Eat Like an Italian

Yes, you can make mistakes on the Mediterranean Diet. And it’s more common than you’d think.

The Mediterranean Diet, renowned for its health benefits and delicious flavors, has gained significant attention in recent years with the popularity of The Blue Zones, The Longevity Diet, and the like. With its emphasis on fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean proteins, and healthy fats, this dietary pattern is known to promote hear...

It’s well-known that the populations who follow a Mediterranean Diet are among the healthiest and longest-living on the planet. But while the focus is obviously on the variety of delicious foods, what is often missed is the role of fasting.

Either for religious reasons or for the simple lack of abundance, inhabitants of Italy, Greece, Spain and other Mediterranean countries have experienced extended periods of calorically restrict...

Both the Mediterranean Diet and the Paleo Diet ask us to “eat the way our ancestors ate.” BUT, the Mediterranean Diet asks us to look back only 3-4 generations, whereas the Paleo would have us look back 2.5 million years, or roughly 80,000 generations. Evolution has had plenty of time to catch up…

During the Paleolithic period, early humans lived in caves or simple huts and were hunters-gatherers, which is the crux of the Paleo Di...

Pasta has gotten some bad press in recent years. In the age of the "fad diets," pasta contains an awkward amount of that evil archnemesis, "the carb." Or worse, carb's ugly cousin, gluten.

Well, populations who follow the Mediterranean Diet have been eating carbs and gluten for centuries with no ill effects. Indeed, these are the healthiest, longest-living people on the planet. Which begs the question: ...

The general consensus is that red wine, in moderation, (maximum 2-3 glasses a day, depending on your age, weight, and sex) can impart cardiac benefits, and contribute to overall well-being. But it's more complicated than that. 

Yes, experiments with laboratory animals have shown remarkable benefits for subjects given large doses of resveratrol, the so-called "magic" ingredient in wine. But these experiments were in ideal lab c...

Recently there was an article published by Taste Atlas that listed the Top 100 cheeses in the world. Not surprisingly, cheeses from Italy took 8 or the top 10 spots.

I spoke about this with Robert Campana from Stop Italian Sounding, a brand dedicated to educating consumers on the differences between genuine Italian products and "fake" products that only borrow (read: steal) credibility from the real deal. 

Have a listen to our...

If you want to learn about Italian culture, there is no better lens from which to look than through Italy's food traditions and regional cuisines. 

Today on the podcast we welcome Dottoressa Arianna Salomon, a PhD candidate at Florida Atlantic University in Boca Raton, Florida, and a graduate of Università Ca' Foscari in Venice, Italy. This semester at FAU, Dott.ssa Salomon is teaching a course entitled, "Italian Culture Throu...

Looking for the best food in Puglia? From traditional Italian dishes to unique regional specialties, listen to this podcast episode to learn about typical food from Puglia. 

Scott Maxwell, a Scottish expat in Puglia, leads us through a culinary journey of the regions most iconic cuisine. This is the Mediterranean Diet at its best, with fresh seafood, great local wines, and "killer" pasta. Here's a link to his site and his...

On this episode, we discuss Italian food holiday traditions with Robert Campana from "Stop Italian Sounding." We explore such topics as The Feast of the Seven Fishes, including its historical context and how it became a strong tradition in Italian-AMERICAN households, yet still  remains relatively unknown in Italy. We also dive into the annual debate over Pandoro vs Panettone, and offer our opinions on which one is "better."&n...

Today I talk to Robert from "Stop Italian Sounding" about the ways that imitation Italian products infiltrate and confuse the marketplace, causing a very real economic impact on the producers of genuine Italian products in Italy. 

I have talked about this topic on the podcast before, and written about it on the blog. But Robert has some first-hand experience on the difference between products that are authentically Italian, an...

It’s easy to take for granted during our busy routines, but food plays such an important part of our lives. It nourishes us, it comforts us, it connects us to our culture… and it can help heal us, too. 

Cancer is a serious illness that affects millions of people around the world. While there is no guaranteed way to prevent cancer, there are some foods that have been shown to help fight it off. (Of course, there’s more to it th...

Even though it's technically on the Adriatic Sea, can we still consider Venetian cuisine as part of the "Mediterranean Diet?" Well, there's lots of seafood and vegetables. Perhaps more polenta and rice than pasta, but otherwise, yes the traditional dishes in Venice are healthy and diverse. If you want to know where the locals eat in Venice on a regular basis, it’s in little stand-up bar places called barcari. The most authentic foo...

Listen, I get it. It takes effort to stay on the path of righteousness, especially when every marketing message is screaming about the bounty of Olive Garden’s endless pasta bowl (with unlimited garlic-butter breadsticks). Yes, there is such a thing as too much pasta. 

But let’s at least not fool ourselves. Concoctions dubbed as “Italian food” outside of Italy are usually a gross bastardization of their lineage; just barely ev...

Last time I talked about time-restricted eating and how fasting is NOT synonymous with starvation. Well, that was before the Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns of our normal societal routines. 

During this strange times, grocery shopping has become a challenge, and for some who are out of work, it's also an economic challenge. So some degree of starvation is not out of the question, even within the wealthiest natio...