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| By asking the first
question we wanted to see what they understood under the notion
of national food. The most frequent answer (56%) was: " food characteristic
of a certain nation ", and more even tried to define the term " characteristic
". We, therefore, believe that they meant something that determines
something else, or a specific feature that helps you recognize a certain
thing or notion. 16 % of the examinees answered that the national
cuisine came from a certain nation and that it was the food, which
characterized that particular culture and made it known all over the
world. We believe that these 16 % can be added to the 1. Group of
56 %. We are then left with 28 % of the examinees that have no clue
as to what it could be, and admit not knowing the answer. |
| We alone had problems
defining the term of " national cuisine " (huge encyclopedias and
councilors were of no help). Therefore, we decided to define this
term the way 67 % of the examinees had done. This means that national
cuisine is the cuisine characteristic of a certain culture, where
a particular dish is comparably present in all generation and social
groups. |
| The
second question was supposed to find out what the examinees knew
about our national cuisine. 55 % knew some of Croatian national dishes,
and the most frequent answers were stuffed cabbage leaves ("sarma"),
"Strukli " and " mlinci ". If only stuffed cabbage leaves were Croatian
national dish. But they aren't. "Strukli" and "mlinci" certainly are
our national food so we were left with only 43% with the correct answer.
But why do so many students believe "sarma" to be a Croatian national
dish? What is actually "sarma"? It is made of cabbage leaves (or any
other leafy vegetable) stuffed with minced meet. It was brought to
Croatia by the Turkish conquers, but has become so attached to our
parts that there isn't one New Year's without a bowl of "sarma". Therefore,
we shouldn't be surprised by large number of examinees that believed
"sarma" to be a Croatian national dish. It is interesting to note,
that several ethnic minorities in Croatia (e.g. Czech) also thought
"sarma" was a Croatian national dish. |
| The
third question was asked to discover our examinees' affinity for
the so-called traditional and "modern" cuisine. We wanted to see what
would our high-school population prefer after two hours of snow cleaning:
delicious "sarma" filled with vitamin C and iron, or a pizza. 30%
said they preferred "sarma" and 70% chose pizza. The results were
as expected, since our examinees were high-school children who love
eating pizza, simply because it is tasty (the taste cannot be described).
Such results were also due to the mass-media influence, which relates
pizza to the fast, youthful lifestyle full of fun and nice friends,
while "sarma" is connected to a homey, traditional atmosphere. There
is also one more thing. Because of the easy preparation pizza can
be well made both by grandmas and granddaughters, while "sarma" is
rather difficult to prepare, even for us. |
| The
fourth question was used to see whether the examinees went to
any restaurant with the purpose of trying a foreign national dish.
46% said they never went to restaurant, 43% rarely and only 11% regularly.
The main reason for rare going to restaurants is the economic crisis
in our country, which has been reflected on the whole society, including
high-school children who receive only pocket money from their parents. |
| In
the fifth question we checked how well the examinees knew some
of the famous European cuisines. Through data processing we concluded
that the Italian cuisine is the most popular one. All 100% of the
examinees named at least one Italian dish. As an Italian national
dish, 51% of them named different kinds of noodles, 37% named pizza
and 12% some other Italian food. This can be explained by the fact
that noodles and pizzas can be found in every store in Croatia. We
were astonished, however, by the small percentage of children whose
answer was pizza, since pizza is advertised in every corner of Croatia,
so we thought it would prevail. Let's face it, Italians are our immediate
neighbours. 61% couldn't name at least one French dish. The food that
was mostly mentioned was French salad (7%). Other 32% named various
different foods, mostly snail dishes. Although French cuisine is considered
to be rather famous the Croatian youth was not familiar with it. Croatian
students were also not familiar with the German cuisine. As a German
national dish, 27% mentioned different kinds of sausages, 13% stated
some other dishes and 60% didn't know of any German food. |
| The
sixth question was similar to the fifth one but this time we named
a certain dish and the first example was "sushi". 69% answered correctly,
24% gave the wrong answer and 7% had no idea where it came from. This
is a very famous dish, known to the public from numerous movies, which
explains such a high percentage of correct answers. The second example
was more complex. Only 10% knew that "alva" came from Turkey, 34%
gave the wrong answer and 56% knew nothing about it. This dish, like
Turkey cuisine in general, is not well - known and promoted in Croatia,
which is the reason for the low percentage of those who knew where
this dish came from. The results for "boršč" were similar. 12% knew
it came from Russia, 27% gave the wrong answer and 61% had no clue
as to where it came from. This is a little surprising, since the required
reading in those schools includes the works of such great writers
like Dostoievski and Turgenev, who mention "boršč" as a Russian national
dish at least ten times in their books. "Tortillas", however, were
much better known in Croatia. 46% answered correctly, saying they
came from Mexico, 43% gave the wrong answer and 11% didn't know where
they came from. A high percentage of incorrect answers can be attributed
to confusing Spain and Mexico, since Mexico was a Spanish colony.
These students were probably only guessing, but they guessed wrong.
The fifth example was "French fries". 36% answered correctly, 51%
incorrectly and 13% didn't know where it came from. This high percentage
of incorrect answers resulted from the fact that the American industry
had become very popularised and had spread this product around the
world, so people accepted it as their national food. |
| With
the seventh question we wanted to see how those students would
introduce Croatia to a foreigner, and if they would rather offer a
Croatian national dish or some well - known foreign food to the new
- comer. 34 % said they would offer a national dish to a foreigner,
32 % answered they would rather choose a foreign dish and 34 % couldn't
decide. |
| The
eight question was used to check how well the examinees could
distinguish between two Croatian national dishes, which are similar,
but still very different. 55 % said they knew the difference between
smoked ham and ham, while 45 % said they didn't know the difference.
Among these 55 % there were a small percentage (32 %) of those who
answered correctly. Other answers were too vague, like for example
"smoked ham tastes better ", " smoked ham is more expensive " etc.
This proves that not many people know the difference between these
two hams and usually consider them more or less the same. This, of
course, is not true. Smoked ham originates from Dalmatinska zagora
while ham comes from Slavonia |
| With
the ninth question we checked how well high - school children
knew food from certain regions. The results were satisfactory, because
60 % of the examinees knew food from the various regions in Croatia.
This is because it is easier to recognize a certain region's a dish,
than which country it comes from. We can also say that Croatia doesn't
have a national dish, but a regional dish that has been more or less
accepted by other parts. Our examinees probably originate from one
of the regions, and also by hanging out with their coevals they exchange
information on their region's traditional food. |
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| With
this question we concluded our survey. We asked our examinees what
they though about a preservation of national identity through the
national cuisine. 63 % thought that by the preservation of national
cuisine we could preserve our national identity. We agree, and believe
that nowadays, when the process of globalization is become so widespread,
it being a positive thing in the sense of connecting people, we shouldn't
forget our tradition and our ancestors. We should retain our customs,
ancient stories and the warmth of our homes for the generations to
come, but at the same time we mustn't turn our backs on our familiar
and unfamiliar friends. A year has 365 days, which is more than enough
time to try our national as well as foreign cuisine and customs. In
this way we will be able to preserve our national food (tradition)
and learn something new that will enrich our lives. When food is concerned
the later part is the easiest, because every cook will be happy to
add a new spice to her home - made soup, in order to make it even
better. |
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