The Czech Paradox Redux

Despite my best efforts, the Czech Paradox as a cultural phenomenon, has just not caught on. I mean each morning I at least peruse, if not read cover to cover, three newspapers (Tribune, WSJ, NYTimes); then I check LTHForum.com, OA, Mouthfuls, and occasionally Chowhound. Then, on to about five or so blogs, maybe Slate or Salon, and of course, the Sartorialist. If anyone sees a trend codified, its me. No one else talks about the Czech Paradox.

Maybe, mere words alone don't cut it in today's MTV world. We need visual evidence.

What first, the Czech or the paradox? I'll start with the food.

All Czech meals start with beer, it's a food-law the way all Peruvian meals contain at least one potato.


Then soup, here bean and smoked pork, notice the ample inclusion of sausage



Healthy green vegetables (with smoked pork butt and potato dumplings)

Or not (beef in creamy/lemony vegetable gravy with bread dumplings)


French fries can be an entree (because there's cheese!)



Up close



Can you finish?


If so, here's the results (the paradox)



Note, I have to protect "Kate's" identity so no face shots. Also, these were are about all the pictures I could take of her physique before she wrung my neck

Operetta
(773) 622-2613
5653 W Fullerton Ave
Chicago, IL 60639

Over the years I've played hockey with and against a lot of Czech (and Slovak) guys and they are universally, it seems, in great shape. They typically are also highly skilled players, having received excellent training starting from an early age. (Most of them drink impressive amounts of beer after the games too, but then we do that as well...)

But the question is, after all the cigarettes and pork butts, how long do they live? I don't know, but I suspect the incidence of cardiac problems among Czechs is not especially low. But even if it's high, I guess they enjoy themselves while they're here.

Nice pics. Welcome to the modern age.

Antonius

Diann and I often laugh whenever we go to Operetta, because the waitresses seem straight out of casting for a 007 Bond movie (the healthy, well-toned, beautiful girl who could still kill you with a quick jab to the throat). And then we get the piles of food you so nicely showed photographs of. I definately believe in 'the Czech paradox"!

I, too, have experienced this paradox. This past summer I was in Prague for a few days on a side trip during the World Cup. Everywhere I looked I saw women that looked like those professional tennis beauties: tall, willowy blondes. Also everywhere I looked were sausage carts filled with deliciously fatty encased meats as far as the eye could see. A sausage and a beer for 2 bucks, how can this exist alongside the pulchritude strolling down the avenues?

Eventually I gave up trying to figure it out and simply enjoyed the benefits granted to a wandering American male.....

chitrader wrote:I, too, have experienced this paradox. This past summer I was in Prague for a few days on a side trip during the World Cup. Everywhere I looked I saw women that looked like those professional tennis beauties: tall, willowy blondes. Also everywhere I looked were sausage carts filled with deliciously fatty encased meats as far as the eye could see. A sausage and a beer for 2 bucks, how can this exist alongside the pulchritude strolling down the avenues?

Eventually I gave up trying to figure it out and simply enjoyed the benefits granted to a wandering American male.....

Well, before we only had anectdotal evidence, but now we're getting some real data

Here's some more Czech food that will keep you lean (sorry taken thru display cases)





Czech and Slovak Store
3113 N. Central
Chicago

Vital Information wrote:
Well, before we only had anectdotal evidence, but now we're getting some real data

Here's some more Czech food that will keep you lean (sorry taken thru display cases)





Czech and Slovak Store
3113 N. Central
Chicago

Well, that's all well and good, but I'm nore interested in seeing the other side of the Czech Paradox. Do you have any more pictures of slim & trim Czechs?

OK, yes, I harbor a grudge that none of my pics of Czech food made it into the LTH 2006 year in pics, nor have any of the pics been since nominated for any food foto contest. What does it take to get people to eat Czech food in Chicago.

It cannot be the air quality. Outside of Chinatown, no restaurant benefited more from the Chicago no-smoking laws than Operetta. What was once one of the dirtiest places in Chicago is now blissfully pure.

It cannot be the food quality. My family took me there for Fathers Day. Duck was crispy yet moist, infused with garlic, roast pork was likewise moist; creamed spinanch was, in words of older daughter, best ever, dumplings are dumplings...not artful food but well done.

And it cannot, clearly, cleary, cannot be the percieved fattening-ness of this food. We were surrounded by hale and hearty Czech eaters. A man a table over from us with cannons for arms polished off all his dumpling (six) all his rosat pork (5 slices) and all the accompanying gravy; then, he ordered crepes with whipped cream--OK, in full honesty, we left before I saw if he finished his dessert, but I have little doubt.

The lack of popularity of Operetta continues to amaze me!

As a Bohunk, I will say this. All Bohunks have shapely muscular calves. My Grandma used to say it was from picking mushrooms in the Bohemia. You can be fat and out of shape and you will still have shapely muscular calves. Go figure!


Those pics of the dumplings look just like the ones Grandma used to make. Operetta is soooo close to my parents house, I can't believe I've never heard of it. We usually have to go to the western burbs for that kind of food.

Vital Information wrote:The lack of popularity of Operetta continues to amaze me!

I cannot wait to go! Soon, soon...

Yes the dumplings look just like grandma would make. or.....I myself would make if I were to make a feast of "bohemian turkey"....but what the heck are those pastries all about??? Where is the prune, the apricot, the poppy seed????

Has anyone been to Operetta lately? I was thinking of going for x-mas eve, if the quality is holding up.

The Czech and Slovak grocery store, bakery and deli on Central just south of Belmont closed without a word or forwarding address. Anyone know where it may have relocated?

Hi,

I was just talking to a friend who is hip deep in the Czech community. He was aware of Czech and Slovak having abruptly closed. He said there has been a shrinking illegal Czech and Slovaks population because many returned to Europe because they lost their jobs here. He thought this likely affected this store's customer base.

He did note of another Czech store with bakery goods that are brought in and meat dishes available for purchase over the weekend. They also have Czech language movies, music and periodicals. He advised it is more Czech oriented rather than Slovak. The name Vltava is after a river in Czech Republic.

Vltava
7416 W Belmont Ave
Chicago, IL 60634-3605
(773) 622-5490

I hadn't been to Operetta in quite some time, so my wife, toddler and I went this weekend and once again had an excellent meal. My wife got her usual beef dish with potatoes, stellar as always, and I tried a new one: potato pancakes with pieces of pork over it in a slightly spicy paprika/ketchup like sauce. It may not sound good, but it really was tasty (even more so the next day), although the pork was a little tough. But the pancakes were perfect, and I plan on going back for more soon (or at least when Hannukah roles around again).

I have a post about Operetta in the Food Chain's series of guest posts. Here are some pics they didn't use:

this always blew my mind when i lived in prague a few years ago. beer is often cheaper than water and comes in half-liter glasses. cigarettes are plentiful, cheap and delicious. and don't even get me started on the dumplings and gulas. yet, even though i walked up hill rigorously several times a day, i still came home 20 pounds heavier.

maybe it's just a moderation thing. same reason french girls are so skinny.