Chef Seamus Mullen : “The American consumer is increasingly aware of the healthy benefits of the Mediterranean diet”

Madrid, October 28, 2019 -- New Yorker Seamus Mullen has remarkable experience in the Spanish culinary tradition - after more than 25 years working around the cuisine, of which he is now a connoisseur. Growing up between stoves in Spain and the United States, Seamus first achieved great popularity in 2006 with Boquería, one of the first critically acclaimed New York Spanish restaurants. He is now ambassador of Olive Oils of Spain in the US and is committed to the harmonization between food, health and well-being.

Previously, the notion of "healthy food" took away all pleasure and the taste of the dish, creating a dichotomy: we like food that we should not "eat" and we don't like the food we supposedly "should" eat, Mullen explains. “The problem is that this way of understanding nutrition introduces the idea of obligation. Taking advantage of my professional experience - and the fact that I love to eat as much as I love to feel good - I try to illustrate that the idea of healthy food and delicious food are actually complementary ideas,” he adds.

“Today, the American consumer is increasingly aware of the nutritional value of the Mediterranean diet and obviously the addition of olive oil is essential. I got to know olive oil living and working in Spain. I incorporate it throughout my kitchen, very rare is a dish that does not have at least an olive oil dressing,” he emphasizes.

He is convinced that adopting a lifestyle that includes daily movement, socialization, recovery and stress moderation,  combined with the incorporation of powerful ingredients such as olive oil, helps us mitigate diseases and prolong a healthy life. “I have seen many of my colleagues die of diseases or heart attacks that could have been avoided with simple changes in the way of life. 8 years ago, I was also on a very, very bad path and adopting a better relationship with food and starting a daily exercise practice has changed my life,” states  the chef.

Olive Oils from Spain is the promotional brand of the Spanish Olive Oil Interprofessional, a non-profit organization formed by all the representative associations of the Spanish olive oil sector, and whose main objective is the dissemination of the healthy product internationally.