Volume 2, Issue 2, January 2015, Pages 63–71
Open Access
Review Article
The Mediterranean Diet between traditional foods and human health: The culinary example of Puglia (Southern Italy)
- Open Access funded by AZTI-Tecnalia
- Under a Creative Commons license
Abstract
The
Mediterranean Diet, through a healthy profile of fat intake,
carbohydrate at low glycaemic index, high content of dietary fibre,
antioxidants and anti-inflammatory compounds, reduces the risk of
certain pathologies such as cardiovascular disease. However, it
represents anything much more than a dietary regimen and it is also
characterised by its links to the various food cultures of the different
countries of the Mediterranean area. On the other hand, the traditional
cuisine of the Puglia region (Southern Italy) is based on a nutritional
model mainly vegetarian because only a small share of calories is of
animal origin; cereals are the basic ingredient, pulses and olive oil
the main protein and fat source, respectively. In this paper we reported
the culture, history, identity and heritage of this culinary model of
the Southern Italy tradition to understand possible linkages with the
Mediterranean Diet. Moreover, some traditional recipes of the Puglia
cuisine are examined as regards gastronomic and nutritional aspects,
also for better explaining its relationship with the food style best
famous in the world.
Keywords
- Lifestyle;
- History;
- Nutritional characteristics;
- Traditional cuisine;
- Puglia׳s dishes
Much more than a dietary regimen
As
explained by most dictionaries and shown by the media, the use of the
term “diet” is frequently associated to specific food regimes, normally
of a restrictive nature and with therapeutic or aesthetic purposes.
Nevertheless, etymologically the word dieta comes from the Latin diaeta which in turn comes from the Greek díaita, “way of living”, “life regime” ( Corominas, 2000). Anatole Bally (a renowed Hellenist) in his dictionary ( Bally, 2000) translates the term díaita as type of life and specifies as a first meaning …in general, a whole set of habits of the body and the spirit, tastes, customs, etc… Classical authors already used this term with the same sense as that used by Bally: Hippocrates in his works; Plato in Republic and Laws; Herodotus in The Histories; Pindar in Pythian;
etc. This “way of living” is what we also know today as “lifestyle”.
Style or way of life that characterise individuals, groups, communities
or villages and which make them similar or different from each other.
Therefore, the Mediterranean Diet is this evidently dynamic and ever
changing lifestyle with all its diversity, which it is possible to
consider in its holistic sense made from tangible and intangible aspects
and values. Other plural designations such as Mediterranean Diets and
Mediterranean cuisines are the result of an argument used by those who
believe that we cannot talk about “one” single diet, but that there are
“many” diets in the Mediterranean just as there are many cuisines. It is
a persistent argument which is also applied to the Mediterranean by
those who think it is not relevant to consider it as a whole.
The
Mediterranean Diet as an unequalled legacy of landscapes, places,
knowledge, know-how, technologies, products, myths and beliefs, accents,
creativity and hospitalities. It is in short, a (or perhaps “the”)
common language of the Mediterranean people. Furthermore, another
important milestone in the dissemination of its significance was been
the inscription of the Mediterranean Diet in the List of Intangible
Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO, in November 2010. In no case
this recognition represents an ultimate milestone, but rather an
undertaking to work to safeguard this legacy.
A combination of history, cultures and environment
The
traditional Mediterranean Diet is the heritage of millennia of
exchanges amongst the peoples and cultures of the Mediterranean Basin.
It formed the basis of eating habits throughout the region until the mid
twentieth century, but it is now gradually being lost due to the spread
of the western-type economy and urban and technological society as well
as the globalisation of production and consumption.
The
Mediterranean culture integrates the past and the present, because many
of its modern aspects can be traced to the ancient past. Effectively,
the Mediterranean basin has been, for millennia, a crossroads of
civilisations as a point of convergence for people, merchandise and
religions. In Tunisia, for example, you can find Portuguese and Spanish
survivals in the consumption of “bacalao” or salt cod. It was probably the Portuguese who introduced the cod into Tunisia, as shown by the adoption of the Arab name “baqalaw”. It is now mainly consumed in a porridge, chiefly in Sfax, on the feast of Aïd el Kebir, to accompany a sweet and sour dish, the ritual “charmoula”. Inhabitants of the inland areas tended rather to eat a mollusc dried in the sun and salted, called “ouzef”.
