The Real Mediterranean Diet

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What about a completely different approach to meals, one that makes them not only more healthful, but also more relaxed, convivial, and social? I’m talking about creating an enjoyable meal that evokes comfort and happiness. Visualize a food tradition that has a great dietary mix of proteins and roughage with a variety of fresh and seasonal meats, grains, nuts, and fruits. You’ll find it with one of the oldest cuisines in the world – the Mediterranean.

Cooking with the senses

What also appeals to me is that the cooking is instinctive. In writing about this region, food ambassador, chef, and cookbook author Bethany Kehdy noted in The Jewelled Kitchen that recipes are usually passed down over the centuries, most often from mother to daughter. However, she says, precise weights and measures are rare: a large spoonful of this, a coffee cup of that, a squeeze of lemon. To ensure that the food meets the host’s standards, Kehdy recommends not only using high-quality ingredients, but also to rely on your senses: taste the dish as you cook. After all, tomatoes can vary in quality and flavor, and the acidity of lemons can fluctuate. “You can’t taste too much.” The approach reminds me of my grandmother’s cooking style, which was revered in our farm community in Illinois.

The Mediterranean cuisine Kehdy describes is not the foods we associate with Greece and Italy, but rather those from the other side of the Mediterranean. Having grown up in Lebanon, Kehdy, who now lives in the U.S., describes a dinner party as a contradiction to the typical three-course American fare.  Instead, the food is a balance of flavors, textures, and temperatures, all designed to make the guests comfortable, happy, and sated. Even before being seated at a table, guests are greeted with tea and a selection of dried fruits, nuts, and pastries. That’s just to whet their appetite.

Entertaining with joy

The relaxed meal that follows could be at a formal table or even upon a cloth spread on the floor. Before the guests are a variety of dishes, served in quick procession. And breads – typically flatbreads – play a major role, even substituting for cutlery to scoop up food. Kehdy advises guests at such a meal to proceed slowly, eating less on a first helping. That’s because the host will be urging second and third helpings to experience the pleasure and pride of taking care of guests and witnessing their enjoyment.

As for the food, Kehdy says that Persian, Iraqi, and Gulf cuisines share similarities while showing traces of Mediterranean influences. They’re more abundant in meat, with a host of rice dishes. The spices are from India, likely because of the early connection with the 4,000-year-old spice trade, which began in the Middle East. On the other hand, the cuisines of Turkey, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine, Jordan, and North Africa, she says, use large amounts of legumes, grains, nuts, citrus, garlic, fresh herbs, and allspice.

Crafting the menu

What specifically would you make for such a meal? In a 2019 New York Times article, chef and author Samin Nosrat relates her favorite recipes from her Persian background: plates both sweet and sour, soft and crunchy, raw, hot, and cold. You’ll experience rice as the cornerstone of the meal, and enjoy the tahdig, the crispy rice crust against which every Persian cook is measured. The cuisine treats herbs almost as vegetables rather than just a garnish, with a basket of fresh herbs, radishes, and scallions to be eaten raw or tucked into flatbread with a bite of feta, cucumber, or walnuts. The rest of the feast could feature a frittata, a stew or two, and a salad. You’ll also likely find yogurt, possibly with cucumbers or other additional ingredients. And don’t expect a dessert, which is not part of the tradition. Kehdy says that meals might also interweave nuts and fruits or something like a lime and rosewater granita.

After all, the goal is to have happy guests. Cooking, Kehdy says, is meant to be fun, so run with your senses and enjoy yourself. Her uncle always told her: “Eat and you shall forget your worries.” Such a sentiment is worth a try, don’t you think?

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