Pesto, hummus, baba ganoush, tahini, and tzatziki are all Mediterranean stables worth trying. Don't get too obsessed with labels. Don't get too obsessed with. As the climate warms up, many of us may enjoy a more Mediterranean diet, borrowing cuisine and recipes from our European neighbors.
Discover 5 Mediterranean foods that are commonly eaten throughout the Mediterranean basin. The “Mediterranean diet” is rich in fruits and vegetables, cereals, nuts and fish, and contains little meat and dairy products. 1 UNESCO defines the Mediterranean diet as “the intangible culture of Cyprus, Croatia, Spain, Greece, Italy, Morocco and Portugal”, implying that Mediterranean foods would be those traditionally associated with these countries, 2 but geographically, “the Mediterranean” includes the 22 countries that border the Mediterranean Sea. Fish is consumed much more regularly than meat in almost all Mediterranean cultures, in part because of their shared coastline.
Mediterranean people don't care what fish they eat, as long as it's fresh, locally caught and simply cooked, often in soups or stews such as Italian caccio or Greek psarosoupa or simply roasted in the oven with potatoes. This is where the differences between the basin become more apparent, as meat generally plays a much larger role in North African and Eastern Mediterranean foods. The Mediterranean diet includes relatively few dairy products, but this hasn't stopped Mediterranean countries from making some world-famous cheeses, such as iconic cow's milk cheeses, such as mozzarella or Parmigiano Reggiano from Italy, or delicious sheep and goat milk cheeses, such as feta and halloumi from Greece. Other Mediterranean cheeses have not garnered international fame, but they are still an important part of the local diet, such as the unusual sourdough from Egypt or the many fresh white cheeses from Turkey (known locally as beyaz peynir), which are traditionally served with breakfast.
Despite the relatively minor role of meat in the Mediterranean diet, many popular dried, salted, or cured meats come from Mediterranean cultures. From the salami and prosciutto of Italy to the chorizo of Spain, and from the saucisson sec of France to the sujuk of Turkey, most European nations claim to have popular dried and cured meat. Similar meat products are also traditionally popular in North Africa, in places such as Egypt, Algeria and Morocco, although they are less well known outside of local communities. EIT Food is supported by the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) UBICENTER A, Philipssite 5 bus 34, 3001 Heverlee (Leuven), Belgium.
Although the Mediterranean Sea is surrounded by more than 20 countries from Africa, Asia and Europe, there are some common flavors and ingredients that are intertwined in the different coastal kitchens. Fresh tomatoes, olives, fish, lemon, feta cheese, mint, za'atar and more are used in delicious dishes such as stuffed grape leaves, moussaka, shish kebabs and fattoush salad. Discover traditional Mediterranean food and the region's classic flavors with this collection of Mediterranean recipes. As a leader in food and nutrition in the national media, she breaks down food science into healthy and digestible snacks.
There are always classics of Mediterranean food such as shawarma, falafel, tomato and cucumber salad that goes with everything and the simple but delicious Greek salad, but there are also many new recipes with a modern and exciting twist that have quickly become highly appreciated recipes on the site. To list all the popular Mediterranean dishes worth trying, we would need days and a much, much longer article. Mediterranean food is dynamic and diverse, encompassing flavors from many cultures and countries, from Southern Europe to North Africa and the Middle East. Although the traditional foods of Eastern Mediterranean nations, such as Egypt, Turkey and Israel, may at first seem quite different from the “Mediterranean diet” defined by UNESCO, a large part of their foods share many characteristics with those of Spain, Greece or Italy, so they can be considered another type of “Mediterranean food”.
However, there is an enormous variety of ways in which Mediterranean foods use crops such as wheat., for example, by turning it into pasta. The Mediterranean diet encourages you to eat lots of foods (such as whole grains and vegetables) and limits others. As Mediterranean food culture and the diet inspired by it are having their moment, you're likely to find a specialty restaurant or stall near you. All of these characteristics may explain why some people believe that Mediterranean food is healthier, but it's not just about theories, but about evidence to support it.
Just because Mediterranean food is healthy doesn't mean it doesn't satisfy your cravings for sweets and carbohydrates. While Mediterranean foods such as these are a key part of the Mediterranean diet, there are other shared characteristics in the way in which the foods found in many countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea are produced, prepared and eaten. This Italian-American fish stew is a great example of the many ways in which Mediterranean food has adapted over the years. The Mediterranean diet is based on traditional foods from countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea, including France, Spain, Greece and Italy.
