The FastDay Forum

TML's reference was for the diet in the mountains in the early 1900's, it's now a lot easier for mountain herders to get lambs to market where they can be sold much needed hard cash. So now they sell the sheep they used to eat. Even the Mediterranean diet isn't what it used to be. But the food they eat now is still rich in omega 3s even if the amount of meat is a lot less than it was. They have 2oz of beef 3 weeks out of 4 (when you factor in holidays). Not a lot but as long as it is local grass fed and free foraging cows it is going to be a good source of omega 3. So will eating free range chicken once a week and their free range eggs 2 or 3 times a week, along with cheese from their grass fed herds. Fish twice a week is excellent source of long chain omega 3s but so are the wild snails. A great source of food in their diet, and like snails, free to even the poorest, are wild greens like stamnagathi and purslane. We don't usually think of greens as a source of fat, but the fat they do contain may be 50 or 60% short chain omega 3, with 100g of purslane providing 0.3g omega 3. Walnuts are another excellent source.

Is this supposed to be the description of the Cretan diet today? Because it's not...
And the amount of meat eaten NOW by those who follow the Med diet is not less, it's more.

And don;t get me started with stamnagkathi. We love it in Athens and most of the Cretans don't bother with it...

Seems to me the Mediterranean Diet is as credible as the Minotaur. Even in the 7 country study it varied a lot by cohort and since then (50 years) there have been large shifts in consumption patterns with population migration and economic development as reported in the Balearics " Mediterranean dietary habits still exist, but a progressive
departure from the traditional Mediterranean diet is being observed mainly in younger generations "

Seems we're now seeing populations in the Med being given the same (flawed) advice as in the US or UK.

I grew up with the Med diet with influence from Asia Minor and Britain on holidays and special occasions.
My generation of Greek children grew up with the same but no Britain, so did the next generation.

I'm not aware of any advice being given by the Greek government but every telly show that is diet-related gives proper advice. Many cooking shows give good advice as well (although there are a few that even watching them makes you disgusted by the amount of fat and sugar used).
IMO, nobody should wait for a government to tell them what to eat. Do you trust your government to tell you how to live your life? I don't!

If you ask me, it's the fault of parents that Greek kids eat crap. Since there is no feeding going on in schools, the entire responsibility is on the parents. And they are more to blame since they were fed good food by their parents (the fashion of eating crap and pre-cooked is quite new here).

Some will blame the economic crisis but they don;t fool me. After all, lentils are cheaper than supermarket pizza and good fish is cheaper than bad meat...

So what does stamnagathi taste like, TML? DSeems you can't get it outside Greece

Hmmmm it's similar to Greek chicory, less bitter than the Italian one. I like it cooked better than raw. Just toss it in a non-sticking pan with a sliced onion, cook it for a few minutes, add a diced tomato, salt, pepper, oil... done.

Sounds nice. I travel to Cyprus and also Turkey but never Greece (sorry, just how my work is). Any chance of getting it in either of those places do you think?

I've no idea about Turkey but I've never seen it in Cyprus and I also go there often for work.

Wow that was quick. But disappointing.

Yeah, I know my food, LOL!

So many good things to eat in Cyprus though. And I'm sorry that greens don't travel well or I'd sent a few kilos to the curious ones.