Czech capitalist regimen: less lard and longer lives
By Thomas Fuller (International Herald Tribune)

PILSEN, Czech Republic: It has been 14 years since the Czechs dumped
Marx and Lenin, and the transition to a market economy has brought a
happy reality: Capitalism, it appears, is good for your health.

Czech men today are living four years longer, to 71, on average, than
during communist times; women are living three years longer, to 78,
according to the national statistical office.

The increase is the largest among all central and eastern European
countries, according to Jitka Rychtarikova, head of the demography
department at Charles University in Prague.

The main reasons for longer lives, she said, are better medical care-
mainly access to drugs that treat heart disease that became widely
available only after 1989 - and healthier diet and lifestyle.

Capitalism has changed food habits in the Czech Republic because people
have more choice at supermarkets and restaurants. People are eating
fewer of the artery-clogging stews and meaty dishes for which the
country is known. Instead they cook more chicken and fish and eat more
fresh vegetables.

Chefs and restaurant owners praise a choice of food that is much wider
than during communist times, when the goal for the country was to be
self-sufficient and eat locally grown food.

"When we were growing up we ate a lot of dumplings, onion sauces,
svickova - basically food that filled you up for a couple of hours so
that you couldn't do anything," said Eva Zummerova, the owner with her
husband, Milan Zummer, of the Sunflower restaurant in this western Czech
city.

Svickova is a classic Czech roast. One recipe begins this way: After
removing the meat membranes, lard with thick strips of bacon. Slice root
vegetables and onion thinly. Melt butter and cool.

Consumption of this type of food has dropped like a frozen pork chop,
according to the Czech statistical office.

In 1990, a year after communism fell, Czechs ate on average 28
kilograms, or 62 pounds, of beef a year and 50 kilograms of pork. In the
span of a decade beef consumption fell by 64 percent and pork by 18
percent. Chicken consumption, by contrast, nearly doubled from 13.6
kilograms a year in 1990 to 22.9 in 2001, the latest year for which
figures are available from the Czech statistical office.

Here in the heart of beer country, the Zummers began their restaurant
career by opening a fast-food hamburger joint. But six months ago they
sensed that people in Pilsen wanted something different, Zummerova said.
So the Zummers opened the Slunecnice, or Sunflower, restaurant and
strung up a giant green banner across the street that reads: "The
Restaurant of Healthy Eating." On a recent afternoon the restaurant was
filled with students and office workers eating piles of grated carrots
and tofu and drinking exotic herbal juices.

At first, Zummerova said, her customers asked a lot of questions.
"Especially the men," she said. "They were confused about the grains.
They didn't know the difference between oats, barley and polenta."

While restaurants like the Sunflower are becoming popular in cities like
Pilsen and Prague, Czechs say it's a different story in the countryside.
"They still eat dishes with a lot of oil or fat," said Dusan Jakubec, a
board member of the Association of Cooks and Confectioners of the Czech
Republic. "Duck, beef, cream sauces; they also spread lard on bread and
eat it."

Jakubec, whose main job is chef at Flambée, one of Prague's fancier
restaurants, says fish and certain vegetables were considered exotic in
communist times and were often not available. In addition, many fruits
and vegetables could not be found in the off-season.

It's a different story today with the Czech economy open to the world.
Annual consumption of "Mediterranean or tropical fruit" has nearly
doubled since 1990 from 15 to 27 kilograms per person. Czechs are now
eating on average 25 percent more vegetables.

But there are some habits that are unlikely to change. While the rest of
the world increasingly turns to wine, Czechs are sticking to beer. The
average Czech drinks 156 liters, or 41 gallons, a year, virtually
unchanged from a decade ago.

"Czech people will always drink more beer than wine," Jakubec said. "It
will always be that way."