Slow Down and Savor: How the Mediterranean Way Can Reconnect You with Life

There's a moment, if you've ever grown up inside Mediterranean culture, that you know it well.

The sound of plates clicking, the smell of garlic warming in the olive oil, the laughter that rises and falls like a song.

The way the meal becomes a memory before you've even finished it.

I grew up in an Italian culture from the time I was 11 years old.

And what I learned early is Mediterranean life isn't about the food.

It's about the way you live and while you're eating it.

And today we're talking to two people who have built an entire movement around that truth.

And we're going to share those secrets of living the Mediterranean life with you.

So stay tuned.

I'm your host, Michael Hurst.

Welcome to one more thing before you go.

Today's guests are the king and the queen of the Mediterranean lifestyle, Anita Idyma, and chef Dario Tomaselli, co host of the Olive youe Life podcast and creators of the Olive youe Life Mediterranean movement.

It's a great movement.

We're going to talk about it.

Their story is not about recipes.

It's about reinvention.

It's about choosing a life where connection matters more than speed, presence matters more than productivity.

And the table becomes the heartbeat of the home like it should be.

After decades in the fast, disconnected, hustle driven worlds, they chose a different story.

One that rooted in food as memory, travel as transformation and connection as a creative act.

And as someone who grew up inside Italian culture where the table was sacred, where conversations lasted longer after the dessert, where food was simply the doorway into family identity and belonging, this conversation filled with feels like coming home.

Anita and Dario Bonjourno, welcome to the show.

I, I, I, I love what you guys do and what you present.

I think that this is going to be, everybody should really pay attention because we're going to tell them a lot.

We're going to tell them a lot.

Thank you for having us.

This is great.

Wow.

You are absolutely incredible.

I mean, I don't think I've ever had such a beautiful intro.

Holy.

Well done.

You earned it.

You earned it.

You earned it.

I, I binged watched your stuff.

See, and so I thought, hey, yeah, I just have to do these people, right?

You just have to.

Well, today I think, yeah, I would like, I would like to kind of explore a couple of things, you know, like, I have a question right off the bat, if I don't mind, just for everybody out here, everybody watching, everybody listening, how is the Mediterranean lifestyle a way of being and not just way of eating?

It's a Way of living.

And everyone thinks of it as a diet, and it's not a diet.

We keep on saying that.

It's interesting.

We were down in Calabria.

We were doing some work for the European Union for olive oil.

And we were speaking to somebody there that was the head of the consortium.

He was the president of the consortium of Extra Virgin Olive Oil DOP of Calabria.

And he was talking about the Mediterranean diet.

And we're like, no, it's not a diet.

Where did this come from?

And do you know where it came from?

I do know.

So he told us that in the second.

Was the Second World War.

Second World War, there was a general that came over on the boat and from the United States, I believe, or it was North America.

And he saw these Italians, and they were so healthy.

These.

These people that were in the.

In the war, they were in the fields, they were eating from the land.

So they ended up dubbing it the Mediterranean diet.

Coming to Italy and coming from that area.

So then it's sort of expanding because, of course, people got a hold of it.

Oh, this is a good buzzword.

I think we're gonna use this one.

But, I mean, I don't know how many times you say it.

Did your grandmother ever call it, oh, we're gonna have a diet today when you're in Italy?

No, she will probably kick me out of the house if I would talk about diet.

Because Michael, you know, bet, you know.

Well, I mean, you grew up around it.

You know, the way it is.

It's about culture.

It's about living and connecting around the table.

There is a saying, actually, that we use often in Italy.

Atavola, no sin vecchia at the table, no one gets old.

And that's what it's all about.

That's what it's all about.

It's really the connection, the moment, the real feeling.

No distractions.

You know, we even tell our kids when they come, when it comes for visits, it's just.

It's us.

It's the moment, one on one, where we really spend all the time together.

And not cell phone, no television.

You sit at the table.

It's a way of living.

Yeah, I agree with that.

I think in today's lifestyle, especially in the instantaneous gratification that everybody is seeking and the fact that your phone is an extension of you pretty much now, it's difficult for somebody to recognize that we have to take the moment, the time.

Life can change in an instant, and you miss those moments and you can never get them back.

We've actually had that in our international dinner club.

And we tell people to put their phones in a box.

Yes.

Put it totally away from where you're in.

Because even if it's around you, you are thinking about it and you're not fully present in the moment.

Right.

So it's best to just put it in a box and say, okay, enough already.

I agree with that.

And even you go back to the Mediterranean.

I did not know that.

Believe it or not, I never thought about where the origination came from.

But yeah, it's not a diet.

It is a lifestyle.

Why do you think that this kind of a lifestyle can become or is a counterculture movement, so to speak?

Because in a world that's obsessed with what you just said, the hustle, the speed, the burnout, the everything along that line, you know, we have to kind of re.

Educate people to understand that life is more than what's sitting in front of you on the phone.

I think of it as a North American culture myself, personally, because I have a family background from the Netherlands.

And even in the Netherlands, there was a slower pace of living.

You had more time off, you had more holiday, you had time to sit at the table, and it was so, so important.

And it's not just about the food.

It's about the lifestyle.

And you think that you have to hustle to get there.

So as also a business coach, I find that my clients, they just want to do things with speed.

But if you don't slow down, relax the brain to really get present in your moment, get present with the people around you, you lose yourself and you get on that spinning wheel, I call that hamster wheel.

And you keep on doing it over and over again.

And everyone loves to go to Italy or the Mediterranean as an example, but they're not really taking that back home.

They're living in that moment.

And they say, oh, I love it.

It's so wonderful.

But then they come back and they get caught up in that hamster wheel again without realizing that, really, a lot of times I want to say you slow down to speed up, but it kind of brings you more better health, better happiness when you're connected with people and people are forgetting that, and it seems to be more in North America.

What's your Italian perspective?

Well, my Italian perspective is very simple.

You know, it's.

It's really living life for what it is you're living today.

Because today there is not going to be another today.

Tomorrow it's done.

Okay?

Just think about that.

And you know, the funniest thing is When I.

When I came to North America and I was already fairly older, and one of the first thing I remember when I arrived, I noticed and everybody was running all the time and they had this stress on their eyes and they were eating standing up.

And I remember saying to my friend, I said, why is everybody running?

Or they gotta go to work, they gotta do this.

Oh, my goodness.

In Italy, we don't.

We run to come home or we run to go to see our friends for an EP hour.

It's the moment of really living because it's so important and fundamental.

Food is always il filo conductore, what we call it the conduit, okay?

It's what really connects us.

It's what really brings us joy, okay?

And that's, you know, we say food is medicine, but connection is your prescription, okay?

So when you think about those things, you really realize the importance.

You know what, when we get together with our kids, when we get together with our friends, when we take our guests to one of our retreat, it's those moments that are impactful.

You don't think about anything else.

You think about the moment.

You don't need that picture to remind you of that because you just lived it.

And that is the most powerful thing that I almost forgotten when I came here.

And then with Anita, I always say I reconnect with my culture through Anita's eyes.

That's a very important part.

And this is why we came up with for Live youe Life, because that was an experience for me again, to rediscover my culture and the simplicity of what the Mediterranean lifestyle is all about.

And that's what we call it, is that message in a bottle.

I think even the first time we met too was a crazy thing that got us to come to this moment.

So anyway, that's all right.

I was going to say we jumped on in a few minutes ago, but I'd like to start with your origin story.

I mean, you both came from high pressure world that you found each other.

You built a life centered around slowing down taste, you know, tasting deeply and living intentionally.

Like you just said.

Tell us about you guys.

How, how did you meet and how.

How'd you come about?

Well, the.

The meeting started kind of interesting.

I guess we'll go all the way back.

Yeah, anyway, we gotta go all the way back.

So back to the beginning.

It's.

It's a juicy story.

So our kids are best friends, actually, and we met them and we met each other when they went to kindergarten.

And then we went through 20 years, 18 years without realizing that we were a couple.

We were friends and had been to all the ball games with the kids, but we always talked about the children and what they were doing and what was happening.

We never talked about each other or our interest to even know who we were or what happened.

And it wasn't until that we were both unfortunately divorced or fortunately.

I don't know if we.

Yeah, I guess it could be four.

It was a part of life.

Yeah.

That we came together and.

And realized it.

So that's why we always are so grateful every day that we have the chance.

And, you know, it was food that really connected us.

I mean, that first risotto that Dario made for me.

Oh, mamma mia.

So I came.

I came from a family that my mom, she had.

I was doing yoga when I was 6.

She was buying organic when I was a kid, so food was around more health.

Whereas Dario brought a new perspective to what food was, and it was about that soul of flavor.

And I also was brought up with Italians when I was younger, and I was babysat by them.

But what the real turning point in us creating our business to move forward with what we've got now is we stopped connecting.

We got busy again.

And Dario was cooking around the world, doing different things.

That year, I was speaking in India, in London.

You were all over the place.

I was all over the place.

And we were like, wow, we're doing it again.

We are going.

We're getting caught up in that busyness, and we don't want that to happen.

So Dario happened to be cooking in a master castle in Italy, in Elba, was it, or.

Yeah.

And we sat down and we said, we got to figure out something, and it was something that came to our mind.

And I'm going to get a little bit of numbers off.

But it was a study that was done, and it said 63%.

I think it was 63% said that they're spending more on medicine than on food.

And 87 were saying they were connecting less and less every year.

And that was in 2018.

And we're like, wow, that's insane.

And we put all our thought processes together.

We said, we need to create a business that speaks to something that we both do in our hearts, in our minds, and making something that is going to be different and that's going to be what we've lived through, that we can be able to share with other people.

And I think that's brilliant, because, you know, it is, again, that you recognize.

At least you recognize the fact that you Were getting back into that pace that the world seems to be going at and said, hey, we need to stop for a moment and take a breath.

And the old cliche, stop the smell of roses.

Yeah, kind of a thing.

And really understand what's in front of you.

And it's kind of an Italian version of When Harry Met Sally.

Hey, there we go.

Well, you know, we gotta do that restaurant scene.

It's funny.

It's funny because, you know, as you just said that, you know, it brings me back, real back.

And I was 13 years old and, you know, as a young kid, you know, running around, we were in a little square on my town.

And you know, the old guys, in the afternoon, after they take a little nap, they play cards, okay?

And I'm running around, all the kids are running around.

And this old gentleman, his name was Settimo, I never forget.

And he stops me as I'm running around.

He grabs me and his eyes, and they were glossy, full of love.

And he looked at me and he says, oh, my God, if I could always go.

If I could only go back, I would travel the world and see all the beautiful thing.

And I'm looking at him then he's.

He's kind of reminiscing things that he wish he would have done.

And to this day, it's right in my head.

I can see the moment.

I can feel it more than you can even imagine the things that happen in my life.

And it's when finally we reconnected together and we start really understanding the purpose of us being together, then I really appreciate that every moment is to be counted.

Food is what makes us happy.

Food is food.

Cooking food, it's not a chore.

It's just an action of being together.

It's like a moment that you can discuss every single thing.

Then you.

Your day went by.

How was your day?

You know, how many times you see people coming home and we talk about it?

You know, most of the time we just did an interview on a TV show.

How many times you see, you know, I'm giving you a classical couple, husband and wife, two children, and they rush home, rushing home and figure out, oh, we got to grab this, we got to grab that, because the kids need to eat.

All sports activity.

And then they get home, kids in front of a TV or in front of a computer or whatever they are, and they continue be on a phone, on a computer because they still have things to do.

There is always things to do in life.

But those moments, those moments of all four of you be Together cooking a wonderful meal that you know is good for you.

Connect with your kids about the day.

It's the things you used to do.

When we were kids.

I mean, my grandmother, which I grew up with, we all had a chore, and the chore was all around that table.

What we were going to do, we were going to sit down, we were going to talk, and we were going to have those moments then.

They are incredible.

Food is memory.

Your life is a memory.

Then you can move it over and over and over again.

Well, yeah, that's a brilliant story because my memories go back, and I have a very tumultuous childhood up till I was 11 years old.

And when I say 11, it's because that's when I met Roberto and when my sister married him and introduced me to this whole new world that I just embraced, passionately embraced and to such a point that I really started understanding things.

And, you know, Anita, you eating

his

meal that he prepared took your heart.

I cook my wife that meal, and I've cooked for her just about every day since then.

And we make our own pasta, we make our own bread.

We make.

It's an act of love.

It's not an act.

It's not a chore.

It's like, oh, I mean, we enjoy doing this.

You know, we enjoy running pasta through the machine.

We enjoy cutting it.

We enjoy cooking it.

We enjoy the lemon and the basil and, you know, everything that goes with it.

And.

And we create memories every day with every meal.

So I agree with that.

It allows us to experience life like it should be experienced.

So.

Yes.

Beautiful.

Beautiful story.

You know, Well, I think also when you.

When you.

When you rush, you're reacting.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

When you slow down, you're becoming a little more creative.

Okay.

So I think it's.

I think it's those things, and they're very important.

You know, you slow down a bit, you realize, and you're being more creative.

You be.

You becoming more meaningful about your actions, and that.

That is important when you're creating a meal.

If you rush a meal, it's a.

It's a rush meal.

It's.

It's not gonna taste good.

Food takes time.

In Italy, we say slow food.

Yeah.

Fast cars.

That's why I love it.

Fast cars.

No, you know, I agree with that.

I think that we.

You know, the thing that I learned as well as I grew up is the fact that, again, when you stop and the food connects us in such a way that it allows us to have a conversation not just about the Food and the experience of the food.

But as you said earlier, it creates the memory, it creates the visual, it creates the smell, the taste.

And you say, oh, yeah, I remember this.

I remember that.

You know, when I started learning how to cook, I started learning how to cook at a very young age from these Italian.

From Giovanni.

Giovanni taught me pizza and bread and, you know, everything related to that.

Renata taught me pasta and ragu cooked from the morning.

Not the stuff in the jar.

We don't do the stuff in the jar that you buy off the shelf.

It's cooked in the morning.

We smash the potatoes.

Potatoes, excuse me, the tomatoes.

You smash tomatoes and you cook it from the morning for five hours, and then that's when it's done and it's cooked with love.

And it takes time and you can permeate the house with it.

So two days later you're going, do you remember what we just cooked the other day?

You remember that?

That was so good.

It's a positive thing.

I think it opens a doorway into something much deeper.

And I know that you've said that before, and I think even just talking about it right there, I think that the Mediterranean lifestyle, is this something that we should embrace from a consistent level?

In America, we've got 30 minute lunch, two 15 minute breaks during the daytime, or 10 minutes, if that, but everybody has 30 minutes for lunch.

My wife has 30 minutes where she has to either shove food down her mouth or go down and order it, where it has to be prepared very quickly, and then she has to really slam it, slam the food, and then go back to work.

Well, I know that, and correct me if I'm wrong, but from the conversations that I've had in the Mediterranean lifestyle, she knows that from being home.

I'm always having to tell her, slow down, slow down.

37 years later, I'm still saying, slow down, Diane, because she's done and I'm still eating.

It starts with small habits at a time, though, right?

Exactly.

One thing that she starts, and maybe she.

That lunch time, maybe.

Can she eat at a desk and still, like, take that time a little bit more while she's working?

She can eat as opposed to rush.

And I think she does.

She does a little bit of that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

But you think about productive productibility.

Look at my Italian Israelis.

My worst language, Jeremy.

But you think about being productive as a company.

Yeah.

You know, if you, you know, and I often say, if you take care of your body, your mind is gonna be more practical and you become more efficient instead.

What we do the other way around.

We rush, rush, rush, rush.

This brain is a computer.

What happen if you overloading a computer?

It crash.

Yeah, well, we are just a manual

computer, much more advanced computer.

And we need to understand, and we need to understand the importance.

You know, Anita said, and she always said in some of her presentations, you need to slow down, to speed up.

And she's right.

I mean you cannot, you cannot go so fast because you're done is done.

Yeah, it goes back to life can change in an instant.

You never know what's going to happen.

You know, it's interesting because if you look at the, even the lifestyles, when we talk about Mediterranean lifestyle in Italy, France, I don't know how it is in England, but I know in Italy, France and Spain, you know, you take a nice hour, hour and a half for lunch, for example, and you, and you're supposed to, you're supposed to enjoy, you're supposed to eat your meal, have a cup of coffee afterwards, relax, have a conversation, enjoy outside.

That's why you see so many tables sitting outside the restaurant so that you can enjoy the atmosphere and the air and the blue sky and the trees and the bushes and, and watch people watch instead of this 30 minute thing that's part of the Mediterranean lifestyle.

I think in, in Anita, I think in something I was watching you, it says something about it being an emotional intelligence and help us understand that because I mean, I heard it, but I think we should have a better understanding of ourselves through ritual and connection and presence and in that kind of a philosophy.

Can we talk about that?

Well, it's all about mindset and it's so important to develop those habits in the Mediterranean and do them step by step because you don't want to overload yourself.

But if you think differently and you know, when you're talking about the lunches that they take, do you know, a few hours later they end up going again for aperitivo at 5 o', clock, right?

So happy hour is always a given.

So everyone from work goes there, but they're more productive in what they're doing because they're having that sense of community.

If we're talking work wise, right, they're having that sense of community and what they're creating and being able to build those connections for, for work and networking and having that happy attitude which also affects the brain.

I really believe that you need to slow that down a little bit to understand what it is.

And in the Mediterranean it just comes naturally in all those countries and how they're Creating it.

So it's slowing down and really thinking about and being intentional on how you're going to be creating your life.

That's so important.

Well, I got a story for you.

He loves his story.

Love stories.

I'm full of story.

So our really good friend Andrea and Daniela live in this village in north of Arezzo, okay.

In Tuscany, between Siena and Florence.

And just pay attention to this, how impactful this is.

So is in a village called Monte San Savino, is in a Chianti Valley, Valdiana.

And they are the most wonderful family you've ever met in your life.

Andrea is from Milano, where I am from.

And Daniela, she is from Monte San Savino.

So a village girl and a city hustle and bustle guy.

So when Andrea moved to Monte San Sevino, he says, I'm never going to live again.

This is it.

But at the beginning he couldn't understand how even in Italy, how they were just more relaxed.

So every year when we go there, they have actors and actors and actors of olive trees.

So of course they get together and they do the harvest of olador.

So anomaly takes a week to two weeks.

Okay?

But it's an event.

It's hard work, Trust me, it's hard work.

Everyone then is purchasing olive oil.

You must understand the work, the expense

that goes in at night time.

The biggest thing is this.

So the grandmother, the matriarch, she wakes up at 4 o' clock in the morning to prepare the meal for lunch.

So and then at 7 o' clock everybody get together at the house.

We all have a coffee and we relax and off we go.

We start working around the field.

At one o', clock, stop.

And then there is big table and limoncello wine, all the stuff she cooked.

And we just live there for one hour or two, laughing, telling story.

And off we go again until five, six o' clock at night, okay?

And then back again.

She's got another big meal going.

But my point is.

Hi, Geckos.

Bumps.

Talking about is, is those really important moments that you will never forget.

That is memory.

And the most powerful thing about this is this.

Daniela's mom, she's Italian 100%.

Matter of fact, she doesn't even.

She speaks dialect from Val di Chiana

and Anita and her and I don't speak any Italian.

Well, very small amount.

Communicate for hours.

Oh, you Italians, you talk with your hands.

It's easy.

And the thing is, that's the impact I'm trying to share.

When they leave Ichera, they cry because it's almost like it's an extension of a mother, which she barely understand, but she understands.

But you understand everything on that table.

There is the moment on.

Everybody's really embracing.

Nobody's judging you, nobody cares what do you do, but they care how you do.

Yeah.

That is the most important.

We've brought people that we've got on our retreats.

And so we will do parmigiano, Reggiano.

We'll do balsamic, balsamic vinegar.

We'll go to the high end restaurants.

Michelin star experiences that are just unbelievable.

And our clients always say their best experience when we do a barbecue at their place.

Yeah.

And.

And they're like, they love it sometimes.

We've had karaoke, we've had bands, but everyone's dancing, they're having great food and they just love it.

And that's what the essence of the Mediterranean is.

And that's why we love doing our retreats.

Because you get to feel what it's like to be an Italian.

It's not, as Dario says, another bucket of rocks.

Because, yes, Italy is beautiful, Spain's beautiful, and Portugal, Greece, you know, but it's that essence of what it is.

And when you can feel that in your bones and take that home with you, as opposed to turning it off and going, okay, I'm back in North America.

Wherever you're living, it's taking that in the essence of yourself.

Right.

Well, I look at you, Michael.

I mean, you, you, you still remember those moments.

Absolutely.

Share with you.

So those memories are right there.

They don't go away because there's such a pressure.

Memories that impact you on your marriage, on your life, on the way you take care of yourself.

All better than medicine.

Yep, absolutely.

Absolutely.

I mean, my memory, some of my, I would say a very large portion of my memory, especially growing up before, even before I met Diane and we had our girls, were a lot of that essence, a lot of the.

They, they.

We became family.

You know, it was not blood, but we were family.

And when I walked away from there, it was family.

And they go back each and every time I. Whoops, one second here, I picked the wrong thing.

Oops.

Is Italian's good.

There we go.

Very good.

There we go.

You're showing me up here.

You know, that's not really.

You really.

You know what?

He's fooling us.

He actually is fluent Italian now.

There we go.

It's one of these things that as I grew up, it was comceriche, Michael.

Everything was.

How do you say, how do you say, how do you say so it was easy to learn because of that.

Now I've forgotten a lot of it because, you know, obviously, our lives have moved on.

We moved away from Colorado.

Roberto comes out about maybe twice a year, and, you know, this kind of thing.

Although he's going to go back to Rome, which, I mean to.

He's going to move to Puglia, which I'm kind of disappointed about, but, you know, anyway, we're getting off track.

Off track, off track.

Are you gonna come when we get our place?

You gotta come with us.

You gotta come with us, Michael.

You're making me yearn.

My wife and I want to come to Italy so badly.

It is a goal, and I'm not gonna say it's on our bucket list.

It is a goal for us to be able to get there, and so we're going to get there.

When we do get there, first place I'm going to come is you guys.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I love it.

You gotta come.

And, you know, and.

And we love to share.

You know, Michael, it's hard to explain because I really.

Born and raised there.

I rediscover my.

My country.

I rediscover the love for my land.

I rediscover the love for.

For my culture.

We are there two or three times a year.

And I think the most important thing we think about life, we think about work.

One of the foundation, the most important foundation about such a thing.

Even as my chef, myself, as a chef in the kitchen, you know, I've been a chef for over 40 years.

One of the first thing.

One of the first staple of foundation that I always had is culture.

If the culture is right, everything works.

Yes, everything works.

So it's really setting up the culture with your wife and your kids and your.

Your workspace, your friends, your network of people, if that is good.

This is what the Mediterranean lifestyle is all about.

Starting with the right culture.

That.

That.

That is a.

That is a brilliant introduction to the lifestyle of itself.

I think the world view behind not just the meals, you know, and as I said earlier, I'm grateful for my introduction into it, but it is the culture, and I'm excited that we can open doors for others to experience it through you, through what you've learned, your experiences.

The fact that.

What I appreciate about you guys is the fact that you present it from living it, not just saying, oh, here, do this.

You're not just a.

A tour guide, you know, going, okay, do this, do this, do this.

Okay, next group of people come in, do this, do this, do this.

You give an Experience.

And the experience is, as you said earlier, are something that goes with us.

It reaches our soul.

And for us to be able to take that with us in our soul, the hope is that whoever comes back then continues with that because it's still embedded in their soul.

And it's a seed that grows and that seed will then getting more excited to say, I think I like this way better than this way.

Every day you have a chance to turn left or right.

That's right.

To make that decision.

You know, many times we'll put a backpack on and we'll walk to the grocery store.

And people around here are like, that's crazy.

But we've made that decision to why not be active naturally, right?

And that's, that's one of the principles.

You know, as you get older, you get more fearful to do things.

Well, we say, no, no, no, let's go try that.

Let's do something.

We traveled for two years.

We were in each other's pockets for two years, traveling around.

We had fun with it.

Explore and try different things.

You know, we've gone to places in Italy and around the world that Dario had been to before.

And I look at it from the eyes of a North American, like, wow, have you not seen how great this is?

And we've done our hidden videos and we've done our hidden gems and things to see in Italy.

And Dario is as the perspective of being an Italian and myself as a North American, just, you know, I was b. I was like similar to you.

I was babysat by Italian families.

And so, you know, I had a little bit of a background in the Italian culture and what had happened.

And it's interesting, I wrote a book 11 years ago now that came bestseller, but it was a book that's a bit different.

It's about you read one chapter a night and then you go to sleep and you dream about what it brings to you.

So I've got some words and some things that are tied into it.

And this is before I met Dario.

And so it's a fictional self help book, but what it does is it.

It's from the perspective of an Italian immigrant.

So her parents are immigrating from Italy.

And this is before Dario and I even got together.

And the mindset around that and how you could sleep and read one chapter a night.

So it's almost like there's been this path that has brought us towards this and brought us together to share.

And that's why we think it's so important or we know it's so important, because when you engross yourself in it and really intentionally think, okay, how can I do things differently?

But not give up.

You're actually adding to your life.

You're savoring those moments.

You're trying things a little bit differently.

You're living more inspired.

Right?

Like cooking is an example.

I mean, not only is it fun to do, just changing that thought, it's not a chore.

Do do it once a week, try and expend it twice a week.

You're going to be so much healthier for it because you're cooking your own food.

There's such a relax in your body when you're focusing on and in your brain, the endorphins, everything.

You relax yourself in that moment and then connect that much better.

If you can just start small with each one of these things, it just starts to get addictive.

And you want to live this way because it's just so much happier and healthier than.

Than not really.

It's just.

It's just one of those.

It's just one of those things.

Then you really understand.

And you know, I said often, Michael, people focus more on the type of fuel they put into their car than the fuel to put into their body.

How crazy is that?

If you really pay attention to the fuel you put into.

Into your body, your engine of life will last forever.

You're like a diesel car.

They will go forever.

So that is the important.

Understand the purpose of living.

Like why we say it's not a diet.

Why do we say it's not a diet?

Because it's not.

You eat, drink, flavor, savor everything in balance.

In balance, you know, and also in season.

I mean, right now we're in a deep winter.

Of course you're not gonna have a tomato salad.

Not in season.

It depends on where you live, but.

Depends where you live.

Absolutely.

But you gotta understand and respect on what do you have.

There is so many beautiful nutritional meals you can make and fairly simple.

Because it's going to be simple.

Because it become complicated, you.

You become intimidated, you don't want to do it anymore.

And we always say, even when we do master classes or classes or culinary classes, we always say food is simple.

Food is really simple.

And everybody has a palate.

It's like everybody's got a muscle.

If you go to the gym, you become stronger.

If you keep tasting, you become better.

It doesn't mean because I'm a chef, then I have a better palate than Anita.

Matter of fact, it's the other way around.

She has a Better palate.

No, that's not true.

It is, trust me.

She's got a better palate than I have.

Why is that?

Because I've been tasting food for so many years.

Then I do have a refined palate.

But it's a palate that has been worked out.

It's almost like your muscle just exploded.

She can pick things.

Then I wouldn't even think.

And one of the biggest thing we always talk about is tell me exactly how you feel.

You don't have to love everything.

One of our kids, for example, Morgan, she has the most defined palate.

She will tell you texture, flavor, and things into a dish more than anybody.

And sometimes we, we can't fool her.

Like, very simple, because she knows exactly that if she doesn't like something, she knows exactly what is in it.

And, and I said you should.

You're in her own business.

I mean, you should be there.

She's a super taster.

She's a super.

So I, I think what you've actually taught me was to really express myself, because I was always told it was always cooking around, being healthy and eat what's on your plate, show respect.

And Dario will say to me, okay, what is it?

He wants me to explain, but of course he wants to understand my taste buds and what I want so he can create and stuff.

Which is so kind of you.

Yes, it's already pre made for me and in thoughts in mind and what I prefer, but, you know, it's so important and opening up those senses really adds a lot to your life as well.

Yeah, I think it does.

It is.

Do you guys ever watch?

Have you seen.

I don't know if it's.

You guys are in.

Where are you exactly?

Are you in Italy?

No, we're in Toronto.

Toronto.

So are you familiar with Somebody feed Phil?

Yeah, our favorite show.

We love it.

Yes, our favorite show.

His favorite word.

His favorite words are Just try it.

I love him favorite words.

Just try it.

Just try it.

You might like it.

Just try it.

Just might like it.

He does the best.

Yeah, so.

So, yes, I understand that.

And the fact that, you know, as a chef, the way you cook, I mean, I learned the same thing.

That's how I learned how to cook as well.

I'm not a chef chef like you, but I'm a home chef.

But I, I take chef.

I take my cooking very seriously.

Because to me, I told you earlier, it's a. I feel from my.

From my soul.

It's an act of love.

When I fix something for my wife, my family, my Friends, my, you know, anybody that's coming to our house, I feel that I want them to enjoy the meal.

I want them to relax.

I want them to savor each part of the meal and what they liked, what they didn't like about it.

And I'm like you, if you didn't like something, tell me so that it helps me to refine, it helps me to move forward with learning more and maybe find a new way of doing something that I hadn't done before.

But I think that's all part of itself in the Mediterranean living.

Not just Mediterranean diet, because it's not just a diet.

It's not just a trend.

It's an actual way of life where you interact with the people around you at such a point that you communicate and you talk.

So not only do you eat, you have conversations.

You talk, but you have conversations, which I think is more important.

You know, I think.

I mean, we could talk, like, forever and ever and ever.

We can.

But to bring.

To bring my own experience, you know, growing up inside that Italian culture, from the time that I did, you know, I learned, like you just said, table was where life happened.

It wasn't about the food.

It wasn't about the conversation.

It was the ritual, the belonging.

I felt like a family, as I said to you earlier.

And I think you bring that to your work and you express that to those people that come to you, your clients and the people that you teach, Right?

Yeah.

Well, it starts really originally from culinary, and that's where the first part of the business came, was teaching people to cook.

But it's expanded to so much more.

And one of the programs that we did was called the International Dinner Club.

And we were encouraging people to come together.

Do you remember those.

Those fun dinner nights that people used to do where they would, you know, one person would bring the.

The.

The appetizer, next person would bring the dessert.

Yeah, it was a potluck sort of thing.

But they would created a theme, so we would have theme for different countries.

And so we did years for that.

But we were encouraging people to.

To call up their friends again.

Hey, let's put this.

I mean, unfortunately, Dari doesn't believe in the calendar, but in North American culture, you need the calendar.

Let's put this in the calendar.

Right.

And have it for this day.

Once a month we do this, and it's one of those things that's getting forgotten, and we're just getting so caught in the busyness and.

And the rest of it.

But being at that time table, the importance of having that.

Putting away the phone, you know, talking to people, come up with.

With conversation.

We would put stories in there about the country and say, did you know.

You know, did you know that actually Spain is the highest place that sells olive oil?

They're.

They're the largest producer.

Really.

Yeah.

But they would be little things of conversation and.

And people would create this dinner and they would have, like, board games around it, or they would have it.

They'd have music, or they'd have different things that they create around these different dinner parties.

And that was bringing them all together and bringing them to the table.

I think back to when the kids were young.

I always forced them to come to the table.

And I would always say to them, what are the three things that were positive that happened today?

And what were the three things that weren't?

Because the positive is great.

But we also want to hear about the situations they went through that they didn't.

And it was brought on that conversation around the table and so important.

What a healthy opportunity for family to communicate so that they're.

They're not resenting or holding something in that really needs to be said and.

And get to share the positives as well as the.

The bad stuff.

So.

And not be afraid to do that.

So.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well done.

Well done.

Well, that, you know, the Mediterranean lifestyle is kind of like the pace of the day we said earlier in the conversation is the rhythm of the mornings and the evenings and the four food and the culture and kind of that.

And I like how you had pointed out and I told you I binge watched your stuff.

I really did binge watch your stuff.

So I'm trying to remember all the stuff I.

But, you know, it's kind of the way work fits into life, not the other way around.

You know, it's the idea that joy isn't a reward, it's a daily practice.

Can you share some wisdom about that?

Like how the Mediterranean lifestyle kind of shapes the way we should move through life in relationships?

Well, it's based around.

So we've kind of summarized it based around eight principles.

Just have people kind of understanding what that is.

And really we have a program that we do that that gets people started with the three.

The first is eating within balance, because when you eat within balance, it's much healthier.

Then we talk about connection.

That is really, really important.

And that's something that needs to be shared and to be able to gather people together.

That's really, really important and brings that joy.

Then we talk.

The third one is having Things that are stress free.

When you think about anything you're doing in life, whether it is connecting, whether it is cooking or sitting at the table, everyone has developed this stress around what that is.

It's relaxing and allowing that to be stress free, which is really important.

And we have these eight principles that bring that joy to your life and just relaxing with it all.

When we say these, these principles, it just sounds like it's a structured kind of thing.

No, it's not.

You know, we don't want to speak to that.

We want to speak to just being able to add that to bring in some inspiration to your life.

If you're sitting in front of the TV every night, maybe get out for a walk, call up a friend, get together with them, play some cards.

You know, people run into these roadblocks all the time.

And if you think about it, in the Mediterranean, that's what they do.

They.

They'll get up in the morning, they have conversations with each other, like you said.

They have their reposo in Italy.

There's siesta in France and Spain.

You know, it's having that.

That downtime, so they have the energy again to eat dinner late, which I still think is a bit crazy, but they do.

They have the larger meal and they'll have a lighter dinner later on.

So is rituals.

Is ritual of your life.

And you know, we talk about the eight principles, which are very important, but like Anita was saying, you start with the three first.

Okay.

So you really are.

I hate to use the word, but it's probably the best word to program yourself to understanding there is more.

Okay.

Life is just too quick, so you need to slow down and focus on.

It's not that Groundhog Day.

That's right.

Where it goes over and over the same all the time.

It's putting more into it.

That's right.

Everything comes from here, and it gets transferred to there.

Once the connection is done, everything goes.

And I think, you know, it's from here to here to here.

Your stomach.

Okay.

And really understand the importance of really being purposely present.

Yeah.

And that is.

That is the most important thing we want to share to people because.

Not take anyone for granted.

No, taking anyone for granted.

And we say it because we live that.

We really did live that.

We had a previous marriage, then didn't work out, and we fell into the hamster wheel.

And like Anita was saying, when we got back together, we wanted to make sure that we really purposely spend that time together.

And these, those little ritual, you know, in the morning, me leaving a note For Anita, you know, and I leave it in Italian because as a perf.

Purpose.

Purposeful.

It's a really tough one.

Meaning for me.

And ever.

And it's.

And it's a principal thing.

I'll tell you.

It's a thing.

I get up in the morning, I take a shower, and I think the note I'm gonna leave.

And I've kept all those notes, so I have books and books full of these notes.

Think about it over 10 years.

And then.

And then, you know, when you get up in the morning, you know, we have our coffee together.

Like, it's.

It's.

It's the time.

Then we need the time together.

We go for walks.

We.

We.

We want to learn new things together.

And.

And that is.

That is the important thing.

And this, a principle will give you a bit of a base of what is your journey or what journey you want to take.

And some people found that very useful.

I mean, most of our clients that continuously come with us on our retreat, they.

They live by it.

They live by.

Because you really help them.

Well, I think.

I mean, it's important to understand that it.

And we can go back to what we said in the beginning of this show, that the med.

It's a Mediterranean lifestyle.

It's not a Mediterranean diet.

That's just kind of a bonus.

The food is a bonus to the Mediterranean lifestyle.

Yes.

Conduit.

And it's not about the table.

It's about life and it surrounds us.

The fact that we touched on.

You touched on a few minutes ago about the ritual, I think that once the ritual, once you start doing it becomes a ritual.

The ritual then becomes a habit as well as a ritual.

And then it becomes natural so that you.

You don't just expect it, you just

automatically do it, like brushing your teeth every day.

Right.

You just do it.

You know it.

Right.

You just do it.

You just do it.

You.

You just know that you're going to get up.

And if you get up a little, somebody gets up later than the other, you're kind of going, well, damn, I got to get up and get my tea ready so I can kind of.

Cause Diane's already sitting back on the back porch kind of a thing.

But it's.

And when you.

When you start practicing and doing it, then when you don't do it, you miss it.

Oh, you do.

Oh, so true.

Yep.

You don't do it.

You miss it.

We've traveled to other places.

Like, we go back to Colorado, and we have family back in Colorado still.

And we'll go Back there.

And we'll stay in a hotel and we don't have the opportunity to go sit out on the back patio and watch the sun come up.

And we feel like we're missing something.

You know, we.

We go down and have breakfast, but the breakfast is in.

I'm pointing, like you can see it.

Sorry.

You see me doing this.

We'll just visualize it.

We'll just pretend it's, you know, you go down and you get into the dining room, you know, and they don't have a place to go.

Sit outside where you can enjoy outside and watch the sun come up kind of thing.

And we miss it.

You find out you miss it.

And same thing with the afternoon park, the evening walks.

We take an evening walk all the time, and it's just in the community.

We walk around the block two or three times and enjoy that.

I think it's community built through repetition, rhythm, and shared presence.

And it shapes our identity and our belonging.

Do you agree?

Yeah, totally agree.

And you know what?

Like I said, we love to have our coffee in the morning.

We have our certain rituals that happen.

But it's interesting because we, as I mentioned earlier on, we traveled for two years straight, and we had to create those rituals in different places that we went.

So it was really interesting that you can create them to give you that experience.

Now, it might not be the same way that you've created them at home, but there is a way of being able to do that.

I totally agree.

And being spontaneous.

I mean, the fun part, you know, Anita is it's.

I want to say she's more organized than I am.

I am more wild and crazy in my own way.

Thank God she's here, let's put it that way.

The Dutch hat and the Italian hat,

otherwise we'll be in serious trouble.

But the idea is, you know, kind of go to things then you want to experience, you know, a quick story.

We were in Costa Rica for two or three months, and we wanted to get some fish.

And I said, you know what?

We need to get the local.

Promote the local producer.

Let's go to the fishmongers and grab some fish.

So we got our backpack, we walk towards the beach, and we see the little.

Little stream that comes down from, I guess, from the side of the beach.

Okay, we go there, we pick up some tuna, we pick out some grouper, the fish market.

Fish market.

Put on a backpack, walk back to the beach, to our place.

Well, now this little stream has became a river.

Like the water is right up to here for You, Dario.

I had to swim, actually, so I had to take everything and swim them

because they were high tide.

I said, well, that's okay.

I mean, we got fish here.

We're going to go home, we're going to cook it.

So we get back to our house and get the thing out.

We're all excited.

And our neighbors says.

So we said, oh, my God.

We were walking back from the fishmonger and.

And we got the fish, but then the high tide.

They said, you didn't walk by, didn't you?

I said, yeah.

And he just said, oh, I swam right through it.

And you're laughing.

And he said, you guys are nuts.

There is crocodiles there.

We were like a buffet on the beach for them with ice and fish dripping and us swimming.

The crocodiles are going, lunch.

You have to laugh at it.

You gotta laugh at it.

And he says, well, that was not our day, okay?

I mean, the breathe and we enjoy it.

It's doing thing with purpose.

That's what he's all about.

Doing things with purpose.

That's as brilliant.

Doing things with purpose.

I think that we all have to understand that we should do things with purpose on a daily basis.

That's cool.

Although you almost became lunch, so.

No, I know.

Instead of cooking somebody happy, regardless, we

lived it and we have a story to tell.

Well, that's.

That's great.

Do you think, I mean, stories like that, obviously, that they, they.

They can resonate across us and across generations and across pop cultures.

And you created something around food of which you were almost part of being of that.

Yeah, yeah.

It's a great memory.

It's a great memory.

You know what?

It came out to be a good thing because as we were walking back with the great fish that was there, we ended up doing a cooking event.

So we did Italian cuisine with their local products and.

And we ended up doing this pop up at this restaurant, and I think we sold it like in half an hour once we announced was a really fun experience.

That's pretty cool.

That's pretty.

Yeah.

I'm jealous.

You guys.

You guys get to do.

I'm jealous.

I'm just jealous.

I'm happy.

I'm happy.

Anybody can do it.

I believe you know that.

That's the other thing.

You know what, Michael?

We do believe that anybody can do it.

Many, many years ago, before we work together, we probably never thought.

We change our way of thinking because of experiences.

You know, you have to fall down and understand how to get up.

You know, everybody's going to fall down.

We all fall down, we all hurt ourselves.

But how quickly and how purposely you get up and how you make sure you're not going to fall down again.

So that is the thing.

So we, you know, we are fortunate, I am fortunate to have this wonderful lady beside me.

Then she been teach me things that I never really knew and I, and I share with her a part of my life, my culture or whatever it is.

And we're loving every man and we're

loving every moment of it and, and we want to remember I said at the beginning the message in the bottle.

Yeah.

We often say when we met each other again, they said our love, our passion, our belief.

We wish we could bottle them, put a lid on it and give it for free to everyone because everybody deserved that bottle to, to really have a purposeful life.

So that's what we.

In their own way.

In their own way, which is a really.

I mean, I kind of think you do that.

You offer retreats, you offer cooking classes, recipes and a free book, which is brilliant, by the way.

Let's tell people how they can get, get, get a hold of you and can experience all of what we just talked about.

There we go.

Oh, how you were asking us a question.

I did.

Let's talk about.

Oh my goodness, I didn't hear that.

Yeah.

So the best way to get a hold of us is probably, I'd say that the three secrets to the Mediterranean lifestyle.

And it's a three day program that takes you through the journey of what that is just to help build that, that rhythm in your life, to build those habits and understand a bit more.

Then on our instagram page @oliveyourlife now we have a lot of daily inspiration that's in there.

You know, get back in the kitchen, get back at the table, enjoy life, get together with friends, you know, look at, you know, your spouse differently.

Getting inspired with life again, that's so important.

So on Instagram, there we have that as well.

And then we have our ebook.

So if you go to our website, probably the best@oliveyourlife.org you'll see the Instagram page up there.

You've got the three secrets that you could do, but there's also a link to the ebook, the free ebook that we have to offer.

And our retreats unfortunately are sold out this year.

So we had Puglia in, we have Puglia in April and we have Tuscany again.

The Amalfi coast is going to come up for next year, we're hoping, but they're sold out for this year.

But we're opening up again for 2027, so.

So if you're interested, come on over and contact us and we can give you more details.

We always have a chair for you to sit at a table, which is

a brilliant thing to do, especially at the table.

We always have a sit.

Come and join us.

Yes.

I'll make sure that all of us in the notes that in the show notes, everybody can get in touch with you, that they.

With just a magic click and it'll take them right to your yes, yes, yes.

Recipe if they want to, if they want to learn some of the recipes, some of the techniques.

Cooking videos.

Cooking videos.

And there is a bunch of stuff there for, for you to start.

You know, it's one step at a

time until I learned to walk again.

One step at a time.

Everything in life is one step at a time, right?

Yeah, I got to hear that story.

You know, it, it's.

I, I was told by doctors I'd be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life because I got injured.

I got hit by a suspect.

He pinned me between his car and my patrol car.

And I sat in there for four years and till my daughter said, I want you to walk me down the aisle.

And I said, I think I can do that and stop feeling sorry for myself and participate in life again.

And I had to learn to walk again three times.

I have two hip replacement, two knees replaced, a foot surgery and two shoulder surgeries.

So I had to learn to re walk and.

Yeah.

And the thing that I learned the most out of that whole ordeal was that family and friends are more valuable than anything else you have in your life.

The cornerstone of life.

Yes.

So I fall back on that each and every time and again.

It's always one.

When I was starting to get up after my first surgery and to walk Caitlyn down the aisle after my first surgery, it was tough, but we did it.

It was slow, but we did it.

And like the doctor said, it's one step at a time.

So we should all remember life is one step at a time.

Yeah.

Beautiful.

What a beautiful way.

What a beautiful analogy.

And you know what?

You are the classical example of say, you know, if you put your mind and soul into it and you have a belief in a purpose, nothing can stop you.

Well done.

Well done.

I will say that the Mediterranean lifestyle helped me as well because the hospital, it's interesting because they gave me the menu and I said, none of this is going to work.

Giovanni, come out and make you something.

It was great.

No, what I Had was.

Is they hooked me up with the chef down in the cafeteria, and she come up and we had a conversation, and I said, I don't eat this, I don't eat this, but I can eat this and I can eat this.

And she says, okay.

And then when I went back subsequent times, she went, oh, you're back.

I've got your menu.

And.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah, worked out really well, actually, so

it was pretty cool.

Anyway, I could talk for hours with you guys.

You're gonna have to come back.

We just, we just continue to spread this.

But for now, words of witness.

Here's one more thing before we go.

So before we go, words of wisdom for someone listening right now who feels disconnected, rushed or hungry for meaning, what's one simple Mediterranean practice they can bring into their life today, not just at the table, but in a way they, that they can, they can live through this way like we do.

To me, it's connection.

To me, it's connection.

So I think it is reach out to somebody, whether it's someone that's in your home every day that you haven't given that extra time with, to put that phone away, really talk and connect or pick up the phone and call somebody, somebody you haven't in a while.

And to me, that's really important.

It's the essence of what the Mediterranean lifestyle is, is connecting with more people and, and what's involved in that.

So pick up the phone or make that full intention to somebody that's in the home with you or.

I love that.

You know, I, I, I, I.

We always say one thing, you know, cook together to stay together.

That's brilliant.

Both of those are brilliant.

Brilliant, brilliant.

I love it.

We use it all the time, you know, and we.

Too much fun in the kitchen.

And we joke around all the time and say, cook together to stay together.

So it's important to have those moments of really, really feel.

I mean, food is medicine, food is happiness, food is memory.

And, and that are the most important thing that can give us longevity.

That's what we got to think about.

I'm going to put that on a big note, and I'm going to stick it on my refrigerator so we can look at it every day.

Because those in themselves are good.

Are brilliant words of wisdom.

Yeah, Perfect.

Anita and Dario Val.

Bene.

Grazie.

It's been an amazing.

Thank you so much.

Amazing, amazing journey through Mediterranean lifestyle, culture and food.

And three of my favorite things, all of those.

So again, I'll make sure everything's in the show.

Notes people so they can get to touch with you and find your free book and ciao for now.

Ciao for now.

Maybe they're chi

Today, Anita and Dario reminded us that the Mediterranean lifestyle isn't about what's on your plate.

It's about what's in your life.

It's about slowing down so you can actually taste your days.

It's about choosing connection over convenience.

It's about remembering that the table is one of the last places where we truly see each other.

And for me, growing up inside in Italian culture taught me that life happens between the bites, between the stories, between the moments we choose to savor.

And maybe, just maybe, the Mediterranean way of living isn't something we learn.

It's something we always return to.

So that's a wrap for today.

I hope you found inspiration, motivation and a very new perspective to take with you.

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And until next time, I'm cohearst and this is One more Thing before you Go.

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One More Thing before you Go.

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