Chances are excellent that you could cook out of The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook for the rest of your life and never feel the slightest tinge of boredom. How does Moroccan Carrot Salad with Orange and Lemon Juice sound? Or Catalan Soup of White Beans and Clams? Or Lebanese Fish Baked in a Tomato-Cilantro Sauce?

Mediterranean cooking is refreshingly low in salt, fat, and starch, relying instead on fresh fruits, vegetables, fish, and poultry. Nancy Harmon Jenkins provides a delicious alternative for anyone who feels their basic diet needs a change, but isn't sure which way to turn. Jenkins relishes tradition and place, and the vibrant people who bring this style of cooking alive. She circles the Mediterranean, collecting the classic recipes that fall within the defined parameters of the Mediterranean diet (as recognized by the World Health Organization): "plentiful fruits, vegetables, legumes, and grains; olive oil as the principal fat; lean red meat only a few times a month; low to moderate consumption of other foods from animal sources, such as dairy products, fish and poultry; and moderate consumption of wine." Simplicity is the key to the Mediterranean diet--simple ingredients and stress-free preparation and cooking. This is more than a cookbook--it is a blueprint for healthier living.


From Publishers Weekly
Though many authors have tackled the healthful recipes of the Mediterranean, Jenkins is not simply following a fad. She brings her understanding of the culture, gained through years of living and working in the region, to the task of writing a comprehensive cookbook. Jenkins gives practical advice on how to gradually implement the Mediterranean diet at home, urging us to eat more fruits, grains and vegetables, reduce meat and fat intake, cook with olive oil instead of butter, serve plain bread at every meal to increase consumption of carbohydrates, and--perhaps hardest of all--to set aside time for meals every day, "building a sense of food as a fundamentally communal, shared experience." Jenkins's recipes, though not always inventive, are faithful to the originals and demonstrate her appreciation for the vagaries of cooking well with fresh foodstuffs that may not always yield the same measures. She unfolds the common threads of cuisine that unite the Mediterranean, acknowledging regional variations that lend piquancy. Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Library Journal
Like a number of recent books on this topic, Jenkins's book is no doubt inspired by a 1993 Harvard conference on the health benefits of "the Mediterranean diet"-that is, the Mediterranean cuisines that have always emphasized grains, beans, and vegetables over red meat and olive oil over butter. Jenkins, a food writer and culinary historian, includes more than 200 recipes from all over the region, from Italy's Panzanella to Lebanese Garlicky Roast Chicken to Turkish-Style Winter Vegetables. The text is readable and informative, with lots of boxes on ingredients, techniques, and the various cuisines, and the recipes are good, certainly not "diet food." Martha Rose Shulman's Mediterranean Light (LJ 4/15/89) was one of the first titles in this area and still one of the better ones, but most collections will want to add Jenkins's book.Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Booklist
The word diet smacks of deprivation. Jenkins' advice? Limit red meat, sugar, and dairy products, substituting instead olive oil, vegetables and legumes, breads, and fruits. Her long residence in Tuscany, plus her food writing background, results in unusual recipes among the more than 200 featured; in addition to such familiar staples as fish, soups, and minestrone, she includes treats from all over the Mediterranean, including Armenian pizza and Spanish chicken with sweet peppers. Sidebars and personal introductions to many of the recipes, along with nutritional data, supply encouragement for healthy living, not just dieting. Barbara Jacobs

FROM OUR EDITORS

Lots of attention has been focused over the past few years on the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet, a diet based mostly on legumes, vegetables, fruits, olive oil, and grains, with limited amounts of meat and dairy products. Nancy Harmon Jenkins's excellent book takes the abstract idea and turns it into a practical guide to a truly livable new way of eating. Her intensely flavored dishes hail from countries all over the Mediterranean region, including not just southern Italy and France but also Turkey, Greece, Morocco, and Spain. It would be easy to eat a different dish from this book every day and never feel deprived.

ANNOTATION

Simple, traditional dishes from southern France, Italy, Tunisa, Turkey, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Mediterranean reflect delicious ways to cut down on red meat, dairy products, and added fats, as they capture the rich romance of the region's lifestyle and its glorious cuisine. Includes 200 recipes.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

What's the best diet for good health? It seems too good to be true, but actually it's one with great classic dishes like tabbouleh and bouillabaisse...pasta, risotto, and couscous...fassoulia, ratatouille, gazpacho...the savory flavors of spices and garlic...breads, succulent olives, wine, and LDL cholesterol-reducing olive oil. The evidence is backed up by the scientific papers presented at the landmark 1993 International Conference on Diets of the Mediterranean co-sponsored by the Harvard School of Public Health and Oldways Preservation and Exchange Trust.

FROM THE CRITICS

Publishers Weekly

Though many authors have tackled the healthful recipes of the Mediterranean, Jenkins is not simply following a fad. She brings her understanding of the culture, gained through years of living and working in the region, to the task of writing a comprehensive cookbook. Jenkins gives practical advice on how to gradually implement the Mediterranean diet at home, urging us to eat more fruits, grains and vegetables, reduce meat and fat intake, cook with olive oil instead of butter, serve plain bread at every meal to increase consumption of carbohydrates, and -- perhaps hardest of all -- to set aside time for meals every day, "building a sense of food as a fundamentally communal, shared experience.'' Jenkins's recipes, though not always inventive, are faithful to the originals and demonstrate her appreciation for the vagaries of cooking well with fresh foodstuffs that may not always yield the same measures. She unfolds the common threads of cuisine that unite the Mediterranean, acknowledging regional variations that lend piquancy.

Library Journal

Like a number of recent books on this topic, Jenkins's book is no doubt inspired by a 1993 Harvard conference on the health benefits of "the Mediterranean diet''-that is, the Mediterranean cuisines that have always emphasized grains, beans, and vegetables over red meat and olive oil over butter. Jenkins, a food writer and culinary historian, includes more than 200 recipes from all over the region, from Italy's Panzanella to Lebanese Garlicky Roast Chicken to Turkish-Style Winter Vegetables. The text is readable and informative, with lots of boxes on ingredients, techniques, and the various cuisines, and the recipes are good, certainly not "diet food.'' Martha Rose Shulman's Mediterranean Light (LJ 4/15/89) was one of the first titles in this area and still one of the better ones, but most collections will want to add Jenkins's book.

BookList - Barbara Jacobs