Taxes to trim waistlines are spreading across Europe

VISIT any culinary establishment in Budapest and some of the reasons why Hungary is the most obese country in Europe will soon become clear. In the coffee houses, you’ll see dobostorta, a five-layer chocolate buttercream concoction topped with glazed caramel; somloi galuska, a chocolate and rum sponge cake; and gesztenyepure, a chestnut purée served with whipped cream. In markets you can buy slabs of fried dough covered in cheese, bread served with goose fat and lumps of lard and, of course, lashings of goulash.

According to new data released by the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, almost two-thirds of Hungarians are overweight and nearly a third are obese. Hungarians eat fewer vegetables than most people in the rich world and more salt than any other EU state. Educated Hungarian men are at least as likely to be overweight as their unschooled male compatriots. Uneducated Hungarian women are 60% likelier to be...Continue reading