Abstract

The essay analyzes the evolution of the concept of "Mediterranean Diet", a concept that was born with reference to the diet of some areas of Greece and Southern Italy, between the end of the fifties and early sixties; then this concept has entered the common language thanks to cookbooks, the media and advertising. According to the author, if the "Mediterranean Diet" is presented as a traditional and immutable diet, infact its proceeding takes place through a mythization, a sort of "utopian idealism of the past" that cancels the variety of eating habits of a given territory and of a certain culture.