{"id":906,"date":"2009-07-14T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2009-07-14T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/nutrition-the-culture-of-cuisine\/"},"modified":"2009-07-14T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2009-07-14T00:00:00","slug":"nutrition-the-culture-of-cuisine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/nutrition-the-culture-of-cuisine\/","title":{"rendered":"The Culture of Cuisine: Diet Tricks I Learned in Morocco"},"content":{"rendered":"
By Shaun Chavis<\/a> Traditional Southern fare includes fried foods (like fried green tomatoes, fish, and chicken), banana pudding, and sweet tea. In some families, there is also a culture that encourages overeating: For example, the idea that a man is more manly if he eats plenty—or that you're not "healthy" if you don't clean your plate. These eating habits may be the culprits behind expanding waistlines.<\/p>\n Since our food culture isn't proving to be healthy, perhaps we should imitate other cultures' habits. One of food writer Michael Pollan's mantras is to "Eat more like the French"<\/a> or simply pick a traditional food culture as your guideline. The Jungle Effect<\/a><\/em> proposes the same idea, as does the Mediterranean diet<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, there's more to it than just restacking your personal food pyramid with different menus—there's a culture of how to approach food too. For example, there appears to be some correlation between obesity and the time people take to eat<\/a>: The faster, the fatter. Cultures with leisurely meals tend to have leaner populations.<\/p>\n Years ago, I spent three weeks with a family in Morocco (my then in-laws). Knowing there was already buzz about the Mediterranean diet, I paid attention to our meals. Here are a few of my favorite diet strategies that I picked up while sitting at a Moroccan dinner table.<\/p>\n Start with a salad Finish with fruit Keep sweets small Forget kid foods Got any healthy or diet-friendly eating habits you've taken from a specific culture? Please share.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Shaun ChavisFollow me on TwitterHow huge a role does culture play in diet? We've all seen the stats about how the U.S. has a higher percentage of obese people (more than 30% of adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) than countries like Japan, France, and Italy. Breaking it down even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":906,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[25],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=906"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=906"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=906"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/1millionbestdownloads.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=906"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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How huge a role does culture play in diet? We've all seen the stats about how the U.S. has a higher percentage of obese people (more than 30% of adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention<\/a>) than countries like Japan, France, and Italy. Breaking it down even further, the Trust for America's Health<\/a> released a new report on obesity in America, and the South remains the fattest part of the country. (Mississippi has the highest obesity rate, followed by Alabama, where some of Health<\/em>'s offices are located.)<\/p>\n shaun-chavis-medi-food-150.jpg<\/span> Not every meal in the South comes from a deep fryer. In fact, for many Southerners, gardening and canning have always put veggies and fruit on the table, and new Southern cooking gives a bigger role to beautiful, fresh produce. Poverty plays a role in the South's obesity picture, as does a lack of public transportation and city planning that makes it inconvenient or difficult to walk or cycle around town. The abundance of fast-food restaurants and frequency with which Americans eat out means meals in big portions and big calorie counts. A recent study showed that a greater number of fast-food restaurants and convenience stores in your neighborhood may sabotage your diet<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Both lunch and dinner started with multiple salads, and it wasn't unusual to have three different salads on the table at a time. But few were dressed with vinaigrette, and there wasn't a bottle of ranch in sight. Instead, many salads used the juices from roasted vegetables, citrus or vinegar, and spices to add flavor. Sometimes there was a simple cucumber-tomato-red onion salad with red-wine vinegar and a little olive oil. One of my favorites was a roasted bell pepper salad (similar to this Cooking Light<\/em> recipe<\/a>), seasoned with lemon juice or vinegar, the juices from the peppers, and cumin. Another: zaalouk, a roasted tomato and eggplant salad, flavored with the natural juices from the veggies. (Also try this Orange and Olive Salad<\/a> and this Carrot Salad<\/a>. Some of my favorite Mediterranean cookbooks are by Paula Wolfert<\/a>, Kitty Morse<\/a>, and Nancy Harmon Jenkins<\/a>.)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Dinner ended with a big bowl of fruit on the table. (Or, maybe I should say that dinner ended with a big empty bowl of fruit.) Sometimes we had grapes, sometimes figs, and a few nights we had prickly pears. There was enough for everyone to have two pieces or servings of fruit, at least. Even in America, I noticed Moroccan moms putting huge bowls of cubed melon on the table after dinner, and the kids clean it up.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Living in the South, I know we can drink sweet tea by the quart. Moroccan mint tea has enough sugar to rival Southern sweet tea, but it's served in small glasses that hold about 2 ounces. There's no guzzling syrup. Most desserts I had were small cookies.<\/strong><\/p>\n
No fish sticks, no chicken fingers, no hot dogs. The children ate the same food the adults ate, from the same communal plate. I can't explain how Moroccan parents did it, but it's likely the children I met rarely saw a breaded nugget of anything. Several families told me they thought canned and frozen food was unhealthy, and the family I stayed with expressed a clear preference for home cooking. They considered it poor hospitality to take someone out to a restaurant. (As for other types of kid food, there was one McDonald's in town. I didn't go, but I heard they served sardines.) The culture of having a meal together may play a role; at least one recent study shows regular family meals can help teens develop better eating habits<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n