Hemsida Länder Tjeckien Methodology Step 2 : Recommendations In Czech Republic In the Czech Republic

In the Czech Republic

Recommendations to the employees

The purpose of the recommendations was to provide employees with simple and easy to use guidelines to assist them in choosing food during the working day. One of the basic nutrition rules to be related was the importance of eating three main meals during the day. The maximum energy content of these is to be 20% energy intake during breakfast, 35% during lunch and 30% during dinner. Morning and afternoon snacks are to provide no more than 5-10% of the daily energy intake with approximately three-hour intervals between meals.
Employees are to use these as guidelines to improve their health and to modify their eating habits not only during the working day.

  • Taste the food before adding salt and/or try other condiments.
  • Lower the use of fat and preferably use vegetal oils.
  • Eat at least 5 portions of fruit/vegetables per day.
  • As a dessert, choose a fresh fruit based option and sometimes as an alternative, a dairy product.
  • Choose types of cooking that do not add too much fat (steaming, roast, grill, etc.).
  • Choose water to accompany your lunch .
  • It is necessary and very important to choose and maintain a regular diet: Three meals are recommended per day. Maximum energy intake should be at lunch, though breakfast should be regarded as an important part of daily meals. Dinner is the third meal of the day. Morning and afternoon snacks should represent only a small proportion of daily energy intake, therefore, choose vegetables or fruit. It is recommended to leave 3 hour intervals between each meal.
  • Keep in mind that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and increases well-being and is a good start to every day.
  • Hunger between main meals should be suppressed by fruit or vegetables.

Recommendations to the restaurants

Eight recommendations in total were agreed on in the Czech Republic. Recommendations 2-7 are specific to local cultural habits. Together these form the guidelines to the Czech restaurants. The emphasis to the restaurateurs and chefs was on cooking the traditionally heavy Czech food in a more balanced form. The recommendations were based on the traditional daily menus and followed these principles:

  • Favour cooking methods such as steam, oven, or grill.
  • Offer dishes in 2 sizes.
  • In our country, accompaniments are excessive compared with other countries – a lot of carbohydrates
    • Serve less meat but more vegetables; and serve fewer accompaniments = 1 quarter of the plate
    • Modify the nutritional ratios of helpings – more vegetables, less accompaniments – with both made-to-order and typical Czech meals = half vegetables, quarter accompaniments and quarter meat.
  • Offer a range of smaller portions
    • Soup is specific to the Czech Republic, for example a thick goulash soup served with a roll and followed by the main course, is too rich in calories
    • Serve smaller helpings of soup without any bread, unless the soup itself is the main dish.
  • Increase range of vegetable salads, especially with olive or rapeseed oil added.
  • Reduce the content of trans fatty acids in edible fats and in products utilising edible oils by preferring olive-oil or rapeseed oil - cold pressed.
  • Expand the choice of beans, peas and other pulses in Winter.
  • Use less fat and salt + Use iodine salt.

Criteria to respect in order to be part of the FOOD restaurants’ network

Following the creation of the FOOD recommendations for restaurants, a network of restaurants respecting a certain number of recommendations was created.
In the Czech Republic, restaurants have to apply 5 out of the 8 recommendations in order to be part of the FOOD restaurants network.

To see the map of the entire network of FOOD restaurants, click here