The Mediterranean Diet as a Leverage for Promoting a Sustainable Food System

The Mediterranean Diet (MD) with its pyramid depicting the most essential nutritive items, consumption habits and overall lifestyle can be used as a role model for sustainability along with its four dimensions. Many studies around the MD reiterate the wealth of health that this Diet can achieve. Most recently is the PREDIMED study which confirmed that the essential eating habits of the Mediterranean people significantly helped in the protection and reduction of many illnesses, specifically those of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD). MD strictly correlates the health of societies and their proper aging with that of the planet under the concept of One Health. Moreover, the overarching concept of Farm to Fork (F2F) is at the core of the MD food system. The Italian food and its consumption habits are of the majour pillars of the MD roadmap. The Extra Virgin Olive Oil better known as EVOO is the fingerprint of this food as it provides the essential healthy fats of this Diet. Additionally, many other signature Italian food products are fundamental for the application of the MD in people’s lives. Awareness around these culinary masterpieces can be exhibited at agritourism establishments which have the potential to revive rural areas. Moreover, many countries can use the MD model to reap all the health and economic benefits to obtain a global sustainable food system.