The Mediterranean Diet recently gained Unesco World Heritage status when it was inscribed on the UN cultural body’s ‘List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity’ in November 2010. The award ensures the continued protection of traditions that surround the famously healthy diet. Typified by the use of fresh fruit and vegetables, lean meat, cereals, olive oil and wine, the Mediterranean diet is regarded the most nutritional option in the world ahead of the eating habits of the Chinese and Peruvians.
“The Mediterranean diet constitutes a set of skills, knowledge, practices and traditions ranging from the landscape to the table, including the crops, harvesting, fishing, conservation, processing, preparation and, particularly, consumption of food,” read the Unesco statement, which added that the diet “is characterised by a nutritional model that has remained constant over time and space… always respecting beliefs of each community.”
Luca Mazza, chef and managing director of Pinocchio’s and ambassador for the Mediterranean diet in Ireland, explains what makes this healthy option very special.
“The Mediterranean diet is not something someone invented,” he says, referring to its popularisation after the Second World War by American scientist Ancel Keys. “He found out how the people in southern Italy… were cooking their ingredients, very simple ingredients, very poor ingredients as well, vegetables and fish.
“The way of cooking them was very, very fast without losing [the flavours and textures], so keeping the vitamins and fibre. And then at the end, [adding] a little bit of extra virgin olive oil because it’s good for your blood.
“So it’s a very balanced way of eating - 40 percent carbohydrates, 40 percent proteins, 20 percent fat and glutens, so very, very balanced. It keeps your body in the right way.”
Mazza, who was born in Tuscany and started working with food at the age of seven in his grandfather’s bakery, emphasises the importance of the Unesco award for the diet he grew up with.
“It is very important because our metabolism has changed. If we remember our parents in Italy or in Ireland, it was very cold, [they were] hard working and the ingredients were very few. Most of the important and beautiful ingredients were just for the rich people.
“Now, because our metabolism has changed, now we don’t need so much fat as 20 years ago, 40 years ago. Because when you are hard working and much more cold you need more fat.
For Mazza, food heritage “is important because we have to keep for the next centuries this important way to eat”. This is especially so with today’s hectic lifestyles. “We stress too much, so this is a way to start to look after ourselves in a better way.”
The Mediterranean diet also promotes social interaction with family and friends, as dinnertime becomes the most important time of the day, a time to forget about the outside world for a while as you eat great food and enjoy wonderful company.
Videos featuring top tips from Luca Mazza on creating Mediterranean dishes are available to watch on YouTube (goo.gl/yIESr).
