The Mediterranean diet and lifestyle is about so much more than what is on your plate. The pleasures of the table, daily movement, and strong relationships are all ways that the Mediterranean diet can help you cultivate a happier, healthier life.
These benefits couldn’t come at a better time. According to a 2023 Surgeon General’s report, “the mortality impact of being socially disconnected is similar to that caused by smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day, and even greater than that associated with obesity and physical inactivity.” While Mediterranean foods and recipes are a big focus in the public health community, Mediterranean ways of gathering and living offer an abundance of untapped potential for wellbeing.
Here are a few Mediterranean-inspired practices to bring the joy of connection into your own daily life.
Make Room at the Table
Even if you live alone, you aren’t obligated to dine alone. In fact, we’d highly recommend that you make an extra seat at the table. The base of the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid depicts the joy of shared meals and the richness of communities and relationships as essential elements of overall wellbeing. Not sure who to dine with? Outside of your regular circle of friends or nearby family, consider extending an invitation to an acquaintance in your building who lives alone, a family on your street with a new baby, or the kind neighbor who helped shovel your walkway. You just might start a beautiful new tradition. If you want to start small or can’t quite align schedules, leave a loaf of whole grain banana bread on someone’s porch with a note that you were thinking of them. To practice conviviality while dining out, opt to sit at the bar or a restaurant with communal dining tables. Conversation feeds the soul!
Make Intergenerational Memories
Heritage is why we cherish old photos, test our DNA, and travel to distant homelands. To keep this spirit alive and strengthen the connection with ancestors, have different family members contribute recipes, food memories, and family lore and compile them into a family cookbook. You can also record food memories on a smartphone or gather to make a hands-on family recipe together. For those with Mediterranean roots, this might look like hand-rolling pasta or stuffing grape leaves. For other families, this might mean making tamales or dumplings or jollof rice together. The key is to preserve the old ways of family cooking for future generations.
Show up for Your Village
For many, the Mediterranean lifestyle represents a slower pace of life, where people make time for good food and good conversation, and where people stay active and independent well into their twilight years. One of our favorite ways to capture this magic is adopting the habit of a leisurely neighborhood stroll after dinner. Called a passeggiata in Italy, el paseo in Spain, or volta in Greece, a walk after meals has been shown to reduce blood sugar, which is important for diabetes prevention and management. Go out at the same time each evening and you’ll start to see the same faces, making the world feel small and interconnected. To further show up for your village, make time to show up to the community events put on by your building, your town, your church, or your child’s school. Volunteers work hard to bring people together, and your participation means more than you know.
Make New Memories with New Friends
Perhaps one of the best ways to experience the joy of connection in the Mediterranean diet is to pack a suitcase and make a few new friends. For more than twenty years, Oldways has arranged culinary travel experiences to feed your soul, nourish your mind, and delight your palate. While the food, the cultural sights, and the lush scenery are what draw lure most travelers to the Mediterranean with us, the camaraderie among travelers is what people treasure most. In a time of increased solitude, there is something so life-giving about being part of the rich tapestry of community. The convivial travelers that Oldways bring together make the experiences, meals, and memories richer than they could possibly be when traveling solo, and elevate the travel experience in meaningful ways big and small. These trips act as living classrooms immersing you in Mediterranean food traditions. Not only have we seen lifelong friendships form, we’ve even had two marriages as a result of these trips!
Build Bridges Beyond the Mediterranean
Exploring the foods of different cultures opens doors to deeper understanding and respect. The Mediterranean diet is one of many healthy global cuisines. Recognizing that there is no single “best” diet, we believe that learning about heritage foods fosters connection, appreciation, and understanding in our communities and throughout the world.
Good health comes both from what we eat and how we live. Embracing the Mediterranean lifestyle can help put years in your life and life in your years!