Characteristics of vegetable consumption in Yugoslavia

Abstract

In the period 1991-1994, the consumption of vegetables per household member averaged 97.20 kg a year. The potato represented 35.90% so the consumption of the rest (63.60 kg) was very low. This unsatisfactory level of consumption was accompanied by an inadequate consumption structure. Legumes (beans), cabbage, green cabbage, onions, tomatoes, and sweet peppers made up 77.27% of the total consumption of vegetables excluding the potato. The consumption of vegetables needs to be broadened to include sorts which have up to now been too rarely consumed: lettuce, spinach, kohlrabi, celery, zucchini, etc. This broadening should also include some new sorts, hardly known in this region. This increase in vegetable consumption is necessary to reach the desired nutrition structure (the share of vegetables in daily energy value ranges from 5.3% to 5.7%). Changes in vegetable consumption are the result of extremely hard economic conditions and the fall in the standard of living. The low level of vegetable consumption is caused by both production and supply; in addition to natural conditions, technological factors as well as permanent improvements in production and supply have an increasing significance.