Antonia Matala, Professor
Harokopio University
Dr. Antonia Matalas is a Professor of Nutritional Anthropology at the School of Health Sciences and Education, Harokopio University, Athens. She holds a B.Sc. in Chemistry (Aristotelion University of Thessaloniki, 1985) and a Ph.D. in Nutrition (University of California at Davis, 1993). The focus of her research lies on the way diets followed within the Mediterranean change in relation to social and nutritional changes, a research relevant to understanding the historical and cultural features that underpin the notion of the “Mediterranean diet”. Currently, she is a partner of the MEDIS, a multi-ethnic study that examines aspects of health and food habits among elders residing in islands throughout the Mediterranean. She has served as the Scientific Coordinator for the project Cyprus Food Virtual Museum) (http://foodmuseum.cs.ucy.ac.cy/web/guest/home). Her work on eliciting the nutritional and social aspects of breastfeeding and their policy implications in Greece, led to her participating in the “Update of the EFSA Comprehensive Food Consumption Database Project” (European Food Safety Authority, 2013-2015), in particular with data relevant to Food Habits and Consumption Throughout Breastfeeding.
Dr. Matalas has edited the volumes The Mediterranean Diet. Constituents and Health Promotion (CRC Press, 2001), Fish and Seafood. Anthropological Perspectives from the Past and the Present, International Commission for the Anthropology of Food, Heraklion, 2013 and Tradition and Nutritional Science in the Modern Food Chain, Thessaloniki 2019 (Proceedings of the 22nd International Ethnological Food Research Conference). She has authored the E-book Food and Culture (Hellenic Academic Electronic Texts). She also provided scientific consultancy for the documentary series The History of Food in Greece (Το Ταξίδι της Τροφής, Anemon productions, 2017). Dr. Matalas’ has published her research in international journals and volumes within life sciences, as well as, within humanities.
Indicative publications:
- Matalas AL., Antonakou A. Breast milk tocopherol content and correlations with maternal diet, In: Nutritional Aspects of Human Breast Milk Zibadi S, Watson R, Preedy V. (eds.) Wageningen Academic Publishers, The Netherlands, 2013.
- Tourlouki E., Matalas A-L., Bountziouka V., et al. Are current dietary habits in Mediterranean islands a reflection of the past? Results from the MEDIS Study, Ecology of Food and Nutrition, 2013 52:1-16.
- Bascali A., Tsakalidou E., Kyriacou A, Matalas A-L. Traditional non-alcoholic fermented beverages consumed in European countries. A neglected food group, Nutrition Research Reviews, 2017 1:1-24.
- Stavridis , Matalas A-L. Food for the Olympic Athlete. Experts’ opinion and practices in antiquity, International Journal of Food, Nutrition and Public Health, 2020, 11, 47-63.
- Lazaridis A., Mavrommatis G., Matalas A. Food motivational factors among tourists in Greece, Tourism and Hospitality, 2021, In press