"sardinia" news and stories

Photo: pinkcanoe, Flickr

Modern Ponce de Leons, take note. The diet of the Sardinian people is the latest to be linked to a longer life.

The island of Sardinia lies 120 miles west of the Italian mainland. It is the second largest island in the western Mediterranean with Sicily only being larger.

According to Dan Buettner, the author of "The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living Longer From the People Who've Lived the Longest," various features of the Sardinian diet can result in an average of six years added to the average life expectancy.

The Sardinian diet emphasizes bread, cheese and red wine. Sardinian Cannonau, a very darkly-colored red wine, has the highest level of antioxidants of any known red wine in the world.

"This is so dark that the Italians call it vino nero, which means 'black wine,'" Buettner told "Good Morning America".

No surprise here, Sardinians also eat lots of fruits and vegetables and meat is a once-a-week celebration. Contrary to other Meditteranean diets, not a lot of fish is eaten.

Instead, cheese is used as protein source -- specifically, grass-fed cheeses.

Buettner also reveals one common denominator of healthiest people alive are the consumption of nuts. Buettner recommends the 2-by-4-by-2 rule -- people who eat 2 ounces of nuts four times a week live an average of two years longer.

As creative as we can be, with all of the fantastical stories that humans have cooked up over the years, we can never come close to the wonder that is the true story. Sometimes the truth is a heck of a lot more shocking and unbelievable than the fictions we create.

Take casu marzu. The Italian cheese practice came up last year on Slashfood, but was merely described as a cheese that maggots have crawled through. That's only the tip of the iceberg. As BoingBoing pointed out last week, the maggoty cheese is thought to be toxic once the maggots have died, so it must be consumed before the wriggly buggers die. But even that's not all. As Wikipedia states:

Because the larvae in the cheese can launch themselves for distances up to 15 centimetres (6 in) when disturbed, diners hold their hands above the sandwich to prevent the maggots from leaping into their eyes. Those who do not wish to eat live maggots place the cheese in a sealed paper bag. The maggots, starved for oxygen, writhe and jump in the bag, creating a "pitter-patter" sound. When the sounds subside, the maggots are dead and the cheese can be eaten.

Seem too strange to be true? Check out confirmations here, here, and if you don't buy those ... trust Gordon Ramsay and the F Word! I just can't buy him spitting out chef's food in Hell's Kitchen after this...