Food and Health

As a young traveler, I was exposed to different cuisines. I quickly realized the advantages of the classical Mediterranean diet: a huge variety of vegetables, a lot of fish, some lean meats, and excellent extra virgin olive oil. I was constantly craving green, leafy vegetables, but quickly understood why those dishes were less widespread abroad: it is indeed more labor intensive to prepare this kind of food, but the health benefits are unmistakable.

I became a champion of the Italian diet, which of course also includes Italian style pizza and pasta - in limited quantities and always with a lot of vegetables as toppings or in the sauce.  This is the way my grandparents used to eat: mostly vegetarian with few exceptions, due to the cost and rarity of meat and fish. Some of the most delicious dishes of Italian cuisine are known as "cucina povera", or “peasant food”. 

In 2021 Doctor Emeran Mayer, a world-renowned gastroenterologist and neuroscientist with 35 years of experience in the study of clinical and neurobiological aspects of how the digestive system and the nervous system interact in health and disease, and UCLA gastroenterologist, Founding Director of the UCLA Brain Gut Microbiome Center in the Microbiome studies, asked me to participate in his biweekly Newsletter presenting simple and healthy traditional Italian recipes. I am honored and thrilled to share my knowledge with his readers.

Here below are some pictures of the food prepared to illustrate the recipes, which you can find on Doctor Mayer’s webpage.