The Mediterranean Diet Needs a New Name. Here's why.

Yes, there are reasons why the revered Mediterranean Diet needs a new name. It started with the Sunday New York Times. My husband set aside this special section pullout for me to peruse:

Assembled by Well, the Times’ health and wellness department, the pullout aims to be a handy guide to cooking and eating the Mediterranean diet for a healthier life. Unless you have super keen vision, you’ll need help with the subtitle:

"How the time-tested Mediterranean diet can offer real benefits, with recipes to help you get started."

I’m all for that, but got peevish upon reading page 2:

It’s aggravating to read again and again that the Mediterranean diet is the way to go for healthy habits. The implication is that something associated with the geography of Europe is the only thing we can turn to to save ourselves!

We all lead cross-cultural lives and we cook and eat that way too. The Diet has become a meme that smacks of cultural imperialism, reinforced by statements like this one in paragraph 2:

. . . And definitions of the diet have evolved over time, so we won’t limit ourselves to fare from the Mediterranean region.

Well crafted, that statement serves to permit including non-Mediterranean recipes, such as: huevos rancheros by Kay Chun, vegetable tortilla soup by Ham El-Waylly, maafe by Yewande Komolafe, mole verde by Jocelyn Ramirez, cashew, celery and tofu stir-fry by Hetty Lui McKinnon, greens and beans by Rick Martinez, and cucumber salad with peanuts and chile oil by Sue Li.

I love inclusivity but why should the Mediterranean get all the credit when healthy food ideas come from all over the world? Moreover, those ideas, such as the handful of recipes that I pulled from Well’s special section, come from people of diverse heritages. The Mediterranean Diet needs a new name. Pronto!

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