs and Traditions [WWW Document]. MySwitzerland.com. https:// www.myswitzerland.com/en/about-switzerland/customs-traditions.html. (Accessed 21 March 2019). MySwitzerland.com, 2019c. Typical Food [WWW Document]. MySwitzerland.com. https://www. myswitzerland.com/en/typical-food.html. (Accessed 21 March 2019). Raclette du Valais AOP, 2018. Raclette du Valais AOP [WWW Document]. Raclette Valais. https://www. raclette-du-valais.ch/fr-ch/raclette-du-valais/histoire-origine. (Accessed 25 March 2019). Roussos, P.A., Denaxa, N.-K., Tsafouros, A., Efstathios, N., Intidhar, B., 2016. Apricot (Prunus armeniaca L.). In: Nutritional Composition of Fruit Cultivars. Elsevier, pp. 19–48. https://doi.org/10.1016/B9780-12-408117-8.00002-7. Swiss Confederation, 2017. Tradition [WWW Document]. https://www.eda.admin.ch/aboutswitzerland/ fr/home/gesellschaft/traditionen.html. (Accessed 21 March 2019). Valais Wallis Promotion, 2016. Rapport de gestion 2015. Valais/Wallis Promotion, Suisse.

CHAPTER 12

Future outlooks Marcus Volkerta, Michael Serrurb a GNT Europa GmbH, Aachen, Germany GNT USA, Inc., Tarrytown, NY, United States

b

Contents Introduction Industrialization review Challenges Consumer desire: Current needs and values Creating performance: A technical approach to simplicity Conclusion References

239 240 241 242 243 246 247

Introduction Philip Crosby, the influential efficiency management theorist, stated that “If anything is certain, it is that change is certain” (Crosby, 1996). The inevitability of change serves as a powerful motivator, forcing us to consider the world of tomorrow, today. But if asked to imagine the food system of the future would you picture a bucolic landscape with grazing ruminants, lush gardens, and an endless array of fruits and vegetables; or would it resemble a scene straight out of a science-fiction movie, where food instantly materializes on the plate with one simple push of a button. But maybe your mind wanders down a different path, one that acknowledges, embraces, and attempts to process the challenges the food industry faces today: challenges that include higher instances of diet-related diseases, a changing climate, and the ever-looming threat of a global food crisis. Although our technological advances in agronomy, chemistry, genetics, and biology have enabled us to coax more resources from a static amount of arable farmland, we are still far away from realizing any idealized gastronomic utopia. Philosophies of the past continue to shape the food system of today. Efficiency, uniformity, output—principles that still serve as pillars of the industrialized world have transformed food production into a rigid process that relies on inputs rather than ingredients. For nearly two centuries, this product-driven model successfully melded science, agronomy, and humankind’s inherent biological cravings to raise food production and reduce instances of food insecurity within Western Europe and the rest of the world. The food processing industry remains the foundation of a functioning global society, but with malnutrition a distant threat for many, food choices are no longer dictated Nutritional and Health Aspects of Food in Western Europe https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-12-813171-8.00013-5

© 2020 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

239

240

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

by hunger, convenience, and taste alone; in this era of extreme excess and access, eating is about identity. The vast quantity of information related to all aspects of the food system including agricultural practices, animal welfare, and ingredient labeling allows consumers to select products that not only satisfy their nutritional requirements and tastes, but that also support and reflect their values. The digital age has shed light on an industry previously shrouded in ambiguity, revealing upsetting mechanisms of food production like confined animal feeding operations, industrial meat processing facilities, and the staggering use of pesticides and herbicides. However, rather than fuel further distrust, this heightened level of awareness is being used to reconcile the relationship between the consumer and the industry. More transparency related to ingredient origin, production methods, and health benefits are now the main marketing attributes for many food and beverage products (Insight, 2016). Western European consumers aren’t technophobic, but rather desire the ability to glance at the back of a package and see ingredients they recognize and understand. This effect can be achieved through the application of advanced food processing technology and packaging. By enhancing a food’s inherent characteristic without the use of preservatives or additives, the industry can deliver products the consumer can accept and appreciate. This is the future of food in Western Europe—using modern science to provide products that align with modern values.

Industrialization review Human life has always revolved around the procurement of calories. To survive, nomadic and semi-nomadic hunter-gatherer societies relied on a combination of daily hunting expeditions and foraging, but this ever-present responsibility of feeding oneself and family prevented small communities from blossoming into largescale civilizations. It was the Neolithic Revolution and the shift towards a more sedentary lifestyle reliant on cereal crops and domesticated livestock that ultimately led to the exponential rise in population growth. But equally important to advances in agriculture such as selective plant breeding or irrigation was the development of food processing, which, according to Harvard University professor of anthropology, Richard Wrangham, began 2 million years ago with the discovery of cooking, and was further developed with the invention of basic preservation techniques such as drying, fermenting, smoking, and salting (Wrangham, 2009). Developments in food technology and agriculture evolved simultaneously, which made more significant quantities of food available for longer periods of time. Louis Pasteur’s straightforward preservation technique, aptly named pasteurization, was initially designed to prevent spoilage in wine and beer but was later applied to milk and other perishable foods and ingredients. This progress in food preservation was a critical component of the Industrial Revolution which took hold of Western Europe in the mid18th century. The food industry began adopting some of the principles and techniques of

Future outlooks

this manufacturing boom, which enabled families to pivot away from subsistence farming and towards wage-earning factory jobs. The rise of densely populated urban centers dramatically altered society’s relationship to food by moving the point of consumption farther from its origin. The European wars of the 20th century further accelerated the fusion of food, science, and industry with food manufacturers leveraging military research and technology to improve and optimize large-scale food production (Webb, 2008). For example, in response to food shortages in war-torn Britain, the National Research Council developed successful processes to manufacture shelf-stable products versions of eggs, milk, and bacon which in turn lowered transportation and storage costs and improved shelf life. Other modern processed convenience foods such as sliced deli meats, granola bars, and juice pouches also emerged out of the war-era technology. In the decades to follow, the union between food and technology played an even more significant role in the Western European food system. Named, the “Green Revolution,” this period was defined by increased adoption of high-yielding crop varieties, synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, monocultures, and more advanced mechanized farming machinery, which led to a doubling of global food output from 1961 to 1990. Food scientists continue to work towards a safer more efficient food supply by combining the strengths of different academic disciplines such as agronomy, biology, chemistry, engineering, and of course the culinary arts. These pursuits have resulted in the development of internationally recognized food safety systems. The Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points (HACCP) was formally adopted by Codex and the National Research Council of the National Academy of Sciences in 1997 and remains a model example of the successful union between food, science, and technology. This scientific approach to industrial food manufacturing enabled the industry to respond to the demands of a growing society that spanned beyond basic food production and distribution.

Challenges The current product-driven model of food production has led to more advanced technological, regulatory and safety standards worldwide, but is it the right system for the future? Industrial food production relies on high-yielding commodity crops, pesticides, herbicides, and synthetic fertilizers—a combination that keeps the supply of these inputs high and their prices low. Regardless of these advances, food security remains a challenge, especially in developing countries. A study by National Geographic found that despite record crop yields, only 55% of the world’s food-crop calories directly nourish people, the rest is fed to livestock, turned into biofuels, or discarded (Nationalgeographic.com, 2018). This trend is poised to accelerate as more countries adopt a “western-style” diet centered on resource-intensive foods like processed meat and dairy.

241

242

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

But as the world population is set to increase to nine billion by the year 2050, this system of food production is no longer viable. Statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) show that the number of individuals classified as obese is close to parity with the number categorized as undernourished (World Health Organization, 2018; www.fao.org, 2018). Stressing feasibility and viability over consumer desirability has led to an inflexible system of food production and distribution. We need to master the challenge of supplying more without sacrificing the health of the planet and the people who live upon it. Instead of a productdriven approach, it needs a consumer-driven solution.

Consumer desire: Current needs and values For much of the Western European population, the idea of starvation is almost unimaginable. Since food security is a distant concern, the motivating factors behind daily food choices have shifted. This idea aligns with Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a theory which presents the sources of human motivation as a pyramid of needs, the foundation of which is physiological requirements, followed by safety, belonging, esteem, and lastly, self-actualization. But Maslow’s analysis and subsequent breakdown of human motivation may also be applied to food choice (Fig. 1). Interpreting Maslow’s pyramid in this manner results in four different tiers of motivation—availability, safety, convenience, and identity. Maslow’s Hierarchy indicates that after food availability, safety, and convenience are satisfied, consumer motivation reverts inwards, with food choices representing personal values and principles rather than gastronomic preferences. Eating for identity takes into account topics such as sustainable agricultural practices, fair trade

Fig. 1 Adapted Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs: Factors motivating food selection.

Future outlooks

ingredients, and the use of artificial preservatives and additives, weighing these attributes equally alongside more traditional product characteristics like cost, taste, and nutritional content. Evolving from Maslow’s term “self-actualization,” the tip of the food-need pyramid (“self-identification”) reflects today’s consumers’ expectations. Shaping consumer expectation is the amount of digital content available, which exposes them to an overwhelming amount of information concerning all aspects of the food and beverage industry. Any form of media—from an article to a book to a documentary to an especially vocal chef can bring instant awareness to otherwise unnoticed subjects. The speed of these predominantly online news channels grants attention to issues lower down the supply chain such as agricultural labor rights, environmental sustainability, additives, pesticides, and ingredient traceability. Thanks to a greater level of awareness, the food and beverage industry is looking to adopt more policies focused on transparency and accountability. For example, in 2012, Starbuck’s customers became distressed when they found out that the global coffee chain used carmine, a red dye derived from the small, white insect, Dactylopius coccus, as a colorant in their Strawberry and Cre`me Frappuccino. Although Carmine has been used for centuries in South American communities and remains a common food industry additive, the public outcry ultimately led to its removal. In its place, Starbucks substituted lycopene, a natural tomato-based extract used to achieve a red color. Other, broader examples include the replacement of artificial sweeteners with more plant-derived alternatives such as stevia and monk fruit; the rise in demand for organic and non-genetically modified ingredients; the shift away from refined wheat towards whole-wheat and non-wheat (gluten-free) pastas, noodles, breads, and pastries; and the shopper’s willingness to pay more for products containing free-range chicken, grass-fed beef, and milk from cows treated without bovine somatotropin (bST). These macro trends are moving the food industry towards greater transparency and a more open communication between themselves and consumers regarding how their food is farmed, cultivated, and produced. Forward-thinking brands are leveraging this demand to restore faith in an industry that has suffered from public distrust (Ec. europa.eu, 2016; Gray, 2013). Reconnecting with a new generation of shoppers requires not doing the same things better, but rather make things different.

Creating performance: A technical approach to simplicity The food and beverage industry faces a challenge: How do you satisfy the current consumer need for more straightforward, recognizable ingredients while adhering to the technical parameters required for commercialized food and beverage products? The answer to this question has already been addressed by a seemingly unrelated industry—automobiles. For example, when evaluating a car’s central function—mobility— its performance is evaluated based on how well it executes that function. In the past,

243

244

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

features such as top speed, horsepower, and acceleration were the primary measurements of success, but today that is no longer the case. Driven by consumers’ heightened concern over environmental conservation and global warming, completely new functions like sustainability, gas mileage, and emissions are now equally important characteristics to car manufacturers. To placate evolving consumer priorities, research and development teams are dedicating more resources to studying engine efficiency and renewable energy sources with the goal of eventually, replacing the combustion engine model. Like automobiles, food and beverage brands are finding that consumers are assigning higher value to products with recognizable ingredient lists. The industry therefore needs to adjust and redefine their definition of performance to meet current expectations. Instead of utilizing a long list of specialized additives that serve one specific function, many manufacturers are looking to incorporate multi-use ingredients that are able to perform their technical function while existing in a form consumers accept. However, finding the optimum balance between form and function is a challenge. Let’s take food coloring for example. Color plays a critical role in the marketing and sale of packaged food and beverage products by enhancing visual appeal, encouraging trial, and indicating flavor. The growth of image-forward social media platforms such as Instagram and Pinterest have made “color” a vital attribute to food and beverages across all categories (Top Ten Trends For 2018, 2017). In the past, if a product needed a bright shade of color, formulators would rely on artificial colors which serve a single function of improving or altering a product’s appearance. Synthetic dyes are still incorporated into all types of applications because they are stable, bright, and have a relative low cost-in-use, but in this new environment of heightened consumer scrutiny, ingredients are being judged not on their technical advantages, but on their perceived flaws. In 2007, a study was published out of Southampton University highlighting adverse side effects associated with the consumption of artificial food dyes (McCann et al., 2007). The report, aptly named the Southampton Study, showed evidence linking increased hyperactivity in young children to the consumption of a mixture of artificial dyes and the preservative sodium benzoate. The reports sent shockwaves through the food industry and public health sector, prompting both the United Kingdom, and later the European Union, to ask manufacturers to avoid these additives when possible, or apply a warning label stating, “[this artificial color] may have an adverse effect on activity and attention in children” (Arnold et al., 2012). These studies made a dramatic impact on the perception of European consumers, with a 2016 Nielsen survey finding that 60% of Europeans avoid products containing artificial colors (Company, 2016). Although the technological function of artificial colors rivals other alternatives, its form as a potentially dangerous additive has depleted its value. The function “consumer acceptance” is not provided. Alternatives to artificial colorants have always existed, but these ingredients often aren’t considered viable options for food and beverage brands because of their higher

Future outlooks

cost-in-use and technical complexity. However, mounting skepticism related to the safety of artificial colorants has raised the necessity, and therefore the value, of artificial color replacements. Alternatives to artificial colors need to be able to execute their technical function successfully, but their form must also align with the modern perception of minimally processed, recognizable, healthy foods. Currently, two types of color solutions fit these criteria: selectively extracted color and Coloring Foods. Selectively-extracted colors use organic solvents to isolate and extract pigments from natural raw materials such as annatto, carotenoids or carmine. In the following, the pigments combine with additives, i.e. emulsifiers, to make them applicable in foods and beverages. Compared to artificial dyes, consumers prefer formulated colors, also called non-artificial colors, but even these are remnants of a product-driven industry. Despite a more favorable regulatory designation, selectively-extracted colors are still heavily processed and are not relatable to consumers. This combination of factors is reminiscent of a product-driven additive that is more of an input than an ingredient. Coloring Foods are the third category of color solutions available to food and beverage manufacturers. This class of ingredients embraces the technical approach to simplicity; through a purely mechanical manufacturing process, raw materials such as carrots, pumpkins, radishes, beets, and turmeric are transformed into fruit and vegetable concentrates that deliver natural colors in a relatable and recognizable form. Unlike both artificial colors and selectively-extracted colors, the European Food Safety Authority designates Coloring Foods as an ingredient, not an additive. Coloring Foods are listed on ingredient labels as a fruit or vegetable concentrate; for example, “carrot concentrate” or “pumpkin concentrate.” Labeling Coloring Foods in this manner helps consumers connect and relate to the color. A carrot is a consumable ingredient in its own right; with essential features like flavor, fiber, sweetness, and color. The technical approach to simplicity involves using advanced and resourceful scientific processes to gently separate each of these elements without any significant alteration to their original chemical composition or structure. The carrot concentrate seems like a simple ingredient, but to manufacture a product that is consistent in performance and quality requires precise engineering. The carrot concentrate’s dry-matter content, low pH value, and minimal water content assure a reasonably long shelf-life, while its microbial safety is guaranteed by purely physical means. If the transportation and storage conditions fail to provide a continuous cold chain, a powdered form of carrot concentrate can be made available through spray drying and stored at ambient temperatures, which benefits regions with hotter climates and less access to refrigeration. Multi-functional ingredients aren’t restricted to color. Today in the ingredient market, there are examples of “holistic alternatives” based on this simplistic approach that outperform their highly processed counterparts. Pea starch and selectively extracted pea proteins are common products resulting from intense purification processes, involving dry- or wet milling and significant use of chemicals. Selective fractionation methods include the use of chemicals (acids and bases) to allow complete disintegration of native structures under the

245

246

Nutritional and health aspects of food in western europe

effect of pH and temperature. Selective extraction processes focus on obtaining highly purified ingredients with particular properties. However, in many food products, the purity of single ingredients is neither required nor beneficial. In complex food systems, the effects of many different components ultimately create the final form and function, often even in a synergistic way. Geerts et al. (2017) showed how mild fractionation, using of the natural configuration and composition of the main components of yellow peas, can replace conventional fractionation, and resulting in products with high technical functionality (Geerts et al., 2017). This process provides a simple, identifiable ingredient that is functional and offers other components that are optimized from a consumer perspective.

Conclusion By merging chemistry, agronomy, engineering, and biology, the food industry developed a product-driven model of manufacturing that decreased levels of food insecurity throughout the developed world. Increased production was followed by the establishment of an international regulatory framework capable of managing and monitoring food safety on a global scale, which successfully reduced instances of food adulteration and illness. Because it emphasized efficiency and output, product-driven manufacturing delivered a reliable stream of inexpensive, consistent, and ready-to-eat convenience foods uniform in both quality and taste. The product-driven model of food production simultaneously addressed issues of food security, safety, and convenience, which made the Western European consumer satisfied and content, maybe even complacent. As a result, there was no need or desire to explore the system’s complex inner-workings and advocate for change. The food industry was capable of delivering food and beverage products with characteristics that Western European consumers desired—taste, cost, shelf-life, convenience—but as more information became available detailing the specific process required to deliver these attributes, they suddenly became less desirable. The product-driven model of food production, once celebrated for its ability to make safe and convenient food available worldwide, is now under scrutiny for a myriad of shortcomings—an overreliance on synthetic additives and preservatives, controversial treatment of livestock, a clear and evident role in the rising obesity rate—but it was ultimately the effectiveness of this system of production that enabled the consumer to reclaim agency. Revisiting Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, the product-driven model of food production succeeded in satisfying the individual’s physiological motivations for accessible, safe, and convenient foods, but once these criteria were accounted for, other motivating factors closer to the top of Maslow’s hierarchy—the need for belonging, esteem, and self-actualization—played a more significant role in influencing food choice. As a result, the modern Western European consumer uses food as a means to project personal values. Whether it’s purchasing a bar of Fair Trade cacao, a carton of organic milk, or a cut of grass-fed beef, each decision is a display of not only character, but

Future outlooks

sociopolitical support. A food’s “quality” therefore refers to both its tangible and intangible characteristics, its ability to satisfy hunger and nutritional requirements as well as its role in shaping individual identity. Today’s consumer wants to understand their food concerning its composition without having to sacrifice availability, safety, or convenience. To deliver all of these characteristics simultaneously, the principles of modern food science must be used to enhance and accentuate nature’s inherent attributes, and find the proper balance between form and function.

References Arnold, L., Lofthouse, N., Hurt, E., 2012. Artificial food colors and attention-deficit/hyperactivity symptoms: conclusions to dye for. Neurotherapeutics 9 (3), 599–609. Crosby, P.B., 1996. Philip Crosby’s Reflections on Quality: 295 Inspirations from the World’s Foremost Quality Guru. McGraw Hill. Ec.europa.eu, 2016. The competitive position of the European food and drink industry. The European Competitiveness and Sustainable Industrial Policy Consortium, pp. 42–43. http://ec.europa.eu/ docsroom/documents/15496/attachments/1/translations/en/renditions/native. Geerts, M.E.J., et al., 2017. Protein nativity explains emulsifying properties of aqueous extracted protein components from yellow pea. Food Struct. 14, 104–111. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foostr.2017.09.001. Gray, N., 2013. Half of UK consumers do not trust the food industry on safety: Mintel. [online]. foodnavigator.com. Available at: https://www.foodnavigator.com/Article/2013/07/03/Half-of-UKconsumers-do-not-trust-the-food-industry-on-safety-Mintel#. Label Insight, 2016. How Consumer Demand for Transparency is Shaping the Food Industry. Retrieved from, https://www.labelinsight.com. McCann, D., Barrett, A., Cooper, A., Crumpler, D., Dalen, L., Grimshaw, K., Kitchin, E., Lok, K., Porteous, L., Prince, E., Sonuga-Barke, E., Warner, J., Stevenson, J., 2007. Food additives and hyperactive behaviour in 3-year-old and 8/9-year-old children in the community: a randomised, doubleblinded, placebo-controlled trial. Lancet 370 (9598), 1560–1567. Nationalgeographic.com, 2018. Feeding 9 Billion – National Geographic. https://www. nationalgeographic.com/foodfeatures/feeding-9-billion/. (Accessed 15 March 2018). The Nielsen Company, 2016. What’s in our Food and on our Minds. Global Ingredient and Out-of-Home Dining Trends Report. [Online]. pp. 9–12. Available at: https://www.nielsen.com/content/dam/ nielsenglobal/eu/docs/pdf/Global%20Ingredient%20and%20Out-of-Home%20Dining%20Trends% 20Report%20FINAL%20(1).pdf. (Accessed 16 March 2018). Top Ten Trends For 2018, 2017. Briefing Series. Innova Market Insights, pp. 61–67. Webb, P., May 2008. More Food, but Not Yet Enough: 20th Century Successes in Agriculture Growth and 21st Century Challenges. Gerald J and Dorothy R Friedman School of Nutrition Science and Policy, Tufts University. www.nutrition.tufts.eduhttps://nutrition.tufts.edu/sites/default/files/fpan/Food_ Webb_08_05_13.pdf. World Health Organization, 2018. Obesity and Overweight. http://www.who.int/news-room/factsheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight. (Accessed 19 March 2018). Wrangham, R., 2009. Catching Fire: How Cooking Made us Human. Basic Books, ISBN: 978-0-46501362-3. www.fao.org, 2018. SOFI 2018 – the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World. http://www.fao. org/state-of-food-security-nutrition. (Accessed 20 March 2018).

247

Index Note: Page numbers followed by f indicate figures and t indicate tables.

A Abricotine PDO, 226 African/Caribbean diets, 71–72 Agri-food production complexity of, 173–174, 175f preservation, 182–187 sustainable food systems, 189–191 Alcoholic beverages German food, 150 nutrition and health issues, 168–169 Alcohol tolerance, 3 Alemannic food, 7 Ales, 53 Allicin, 161 Alp products, official sign for, 232, 233f Antioxidants, 161, 163–164, 167–168 Appellation d’Origine Contr^ olee (AOC), 118 Appertization, 127 Ardrahan, 51 Artificial food dyes, 244 Authentic ethnic food, 66

B Bacon, 46–47 Baguette, 124 Balanced nutrition, 160, 167 Beaujolais Nouveau, 169 Beers, 52–53 Beverages French cuisine adverse properties, 125–126 benefits, 125–126 production figures, 125 traditional recipes, 126–127 German food, 150 Bie`re de Garde, 168 Biological preservation techniques, for German food, 152 Blaa, 54 Black pudding, 45–46 Blanching, 184 Blast freezing, 184–185 Blue foods, 161

Bovine milk, 4 Boxty, 54 Bread, 54 Breakfast sausages, 45 British cuisine. See also United Kingdom food regional varieties, 69 Bronze technology, 5 Bulmer’s cider, 53 Butter, 49–50

C Cannabidiol (CBD), 235 Canning, 76, 184 Canton of Valais., 221, 224, 226 Carmine, 243 Cassoulet, 123 Celebratory foods German food, 140–142 Celiac disease, 105 Cena, 21 Cereals Dutch cuisine, 92–93 French cuisine, 124 Irish cuisine, 46 Cheddar cheese, 43–44, 51 Cheese, 50–51, 167 French cuisine, 126 German food, 147–148 Chemical preservation techniques, for German food, 151–152 Chia seeds (Salvia hispanica), 234 Choucroute garnie, 123 Christian food rules, 8–11 Christmas dinner, 71 Christmas pudding, 204 Cider, 53 Circular economy, in Dutch agriculture, 103–104 Clafoutis, 123 Clare Island Salmon, 44 Clonakilty black pudding, 45–46 Coffee, 26–27, 29, 150 Colorful food, 160–161 Coloring Foods, 245

249

250

Index

Columbian Exchange, 24 Committee on Medical Aspects of Food Policy (COMA) report, 77 Complexity of food systems, 174, 175f Condiments, 150–151 Connemara hill lamb, 44 The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008, 202–203 Consumer trends, 41 Controlled atmosphere packs (CAP), 55 Cooked sliced ham, 47 Cooking, invention of, 1 Cork Distillers company (CDC), 53 Cork Dry Gin, 53 Corned beef, 47–48 Cream liqueurs, 52 Cryogenic freezing, 184–185 Culinary centralism, 20 Culinary habits French cuisine, 13 German food, 142 Swiss cuisine, 221–224 Cumberland sausage, 45 Curries, 72

D Dairy products German food, 147–148 Swiss agriculture, 236 Digitalization, 34 Disability adjusted life years (DALYs), 191–192 Dried meat PGI, 227 Drisheen, 46 Dutch cuisine agricultural landscape, 87–88 agriculture products cereals, 92–93 onion, 94 potato, 93 development, 88–90 electric pulse-fishing, 104–105 fishery products finfish, 100–101 shellfish, 101 horticulture products asparagus, 95 cabbage, 94 mushrooms, 95

livestock cheese, 99–100 cows, 96–97 eggs, 100 goat, 97 meat, 98 milk, 99 pig, 97 poultry, 98 sheep, 97 Neolithic package, 86–87, 86t nutrition-related disease-causing factors, 102 preservation, 101–102 regional forms, 90 Dutch decree on reserved names, 206, 210–211f

E Easter Sunday feast, 71 Eating habits, 19, 28 Eggs Dutch food, 100 German food, 147–148 Electric pulse-fishing, 104–105 Ethnic food, 66 EU food law, 202 European Food Safety Authority, 245 Exotic foods, 209–210

F Far Breton, 123 Festbier, 168 Finfish, 100–101 Fish, 3 and chips, 70, 73 French cuisine adverse properties, 120–121 benefits, 120–121 production figures, 120 traditional recipes, 121 German food, 149–150 sustainable food systems, 189 Flevoland 2050, 104 Flexibility, 213–214 Fluid bed freezing, 184–185 Food additives, for preservation, 185–186 Food cultures age of extremes, 30–33 early Modern Era, 23–27

Index

middle ages, 22–23 Modern Era, 27–30 Roman Empire, 20–21 Food-fashion industry, 160 Food Hygiene Package (FHP), 212–214 Food industry challenges, 239, 243–244 origin, 15 Food information to consumers (FIC), 202 Food production systems environmental impact assessment, 194–195 German food, 140, 151–152 LCAs, 194 meat products, 187–189, 188f military research and technology, 241 product-driven model consumer desire, 242–243 digital age, 240 food security, 241 industrialized world, 239–240 Food safety German food, 153 Netherlands food, 206–208 Food Safety Act 1990, 203 Food Standards Agency (FSA) Guidance, 203–204 Frankfurt Kitchen, 142 Freeze drying, 185 French cuisine beverage adverse properties, 125–126 benefits, 125–126 production figures, 125 traditional recipes, 126–127 culinary habits, 13 culture, 115–117 18th century, 112 environment, 127 fish adverse properties, 120–121 benefits, 120–121 production figures, 120 traditional recipes, 121 food model, 115–116 gastronomic meal, 109–110 grains adverse properties, 124 benefits, 124 production figures, 123–124

traditional recipes, 124–125 meat adverse properties, 119 benefits, 119 production figures, 118–119 traditional recipes, 119–120 Middle Ages, 110–111 natural agricultural landscape, 113–115 19th century, 112 potato, 14 preservation, 127 Renaissance, 111 retro marketing, 128–130 17th century, 111–112 shelflife, 127 traditional celebration, 116–117 traditions, 115–117 20th century, 112–113 upper class dining, 27 vegetables and fruits adverse properties, 122–123 benefits, 122–123 production figures, 121 traditional recipes, 123 French gastronomy, 110, 113 Fresh products, 187 Fruits French cuisine adverse properties, 122–123 benefits, 122–123 production figures, 121 traditional recipes, 123 German food, 144–145

G General Food Law (GFL), 202, 206 German food beverages, 150 biological preservation techniques, 152 chemical preservation techniques, 151–152 condiments, 150–151 culture, 140–144 dairy products, 147–148 eggs, 147–148 fish, 149–150 food futures, trajectories for, 154 fruits, 144–145 grains, 146–147 healthy nutrition, 160

251

252

Index

German food (Continued) land and water use, 140 legumes, 145 meat, 149 mushrooms, 145 natural agricultural landscape, 138–140 nutritional and food safety conditions, 153 nuts, 146 physical preservation techniques, 151 potato, 13 preservation, 151–153 seeds, 146 shelf-life, 151–153 traditions, 140–144 vegetables, 145 German Nutrition Society (DGE), 144, 150, 153, 160 Gibbing, 12–13 Gins, 53 Grain farming, 4 Grains French cuisine adverse properties, 124 benefits, 124 production figures, 123–124 traditional recipes, 124–125 German food, 146–147 Grass land, 87–88 Gratin dauphinois, 123 Green foods, 161 Green Revolution, 241 Grilling meat, 164–165 Gubbeen, 51

H Ham, 47 Hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP), 212, 241 Healthy nutrition availability, 159 colorful food, 160–161 diets, 160 Hemp (Cannabis sativa), 235 Herring, 87, 101–102 High pressure processing (HPP), 152 High temperature preservation, 184 Homo sapiens, 2–3 Honey, 4–5, 42–43, 54

Horsemeat, 5 Hotchpot, 90–91 Hunger, 178–179 and supply shortages, 19 Hungry July, 14

I Immersion, 184–185 Imokilly regato, 51 Ingredients, 24, 244–246 Innovation, 20, 23, 27–28 Irish food and beverage products composition benefits, 43–55 eating cultures and traditions, 42–43 pasture fed Irish cows, 43–44 potatoes, 14, 25 traditional foods overview, 57, 57–59t production geography, 42 salt and fat reduced foods, 41–42, 56

J Jewish food systems, 31–32

K Kerr’s pink, 55 Kerrygold Irish butter, 49

L Labeling, 230, 234, 236–237 Lactic acid fermentation, 152 Lactose tolerance, 4 Lagers, 52–53 Lamb, 44 Legumes British cuisine, 74 German food, 145 Life cycle assessment (LCAs), 194 Life-style medicine, 102 Lincolnshire sausage, 45 Linear Pottery culture, 3–4 Local food, 177, 181–182, 195 Low oxygen modified atmosphere packs, 55 Low temperature preservation, 184–185 Lumper, 55 Lycopene, 160–161, 243

Index

M Maerzenbier, 168 Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, 242–243, 242f, 246 Mayo, 44 Mead, 54 Meat French cuisine adverse properties, 119 benefits, 119 production figures, 118–119 traditional recipes, 119–120 German food, 149 sustainable food systems, 187–189, 188f Meat curries, 72 Meat pie, 73 Medieval medicine, 10–11 Mediterranean diet, 176 Metal cans, 27–28 Middens, 3 Milk French cuisine, 125–126 Irish cuisine, 48–49 Misleading actions, 203 Misleading omissions, 203 Modern food systems, 177–178 Modified atmosphere packs (MAP) German food, 152 Irish cuisine, 55 Modified ethnic food, 66 Mountain products, official sign for, 232, 233f Mulled wine, 169 Mund Saffron PDO, 227 Mushrooms Dutch food, 91–92 German food, 145

N National Diet and Nutrition Survey, 77 Neanderthals’ diet, 1–2 Neolithic societies, 3–5, 20, 240 Northeast-East Dutch cuisine, 90–91 Note-by-note cooking, 129 Novel foods, 209–210

O On farm slaughtering, 235 Orange vegetables, 161 Organic farming, 15–16

Orthorexia nervosa, 162–163 Overprocessed food, 181

P Pale lager, 52–53 Pancake Day, 71 Pancakes British cuisine, 71 French cuisine, 124–125 Pasteurization, 184, 240–241 Pasture fed Irish cows, 43–44 Philips’ Grow Wise City Farming Center, 104 Philips Lighting and Staay Food Group, 104 Physical preservation techniques, for German food, 151 Phytonutrients, 166–168 Pickling, 76 Plant based biomass, 189, 190f Plate freezing, 184–185 Pleasure-oriented diet, 34 Polder, 87–88 Potatoes, 13–14 German, 167–168 Ireland, 55 Preservation, 240–241 Dutch cuisine, 101–102 food additives, 185–186 French cuisine, 127 German food, 151–153 high temperature, 184 low temperature, 184–185 role, 182–183 water amount control, 186–187 Processed meats, 44–48 Protected designation of origin (PDO), 117, 177, 204–205 Protected designations Netherlands, 206, 209–212f Official EU logos, 205, 205f UK, 206, 207–208f Protected geographical indication (PGI), 118, 177, 205 Pulses, 5 Purple foods, 161

R Raclette du Valais PDO, 224, 224f, 226 Ratatouille, 123

253

254

Index

Red vegetables, 160–161 Regional cuisine, 165–166 Religious slaughtering, 236 Retro marketing, 128–130 Risk analysis, 206 Roman style food culture, 7, 21

S Saison Beer, 168 Salting, 4–5, 76, 186 Sauerkraut, 152 Sausages, 44–45 Seafood, 3 Seasonal cuisine, 166–167 Selectively-extracted colors, 244–245 Self-made-marinades, antioxidative effect of, 164 Sensory-driven sodium reduction strategy, 56 Sensory quality, 52, 55 Shellfish, 3, 101 Shrove Tuesday, 71 Slow Food, 212 Small Food Business Operators, 235 Smithwicks draught aleis, 53 Smoking, 186 Soda bread, 54 Solute preservation, 186 Southampton Study, 244 South Asian diets, 71 Southern Dutch cuisine, 91–92 Spice trade, 12–13 Spray freeze drying, 185 Starbucks, 243 Stouts, 53 Sublimation, 185 Sugaring, 186 Sunday roast, 71, 73 Sustainable food production, challenges for, 192–194 Swiss Federal Food Safety and Veterinary Office (FSVO), 230, 234–235 Swissness legislation, 232–234 Swiss Regulation for Animal Protection (SR 455.1) Art. 178, 236 Article 65 RGA, 236 Article 66 RGA, 236 Swiss Regulation on Food Hygiene, 235 Swiss Regulation on Novel Foods (SR 817.022.2), 234

Switzerland (Regulation on agricultural declaration, SR 916.51), 236–237 Switzerland food culinary arts and habits, 221–224 culture, 221–227 natural agricultural landscape, 220–221 PDO and PGI products, 224–227 traditions, 221–227 Synthetic dyes, 244

T Taberna, 21 Tarte tatin, 123 Tea, 54 Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), 235 Timoleague black pudding, 45–46 Trade Descriptions Act 1968, 202–203 Traditional and ethnic foods (TEFs) categorical safety, 209–210 general labeling protection, 202–204 special labeling protection, 204–206 Traditional food systems, 177–178, 181–182 consumers’ expectations, 177 vs. traditional methods, 216, 216f Traditional speciality guaranteed (TSG), 118, 177, 205 Transparency, 240, 243 TRIS database, 215–217, 216–217f

U Unfair Commercial Practices Directive, 202–203 United Kingdom food African/Caribbean diets, 71–72 beverages, 75 celebratory foods, 71 ethnic minority groups cooking methods, 72 influence, 74–75 feasts, 71 grains, 75 legumes, 74 natural agricultural landscape, 69 preservation methods, 75–76 South Asian diets, 71 traditional foods, components of, 66–67, 68t vegetables, 74 Victorians, 69 wartime, 70

Index

V

W

Vacuum packs (VP), 55 Valais Pear Eau de Vie PDO, 226 Valais rye bread PDO, 224, 225f, 226 Vegetable curries, 72 Vegetable oils, 160 Vegetables French cuisine adverse properties, 122–123 benefits, 122–123 production figures, 121 traditional recipes, 123 German food, 145 Verenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC), 89–90 Victorian food, 70

Waterford Blaa, 54 Western Dutch cuisine, 91 Whaling, 85–86 Wheel of Five, 102, 103f Whiskey, 53–54 White foods, 161 White pudding, 45–46 Wine, in French cuisine, 125–127

X Xanthohumol, 169

Y Yellow vegetables, 161

255