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Many Eastern Europeans do like to buy prepackaged and processed foods. They mainly like to eat at a cafe or make the food themselves. Instant food is not really appreciated in Eastern European countries.

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From 1990 - 2000, high levels of undernourishment were showing up throughout Eastern Europe. After 2000, the economy started to pick up and these levels started to decrease. Now, these levels have continued to level out even more over the past few years, but the rate of undernourished is still high.

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Many Eastern Europeans have a good work ethic and a strong respect for religion. One of the most important things to them is family. Most people in these areas belong to the Orthodox church. Romania and Bulgaria are two countries that are highly populated with gypsies. In more recent times since the fall of communism, some of these values have changed, but still remain important in their every day life.

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In 2013 Poland set up a competition for students to create a two minute video that would teach their fellow students the problems of wasting food. After the competition, all the schools that participated showed that their food waste rate had decreased by 50%. Throughout Eastern Europe there are many countries like Poland that have high food waste rates in their schools, but by raising awareness are working hard to lower these rates.

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Although Western Europe is the world's leader in recycling and reducing waste effectively, Eastern Europe does not follow this example as would be expected. By looking at this chart you can see that the lower half has Eastern European countries such as Romania that recycle only 1% of all their waste with the other 99% going to landfills. It is shown that most  Eastern Europeans will send things more often to a landfill than they will recycle them.

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Many countries in Eastern Europe are in the EU (European Union).  After it was realized that the countries in the EU wasted 88 million tonnes of food annually, the Union set out to change that. Their target is to half those levels by 2030.

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The Soviet Union which ruled over this area for over 60 years ruled with a atheistic idealism. Because of this, many of these people were forced to leave many of their religious traditions behind or else face the consequences.

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From surveys, it shows that 84% of Eastern Europeans claim to be Christians many of whom include Orthodox and Catholic. They have many holidays that they celebrate that have used foods that are commonly eaten by people who do not celebrate these holidays. Also, the Catholics observe Lent which means they are fasting at certain times of the year they do not eat certain foods.

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Christmas DessertsSerbian Christmas Bread (Sweet Česnica)

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Christmas DessertsSerbian Christmas Bread (Sweet Česnica)

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The image below is of a dessert served in Serbia at Christmas time. This is an example of how the Eastern Europeans input the religious symbols into the food they eat at different celebrations throughout the year.

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A typical middle class family will begin their day by eating a dish of kasha (a type of porridge),  buttrerbrots (a slice of bread with butter or ham),  eggs, or a cereal for breakfast. This is not considered as important of a meal so is usually made up of smaller portions.

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Is usually served around 7 or 8 o'clock in the morning quickly before the family rushes off to their jobs and to school.

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Normally Lunch is started with a soup and then continues on with a meat and potatoes or a pasta dish. This is the most important meal of the day and is commonly eaten at a  street cafe nearby their place of work.

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It varies from country to country, but in countries like Russia lunch is an important meal. The people are given an hour break to go and eat their lunch. This occurs between 1 and 3 o'clock in the afternoon. This is the biggest time for cafes and diners to be open.

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A typical dinner will often begin with one or two appetizers such as borscht, cabbage rolls, or pierogies. The main dish will be served after that including something such as Kepabcheta (A Bulgarian breaded meatball), or some type of seafood dish for those who live closer to the waterways.

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This is the meal where the whole family joins together to eat. It is normally eaten at about 7 or 8 PM so that they are all home from school or work to enjoy.

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Poppy-seed cake or loaf, is a traditional yeast and poppy, Polish dessert. Some raisins, almonds or walnuts are often added. In earlier times this cake was a traditional dessert for Easter and Christmas. Traditionally a poppy, containing thousand of seeds in one head, is a symbol of fertility. Therefore, in the past it was believed that eating this would bring them luck in life.

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Plyushka is a bun with white sugar melted on top. This is commonly eaten for a snack because it is very cheap to buy and can be found at almost any food or grocery store you walk into

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Strudel is often associated with German and Austrian cuisine, however Hungary also has its own unique version. Rétes in Hungary tend to be lighter than their German counterparts, with multi layered pastry and lots of filling. The pastry can have a variety of different fillings. The most popular are fruit, poppy seed paste or curd cheese, however more savoury fillings can also be used.

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Banitsa it a common Bulgarian dish that can be served as either a dessert or a snack, but it is most commonly used as a snack. Bulgarian snacks vary from one place to another and everyone has their own unique style, but this dish is served through most areas.

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While they were part of the Soviet Union, much of Eastern Europe was used for farming. This meant that most people were farmers. One of the main occupations in Eastern Europe are agriculture, but times have changed and people have moved into working other kinds of jobs. Women have also been given more of an opportunity to receive higher education and gain access to higher positions in the workforce.

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Although Eastern Europe is close to its prosperous neighbours such as France and Germany, health is not a high prioritised item in Eastern Europe. Many parents will leave their children in the care of their neighbours to go find work in western Europe. Although some may be well off, there are many children and families who live in the slums with poor living conditions causing many diseases that could be prevented if better hygiene were put into place.

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Lunches are most commonly eaten at cafes or brought in freshly to work by the owner. This means that their lunch meals are prepared by a chef most of the time.

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Those who live in the slums of Eastern European countries including Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, Poland, and many more. The image below shows what a family house would look like. Many people cannot afford the luxurious food that we have in North America either.

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Family is an important part of culture in Eastern European culture. Dinner is considered the family meal of the day. For this meal, it is prepared mostly by the family working together.

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Eastern European have markets where they buy their groceries. They do not buy a week's worth of groceries in one shop, but rather buy what they need daily. They are not like our convenience stores, but these markets are usually busy and easily accessible.

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Gypsies make up a large part of the ethnic group in Eastern Europe. They are on the road a lot and are not as accepted in society. The picture below are a sample of how poorer gypsies will live and how their meals reflect it.

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Those who live in the poorer to middle class range only live on $10 to $50 a day.

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Many people say that Eastern Europeans are growing old before they grow rich. Because of the years of occupation by the Soviet Union Eastern Europe does not utilise all of their potential resources. Many people live in poor situations and do not have access to the foods they could possibly have.

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Those who live a middle class lifestyle in North America or Western Europe would be considered "rich". Many people in the "rich" areas can now reach out to the poor. Some of this includes sharing the Gospel and bringing food to the family homes so that they do not have to dig in the garbage dump for their food each day.

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The wealthy in Eastern Europe have very different life from those who are middle class or more poor. Most of these millionaires receive their money from foreign investing or inheritance from relatives that have excelled in successful businesses.

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Community is a very important aspect of Eastern European culture. Each area throughout Europe has a different definition of what this is. In some rural areas, distance a problem and the only time they really get together is when the go to the market for their daily grocery run. Community may be important, but trends have shown a large division between higher class, middle class, and lower class. They often stay segregated in their own groups.

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Eastern Europe is a very large place and can barely be completely discovered by this one board. The goal of this board was to give a glimpse of the diversity and vastness of this Eastern Europe.