Mediterranean societies have always been subject to environmental, social, political, and cultural changes and have always been in constant adaptation. But in this century, the pace of change has accelerated and its direction is new, requiring a different strategic thinking to preserve the cultural and intangible heritage based on food. Will we be prepared for this need and committed to this change, which needs to be more systemic, both at the level of governance and citizens? In this very short essay, resulting from a conference held at the Seminar “Health, Food and the Mediterranean Diet” organized by DRAPA, CCDR Algarve and CM Tavira, we look at five obstacles to the protection of the Mediterranean food model, particularly in the Algarve. We hope to broaden and stimulate the debate on this topic, continuing our previous “Manifesto for the Preservation of the Mediterranean Diet” .
Preamble
The climatic context and collective history of the Mediterranean are characterized by cycles of scarcity and an inability to predict the future, particularly the absence of water . The entire food model of the South was thus constructed: a model of constant and, at the same time, intelligent adaptation over the last few centuries. This constant, progressive learning, passed down from generation to generation within the different southern communities, led us to mistakenly assume that it was possible to continue adapting the model indefinitely. And this assumption seemed even more plausible when today's challenges are very similar to those of the past. We are once again experiencing dramatic droughts like those that marked the history of the Hebrews, the floods depicted in various documents from pre-Christian Mediterranean civilizations, or even the warnings of the end of the world and plagues before the apocalypse that marked our Christian Middle Ages. However, solutions tested in the past may, in our understanding, not be capable of solving current problems or, even more so, of being adopted in the present, even if updated for the present day. The initial challenge for anyone who wants to seriously discuss the preservation of the Mediterranean Diet is to acknowledge that it is necessary to think and act differently, even if based on the lessons of the past, because the pace and direction of change are clearly different from what they were in the past. On the other hand, it is necessary to admit that the Mediterranean dietary model has always been in continuous evolution and adaptation. Trying to preserve a model that is in continuous evolution may seem paradoxical. However, we can admit that the dietary snapshot taken in the 1950s and 60s by Ancel Keys and colleagues, which we have since referred to as the "Mediterranean Diet," is synonymous with promoting health and well-being, and it is within this dietary and nutritional framework that we can situate ourselves.
First Challenge – The demographic challenge
The food tradition in the Mediterranean basin regions over the last 2000 years was based on the progressive adaptation of migratory movements to a very large geographical area with specific climatic characteristics and predominant flora and fauna. In other words, there was an adaptation of the resident communities and the few migrants who arrived to what the environment allowed to produce, and from this interaction, the evolution of the Mediterranean food pattern occurred. The arriving populations adapted, maintaining only a small component of their unique cultural or religious identity, expressed in certain foods or times of the year. But the climate and soil characteristics imposed their own laws and dictated what was eaten. On the other hand, those who arrived generally distributed themselves among the areas where food production and availability of food and water existed. Currently, the arriving populations do not necessarily distribute themselves among the food production sites, and the adaptation of eating habits is no longer shaped by what is produced locally. Today, it is possible to maintain pre-existing eating habits due to the availability and variety of food offerings, the daily maintenance of cultural connections to places of origin via digital means, and a more favorable social environment that even promotes diversity. In fact, the social and cultural environment encourages the diversity of cuisines of origin of our migrants, from Asian to South American. However, here in the northern Mediterranean, we observe a practically irreversible phenomenon of population aging with a reduction in the active population, while in the southern Mediterranean and other parts of the southern hemisphere, there is a large supply of labor and a market that cannot absorb it, aggravated by the inability of these countries to react to climate change and acquire some political and economic stability, which transforms a significant part of the population of these regions into potential migrants. The first challenge is to try to preserve an ancestral food model in a new and growing population that is unfamiliar with it or does not remember it as part of its cultural tradition. In the case of the Algarve, in 2021, according to the census, the Algarve had registered 467,495 inhabitants , being the NUTS II region with the highest population growth nationally, and where, in 2018, foreign residents represented almost 18% of the population (77,489 people). According to data from the INE (National Institute of Statistics) and the CCDR Algarve (Regional Coordination and Development Commission of the Algarve), between 2011 and 2018, babies born to foreign mothers with residence permits represented almost 20% of the 33,024 children born in that period , and, “among the 20 nationalities with the highest number of residents, the Chinese, Moldovans, Russians, Guineans, Romanians and Brazilians are those with the highest proportion of children and young people”. Preserving a food model that is no longer based on what is produced in the region, and where the dietary practices of a quarter of its population and a quarter of the guardians of its younger members differ from those advocated in the Mediterranean Diet, is an enormous challenge. And it is very different from the previous one, which was essentially about ensuring that the knowledge of the older generations was passed on to the younger generations and not lost in the intergenerational gap.
Second challenge – The social challenge
Associated with demographic change, we can include social change. In just a few years, the patriarchal Mediterranean society, where women held culinary knowledge and passed it on to their daughters from generation to generation, was disrupted by women entering the workforce and younger women moving to the coast, distancing them from their families and agricultural production. This separation of younger women from their ancestral sources of knowledge marks an important turning point in the preservation of the Mediterranean diet, particularly in the Algarve during the 1960s, 70s, and 80s. At the beginning of 2022, and for the first time, the number of women available to work surpassed that of men. In the Algarve coast, over the last 30 years, there has been significant population growth, where more than 2/3 of the population now resides, and where 70% of the population lives in predominantly urban areas. We are, in fact, a large and almost unique urban region along the coast, physically and socially distant from the places where Mediterranean food production previously took place. The experience of using this knowledge was disrupted by the departure of younger women from this space and their concentration in urban centers, where they now want to belong and live, bringing them closer to the knowledge, employment, security, comfort, and cosmopolitan life they aspire to. If most of these women no longer want to return to work in the fields, no longer want to spend their lives in the kitchen, and have lost their connection to ancestral sources of culinary and food knowledge, how can they be mandated to defend this traditional model?
Third challenge – The economic challenge
The Mediterranean dietary pattern was based on the central premise that locally produced, fresh, seasonal, and minimally processed foods were more physically available and economically accessible. These premises have changed substantially in the last 100 years in Central Europe and, somewhat later, in Southern Europe. The changes in the food system have been substantial because the cost of labor has become a major obstacle to cheap food production, large-scale production has become crucial with the arrival and concentration of large production and distribution groups, and the price of oil and energy have become the main factors in the production of the new agriculture. This agriculture is based on technology and mechanization, where processing and refrigeration are now central to the transport and preservation of food products with greater durability. As a result of these complex changes in the food chain, ultra-processed food, often with added salt, sugar, and other preservatives, is now cheaper and more readily available than fresh food (as long as the environmental impact is not properly considered in the final price of food). To exacerbate this challenge, the most economically disadvantaged populations are more sensitive to aggressive food marketing, are more price-dependent when making purchasing decisions, and are the most affected by the diseases that the Mediterranean Diet should protect against. In other words, the economic challenge is to ensure that the Mediterranean dietary pattern remains truly popular and accessible to all, and that it doesn't become predominantly gourmet and differentiated for a specific niche of the population, or viewed essentially as a tourist product that only adds value to the region's food offerings.
Fourth challenge – The health challenge
The Mediterranean diet often evokes an idea of a distant past where people lived longer, healthier lives, and followed specific food consumption and ancestral culinary practices. Unfortunately, this idea of an idyllic past is not validated by the scientific knowledge we have today. Two hundred years ago in Portugal, the estimated average height (an indicator of nutritional status) was 1.66 meters, and the average life expectancy 102 years ago, in 1920 (the first year for which data is available for Portugal), was 35.6 years. By 2000, it had already reached 76.9 years. Those who expected to live on average to 36 years and died from infectious diseases did not need to preserve their liver, arteries, or pancreas with such care. A young person today who aspires to live to 80 years of age knows that to achieve this they need to consume less salt- and smoke-preserved foods, less sugar, and less animal fat. This means that much of what is traditional is not necessarily suitable for the health expectations of our times. How can we promote a dietary pattern that refers to a certain historical period when dietary tradition may not be helpful? What is it about the Mediterranean tradition that protects us, and what is it about the Mediterranean tradition that kills us prematurely? This is an important challenge that must be undertaken with political courage in the face of some powerful entrenched economic interests, before declaring that everything traditional is good.
Fifth challenge – The environmental challenge
Recent data suggests that plant-based diets, such as the Mediterranean Diet, are among those with the lowest environmental impact, lower water consumption, and lower greenhouse gas emissions. However, the Mediterranean Diet is not exclusively ovo-lacto-vegetarian, as it includes small portions of fish and meat throughout the week (3 to 4 meals), allowing for nutritional balance with little economic effort, especially if poultry and fish from coastal areas are chosen. How can this consumption be maintained with a reduced environmental impact, and what if the options for animal protein production with a reduced environmental impact involve the production of meat from cell cultures? But the biggest challenge in promoting the Mediterranean dietary pattern to achieve greater environmental efficiency is the difficulty in following the first principle of the Mediterranean Diet, which is frugality. The word frugality has been associated with the Mediterranean diet from the beginning, and it was natural that it would. If we identify "Diet" with "lifestyle" or "way of living," we find that much of the Western thought that shapes an idealized view of the Mediterranean emphasizes simplicity and frugal living. It seems natural that when the American Ancel Keyes coined the term "Mediterranean diet" as a return to simple living and non-industrialized ways of eating, the words simplicity and frugality would be present. Frugality also means, in this context, eating only what is necessary. We will never know if this is due to scarcity or respect for scarcity. What we do know today, and the scientific evidence is robust in this area, is that consuming unnecessary calories is the biggest trigger for the epidemic of excess weight and associated diseases such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease, and at the same time, the biggest incentive for the abusive use of our natural resources. But how do we promote the discourse of circularity, and in particular the reduction of consumption and frugality, in today's society? Who would support the Mediterranean Diet if its main focus were on reducing consumption, even for environmental reasons? Doesn't the Mediterranean Diet already have enough enemies? And how would this discourse support the Mediterranean population, which has always struggled against scarcity? Especially if it comes from public authorities considered privileged? This is perhaps one of the most difficult challenges of these five.
Epilogue
It's always more useful and interesting to propose solutions than to simply identify the problems. But today we're making an exception. Sometimes, we look for solutions without clearly identifying the problems. Or, we try to identify problems for which we already know some of the solutions. I believe this is not the case here. Which makes this discussion much more stimulating.
