In 2015, during the Expo, the Scientific Committee of MedEatResearch presented the New Universal Pyramid of the Mediterranean Diet.
This study aimed to broaden the concept of the nutritional pyramid to the social practices that are fundamental to inhabiting the Earth in this way. The traditional food pyramid becomes social and is presented as a universal lifestyle. That is good for humankind, society and the planet.
There are seven key words at the basis of this new pyramid: conviviality, which has always been an infallible recipe for consolidating the bonds of friendship and fraternity between individuals, and peoples. Tradition, which is the depository of a cultural heritage that stratified over centuries and which is an infinite repertoire of cathedrals of taste. Seasonality, because consuming seasonal products means reducing environmental pollution and, at the same time, eating tastier food with fewer preservatives. Sport, because outdoors activities and movement have a huge impact on health.
Finally, three other simple but effective concepts: Togetherness. It is an invitation to cook together, women and men, adults and children, for at least two reasons. Because it is important to eat real food, and because the millenary heritage of the Mediterranean diet must be preserved and renewed day by day in gestures performed in the kitchen. For this reason another concept is crucial: Education, and bringing to schools the culture, values and history of the Mediterranean Diet. Food education, in fact, should not be a list of restrictive rules, but a reflection on the value that food had and will always have in the history of humanity. This is why the final concept is Zero Waste, because in a world where 800 million people suffer from hunger, it is a moral duty to avoid food waste and to make sure food arrives even to those who do not have any.
