Course description
The term "Mediterranean diet" was first coined in the mid-20th century by American scientist Ancel Keys, yet the foodways it describes are thousands of years old. This course will use an anthropological lens to explore the origins, cultural meanings, and health effects of the diet. We will critically analyze the scientific and public interest in this dietary pattern, from Keys' foundational Seven Countries Study to modern debates about health equity, sustainability and the global food system, with a special focus on the bioregion of Venice and its lagoon. Through readings, discussions, and assignments, students will gain a deeper understanding of how food and diet shape human biology, society, and culture.

Teaching Approach
This course will be a combination of lectures, readings, films, discussions and one-on-one meetings with me to assist you in designing and conducting your research projects. Each class will begin with a lecture to introduce fundamental topics and concepts, followed by class discussion of the assigned readings and films. During each session, students are encouraged to share their perspectives and to engage in critical thinking, analysis, and applications of the course materials.

Learning objectives
Upon successful completion of this course, students will be able to:
• Explain the historical and environmental factors that shaped traditional Mediterranean foodways.
• Analyze the social, political, cultural and ritual meanings of food and commensality in Mediterranean societies.
• Critically evaluate the scientific research on the health effects of the Mediterranean diet, including its limitations and cultural biases.
• Apply key anthropological concepts, such as political ecology, foodways, ritual, and biocultural adaptation, to the study of food and health.
• Conduct basic ethnographic research on food practices and analyze the data qualitatively.
• Discuss the challenges and future of the Mediterranean diet in the context of globalization, sustainability, and health equity.

Course evaluation
• Weekly reading responses (10%): Short, reflective responses (1-2 pages) to the weekly readings, posted on the course website. These should engage with a key concept or argument from the texts.
• Discussion leaders (10%): For each class, a discussion leader will prepare a set of discussion questions and be responsible for guiding the class discussion.
• Ethnographic food journal (30%): A 6-week project requiring students to keep a detailed ethnographic journal of their own dietary habits, including preparation, consumption, and social context. This will be submitted as a structured portfolio at the end of the course and may include visual materials as well as text.
• Research paper (30%): An 8-10 page research paper exploring an anthropological aspect of the Mediterranean diet. Topics might include the history of a specific ingredient (e.g., olive oil), the cultural significance of a regional dish, or the sociopolitical factors affecting health outcomes.
• Final presentation (20%): A 10–15 minute presentation summarizing the findings of the research paper and ethnographic journal.

Weekly course schedule

Part 1: The Foundations of the Mediterranean Diet

Week 1: Introduction to the Anthropology of Food and Food Studies
Topic: Key concepts, methods, defining the Mediterranean diet, the role of anthropology in understanding human-diet relationships.
Readings:
• Counihan, C. and P. Van Esterik, eds. Food and Culture, Introduction.
• Miller, Jeff and Jonathan Deutsch, “Narrative Research in Food Studies.” In Food Studies: An Introduction to Research Methods. Bloomsbury Press.
• Sutton, David E. 2001. "The Mediterranean" in Remembrance of Repasts: An Anthropology of Food and Memory. Berg Publishers.
• Levi-Strauss, Claude. The Culinary Triangle. In Counihan and Van Esterik, pp. 36-43.

Week 2: Historical Origins of the Mediterranean Diet I: The Ancient and Medieval World
Topic: The rise of agriculture in the Mediterranean Basin; Ancient Civilizations of Greece and Rome and the Barbarians, Arab influences
Readings:
•Wilkins, John. 2006. "Greek and Roman Diets." In Food in Antiquity: From Prehistory to the Middle Ages, pp. 45–60. University of Exeter Press.
•Arnoni, Y., and E. M. Berry. 2011. "The Middle Eastern & Biblical Origins of the Mediterranean Diet." Public Health Nutrition, 14(12A): 2288–2295.
•Capurso, Antonio. 2024. "The Mediterranean diet: a historical perspective." Aging, Clin Exp Research 36(1): 78-85.

Week 3: Historical Origins of the Mediterranean Diet II: The Columbian Exchange and Modern Flavors
Topic: the transfer of plants and animals between the Old World and the New and its impact on Mediterranean food cultures.

Readings:
• Nunn, N., & Qian, N. (2010). The Columbian Exchange: A History of Disease, Food, and Ideas. Journal of Economic Perspectives, Volume 24, Number 2, pp. 163–188.
• Bruno, Maria. (2019). Indigenous American Agricultural Contributions to Modern Global Food Systems. Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Environmental Science.
• Mintz, Sidney W. 1985. “Time, Sugar, and Sweetness.” In Counihan and Van Esterik, pp. 91-106.
• Hyman, Clarissa. 2019. Tomato: A Global History. U. Chicago Press, selections.
• VIDEO: Pollan, Michael. Botany of Desire, watch segments on potatoes and apples.

Week 4: The Seven Countries Study and the Medicalization of Diet

Topic: The pivotal research of Ancel Keys. The emergence of the Mediterranean diet as a scientific and popular concept. How a "way of life" embedded in specific local and regional contexts became a "diet." The Mediterranean Diet and its critics.
Readings:
• Keys, Ancel, and Margaret Keys. 1975. How to Eat Well and Stay Well the Mediterranean Way (Selected chapters).
• Lozoya, M. M., and D. H. Keys. 1999. "Ancel Keys and the Discovery of the Mediterranean Diet." Journal of the American Dietetic Association. Vol???
• Serra-Majem, Lluis., et. Al. 2020. Updating the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid towards Sustainability: Focus on Environmental Concern. International J. Environmental Research and Public Health 17(3):875-95.
• Burt, Kate Gardner. 202. “The Whiteness of the Mediterranean Diet: A Historical, Sociopolitical, and Dietary Analysis Using Critical Race Theory.” J. Critical Dietetics 5(2): 41-52.

Part 2: Culture, Meaning, and Foodways

Week 5: The Social Life of Food
Topic: Commensality and community. The meanings of feasts and fasting. Family, gender, and the preparation of food.
Readings:
• Counihan, Carole. “Commensality, Family and Community.” 2004. In Around the Tuscan Table: Food, Family and Gender in Twentieth Century Florence, Routledge, pp. 117-138.
o Mintz, Sidney W. 1996. "Eating and Its Contexts." In Tasting Food, Tasting Freedom: Excursions into Eating, Culture, and the Past. Beacon Press.
• Sutton, David E. 2001. “The Ritual and the Everyday.” In Remembrance of Repasts: An Anthropology of Food and Memory. Berg, selections.
• Fischler, Claude. 1988, "Food, Self and Identity." Social Science Information, 28 (2): 275-292.
• VIDEO: Stanley Tucci, Searching for Italy

Week 6: Local Traditions and Regional Variation: Focus on Venice and its Lagoon

Topic: Exploring diversity within the Mediterranean diet across different countries and regions (e.g., Greece vs. Italy vs. Spain). The importance of local, seasonal ingredients and herbs. Cultural significance of local cuisine. Focus on Venice and its bioregion.
• Thayer, Robert. 2003. LifePlace: Bioregional Thought and Practice.
Introduction: Bioregional Thinking. University of California Press.
• Cavanaugh, Jillian R. .(2007). Making Salami, Producing Bergamo: The Transformation of Value. Ethnos 72(2): 149-172.
• Rossetto (2001) The Management of Fishery in the Lagoon of Venice. Proceedings of the Tenth Biennial Conference of the International Institute of Fisheries Economics and Trade.
• Vianello (2017). The Ransom of Mussels in The Lagoon of Venice: When the Louses Become "Black Gold". International Review of Social Research 2017; 7(1), pp. 22–30.
• Rice, J. (2024). Blue Crab Invasion Upends Italy's Culinary Traditions and Ecology. Washington Post.
• Molinaroli E, Guerzoni S, Suman D. 2019. Do the Adaptations of Venice and Miami to Sea Level Rise Offer Lessons for Other Vulnerable Coastal Cities? Environmental Management, 18 August.

Week 7. The Mediterranean Diet as a UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage
• Trichopoulou, Antonia. 2021. "The Mediterranean Diet as Intangible Heritage of Humanity: 10 Years On. " Nutr. Metab. Cardiovasc. Disease, pp. 1943-1948.
• Trichopoulou, Antonia, and Pagona Lagiou. "Healthy Traditional Mediterranean Diet: An Expression of Culture, History, and Lifestyle." Nutrition Reviews, vol. 55, no. 11, pt. 1, 1997, pp. 383–389.
• Bonaccio, MariaLaura, et al. 2022. The tenth anniversary as a UNESCO world cultural heritage: an unmissable opportunity to get back to the cultural roots of the Mediterranean diet. European J. of Clinical Nutrition 76: 179-183.

Week 8: Ritual The Symbolism of Key Ingredients
Topic: A deeper look at iconic foods: olive oil, bread, and wine. The In Counihand and Van Esterik, pp23-30.
• cultural and ritualistic significance of these and other symbolically significant foods. Food as an index of class.
Readings:
• Toussaint-Samat, Maguelonne. 2009. "The Three Sacramental Foods” (Olive Oil, Wine, and Bread). In A History of Food, Part 3. Wiley-Blackwell.
• Counihan, C. and P. and Esterik, Food and Culture, Part IV: "Food and Symbolism."
• Barthes, Roland. Toward a Psychology of Contemporary Food Consumption. In Counihand and Van Esterik, pp.23-30.
• Bourdieu, Pierre. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. In Counihan and Van Esterik, pp. 31-40.
• Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste. Harvard U. Press.

Week 9: Health Effects: A Biocultural Analysis
Topic: Examining the links between diet, biology, and health outcomes. How culture and lifestyle factors shape biological responses to food. Critical analysis of health claims.
Readings:
• Pollan, Michael. 2006. The Omnivore's Dilemma (Selected chapters).
• Scrinis, Gyorgy. 2013. "The 'Mediterranean Diet' and the Problem of Dietary Simplification." In Nutritionism: The Science and Politics of Eating. Columbia University Press.
• Willett, W. C. , et al. 1995. "Mediterranean Diet Pyramid: a Cultural Model for Healthy Eating." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 61:1402-1406S.
• Guasch-Ferre, M. and Willet, W.C 2021. The Mediterranean Diet and Health: A Comprehensive Overview. J. of Internal Medicine 290(3):485-756.
• Documentary: In Defense of Food (2015) unpacks Michael Pollan's argument against "nutritionism" and the industrial food system.

Week 10: The Global Politics and Ethics of Diet
Topic: The ethical dimensions of food production, distribution, and consumption in the Anthropocene. The political economy of food and health, including food policy and corporate influence. Efforts to globalize the Mediterranean diet by adapting its principles to local ingredients and contexts; the balance of preserving heritage and promoting global health.
Readings:
• Nestle, Marion. 2002. Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition and Health. University of California Press.
• Leitch, A. 2013. Slow Food and the Politics of "Virtuous Globalization." In Counihan and Van Esterik, eds. Food and Culture: A Reader, pp. 409-425.
• Willett, W., Rockström, J., Loken, B., et al. (2019). Food in the Anthropocene: the EAT–Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. The Lancet, 393(10170), 447–492.
• Tulloch, A, et al. 2023. How the EAT-Lancet Commission on Food in the Anthropocene Influenced Discourse and Research on Food Systems. Lancet 11:(:7):1125-1137.
• Film/Series: Selection from Blue Zones Video: Sardinia

Week 11. Towards a “Planeterranean” Diet
Topic: Efforts to globalize the Mediterranean diet by adapting its principles to local ingredients and contexts; the balance of preserving heritage and promoting global health. Slow food movement.
Franchi, C., et al. 2024. “Planeterranean Diet: The New Proposal for the Mediterranean-based Food Pyramid for Asia.” J. of Translational Medicine 11 (806).
Colao, Annamaria, et al. Towards a Planeterranean Diet. Nature Italy, 10, May 2022.
Petrini, C. (2007). Slow Food Nation: Why Our Food Should Be Good, Clean and Fair. Rizzoli Ex Libris, selections.
FILM: The Perfect Meal: The Secrets of the Mediterranean Diet (2025): This film explores the benefits of a Mediterranean diet and includes perspectives from Professor Antonia Trichopoulou, known as the “mother of the Mediterranean diet, who believes the traditional Cycladic diet can inspire the creation of a "Planeterranean diet" that is healthy for both humans and the planet. The film follows scientists across several European countries as they research the link between food and health.

Week 12: Presentations of Research Projects and Concluding Thoughts
Topic: Student presentations summarizing their research and ethnographic findings.
• Discussion of the future of the Mediterranean diet and the broader field of food anthropology.

Course materials /Required textbooks:
• Counihan, Carole, and Penny Van Esterik. 2013. Food and Culture: A Reader. Routledge.
• Keys, Ancel, and Margaret Keys. 1975. How to Eat Well and Stay Well the Mediterranean Way. Doubleday.
Additional readings:
• Journal articles and book chapters are listed in the weekly schedule and will be available digitally.

Last updated: December 3, 2025