Why do Americans and their magazines seem to have no idea what the "Mediterranean diet" is?

Question

I often hear Americans talk about the "Mediterranean diet", on their TV shows, in the news, in their Scientific literature, in their magazines, etc. They seem to have no idea what people actually eat in the Mediterranean region. They say that we eat tonnes of cruciferous vegetables, whole grains, legumes, low fat dairy, and canola oil.

I was born and raised in the South of Italy, but have also lived in the South of France, Spain, Malta, and Greece. Until about the last decade or so I never or very rarely saw anyone eat or use those foods. And even to this day I have NEVER once seen someone eating "low fat dairy". I know it exists and you can buy it but people here always eat the full fat stuff.

And the canola oil stuff we don't really use either, despite what you guys say, we generally use Olive Oil or Butter, we used A LOT of butter. Until recently I never saw anyone using canola oil or vegetable oils. Ever.

Americans make it look like our diet is basically vegetarian with a little bit of meat on the side, but that's not true either. As a matter of fact most people don't eat vegetable in the way Americans do, we don't eat huge plates of salad and stuff, we might have a small side dish of it, but it's not a staple in our diet.

I'm not blaming the American people in general, because they don't know. But now that I live in the USA I see all of these articles extolling the virtues and benefits of the "Mediterrenean diet", but the diet they're talking about is nothing like I have ever seen and I lived in that region for 35 years of my life.

Why is this?

Answer 1

Well I've never seen anyone suggest that the Mediterranean diet contains canola oil. It always says olive oil. But I think what you are seeing is a modified Mediterranean diet. The US is the fattest nation in the world, and we are also f*cking terrified of fat, so every recipe, diet, etc. etc. will always include low fat dairy, and they try to avoid talking about butter if at all possible. As for our huge plates of salad, that's something that dieters do, and it's too hard to maintain that long term, so they end up binging on junk food.

Answer 2

The Mediterranean diet is a modern nutritional recommendation inspired by the traditional dietary patterns of coastal regions of southern Italy as well as Crete and other parts of Greece in the 1960s. **Despite its name, this diet is not typical of all Mediterranean cuisine.**

Answer 3

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