WHY MEDITERRANEAN DIET?

The Mediterranean diet is a lifestyle based on a balanced and varied diet in which predominates food derived from the traditional crops of the geographical area bordered by the Mediterranean: wheat, olives and grapevine.

His discovery as a healthy diet was made based on nutritional studies in Greece where it was detected an incidence of “arteriosclerosis”, cardiovascular disease and degenerative diseases below average, and of course a longer life expectancy.
The study results showed a clear relationship between the characteristics of the diet and the health of its population.

The basic foods and the main characteristics of this diet are:
1. Abundance of plant foods: fruits, vegetables, bread, pasta, rice, cereals, legumes and potatoes.
2. Olive oil as the main source of fat both for frying and for seasoning.
3. Eat seasonal foods in their natural state, it have to be always chosen the freshest.
4. Normally consume red wine in moderation during meals.

5. Consume a moderate amount of cheese and yogurt.
6. Consume weekly a moderate amount of fish, eggs and poultry.
7. Eat nuts, honey and olives in moderation.
8. Red meat a few times in a month.
9. Use herbs as a healthy alternative to salt.
10. Make a regular physical activity to work the heart and keep in shape our joints and our physical tone.

The need for outlining these foods and their share on a balanced diet, this pyramid arose. This is based on the proportion of nutrients that made up the Mediterranean diet. It is a graph showing the type and quantity of food that can be taken. Each region has a climate crops and food is also different. Thus a pyramid can be adapted to each of them, but in all cases remains a general outline with the proportion that may be consumed.

Bread and pasta as the main source of carbonyhidrates. So carbonydrates should provide 50% of total dairy energy intake.
Vegetables, fruits, nuts and legumes contribute to be a higher fiber and antioxidants diet. Fish, poultry, eggs and dairy products as the main source of protein. So proteins provide 15% of the total energy.
Lower consumption of meat and animal fats. By this, fats or lipids contribute about 35%of total energy intake.
These foods and culinary treatment lead to a lifestyle that complements habits that invite the climate, such as trips on the sun, gatherings or the nap.

By María José Gómez

University and food in Spain!

As we all know,  due to the strange and very long timetables we have, we are obliged to eat at University. In this post I am going to show different ways in which we can combine this necessity with the obligation of studying!

Refectories:  normally, all the universities or faculties have refectories in which students and professors can eat. You can choose a first and a second plate, an a dessert, with bread and free water included. It doesn’t cost too much (around 4€).

Take away: if you don’t like what the cafeteria/refectory offers, you can go to a bar or a restaurant and have something there. It will probably be more expensive, but food may be better there of course, and you can take it away and eat it wherever you want!  

Tupperware:  maybe because of the crisis (or because you prefer your own food) you also can bring tupperwares and eat on the grass with your mates. There are also some places enabled to eat, with tables and chairs!

If any of these options satisfies you, you can return home and have something there if you have time enough! 

As you see, studying and eating are perfectly compatible! 




By: Ángel Barbecho Ortega 

Eating in front of the computer makes you fatter!

As I have already said in other posts, we all know that technology is really important in our lives and we use it all the time for everything: we watch TV; we listen to the radio; we call friends and of course we use computers and internet almost all the time. All this technology gives us many advantages and the ability to do a lot of things that without it we couldn’t achieve. But like everything, it has some bad aspects, for example, it can damage our health and affect our nutrition.



If while eating we use our computers - to talk to friends, to write emails, to watch videos, to read the news, to play computer games or anything of the like - we don't pay attention to what we are eating but instead we just eat and eat automatically. We also consume more calories than usual; our brain is more concentrated on what we are doing on the computer than on savouring the food, so we therefore don't feel as full as we would if we had eaten without any distraction. It can also occur that one feels hungry after having finished and feels the need to snack, which also affects the digestion and makes one fatter.


Also spending so much time online leaves us no time to take exercise and means we don’t move to pass the time doing other things because we can spend hours and hours in front of our computer. Another bad aspect is that we can be connected virtually with friends while eating, but we loose our real connection with our family.


Of course for university, our jobs and being in contact with friends it is necessary to be online constantly but we must be aware that our health has priority and we should take care of our body. So sometimes it is good to leave technology aside for a while and enjoy life without it, especially at meal times when we should pay attention to our food, savour it, eat slowly and treasure this time with others.

Our Podcast!

Click here: Spanish Stereotypes

Ángel: Good morning! We are a group of students of University of Seville and we have to do an interview for our task of New Technologies. We would like to talk to an English native speaker about stereotypes. Would you like to participate with us? Just five minutes, do you mind?

Tim: Yes, of course. I’ll be delighted

Mª José: I would like to know why you decided to come to South Spain, especially to Seville.

Tim: I decided to come to southern Spain because for me it really appealed the culture part because when you think of southern Spain, Andalusia has everything that Spain has offered, and the small areas were better than the North or the East or the West. So south of Spain has everything that is good about Spain.

Nuria: About stereotypes…What did you think you would find here before coming?:

Tim: Well, it’s pretty natural for an American or for a friendly foreign to think that all the men are bullfighters and all the women are “flamenco” dancers and so I guess I can’t have that mentality coming in but from early on it was obvious that not all Spaniards are either flamenco dancers or bullfighters.

Clara: It is said that Spanish women are one of the most beautiful in the world, what do you think about it? 

Tim: (laugh) Well... I don't have to agree, I would say the same. They are definitely beautiful and it's an honour to be walking round the same city as them.

Espe: Did you think that in Spain everyone would speak English for being the official language in the world?

Tim: I guess I came with the mentality that a lot of people would speak English and because of that I was surprised because not as many people speak English here as I expected but it turned out to be a good thing for me because I have been able to practice my Spanish with almost everyone on a daily bases.

Ángel: So do you think it is difficult to live in Spain without speaking Spanish ?

Tim: I would say yes.  It is very important to be able to communicate simple things on a daily basis, like asking for something in a restaurant, or to ask for directions of some places you don’t know how to get to. So.. it makes life a lot easier if you do speak at least a little bit of Spanish .

Mª José: What did you think about Spanish food before coming?

Tim: Spanish food, honestly I did not too much about it. I had heard stories from my friends that come about the Spanish omelette, the “tortilla” but I didn’t really know what to expect and surprisingly now it′s my favourite plate so, for me it is hard to imagine going back to... food... back home after having found much Spanish food. It′s gonna be terrible.

Nuria: Is it true that Seville is always hot?:

Tim: Always hot…? For a long time it was haha! (laughing) All summer and other way up to November it seems like, but just remarkable is can get a cold and that I’m not very happy….but because I didn’t bring enough jackets.

Clara: Do you think that people in Spain are more friendly? All the time hugging, kissing, lovely...?

Tim: I agree with that. There is definitely an elevated sense of affection that shows here in Spain, whether means hugging the first person you meet for the first time, or kissing someone or a couple making out in the park, I think everything is a little bit more public.

Espe: And finally, do you think that Spanish people are too loud and always shouting? 

Tim: (laugh) Sometimes yes, eh... it is not too common to hear people yelling and screaming over the phone or across the street but I think I have come to accept that fact, I really like it now. It seems that because of that Spanish people are more open, so I like it.

LOOK AND BE CAREFUL!

Hi ladies and gentlemen!

I was looking for some photos in the Web for my new post and I have found this!

Probably in this photo the tittle would be "Soup of the day" instead of "Soub of the bay".

I think that one person like a waiter, a waitress, a barman or a barmaid could be careful when he or she writes the menus for a bar o for a restaurant.

But there are

more...I have seen a lot of mistakes in words that are very common. Look at them:

I think that a Pepsi bottle or a 7up bottle are called "Soft drink" not "Soft dinks" as the menu shows us.

What is tomotto fry? and kwaliflower? and omlett?

3 consecutive mistakes for 3 basic words...

The right words are:

tomato fried, cauliflower and omelet or omelette.

Do you want to taste Golden rosted drummet? I don't, because I don't know what it is.

Finally I think that "gralic" refers to "garlic".

What do you think about this? Simple words that have a lot of mistakes in a menu that is exposed in public.

By María José Gómez.

CHRISTINGLE, CHRISTMAS CANDY CANE & GINGERBREAD

Hello ladies and gentleman!!

If I have decided to write about Christmas and sweets, it is because everybody loves both whatever the reasons are.

I am going to start with the traditional Christingle. First of all, what is that?

The story of Christingle said that three poor children wanted to give a gift to Jesus, like the other families were doing at the church. But, the only thing that they had was an orange and they decided to give him that. The top of the orange was green, so the eldest of the boys decided to cut it and put a candle in the hole. The youngest girl thought that the orange looked dull, so she decided to take her red ribbon from her hair and put it round the middle with toothpicks. The middle child had an idea and put small pieces of dry fruit on the ends of the sticks. They took it to the church and the priest took their gift and showed it as example of true understanding of the meaning of Christmas.

This story took place at Christmas 1747 in Germany. Pastor Johannes de Watteville gave each child a lighten candle wrapped in a red ribbon, with a prayer said: "Lord Jesus, kindle a flame in these dear children's hearts". This was the first. Some years later, in 1968, John Penson of Children’s Society introduced Christingle services to the Anglican Church, where the custom spread quickly. The Christingle consists of: an orange representing the world; a red ribbon around it representing the blood o Jesus; dolly mixtures, dried fruits or sweets skewered on cocktail sticks pushed into the orange, representing the fruits of the earth and the four seasons (the representation of the four seasons was a later addition, not of Moravian origin.); and a lit candle pushed into the centre of the orange, representing Jesus Christ as the light of the world.

Christmas Candy Cane story comes from Indiana. A candy maker wanted to make a candy for Christmas. He decided to incorporate symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ.

He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy: this colour was used to symbolize the Virgin Birth and the sinless nature of Jesus, and hard to symbolize the Solid Rock, The Foundation of the Church and firmness of the promises of God. He decided to make the candy with the form of a “J” to represent the name of Jesus. The candy maker thought that the candy was somewhat plain, and he stained it with red stripes. He used three small stripes for the blood shed by Christ on the cross. So we could have the promise of eternal life. Candy Canes are a wonderful Christian symbol of Christmas.

Traditional Christmas Carol:

Look at the Candy Cane

What do you see?

Stripes that are red

Like the blood shed for me.

White is for my Savior

Who's sinless and pure!

"J" is for Jesus My Lord, that's for sure!

Turn it around

And a staff you will see

Jesus my shepherd

Was born for Me!

The last one is the traditional Christmas Gingerbread. It was brought by the Armenian monk Gregory of Nicopolis to Europe in the 10th century. He left Armeny, to live in France. He stayed there seven years, and taught the Gingerbread cooking to French priests and Christians.

During the 13th century, it was brought to Sweden by German immigrants. It was the custom to bake white biscuits and paint them as window decorations. In the 16th century, they were sold in monasteries, pharmacies and town square farmers' markets. In the 17th century, the town of Market Drayton in Shropshire, UK became known for its gingerbread. The first recorded mention of gingerbread being baked in the town dates back to 1793. Gingerbread became widely available in the 18th century.

"And I had but one penny in the world, thou should'st have it to buy" gingerbread.

-- William Shakespeare, "Love's Labor's Lost"

By Esperanza Reyes

CHRISTMAS TIME!

Christmas dining is defined as the set of eating habits made at Christmas time. It usually corresponds to countries with influence on Catholic religion.

It is mainly characterized by family gathering habits, and in most cases linked in with the culinary traditions of each country.

The main feature that encompasses all gastronomies is the use of sweet food, usually mixed with ground grain, crackers, cakes, etc.

Other common denominator is the marzipan. Another important feature is the use of nuts and dried fruits.

SPAIN

In Spain, the traditional Christmas food is usually modest and poor and it is based on meals with plenty of sweets. Today, these customs have changed and family meals are often abundant.

There are three meals in the Spanish culinary celebration of Christmas, and they are: Christmas Eve (dinner), New Year’s Eve (dinner) and The Three Wise Men’s day (lunch). In many occasions the family is together also on Christmas’ Day and New Year’s Day (for lunch).

It is characterized by all Christian traditions. Notable nougat (mainly traditional soft nougat and nougat from Jijona or Alicante), “polvorones”, dates, marzipan (in all varieties such as figurines, Gloria’s cake or Cadiz bread), sugared almonds (very famous in Casinos, Valencia), “alfajores” or almond soup (very common in Madrid) among other sweets.

It also very common to eat dishes such as suckling pig, poularde, turkey, lamb, sea bream or shrimp and other seafood.

On 31 December is a tradition to eat twelve grapes at the rate of twelve strokes, one in the New Year is very common to toast with champagne.

The first of  January, in the morning, people usually eat “chocolate with churros” at home with the family.

On January 6 (Epiphany), usually it is eaten the traditional “Roscón de Reyes”.

UNITED KINGDOM

In the United Kingdom  is present the famous Christmas Pudding (it is a pudding made with plums). It is also traditional to stir the Christmas pudding, a traditional dessert. The mixture should be stirred on the first Sunday of Advent for each family member in an east-west to commemorate the visit of the Three Wise Men to Jesus, while you make a wish in secret.

Often it is made gingerbread cookies and various cakes with brandy butter, the trifle, the Christmas cake, the Yule Log, etc.

The Anglo-Saxon tradition marks the use of roasted turkey that is popular as well as widespread in all countries of the Commonwealth. 

Since the Middle Ages, English made called “​​mummings”, which are representations involving masked people. These works are traditional in schools and churches in small towns. 

Another customs is to hang mistletoe at the top. According to tradition, couples who stand under the mistletoe must give a kiss.

On December 26th is known as “Boxing Day”. That day charity boxes of the parishes are opened and its contents is distributed to poor families.

By María José Gómez