Mediterranean Diet

Tortelli
Tortelli

What Is the Mediterranean Diet

The Mediterranean Diet is a nutritional model which is considered of such international cultural importance that UNESCO, the Educational and Scientific Organisation of the United Nations, has declared it in 2013 an “Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity”. (For sources, see the references at the end of this article.)

UNESCO describes the Mediterranean Diet as involving a set of skills, knowledge and traditions about crops, harvesting, conservation, processing, cooking, and particularly the sharing of food.

Well known are the health benefits of the Mediterranean Diet, whose “food pyramid” greatly overlaps with the advice of medical authorities and government health bodies.

Eating together is fundamental to the Mediterranean culture of food, is an important moment of social life and communication, an affirmation of family or community identity, it’s central to festivals, events and celebrations. It emphasises values of hospitality and neighbourliness.

Craftsmanship and techniques for the production, preservation and consumption of food include ceramic plates and glasses. respect for seasonal rhythms, markets. All this is transmitted to each new generation, and so the tradition continues.

This ideal picture has partly been eroded in Italy in recent decades, but, whereas in other countries the tradition of family meals has received massive attacks, in Italy it still resists more strongly than elsewhere in the Western world.

References:

UNESCO on Mediterranean Diet

Italian extra virgin olive oil
Italian extra virgin olive oil

Where to Buy Mediterranean Foods and Ingredients on the Internet

IN THE UK

In the UK you can find Monini, one of the few and rare-to-find real extra virgin olive oil brands on Amazon (opens in new tab):


Click on this Amazon UK link for Monini oil’s various bottles and packs sizes (opens in new tab):

Monini Extra Virgin Olive Oil

 

Basil, tomato and mozzarella salad with olive oil dressing
Basil, tomato and mozzarella salad with olive oil dressing

IN THE USA

In the USA you also can find Monini, one of the best brands of extra virgin olive oils on Amazon in various bottle and pack sizes (open in new tab):

Monini Extra Virgin Olive Oil

You can also buy Mediterranean foods from Amazon at this link:

Mediterranean Foods

And here:

Extra Virgin Olive Oil at VitaminShoppe