What Lithuanians eat on holidays
How Lithuanians eat during holidays abroad?
Almost half of the Lithuanian population misses healthy food choices while traveling abroad. Therefore, they take food made by themselves or family members in their travel bags so that they do not have order while traveling - on airplanes, trains or ferries. And even 23 % travelers, due to the lack of healthy food in the vehicle, choose to stay hungry and to eat absolutely nothing while traveling. These results were shown by a survey ordered by ferry company DFDS.
According to a survey conducted by research firm Spinter Research, the desire of Lithuanians traveling to eat healthy is not a myth. According to the survey, 72% of Lithuanians travel to other countries at least occasionally and almost half of them - 43 % - lacks the opportunity to order healthy food while traveling. For this reason, travelers carry their own meals or products, and some simply do not eat during the trip and wait for the opportunity to eat outside the vehicle.
Despite the lack of healthy food, as many as 21 % still order food from the menu on the vehicles during the trip.
How to eat healthy while traveling?
Dietitian Ugne Radzevičienė says that travelers should avoid reckless eating: “There are several dietary risks when traveling. The first is overeating. We eat because we don't know what else to do on the plane, ferry or train until we reach our destination. In this way, we consume more food than we really need, so we feel too full. When traveling, it would be good to find some activities - reading a book, sleeping, watching a series or movie, admiring the view from the window. And we should only eat when we are really hungry. ”
“The second nutritional hazard is unhealthy snacks. If we eat a sandwich when we're hungry, even though we're hungry, we can eat less for the rest of the day, so our total calorie intake stays normal and we don't feel too full. However, if we are constantly eating unhealthy snacks during the trip, we are at risk of consuming too much sugar or carbohydrates, which will soon create a feeling of heaviness and fatigue in our bodies. Such snacks are very high in calories but do not create a feeling of fullness. In this way, you will easily exceed the daily calorie intake, even before starting larger meals, thus contributing to holiday weight gain, ”explains U. Radzeviciene.
However, according to the nutritionist, the desire of Lithuanians to have a delicious meal during the trip is more than understandable: “When traveling on holiday, people want to relax and pamper themselves rather than worry about how to preserve an intact figure. Of course, having the right eating habits does not make it difficult to eat healthy while traveling, but you cannot expect every passenger to develop them and follow their planned eating plan. So we decided to help the travelers a little bit and set up a new menu on DFDS ferries that not only tastes good but, above all, is healthy. Passengers will therefore not have to worry about keeping their diets on the road. "
The needs of people traveling are changing
According to the survey, as many as 62 % of travelers would consider purchasing healthy food if the price and portion size were almost the same as their usual food choices, the food would look good and prepared by professionals. For more than half of travelers (58%), would be motivated to buy healthy food in a vehicleby the knowing that the food is delicious and the value for money is right.
Commenting on the results of the study, Vaidas Krūmas, Head of DFDS Shipboard Catering for the Baltic States, said: “To ensure the best travel experience for our customers, we conducted a survey of traveling Lithuanians, which revealed that nearly half of travelers lack healthy food choices. Given the increasing awareness of people and the growing trends in healthy eating, these results are not surprising, but they are somewhat contrary to the widespread belief that people do not care about healthy eating when traveling. That's why we start a healthy food tradition on our ferries. "
According to Mr Krūmas, the choice of healthy food when traveling is not only beneficial but also necessary for some travelers: “Customers who are allergic to certain products, intolerant of them or have other special needs for food also travel on ferries. Traveling from Klaipeda to Kiel, for example, can take some time. Because of the longer travel time and the constant listening to the needs of all our customers, we wanted to offer an alternative menu where everyone would find a meal that suited them. That's why we start serving ferries with vegetarian, vegan, sugar or gluten-free food prepared by specially trained professional chefs. All the dishes on the ferries and the menu itself were created in collaboration with dietitian Ugne Radzeviciene. ”
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