A Diet for the 21st Century by Ruth Paget
To adapt my diet to the needs of the 21st century, I read More Mediterranean: 225+ New Plant-Forward Recipes – Endless Inspiration for Eating Well by America’s Test Kitchen based in Boston, Massachusetts.
Two issues in particular have influenced the 21st century:
-greater food insecurity even in the United States, which has historically exported food surplus
-a world population that has almost doubled since I was a teenager in 1979
For example, In 2025, 7.822 million women who are pregnant, postpartum, breastfeeding women, and young children need the services of Women, Infants, and Children according to to the USDA WICData Tables below (2025 is the latest data available):
https://www.fns.usda.gov/pd/wic-program
Without WIC, these individuals would be food insecure.
I used the Macrotrends website for world population figures below:
2025: 8.19 billion
1979: 4.36 billion
To use the Macrotrends website below, slide your finger along the chart to find years and population data:
https://www.macrotrends.net/global-metrics/countries/wld/world/population
Higher population levels place a strain on existing food resources, which encourages the greater consumption of lower-priced vegetables.
I happen to like vegetables, so I found many recipes to try at home and look for in restaurants and delicatessens in More Mediterranean. This cookbook also provides what they describe as vegetable-heavy fish and seafood dishes. I love fish and seafood, so I found these recipes appealing as well.
America’s Test Kitchen describes the Mediterranean Diet as very desirable to follow for its health benefits:
-wards off heart disease
-encourages good gut health
-promotes positive mental health
-prevents Alzheimer’s Disease and cancer
America’s Test Kitchen writes that the approach to following the Mediterranean Diet had changed from a pyramid approach to a plate approach. The Mediterranean Meal should look like the following:
-1/2 plate vegetables and fruits
-roughly ¼ plate whole grains (3/8 plate)
-roughly ¼ plate protein (1/8 plate)
Vegetarian protein combinations take on more of a significance here with seed and grain and pulse (lentils for example) and grain combinations augmenting the protein on the plate.
My family also uses 00 flour to make bread. This flour traditionally used in Neapolitan pizza dough has a high protein content by itself that can augment the protein content of a meal with smaller portions of meat.
Another reason I like the More Mediterranean cookbook is its inclusion of recipes from Mediterranean Africa and the Middle East in addition to Mediterranean Europe.
The spice blends from these regions all by themselves would probably be good with buttered pasta, buttered rice, and baked potatoes with sour cream and butter.
Several of the recipes I would try or buy at a delicatessen include:
-beet salad with spiced yogurt and watercress
-parsley – cucumber salad with feta cheese, pomegranate, and walnuts
-horiatiki Greek village salad with chopped vegetables, oregano, and feta cheese
People who already like going to farmers’ markets will find much to like in More Mediterranean: 225+ New Plant-Forward Recipes – Endless Inspiration for Eating Well by America’s Test Kitchen.
By Ruth Paget, author Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France and developer of the Novgorod and Bento War Games
