The Oldways Table Blog

Celebrating health,
happiness, heritage,
and delicious,
nutritious food.

Mediterranean Diet Month Memory - Day 22

May 22, 2013 | Oldways Table

Antonia Trichopoulou Brings Us Back to the Beginning

"Present at the creation" has been a title that has been metaphorically used by several authors who were witnesses or contributed to events with substantial consequences of either scientific or political nature.

With an excusable dose of hyperbole, I can claim that I was "present at the universal recognition" of the Mediterranean Diet in a 1993 conference in Boston, by the Harvard School of Public Health and Oldways, attended by distinguished scientists and visionaries, including the late Dun Gifford, the then Dean of the Harvard School of Public Health Harvey Fineberg, Professor Walter Willett, senior WHO officer Elisabeth Helsing, as well as many others. Some of us, who had the opportunity to be familiar with the traditional Mediterranean Diet and had early but quite strong evidence of its health promoting consequences were also present.

Indeed, since the late 1980's I had the opportunity to introduce some of my non-Mediterranean friends to the traditional Mediterranean Diet in remote villages of Greece, where they have all appreciated the delight of this diet, replete with olive oil, in the confidence that they were also taking good care of their health.

-Antonia Trichopoulou

Antonia Trichopoulou Brings Us Back to the Beginning

Mediterranean Diet Month

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Mediterranean Diet Month Memory - Day 21

May 21, 2013 | Oldways Table

Carrie Balkcom Remembers Camaraderie and Culture

Because of a canceled trip to South America, I found myself on a last minute journey to Italy with Oldways at the beginning of the 2000’s.

The trip started with convening in Nice, and bussing to San Remo, Italy, and then with the guidance of Fred Plotkin and the other amazing historians on that trip, the journey began with Fred telling us how he had carefully unknotted the string around the grocery lists that were archived to find out the eating habits of earlier inhabitants of the region.

We found ourselves traipsing along small cobblestone streets that hold the footprints of generations of a people who care for the land and history of their place that was unmatched in my daily life in America. It did send me back to the memories of my family with their sense of place in the south. As we meandered through hill towns, and tasted the indigenous foods I was struck at the similarities to the tastes and textures of foods from my early childhood in the rural south. Dried pea fritters, greens, wild boar, rustic cooking techniques that spoke to the simplicity of the method, and the complexity of the flavors. Simple sweets so delicate and so so intense that small bites were all one needed to be full.

We ended our journey through the hill towns, Cinque Terre and seaside towns, to Geneva, where we dined at the villa of Andrea Doria. Again, a simple meal prepared with the local-ist of ingredients with such warm friends created over food and history.

I had one more opportunity to take an Oldways trip, this time to the Greek Isles, and this time again with the camaraderie of like-minded food folk, I witnessed and tasted the foods of a people who are passionate about saving their culture and foods. Again, I was struck by the simplicity of the preparation, the complexity of the flavors, and depth of the passion that surrounds them both.

-Carrie Balkcom

Carrie Balkcom Remembers Camaraderie and Culture

Mediterranean Diet Month

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Mediterranean Diet Month Memory - Day 20

May 20, 2013 | Oldways Table

Rosemary Stanton Breaks into Her Memory Bank

I have been a nutritionist, food writer and author, and lecturer at various Australian Universities for the last 46 years. I spent many years investigating Mediterranean and other traditional dietary patterns, all of which has morphed into my current interests in sustainable food production for the future as well as school and community gardens. I am more than happy to acknowledge that much of my work over the last 20 years has a direct link to the dozens of Oldways conferences, tours and meetings in which I participated, including contributing to the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid.

My memory bank holds many special moments related to Oldways, but perhaps the most important facet was the way Oldways fostered the inclusion of people from different specialties – always on an equal footing. Around the Oldways ‘table’, I enjoyed the company and contribution from many of the world’s top medical and nutritional scientists, as well as chefs and culinary experts, food writers and authors (including some who enjoyed worldwide fame), agricultural experts, ecologists, geographers, historians, food policy experts and growers of a wide range of foodstuffs. Together we discussed the issues relating to food and together we came to some important conclusions.

It is also fair to say that Oldways helped crystallize what has become my life’s work: getting people to look at whole foods and eating patterns rather than taking a reductionist approach to single nutrients. Oldways always promoted a whole food approach and I am forever thankful for that insight, so often missing in my own profession.

Among my many memories of Oldways meetings in Mediterranean countries, several stand out – Barcelona in 1992 (and again in 1996), Tunisia in 1993, Puglia in 1996 and Crete in 1997.

Barcelona has long been my favorite city with its amazing La Boqueria market and the work-in-progress on Sagrada Família, which I visited many times since 1979. Tunisia led to some long-term friendships (including with Marion Nestle, who continues to inspire me on an almost daily basis), more memorable friendships in Puglia and the start of my serious consideration of future food production. This was inspired by talks with Sidney Mintz, Tim Lang and Mary Taylor Simeti in Lecce and now dominates my working life.

My original initial interest in Mediterranean diets began after spending some time in Crete in 1979, so the Oldways meeting there in 1997 was particularly relevant for me. It wasn’t just the food scene that lingers in my memories, however. That April, Crete experienced a sudden cold spell and four distinguished (but shivering) professors (all male) and I went searching the shops for anything warm. After some scavenging in back corners, we emerged in a variety of garments, some not very well fitting, but occasioning great mirth. I was the lucky one, having found a woolen poncho that I have worn every winter since!

Food always featured so wonderfully in Oldways conferences and I loved the fact that every meal was so special in so many ways. There was never any attempt to go totally ‘vego’ nor would anyone find better examples of how to properly showcase the wonders of the plant world. Happy anniversary Oldways. And thank you!

- Rosemary Stanton

Rosemary Stanton Breaks into Her Memory Bank

Mediterranean Diet Month

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Mediterranean Diet Month Memory - Day 19

May 19, 2013 | Oldways Table

Attilio Giacosa Remembers a "Dish of Friendship"

I am an Italian gastroenterologist and I spent most of my life doing research on diet and health and particularly on diet and cancer risk at the National Cancer Research Institute of Genoa. In the mid-eighties I started collecting epidemiological data on the Mediterranean Diet and cancer prevention within the frame of the European Cancer Prevention Organization. These studies have been very successful and were followed by research projects of many other scientists who could confirm that if you follow a Mediterranean Diet your risk to develop many types of cancer is significantly reduced. Due to my scientific interest in Mediterranean Diet I have been in touch with Oldways for many years.

One memory takes me to the summer of 2003 when Dun Gifford and Sara Baer-Sinnott asked me to join them in an Oldways Postgraduate Course that took place in Cilento. This is a marvelous peninsula located south of Naples along the cost of the Mediterranean sea, with miles of sandy beach and various small fishing villages. Here you can find the Greek ruins of Paestum and of Velia (Elea) which was the home of the Eleatic school of philosophy. Here you can find people who met Ancel Keys, a lecturer at the University of Minneapolis (Minnesota), who lived here for many years and who was the first to demonstrate that there is a connection between the diet of southern Europe and heart diseases prevention: He was the first to call this diet the “Mediterranean Diet”.

During the Oldways course a dinner was organized in the restaurant owned by the family of the lady who used to cook for Ancel Keys in the sixties. I will never forget that meal. The warm friendship of the participants, the cooking lesson organized before the dinner, the beauty of the place and of the environment, and the quality of the food are still in my memory. I was sitting in front of Dun and Sara, who are good friends of mine, and we spent most of the evening talking about future collaborative projects and making comments about food, wine, and about how to enjoy life and be healthy. Among the various dishes that were offered on that occasion, I would like to describe one dish that will always remind me of Dun Gifford. I was eating stuffed anchovies and Dun took one fried fish from my plate and said: thank you Attilio, this really is the “dish of friendship”!

Alici ’Imbuttunate (stuffed anchovies)
Serves 6 people

2 lbs fresh Anchovies
4 eggs
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 teaspoons sharp cheese (such as Parmigiano-Reggiano)
1 tablespoon parsley, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup breadcrumbs
Olive oil for frying
salt and some flour

Clean anchovies and remove their heads and slice lengthwise to stuff.

Combine eggs, cheese, parsley, and garlic mixture. Place the prepared stuffing mixture inside the fish. Then lightly apply the flour and breadcrumbs coating with salt and pepper on the outside. Place the prepared stuffing mixture inside the fish.

Fry in the olive oil and serve hot with a piece of lemon.

-Attilio Giacosa

Attilio Giacosa Remembers a "Dish of Friendship"

Among the various dishes that were offered on that occasion, I would like to describe one dish that will always remind me of Dun Gifford. I was eating stuffed anchovies and Dun took one fried fish from my plate and said: thank you Attilio, this really is the “dish of friendship”!

Mediterranean Diet Month

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