Recommendations to the employees and restaurants

Recommendations to the employees

• Avoid salt, or use it in moderation, since many foods already contain it. In any case, use iodised salt (no more than a pinch or one single sachet)
• Drink water during lunch
• Pay attention to the portion size you need, and moderate consumption of processed and fatty meals
• Eat at least 5 portions of fruit and veg a day
• Have a fruit-based dessert, or alternatively, a yoghurt
• Use cooking methods that don’t require much in fats (oven cooking, steaming or grilling)
• Avoid snacks rich in saturated fats, salt or sugar
• An alternative to meat is a combination of legumes and cereals
• Lead a varied diet, and during the week eat fish and legumes at least three times, alternating the main protein source (meat, fish, eggs and cheeses)
• The balance is reached by maintaining a healthy lifestyle day in day out

Recommendations to the restaurants

• Make imaginative meals, varying the foods and even their colouring
• Offer legumes regularly
• Offer whole bread at the table
• Use little (iodised) salt in meals that also contain spices
• Alternate between animal proteins (red and white meat, dairy products and eggs)
• Offer fish-based meals regularly
• Use extra virgin olive oil
• Offer fruit-based desserts
• Offer raw vegetables and yoghurt rather than potato chips and savoury snacks
• Steam cook, instead of grilling or oven cooking, avoiding the excessive use of condiments
• Offer mineral water
• Increase the supply of seasonal fruit and veg

Criteria to respect in order to be part of the FOOD restaurants’ network

Following the creation of the FOOD recommendations for restaurants, a network of restaurants respecting a certain number of recommendations was created.
In Italy, restaurants have to apply 7 out of the 11 recommendations in order to be part of the FOOD restaurants network.

To see the map of the entire network of FOOD restaurants, click here