Colloquium: The Prehistoric Roots of the Mediterranean Diet
Event Details:
- Date: Thursday, 17 October 2024
- Time: Starts: 18:00. A reception offered by the Spanish Embassy will follow the colloquium between 19.00 and 20.00.
- Venue: John Ioannides Auditorium, Fresnel Building, The Cyprus Institute
Or alternatively, view a livestream of the event on The Cyprus Institute YouTube channel - Speaker: Dr Juan José García-Granero, Senior Research Fellow, Spanish National Research Council
Abstract
The Mediterranean diet is widely regarded as among the most nutritionally balanced and sustainable in the world. The origins of the Mediterranean dietary pattern, based on an abundance of plant foods (including olive oil as the main source of fat), low animal fat intake and moderate wine consumption, are often placed in the Middle Ages or, at most, Antiquity, but its roots can actually be traced back to prehistoric times.
The presence of the Mediterranean triad (wheat, olive and grape) has been attested in the Bronze Age archaeological record across the Mediterranean, and recent evidence suggests that wine-making started during the Neolithic. Similarly, evidence for olive oil production dates back to the mid-5th mil. BC, the preparation of bulgur and trachanas (traditional cereal-based foods from southeastern Europe) has been documented in Bulgaria in the early 6th mil. BC, and bread-making has been attested in the Levant as early as 14,400 years ago. Moreover, the widespread use of vegetables, herbs and spices, one of the most distinctive elements of Mediterranean culinary traditions, has been textually documented in the Eastern Mediterranean for over three thousand years, and archaeobotanical evidence of their consumption exists for both Classical and prehistoric times. In summary, archaeological evidence suggests that several elements (low animal fat intake, high reliance on plants, including herbs and spices) and modes of preparation (bread-making, oil and wine production) of what is nowadays considered the Mediterranean diet were already present across the Mediterranean basin during the Bronze Age or even the Neolithic.
However, over the last decades, a progressive shifting away from traditional healthy dietary patterns has been observed in Mediterranean countries, leading to increased obesity rates and consequent health problems. Archaeological data can help us understand how did Mediterranean culinary traditions survive for millennia and, ultimately, contribute to the contemporary valorisation of the traditional Mediterranean diet among non-academic stakeholders, including the civil society, the private sector and policy makers.
About the Speaker
Juan José García-Granero is an archaeobotanist interested in how prehistoric societies interacted with their environment in terms of plant food acquisition and transformation practices, particularly during the Neolithic and Bronze Age. To address these issues, he analyses mainly starch grains and phytoliths, with an emphasis on the integration of multiple archaeological proxies.
His current research focuses mostly on South Asia and the Mediterranean region, but he has conducted archaeobotanical research worldwide, from Scandinavia to Sub-Saharan Africa and from the Americas to eastern Asia. He is currently a senior research fellow at the Spanish National Research Council, where he leads projects investigating the prehistoric roots of the Mediterranean diet and the pastoral origins of urban civilization in South Asia.
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Additional Info
- Date: Thursday, 17 October 2024
- Time: Starts: 18:00
- Speaker: Dr Juan José García-Granero, Senior Research Fellow, Spanish National Research Council
