When talking about a place, you can skip the sights, the economy, or politics—but you absolutely can’t leave out the topic of “food.” Food is the staff of life, and that holds true across Europe as well. A place rich in delicious food always leaves a lasting impression and draws people back again and again—just look at Japan’s sashimi and ramen. In Prague, when it comes to food, one simply cannot avoid thinking about salt.
Czechs drink an average of 143 liters of beer per year, the highest in the world, which is 30 liters more than Germans. The flavors of food meant to accompany beer are usually quite strong. After visiting several restaurants, we could conclude that almost all the dishes were cooked with a considerable amount of salt—extremely salty. To verify whether this was just restaurant culture or a folk tradition, we invited Martin, who took us on a running tour of Prague, to cook a home-style meal with a fusion of Hong Kong and Czech cuisine with us.
During the meal, Martin mentioned that Czechs’ taste preferences are related to history. The Czech Republic is a landlocked country that once needed to preserve food with large amounts of salt to ensure it wouldn’t spoil when imported from other regions. Later, even though importing food became much easier and the Czech Republic developed its own agriculture and livestock industry, the ingrained taste preferences never changed—perhaps because a swig of beer is all it takes to quench one’s thirst.
Special thanks to Doughnut for keeping us looking stylish even while scrambling for ingredients XD
To learn more about another side of the Czech Republic, please like:
BackPraguer Czech Sports Tour - https://www.facebook.com/BackPraguer/