5.3 Food and Health (Alimentación y salud)

In Spain, breakfast (el desayuno) is light, the main meal is la comida at around 2 or 3 p.m., there's often an afternoon snack (la merienda), and dinner (la cena) is late, often around 9 or 10 p.m. Many restaurants offer a fixed-price lunch, el menú del día, with a first course, a second course, and a drink and dessert or coffee.

In Mexico, la comida is also the big midday or afternoon meal. Word choice varies by country: el almuerzo means lunch in much of Latin America, but in parts of Spain it's a mid-morning snack. A text will usually make the meaning clear from the time of day.

Family meals carry values: home cooking (la comida casera), recipes passed down by grandparents, and long conversations at the table. Readings often contrast these with fast food (la comida rápida) and eating alone in front of a screen.

• Corn (el maíz) was domesticated in southern Mexico from a wild grass called teosinte about 9,000 years ago. Corn, beans and squash grown together in a field called la milpa are the base of Mesoamerican cooking.
• Potatoes (las papas in Latin America, las patatas in Spain) were first domesticated in the Andes, and quinoa is an ancient Andean grain. The United Nations named 2013 the International Year of Quinoa.
• In 2010, UNESCO added both traditional Mexican cuisine and the Mediterranean diet (shared by Spain, Italy, Greece and Morocco, with more countries added later) to its list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
• The Mediterranean diet means plenty of vegetables, fruit, legumes, whole grains and olive oil, fish more than red meat, and meals shared with others. UNESCO recognized the way of life around the food, not just the ingredients.

Obesity (la obesidad) and diabetes are serious public health problems in parts of Latin America, and governments have responded. In 2016, Chile began requiring black octagon warning labels (los sellos de advertencia) reading ALTO EN AZÚCARES, ALTO EN SODIO and so on, on packaged foods high in sugar, salt, saturated fat or calories. Mexico adopted its own octagon labels in 2020, and other countries in the region followed. Mexico has also taxed sugary drinks since 2014.

Supporters say labels and taxes help people make informed choices and protect children. Critics say they hurt small businesses, raise prices for poor families, or don't change habits enough on their own. That's a ready-made essay debate.

• la alimentación (diet, nutrition in general: what you eat), la dieta (a diet, including one to lose weight), la nutrición, los alimentos (foods)
• la comida chatarra (Latin America) / la comida basura (Spain): junk food
• los hábitos saludables (healthy habits), el sobrepeso (being overweight), las grasas, el azúcar, la sal, el sodio
• Comparisons: más… que, menos… que, tan sano como, tanto azúcar como, mejor / peor que, más de + a number (más de la mitad)