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Mediterranean diet: More than just eating
Italian chef Gino Campagna (Courtesy of chefginocampagna
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Italian chef Gino Campagna (Courtesy of chefginocampagna.webs.com)
The Mediterranean diet has always been one of the most popular eating lifestyles for those who want to be in shape.
A modern nutritional recommendation inspired by the eating lifestyle of the people who live in Greece, southern Italy, Spain and other countries on the Mediterranean, this eating habit has its own diet pyramid to follow.
It focuses on a proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits and vegetables, a moderate to high consumption of protein in the form of fish meat and plant-based protein sources, a moderate consumption of dairy products, a moderate wine consumption and a low consumption of red and white meat.
A large amount of scientific research and studies have also shown that people who follow the Mediterranean diet have lower risks of getting life-threatening illnesses, such as heart disease, and they tend to appear younger.
The term “diet” might confuse people who consider it as merely a change in eating habits. A recent seminar at the Istituto Italiano di Cultura (IIC) in Menteng, Central Jakarta, revealed that the Mediterranean diet went beyond ingredients, meals and eating habits. It, instead, involves a broader perspective on culture and lifestyle.
Italian chef Gino Campagna, who spoke during the seminar, said that for the last 15 years he had been trying to raise the food IQ in the United States, a country in which he has been living for 25 years.
“I want them [American families] to understand that food is not a medicine that simply affects your body, but there is more to it. My approach is a whole holistic approach. I like to see food as cultural and so forth,” Campagna said.
Campagna said that having a Mediterranean diet did not only mean eating Mediterranean foods, but it was a whole process from the beginning, from how the ingredients were harvested, to the way they were cooked and how they were presented as a meal in social gatherings that often involve social interactions.
This means that in order to live the Mediterranean diet lifestyle and reap the most health benefits from it, people must not forget the active social lifestyle aspects of it.
To provide a brief picture of how the people in Mediterranean countries do a proper Mediterranean diet, Campagna described his childhood years in Parma, which is known as the food capital of the world, famous for its parmesan cheese and ham.
Campagna said that he was born on the poor side of Parma. The downside of being born there was that public facilities were a luxury for Campagna and his family.
“There were no hot water and no bath until I was 14,” Campagna said.
On the upside, however, Campagna said that being born in the poor neighborhood allowed him to live the lifestyle of a true Mediterranean diet practitioner because the stores around his small house sold fresh food and ingredients.
“I was surrounded by food stores. If I go outside the house, on my right would be the vegetable store. The owner would give you fresh parsley for free. My mum used it for everything. They also sell watermelon. The owner would do a little incision like a little pyramid shape, take out a little piece and if it was ripe, he would sell it,” Campagna said.
“Next to the vegetable store, there would be the local osteria [wine cellar]. That’s where my father and his friends would drink wine and talk about football. Next to the osteria is a fresh milk store. The owner will also sell little candies to the kids.”
He was excited when he talked about the next shop, the pastry store.
“I was lucky enough to be best friends with the owner’s son. So we would venture into the kitchen. Traditionally, it is open on Sunday for church and closed on Monday. Whatever they could not sell on Sunday, they would give it to the kids.”
As a kid, Campagna went around his neighborhood constantly looking for fresh ingredients for his mother to use making meals for the family. Italians, Campagna added, always enjoyed their meals together in social activities, which often included sports and games.
In a sense, the combination of eating good Mediterranean meals and an active lifestyle is the main reason why so many Italians and other people living in the Mediterranean countries are slim and healthy.
Yet, nowadays, Campagna said that modernization had hindered people from proper living.
He sees that people prefer to go to convenient stores or buy unhealthy fast food. In addition, people also move less than they used to.
Such trends were very prevalent in developed countries like the US, in which the number of obese people has been constantly increasing. Campagna admitted that he had gained some weight after living in the US for years.
Therefore, he considered Indonesians to be lucky because the country still had a strong culture and direct access to fresh food from the local markets.
Meanwhile, Ervina, a food scientist from the Indonesia International Institute of Life Sciences, said that Indonesians should not think that adopting the Mediterranean diet necessarily meant that they had to eat traditional foods from Italy or other Mediterranean countries.
What Indonesians need to focus on is to adapt the Mediterranean food pyramid, which basically puts everyday consumption of water, vegetables, complex carbohydrate sources and plant-based proteins at the base, moderate consumption of fish in the middle and the less often consumption of red meat at the top.
“Gado-gado is one of the best examples of traditional Indonesian food that adopts the Mediterranean diet principles,” Ervina said.
