Food, culture and health in the seminar for Food and Human Nutrition students
6 May 2019 - From the ban on eating certain animals, to the ban on mixing meat and dairy products in the same meal. But also rules on the consumption of some marine species and specific rules on the production of wine. It is Kasherut, the complex legislation on food that observant Jews from all over the world have been following for three thousand years.
Of its technical-scientific aspects spoke the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish Community of Rome Riccardo Di Segni during the seminar entitled "La Cucina Kosher", which was held as part of the Bioethics of Nutrition Course, within the Master's Degree in Food Sciences and Human Nutrition UCBM. He also attended the event Ruth Dureghello, President of the Jewish Community of Rome, who spoke of Kosher cuisine as a "party cuisine", together with President of the Campus Bio-Medico University Felice Barela and to the Rector Raffaele Calabrò.
On the sidelines of the event lo chef Ruben Bondì, presented two Kosher recipes in a cooking show: the "Concia di zucchine" and the "Panzanella and artichoke, mint and bottarga salad".
The seminar offered an opportunity for reflection on the theme of multiculturalism also within the wards of the Campus Bio-Medico Polyclinic. Whether they are needs dictated by culture or religion, as in the case of Kosher cuisine, or by simple personal choices, such as vegetarians and vegans, that of specific nutritional needs of patients admitted to hospital is an aspect in which the Campus Bio-Medico Polyclinic of Rome has always shown a particular interest.
Attention to specific nutritional needs is a factor that drastically reduces patients' stay in hospital and the risk of new hospitalizations once discharged.
Every day there are about 600 meals served by the Polyclinic, divided into 40 specific diets. Diets that can be customized according to the specific needs of the patient. For example: if a hospitalized patient is both diabetic and lactose intolerant, the dietician will prescribe a targeted recipe that takes into account both issues. A similar discourse is made for cultural and religious needs.
