Mediterranean Culture // #55
Time to have a siesta
The Curious Cat is a journey where I aim to reconnect with my inner-child and explore my curiosity. I pinpoint themes & topics I’ve been interested in recently, ask myself questions about them and then write about them. I hope you find value within this issue and have a fantastic day doing what you love.
I’m currently obsessed with the Mediterranean.
For the past 14 years, I have lived at the most western point of the Mediterranean; but I’m only starting to formally appreciate its brilliance now. It has the most documented history of anywhere on earth, its foods are enjoyed globally and its people have the highest life expectancy in the world. But today we will be focusing on one particular aspect of the Mediterranean - the culture of its people.
There is a small chance that this piece comes off as insulting to non-Mediterranean folk. And to those people, I say “deal with it, you protestant pleb.”
Please factor in that the Mediterranean coastline is 46,000km long (longer than the circumference of the Earth). I’m going to be stereotyping, and obviously there will be exceptions to points I make. Let us begin by trying to define what Mediterranean culture is. Here are a few definitions I’ve come up with:
In one word: External.
In one sentence: Loud, communal, outside living.
In one paragraph: A series of intertwined cultures stretching from the pillars of Hercules, to the beaches of Lebanon, then up the northern African coastline, that share common preferences and ways of living. Quality of life always has priority over productivity. We live together. We laugh together. We eat together. And we do it all outside, with the volume cranked up to the max, at whatever pace the wind takes us.
At the core of Mediterranean culture lies the Mediterranean diet. What I love about the Mediterranean diet is that arguably, the key part is not actually the consumption of the food, but the time preparing it and the time spent after consuming it. Preparation is a multi-hour process that involves going to purchase fresh food, cleaning &/or spicing it and then cooking it with love. While the care put into the meal destines it for greatness, the magic comes once all the food has been eaten. In Italy they have the passeggiata (post-meal stroll) ritual, in Spain you have the sobremesa (post-meal social time at the table) and the siesta (post-meal nap), while in Turkey the “ziyade olsun” prayer is often, but not always, recited. Of my 25 years on this earth, one of my most blissful moments was in rural Ibiza, having just indulged in a pasta salad feast, passed out on a sofa, talking with my friends, with a gentle breeze cooling us before we all took a much-deserved siesta. This is what Italians call la dolce vita.
The combination of fresh seafood, diverse livestock, pure olive oil (not seed oils) and fresh veg all contribute to Mediterranean people’s ability to live unusually long lives. But what if the health benefits of the Mediterranean life weren’t found in its diet, but in its lifestyle? Life in the Mediterranean is vertical (hills and stairs). Every city I have ever visited, bar San Francisco, is horizontal. Mediterraneans can walk around the whole town without having to catch their breath; meanwhile, others are scorched by the blistering sun, gasping for breath and aching from the inclined hills. Just like many civilisations of the past, Meds adapted to their environment and their environment rewarded them with great health. A rare and beneficial trait for the sedentary 21st century.
Nicholas Taleb once claimed “to be a Mediterranean, you have to disrespect hard work and respect success.” What I think Nicky T means is: Meds do not understand the rationale of hard work. So anyone who pursues it is a fool, and their attempt to deviate from the norms of a culture that has survived and thrived for millennia means they are due some disrespect. And because working hard (especially for someone else) is so alien, anyone who actually does achieve ‘success’ must be respected for their unusual accomplishment! It reminds me of the saying “there’s a fine line between genius and crazy.” Everyone is crazy, only those who do something get granted the compliment of ‘genius.’
The idea that hard work might be a sin, rather than a virtue, is the antithesis of the Northern European mindset where work ethic is at the forefront of their culture. I’ve yet to come across a region in the Med where it is common to worship your work, but then I remembered that Catalans jump at the first instance to proudly say “molta feina” which means “lots of work” when asked how they’re doing. Like non-Meds, they take pride in their work. You’ll rarely see a Mediterranean talk passionately about their career…unless it involves food of course. Then they become the most passionate, verbose zealots that you’ll ever meet!
“Mediterraneans scorn instructions but bow to authority; Anglo-Saxons bow to instructions but scorn authority,” from the Bed of Procrustes, 3rd Ed.
In English, the word “retirement” implies that one has worked tirelessly for years, but is now unfit to work so they have to retire from the workforce. Then they can begin to live life well. Whereas in Spanish (one of the languages most similar to Latin, the original language of the Mediterranean), the word “jubilar” can mean ‘to get rid of’ as though it was a burden and not to be respected. In England, retirement is an achievement. In the Mediterranean, retirement is liberation.
Here are a few other uniquely Mediterranean things I could think of:
In the med, people wear ordinary clothes on weekdays and wear formal attire on the weekends. In Germanic cultures, the opposite happens.
In most parts of the world, when you don’t know the answer to a question, you say “I do not know.” But in the Mediterranean, you give a long-winded answer that completely ignores the question. Meds refuse to say they don’t know.
In northern Europe, you work hard today, to live well tomorrow. In the med, you live well today, promise to work tomorrow, but end up living well tomorrow too.
In the Med, alcohol is complimentary; while for others, alcohol is the focus. In northern African nations, alcohol can even be forbidden.
“In the med, an employee of Goldman Sachs is of a lower status than a local doctor. You cannot be an alpha in the Mediterranean if you are not free or self-employed”
While I didn’t touch on its fruitful history or mention the symbiotic relationship Meditarreneans have with water, I think we wind down and bring this piece to a close.
I end this post conflicted. Conflicted because the economic and social indicators suggest that the region isn’t set to flourish over the next few decades (high [youth] unemployment, ageing population, climate change, high levels of debt, energy and natural resource dependency, and an unwillingness to modernise & digitise). But then, I do love Mediterranean culture, the pleasures it offers and its people. This trifecta gives me the hope that the timeless beauty of Mediterranean culture can prosper for another seven thousand years.
🚿 Shower Thoughts
I messaged a few friends while writing this.
One Hellenic friend had the guts to tell me “go away, I’ve got work.”
I replied “it’s August. You’re Mediterranean. Work exists. But it is not for you to do.”
nice read, I liked the comparisons.