Meat-eaters live in Donetsk, a sweet tooth – in Chelyabinsk
A new report of the State Statistics Committee shows what kind of food is preferred by Ukrainians according to areas. The data shows that the citizens of Lviv eat two times less fish than residents of Kirovohrad, and the Crimeans consume fewer potatoes than in Vinnitsa. Economically developed regions – Kiev, Donbass, Kharkiv – eat more meat and less bread. Even fruits, berries and nuts that do not grow in the capital are mostly consumed by Kievans, and in rural areas, which grow everything, the staple food is milk, potatoes, vegetables and bread.
«This is connected with the welfare of the region. Even in regions where there is abundance of, say, apples, they do not eat them except for sub-standard and the best is sold to Kiev to make money. The same is true of milk: it is more profitable to process it into cheese, butter and sell to the townspeople.
Dietitian of medical centre Eustace Boris Skachko argues that the current diet of Ukrainians is far from ideal. Even in areas where they eat most of meat, it is still not enough. 200 grams of meat a day eaten by resident of Kiev or Donetsk is only 40 grams of protein, that is, half of the daily norm. The rest must be supplemented with fish, eggs, cheese, cottage cheese, milk. However, these products are not underconsumed by Ukrainians, because they have no money for good nutrition. The cheapest potatoes and bread are consumed more than required by 1.5-1.7 times. Potatoes lacking vitamins, and having starch and other carbohydrates can lead to diabetes. Therefore it is necessary to replace the bread and potatoes by buckwheat, rice, maize and millet.
