The vacation on the Mediterranean Sea is relaxing. Most of the time the sun is shining and the sea is pleasantly warm but still cooling. In the evening, people usually enjoy the delicious food outdoors and treat themselves to a fine wine from the region. The appetizer is followed by the first and second main course and finally the “torta della nonna” is served. My Zurich soul rejoices over this Mediterranean fare!
During my vacation preparations, I got my hands on the book entitled “License to Eat” by colleague Gunter Frank. I read it with great pleasure during the first days of my vacation. It is not a scientific treatise, but the author asks clever questions and often gives surprising answers. He challenges medical axioms, such as the claim that children are getting fatter, that overweight people live less long, that fat in food is harmful, and so on. His remarks on whole foods and the fact that all peoples have laboriously separated the wheat from the chaff for millennia also gave me food for thought. Why people have cooked fruits and vegetables for thousands of years, sometimes for hours, and why we should give preference to raw and whole foods according to the recommendations of our nutritionists, is a provocative yet valid question.
In practice, that is, during my vacation, I verified the observation of my colleague Frank and found that the Mediterranean diet praised by our nutritionists has very little to do with the food that the Nonna puts on the table every day. I, in any case, have looked in vain for the five vegetable and fruit units that are supposed to prolong my life on the menu, and the vegetables in the traditional restaurant were well cooked, and only the spaghetti was al dente….
Warm greetings from the Mediterranean vacation
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