Educators and food literacy mediators: mediterranean diet adherence as experiential capital in pre-service inclusive teachers

A Promoting Food Literacy (FL) in adolescence requires educators able to translate nutritional knowledge into authentic, multisensory learning experiences. Yet, the food culture and lived experiences of future educators remain largely overlooked in Italian inclusive teacher training. This baseline study examines Mediterranean diet adherence among pre-service inclusive teachers enrolled in a southern Italian specialisation programme, using the validated Italian Mediterranean Diet Adherence Screener (MEDAS) as a proxy for experiential FL capital. The Mediterranean diet is conceptualised as a cultural grammar of seasonality, biodiversity, and conviviality. Findings reveal overall adherence to the Mediterranean tradition but lower consumption of foods with strong multisensory pedagogical potential, particularly fish, legumes, and fresh fruit. Interpreted through a Critical Food Systems Pedagogy framework, the results highlight teachers’ experiential FL capital as a foundation for designing inclusive food education. Implications concern the integration of food pedagogy and the TASTE-MED multisensory approach into inclusive teacher-training pathways.