‘What the sea provides’ The Atlantic recipe for good health
Traditional eating habits in Galicia found to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes and heart-related conditions
Seagulls shriek, boats bob and the morning sun silvers the waters off the Coast of Death as two sailors take a break from winding up their conger eel lines to ponder the sudden interest in precisely what, and how, people here have eaten for centuries.
Like many in the small Galician fishing town of Fisterra, Sito Mendoza and Ramón Álvarez are a little puzzled by all the fuss over the Atlantic diet.
The traditional diet, which survives in this north-western region of Spain and across the border in northern Portugal, has been hailed as an exciting and sustainable alternative to its better-known and more tanned southern cousin, the Mediterranean diet.
A recent analysis of a clinical trial conducted almost a decade ago found that eating the Atlantic diet – which is rich in seafood, fruit and vegetables, but which also incorporates meat, dairy and potatoes – significantly reduced the incidence of metabolic syndrome, the cluster of health problems that increase the risk of type 2 diabetes or conditions related to the heart and blood vessels.
Mendoza offers a simple gloss on the diet. “We eat everything but above all fish and octopus,” said the 74-yearold local. “It’s always been that way round here. What’s the secret? I can’t tell you. Maybe it’s the climate but we do eat very healthily. The potatoes and the vegetables and the beans and the meat are all from here.”
His friend Álvarez added: “You need to keep busy, you need to keep moving!” Although both men retired in their late 50s, the conger lines they prepare in their wharfside shed, which can snag up to 700 eels on a good day, keep them occupied.
The centrality of fish to local tables and the economy is evident at the afternoon fish auction. By 4.30pm on weekdays, dozens of iced boxes offer glistening thornback ray, octopus, white sea bream, cuttlefish, wrasse, conger eel, hake, bonito, red mullet, mackerel, sole and monkfish.
“It’s about eating what the sea provides and enjoying your dayto-day life and the peace and quiet we have round here,” said Manuel Domínguez, a 43-year-old fishmonger. María del Mar Calvo Malvar, a clinical analysis specialist at the University Hospital of Santiago de Compostela, helped put together the 2014-15 clinical study and is one of the authors of the recent analysis that found the Atlantic diet reduced metabolic syndrome by a third in just six months. She says simplicity, variety, sustainability and conviviality go a long way to explaining the health benefits.
“This diet is characterised by a high consumption of fresh, seasonal and local foods – these are ‘zero-mile foods’ – such as fruits, vegetables, cereals, legumes, potatoes, fish and dairy products,” she said. “Fish and seafood are a basic part of our diet: in Atlantic gastronomy, we eat more fish and seafood than in the surrounding countries – three or four portions a week. The same goes for dairy products, which are mainly milk and cheese.”
The Atlantic culinary tradition, she adds, is characterised by its “creativity, simplicity and by the value it places on its ingredients; it’s about maintaining the essence of the ingredients”.
Although Calvo acknowledges the Atlantic diet has many similarities to the Mediterranean diet – not least the heavy use of olive oil, the ubiquity of fresh fruit and vegetables, and the fact that both are based on fresh, local and seasonal foods – she says there are a few fundamental differences. She points to the Atlantic diet’s fondness for brassicas, such as cabbage and greens, which are high in glucosinolates, organic compounds that have been shown to help prevent certain cancers.
“The same goes for dairy products – a lot more dairy is eaten in the north than in the south,” said Calvo. “Wine is more prevalent in the north and beer is more prevalent in the south. The culinary techniques are also different: there’s a lot of steaming and stewing in Atlantic gastronomy, whereas there’s more frying in Mediterranean gastronomy.”
Calvo and her colleagues are also keen to stress the social and familial elements of the diet. “It’s a way of eating but it’s also about sharing and enjoying food,” said Rosaura Leis, president of the scientific committee of the Atlantic Diet Foundation at the University of Santiago de Compostela.
“The dietary habits of the Atlantic diet are associated with better metabolic health and lower levels of cholesterol, lower BMI and less metabolic syndrome,” she said. “That doesn’t mean the ingredients on their own are healthy – it means the pattern and combination of these foods has healthy effects.”
Brais Pichel, a young local chef whose Terra restaurant overlooking the beach in Fisterra won a Michelin star last year, said: “It may sound a bit strange and radical – and they may kill me for saying so – but I think Japanese cooking is a bit like Galician cooking. It’s about simplicity but it’s not easy.”
Bienvenido Martinéz, a 55-year-old butcher from Fisterra, offers a succinct summary of the diet. “It’s a way of living and a way of doing things: the Atlantic diet relies on good-quality ingredients,” he said. “We don’t rush things here … When we sit down to eat, we sit down to eat. We don’t muck about.”