Making the Mediterranean diet sexy again

Rich in vegetables, fruits, cereals and extra virgin olive oil, the Mediterranean diet is based on a moderate consumption of fish, eggs, red wine, and a small amount of meat.[Photo provided to China Daily]

Despite being healthy and having a place on the UNESCO heritage list, the diet is steadily losing ground to fast food.

It may be on the UNESCO heritage list, but global experts warn the Mediterranean diet, prized for its health benefits, is losing so much ground to the fast food culture that the decline may be irreversible.

Rich in vegetables, fruits, cereals and extra virgin olive oil, the Mediterranean diet is based on a moderate consumption of fish, dairy products, eggs, red wine, and a small amount of meat.

Found to varying degrees in all countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, it was named in 2010 onto UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list for seven countries, from Croatia to Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Morocco, Spain and Portugal.

But the diet, which the United Nations also praises for promoting hospitality, neighborliness, intercultural dialogue and creativity, is going rapidly out of fashion.

"In Greece, it has decreased by 70 percent over the last 30 years, in Spain 50 percent", Lluis Serra-Majem, head of the International Foundation of Mediterranean Diet, told AFP at a recent conference in Milan.

The experts, from Israel to New Zealand to Sweden, explored ways to revive the diet, from making it appealing to teenagers, to persuading people to buy fresh and sometimes costlier food in a period of economic crisis.

In Spain, celebrities like actress Penelope Cruz may add some glamour with their love of Mediterranean cuisine, but ever fewer people are enticed.

Less than 15 percent of the Spanish population still eats a Mediterranean diet, while 50 to 60 percent do so sometimes. Between 20 to 30 percent have ditched it altogether, Serra-Majem said.