Sunday meal growing up..started at noon, ended at 4pm or so.
Bread served with all courses.
1. Soup (usually vegetarian with MAYBE a little of spicy meat for flavoring). Usually made with escarole or cabbage.
2. Macaroni with meat on the side. Usually pork sausage and/or pork roast.
3. Some type of greens (broccoli with olive and lemon and chilled overnight. Or spinach cooked similar but served warm)
4. Salad with olive oil and vinegar. In spring – fall, good chance the veggies came from our grandfather's backyard.
5. Frittata, cold cuts, cheese
6. Fresh fruit (oranges and grapes usually) and dried figs. Nuts.
A little wine as I became older. Coffee with anisette in it as I became older as well.
Don't know if is THE Mediterranean diet, but damn it tasted good…..
I think the point of the Roseto effect study is not the diet as much as the influence of culture, community and family had on health. As The immigrants and their families became more ingrained into mainstream America and absorbed those values, the heart disease went up.
Nice PBS video from a documentary coming out next month: http://video.pbs.org/video/2365357295/
Diet plays a role in health…as does lifestyle, exercise. temperament, etc.
When I was unemployed, I was in the BEST shape of my life. Regular exercise, enough money saved to have some fun without any job stress and I was eating very healthy. Far better than I did on my long hikes. Nothing exotic: lean meat and veggies for lunch. Oatmeal for breakfast. Fruit for snacks. Burgers, beers and fries on weekends.
Of course the 21 days of backcountry skiing, without worrying about working, one month only helped. ;)
