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Village Greeks and their diet and lifestyle have been studied, and they're some of the healthiest and longest-lived people in Europe. That is why their diet has been recommended to others.
I think that is rather because of environment. Greek countryside is scarcely populated, sunny, mountainous, sea is close in most of areas and surely the fish is less harmful than meat.
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Most sheepherding takes place on mountain plateaus beyond the forests in the Balkans, Romania and Italy, at least.
I know of no forests that were cut down to make room for sheep. They're generally pastured in rocky terrain not suited for forests or farming, where the soil is shallow. Sheepherding is a very practical use for that type of environmental niche.
Shepherding is practiced on all kind of relief forms. Yhe mountain grass may be qualitatively superior but certainly, at least in Romania, much or most shepherds are keeping their flocks in hill and plain areas.
And in Romania too, lot of mountain and hill sectors below the alpine thundra is used as pastures, being regularly cleared of trees. This is the case especially in Transylvanian Plateau, where the fact that the land has been used like this for centuries, has lead to an unusual enrichment in number of small plant species: up to 70 different flowering plants can be found sometimes on a single sq meter, while in the rest of Europe is just few species on a sq meter:
Prince Charles is fascinated by this aspect, you will find lots of articles and videos online with him promoting Transylvania, where he lives a part of each year.
Still, most mountains are densely forested and with precious habitats. Here is a recent video with the magnificence of Romanian nature:
Similarly I could claim that the heavily forested rational individualistic secular Protestant mindset of the Nordic Countries is vastly superior to the backwards Orthodog Gippo peasants of Romania. Add Serbia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Albania and other nations filling that cesspool. The only ones who are not completely f**ked up are Croatia and Slovenia. Mainly because of their more Western mindset and due to the fact that they are Catholic.
But hey, they are only opinions, not facts.
Agree that the Protestants are smarter than Orthodox. Still, is far cooler to be Orthodox, even an Atheist in an Orthodox country. You know, because of older and more cosmopolitan traditions.
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Originally Posted by euro123
See, here I agree. Part of the problem is that many people in the geographical eastern parts of Europe have low opinion of themselves and worship the West, which on its turn results in people from UK/America re-fueling this to their advantage. Kind of similar to how the Western European settlers pretended to be gods to the natives of America or Japan.
For example there's this show in Bulgaria, called the "Slavi show" where from time to time the host invites some random western European jobless liberal to "teach us how to live". Yeah....who cares about all the intellectuals from Russia, China, Japan..."Since the guy is from the West he must be genius, even if he's a heroine addicted rapist...".
This mindset once again is something common among the older generation. The ones who spent their lives under communism are under the false impression that the West is where the gods live.
This is a hilarious situation. Because population in both EE and WE are deeply ignorant in respect of prehistory of Europe, the Balkans, the oldest part of Europe is considered the newest. This is visible in the name given to the bridge over Danube between the Bulgarian city of Vidin and Romanian town of Calafat, bridge built mostly with EU money and called "New Europe Bridge": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Europe_Bridge
Thank you WE for the money, but to call Balkans "New Europe" is utter ignorance. Especially in that area of Danube, where appeared the oldest European civilisations, Lepenski Vir and others. The Balkans, as bridge between Europe and Asia, have been the first colonised by Near East migrants and the Neolithic cultures that appeared here constituted the second oldest developed area in the world (after Near Est), millenia before the apparition of civilisation in China or India. But hey, I'm not sure how clear is for people on this forum the fact that civilisation appeared in Near East, that is, the Fertile Crescent, or Israel, Syria, Turkey, Irak.
We have a lot of EE man and woman over here who are working the fields. I must say, I don't look down on them because I see them do jobs that most Dutch people wouldn't want to do nowadays.
But a lot of people here do look down upon them, or at least frown upon, because they very much live up to the old stereo types of poor drunks. When I see them after work in the supermarket buying sh!tloads of beer and barely no food, that doesn't give a good impression. Especially when after buying all that beer, they go drink it outside of the supermarket. That, in combination with the dirty work clothes makes for a pretty lousy image.
We have a lot of EE man and woman over here who are working the fields. I must say, I don't look down on them because I see them do jobs that most Dutch people wouldn't want to do nowadays.
But a lot of people here do look down upon them, or at least frown upon, because they very much live up to the old stereo types of poor drunks. When I see them after work in the supermarket buying sh!tloads of beer and barely no food, that doesn't give a good impression. Especially when after buying all that beer, they go drink it outside of the supermarket. That, in combination with the dirty work clothes makes for a pretty lousy image.
What countries they are from ( those that work in Holland, in the fields)?
What countries they are from ( those that work in Holland, in the fields)?
Most are from Poland, I believe, as I see mostly Polish licence plates around here. But also Czech, Croatians, Hungarians. But not that much. The farms around us all use mostly Polish workers. The farmer next to me has a few old farm houses in the area. The house on the corner near me is full of workers, and the farmer himself lives in one of his other houses.
There were a few scandals also the past years. Of Dutch farmers exploiting Polish workers on their farms. They worked too long days, for as less as just a few euros an hour, weren't allowed to leave the farm after work and had to pay most of their wage back to the farmers for food and housing.
Most are from Poland, I believe, as I see mostly Polish licence plates around here. But also Czech, Croatians, Hungarians. But not that much. The farms around us all use mostly Polish workers. The farmer next to me has a few old farm houses in the area. The house on the corner near me is full of workers, and the farmer himself lives in one of his other houses.
There were a few scandals also the past years. Of Dutch farmers exploiting Polish workers on their farms. They worked too long days, for as less as just a few euros an hour, weren't allowed to leave the farm after work and had to pay most of their wage back to the farmers for food and housing.
Not sure what the answer is, but for me personally, it's how they are big on animal torture and cruelty. Animal rights laws are weak there, and their subculture is one of animal cruelty. Warped culture and I have no idea why so many are that way
I’ve never heard countries like the Baltic States, Poland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia are dangerous. Homicide rate is considerably high in the Baltic States, but in Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovenia, it is among the lowest in Europe. As for petty crimes, the crime rate is even considerably better than such big tourist spots as Paris, Rome, London, etc.
People tend to generalize their personal experience as a universal fact. If one met drunks in shabby clothes from a particular country who are frowned at by the local people, one would tend to generalize their experience and say people from that particular country are dirty drunks and looked down on, but there should be many other people of different habits and life-styles from that country or even these drunks would act in completely dissimilar way in a disparate situation.
Most are from Poland, I believe, as I see mostly Polish licence plates around here. But also Czech, Croatians, Hungarians. But not that much. The farms around us all use mostly Polish workers. The farmer next to me has a few old farm houses in the area. The house on the corner near me is full of workers, and the farmer himself lives in one of his other houses.
There were a few scandals also the past years. Of Dutch farmers exploiting Polish workers on their farms. They worked too long days, for as less as just a few euros an hour, weren't allowed to leave the farm after work and had to pay most of their wage back to the farmers for food and housing.
We don't have many Poles working the fields in Germany anymore, I don't think. 15 years ago, yes, but not now. Interesting they are still prevalent in Netherlands.
Where my family has agricultural holdings (in the Rhineland, and close to Belgium and Luxembourg), Romanians are, by far, the most common agricultural workers. They come every Fall to do the wine harvest.
That's what I thought was very strange. But he claims it was his firsthand experience, so we have no other way than to take it as such, that he is a bonafide third party without any malicious intent.
I heard and read on various occasions Romanian people were working as such. And Czech people are working as a farmhand in Holland! A turn-up for the book. It sounds like
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