Within 24 hours this past week, something aggravating and then something funny happened. First, the aggravation. It started with the Sunday New York Times. (We get the paper delivered once a week.) My husband set aside this special section pullout for me to peruse:
I also get the Times and fortunately didn't see this myself, which was a good thing. I would have pitched a fit over it. I feel far better in this venue where I can see how others most likely share my frustrations. I was raised on an American diet that incorporated much of the so called Mediterranean diet. I switched myself over to an Asian centered diet because they are the foods I love and enjoy making. I am sick and tired of how Western diets are seen as the most health promoting. I am also concerned over the Western influences I see on Asian diets. I was just telling a friend, that 30-40 years ago, I would walk down the aisle of an Asian market in NYC or Seattle or San Francisco, and there would be a little section (I mean tiny), devoted to Asian sweets. What was there depended upon what kind of Asian market it was (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Viet, etc). Nowadays, I go into an Asian market and there is minimally one full aisle, possibly two, devoted to sweets (a few traditional and most western influenced). I am not against fusion, but I am not in favor of precious traditions lost to negative Western influence/impact. Getting back on topic--I completely agree that euro-centric perceptions of healthy foods and diets are not only narrow minded, they are also given credit for what is not their own.
And while I am on the subject, "diets" do not work. Lifestyle change that is focused on healthy and enjoyable eating does work. I recovered from several eating disorders myself and have successfully treated them for over 30 years. So forget diets. Improve what you eat, how you eat it, and why you eat it. :)
Your comment about the NYT’s “Mediterranean diet” section is spot on. Frankly, using that framing and ignoring the rest of the world seems highly 1990s. And the double irony is what you noted about the photo. The whole thing seems a bit lazy.
Andrea, I had a long and thoughtful reply prepared for you but one of the truly irritating things about
Substack is that you cannot leave a post to check on a fact and then come back to it. At least not in the Comments section. I am more than peevish at this point because I wanted to answer some of your excellent points and expand on them. I'll try to do that in a longer post when I've had time to digest it all.
Basically, I get your point about the "Mediterranean" "diet" being both exclusionary and overly inclusive, but I think it's really important to see it in context, as few newspapers and magazines take the trouble to do. It came along at a time in American life (in American kitchens, on American tables) when there were two overwhelming problems. One was blaming fat for everything that was wrong and banning fat from the table. Everything suddenly became low-fat or no-fat (and a lot still is), food that was then (the second problem) highly processed and sweetened to disguise its lack of flavor. So Mediterranean cooking, with its emphasis on freshness, on fruits and vegetables, on the possibility of a "good" fat was a revelation, although it took a long time for the revelation to have any effect at all. Your beef (excuse me) really seems to be that a lot of food that doesn't come from a Mediterranean region is just as good for us--and I don't think anyone would dispute that. Certainly the Vietnamese way of eating, with its own emphasis on freshness and vegetables, would fit that category. But so would a lot of other "traditional" cuisines. But you're also right to take umbrage at the idea that anything that's good for us can be thrown into the Mediterranean category. Obviously not. (Tofu chopped and mixed in a salad with garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil is still tofu.)
I'm glad you posted this. I was as peeved as you were by the NYT special section, as much by the chirrupy tone as I was by the ingenuous attitude and the misinformation. I do want to reply in greater length, if I haven't gone on too long already, but as one of the original proponents of the Mediterranean way of eating, I do have some strong ideas about it. Thanks for starting the conversation.
As for diets? I'm not a fan but like Lennon once sang, 'Whatever gets you through the night'.
At one point in my life I decided that I wanted (or needed) to lose some weight. I was in my early fifties, and had a physically demanding job, and I had been careless for too long about my 'diet'.
I'd read enough about dieting to know that they almost never work longterm. My decision was to stay as close to what I already did as possible. The easiest way to achieve that was to eat twice per day: yoghurt with muesli for breakfast (because I really like it) and then have whatever I wanted for dinner, as long as I never had seconds. I also decided not to eat anything else but those meals - and to help things move along in terms of losing weight, I started walking up and down the stairs between my first floor living room and second floor bedroom: hundred steps (12 times up and down) per exercise, and that some ten times per day.
Reader: it worked - and it did not feel like hard work at all.
As for eating habits in general, we all know the drill, don't we? Eat regularly, and make vegetables the centre of your dinner. Don't snack on things that are mainly fat, salty and or sugary. Ideally, do not snack at all, apart from special occasions. Take walks, or swim.
I am so glad you wrote this. SO glad. I was happy to see the insert, as I always am. It was also maddening. While I have had good luck with the so-called Mediterranean Diet (I have genetically high cholesterol and high BP and am descended from a long line of cardiac patients), I have also had better luck with a similar diet -- lots of leafy green, grains, fermented soy, and fish --- that isn't Mediterranean at all. When I worked at Rodale Books in 2012, I stopped for breakfast every morning at a Japanese market near my office, where I got freshly made miso soup, a small cup of rice, and some really good broiled fish. Lunch was similar. My cholesterol dropped by 40 points. For me, it's not so much the geographical derivation as it is the food itself.
I agree that the Mediterranean diet is not a diet. It's a way of eating that many other cultures also employ. I think the reason it's called a diet is for marketing purposes and $$$. I'm a chef and a HUGE foodie, so I cook healthy recipes from all over the world. I also teach cooking classes and always focus on local, in season, and fresh. I try to educate my students to this way of eating for health and pleasure.
I agree with you that there are many other culinary traditions that support healthy bodies. I believe that it is also important to look at the cultural context of these diets. I think there is an area in Japan where the average is well over 90 years and these elderly folks walk, swim and have a strong social network. It's misleading to tout one diet without also talking bout lifestyle.
I love this! I say drop the word diet for sure. Maybe something like the Real Food way to eat. I’ve noticed that diets create frenzies that often have negative consequences—for instance the emphasis on eating salmon has led to overfishing and destructive fish farming. We need to celebrate the foods that are available locally that don’t harm the environment when we harvest them. For instance in PA where I live, harvesting venison actually helps the environment. Also, it’s delicious.
I have so much to say, I’m not even sure where to start…
My “strategy” for wholesome and healthy eating is to just eat whatever I want. I realize that probably sounds weird. I don’t care for food that is too rich, I enjoy vegetables, and I don’t eat many sweets. I also enjoy cooking my own food.
I absolutely hate the word diet. A diet is a short term solution or a distraction from issues someone would rather not face. Of course I realize that there are certain health conditions that may require specific foods (or absence of).
I probably have a unique perspective because of my job. I have seen food trends come and go over the years. I hear people talk about their diets every single day. I hear them body shame themselves. I notice people will fight for a close parking spot and then go to the gym, yet the idea of walking is out of the question for them.
A healthy lifestyle certainly involves more than certain foods. Poverty, access to healthcare, active/sedentary lifestyle, and engagement with community can affect one’s health.
💯! I think we need to lose not only the word diet but also the words health and wellness which have become a kind of new moral standard. But food is not a moral issue! Viewing foods as “good” or “bad” is the gateway to centering western food culture, I really see it as an offshoot of white supremacy. (POCs frequently being told by R.D.s to withhold from their “unhealthy” culinary traditions is one example that comes to mind).
I’ve always loved the simplicity of Michael Pollan’s quote “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants”. And it’s actually a pretty good description of how they eat in the blue zones. Maybe we could replace “diet” with “way of eating”. And “healthy” with “anticapitalist” lol.
I’m reading this on my flight to Vietnam where I intend to eat loads of fresh veggies, seafood, tofu and fermented foods. Shall I claim to be eating Mediterranean?! haha
I love how many new world foods are in that photograph of the Mediterranean diet. And I hate how we cherry pick both ingredients and cooking styles and claim them as western ideas. All “ethnic” restaurants have been pointed out as extremely unhealthy. First Chinese and then Mexican, etc. They cook their foods in ways that the average American will enjoy, ie loads of sour cream, fried, when that is not representative of their cuisine.
My mother's entire family is from Sicily, which is about as Mediterranean as you get. She is a wonderful cook. Yes, we ate a lot of grains/pasta and olive oil and garden vegetables growing up, but the "Mediterranean diet" ignores the fact that shellfish (which is not that great for you for a variety of reasons) has traditionally played a huge role in the actual diet of many Mediterranean cultures. (it comes from the sea and it's free). I may be a be bit hypersensitive on the subject because I'm allergic to shellfish and as a child this was interpreted as rudeness rather than actual illness. However, it has always seemed like cheating to me to tout the Mediterranean diet as perfect when it isn't.
You are right to get all riled up! It is annoying, patronizing, and wrong. As you say well, it is perpetuating (western) cultural imperialism.
I also get the Times and fortunately didn't see this myself, which was a good thing. I would have pitched a fit over it. I feel far better in this venue where I can see how others most likely share my frustrations. I was raised on an American diet that incorporated much of the so called Mediterranean diet. I switched myself over to an Asian centered diet because they are the foods I love and enjoy making. I am sick and tired of how Western diets are seen as the most health promoting. I am also concerned over the Western influences I see on Asian diets. I was just telling a friend, that 30-40 years ago, I would walk down the aisle of an Asian market in NYC or Seattle or San Francisco, and there would be a little section (I mean tiny), devoted to Asian sweets. What was there depended upon what kind of Asian market it was (Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Viet, etc). Nowadays, I go into an Asian market and there is minimally one full aisle, possibly two, devoted to sweets (a few traditional and most western influenced). I am not against fusion, but I am not in favor of precious traditions lost to negative Western influence/impact. Getting back on topic--I completely agree that euro-centric perceptions of healthy foods and diets are not only narrow minded, they are also given credit for what is not their own.
And while I am on the subject, "diets" do not work. Lifestyle change that is focused on healthy and enjoyable eating does work. I recovered from several eating disorders myself and have successfully treated them for over 30 years. So forget diets. Improve what you eat, how you eat it, and why you eat it. :)
Your comment about the NYT’s “Mediterranean diet” section is spot on. Frankly, using that framing and ignoring the rest of the world seems highly 1990s. And the double irony is what you noted about the photo. The whole thing seems a bit lazy.
Andrea, I had a long and thoughtful reply prepared for you but one of the truly irritating things about
Substack is that you cannot leave a post to check on a fact and then come back to it. At least not in the Comments section. I am more than peevish at this point because I wanted to answer some of your excellent points and expand on them. I'll try to do that in a longer post when I've had time to digest it all.
Basically, I get your point about the "Mediterranean" "diet" being both exclusionary and overly inclusive, but I think it's really important to see it in context, as few newspapers and magazines take the trouble to do. It came along at a time in American life (in American kitchens, on American tables) when there were two overwhelming problems. One was blaming fat for everything that was wrong and banning fat from the table. Everything suddenly became low-fat or no-fat (and a lot still is), food that was then (the second problem) highly processed and sweetened to disguise its lack of flavor. So Mediterranean cooking, with its emphasis on freshness, on fruits and vegetables, on the possibility of a "good" fat was a revelation, although it took a long time for the revelation to have any effect at all. Your beef (excuse me) really seems to be that a lot of food that doesn't come from a Mediterranean region is just as good for us--and I don't think anyone would dispute that. Certainly the Vietnamese way of eating, with its own emphasis on freshness and vegetables, would fit that category. But so would a lot of other "traditional" cuisines. But you're also right to take umbrage at the idea that anything that's good for us can be thrown into the Mediterranean category. Obviously not. (Tofu chopped and mixed in a salad with garlic, lemon juice, and olive oil is still tofu.)
I'm glad you posted this. I was as peeved as you were by the NYT special section, as much by the chirrupy tone as I was by the ingenuous attitude and the misinformation. I do want to reply in greater length, if I haven't gone on too long already, but as one of the original proponents of the Mediterranean way of eating, I do have some strong ideas about it. Thanks for starting the conversation.
Yes, this kind of thing is annoying.
As for diets? I'm not a fan but like Lennon once sang, 'Whatever gets you through the night'.
At one point in my life I decided that I wanted (or needed) to lose some weight. I was in my early fifties, and had a physically demanding job, and I had been careless for too long about my 'diet'.
I'd read enough about dieting to know that they almost never work longterm. My decision was to stay as close to what I already did as possible. The easiest way to achieve that was to eat twice per day: yoghurt with muesli for breakfast (because I really like it) and then have whatever I wanted for dinner, as long as I never had seconds. I also decided not to eat anything else but those meals - and to help things move along in terms of losing weight, I started walking up and down the stairs between my first floor living room and second floor bedroom: hundred steps (12 times up and down) per exercise, and that some ten times per day.
Reader: it worked - and it did not feel like hard work at all.
As for eating habits in general, we all know the drill, don't we? Eat regularly, and make vegetables the centre of your dinner. Don't snack on things that are mainly fat, salty and or sugary. Ideally, do not snack at all, apart from special occasions. Take walks, or swim.
For most of us that will do.
I am so glad you wrote this. SO glad. I was happy to see the insert, as I always am. It was also maddening. While I have had good luck with the so-called Mediterranean Diet (I have genetically high cholesterol and high BP and am descended from a long line of cardiac patients), I have also had better luck with a similar diet -- lots of leafy green, grains, fermented soy, and fish --- that isn't Mediterranean at all. When I worked at Rodale Books in 2012, I stopped for breakfast every morning at a Japanese market near my office, where I got freshly made miso soup, a small cup of rice, and some really good broiled fish. Lunch was similar. My cholesterol dropped by 40 points. For me, it's not so much the geographical derivation as it is the food itself.
How about Healthy World Food?
I agree that the Mediterranean diet is not a diet. It's a way of eating that many other cultures also employ. I think the reason it's called a diet is for marketing purposes and $$$. I'm a chef and a HUGE foodie, so I cook healthy recipes from all over the world. I also teach cooking classes and always focus on local, in season, and fresh. I try to educate my students to this way of eating for health and pleasure.
I agree with you that there are many other culinary traditions that support healthy bodies. I believe that it is also important to look at the cultural context of these diets. I think there is an area in Japan where the average is well over 90 years and these elderly folks walk, swim and have a strong social network. It's misleading to tout one diet without also talking bout lifestyle.
I love this! I say drop the word diet for sure. Maybe something like the Real Food way to eat. I’ve noticed that diets create frenzies that often have negative consequences—for instance the emphasis on eating salmon has led to overfishing and destructive fish farming. We need to celebrate the foods that are available locally that don’t harm the environment when we harvest them. For instance in PA where I live, harvesting venison actually helps the environment. Also, it’s delicious.
Losing the word "diet" is a good first step, then maybe Global Wellness, or something like that.
I have so much to say, I’m not even sure where to start…
My “strategy” for wholesome and healthy eating is to just eat whatever I want. I realize that probably sounds weird. I don’t care for food that is too rich, I enjoy vegetables, and I don’t eat many sweets. I also enjoy cooking my own food.
I absolutely hate the word diet. A diet is a short term solution or a distraction from issues someone would rather not face. Of course I realize that there are certain health conditions that may require specific foods (or absence of).
I probably have a unique perspective because of my job. I have seen food trends come and go over the years. I hear people talk about their diets every single day. I hear them body shame themselves. I notice people will fight for a close parking spot and then go to the gym, yet the idea of walking is out of the question for them.
A healthy lifestyle certainly involves more than certain foods. Poverty, access to healthcare, active/sedentary lifestyle, and engagement with community can affect one’s health.
💯! I think we need to lose not only the word diet but also the words health and wellness which have become a kind of new moral standard. But food is not a moral issue! Viewing foods as “good” or “bad” is the gateway to centering western food culture, I really see it as an offshoot of white supremacy. (POCs frequently being told by R.D.s to withhold from their “unhealthy” culinary traditions is one example that comes to mind).
I’ve always loved the simplicity of Michael Pollan’s quote “Eat food, not too much, mostly plants”. And it’s actually a pretty good description of how they eat in the blue zones. Maybe we could replace “diet” with “way of eating”. And “healthy” with “anticapitalist” lol.
I’m reading this on my flight to Vietnam where I intend to eat loads of fresh veggies, seafood, tofu and fermented foods. Shall I claim to be eating Mediterranean?! haha
I love how many new world foods are in that photograph of the Mediterranean diet. And I hate how we cherry pick both ingredients and cooking styles and claim them as western ideas. All “ethnic” restaurants have been pointed out as extremely unhealthy. First Chinese and then Mexican, etc. They cook their foods in ways that the average American will enjoy, ie loads of sour cream, fried, when that is not representative of their cuisine.
My mother's entire family is from Sicily, which is about as Mediterranean as you get. She is a wonderful cook. Yes, we ate a lot of grains/pasta and olive oil and garden vegetables growing up, but the "Mediterranean diet" ignores the fact that shellfish (which is not that great for you for a variety of reasons) has traditionally played a huge role in the actual diet of many Mediterranean cultures. (it comes from the sea and it's free). I may be a be bit hypersensitive on the subject because I'm allergic to shellfish and as a child this was interpreted as rudeness rather than actual illness. However, it has always seemed like cheating to me to tout the Mediterranean diet as perfect when it isn't.