Need Mediterranean food diary assistance

[sentiant]

Greetings one and all,

I love food, and especialy the food of the med in particular spainish, italian, morrocan, greek, german. I love holidays here as im sure many of us do but one of the things i really love is eating out. Over the last few days i have been thinking (probably due to the poor weather) about what i eat and cook and of hotter climes and i thought i cant move my life to there but maybe i can bring a little bit of the med into my life. So my plan is to find out what meals/snacks people in these areas eat on a day to day basis on a normal week so i can incorperate them into my week.

What i would realy appreciate is people on this board (or friends of) could post up food they have had for breakfast, lunch, and dinner and any snacks in between and any recipies they may have of these foods. What i hopping to acheive is a nice meal/recipie base to improve the way i eat and cook and live.

Thanks for reading this through and i hope what we uncover here can benifit all those that contribute and read this thread.

Cheers

 

[Caine]

Greetings one and all,

I love food, and especialy the food of the med in particular spainish, italian, morrocan, greek, german.

Was Germany relocated while I wasn't looking? Next thing ya know, they'll be moving Italy to the South Pacific, to justify putting pineapple on pizza!

 

[Michael in FtW]

The Mediterranean contains basically 16 countries and varied cultures which share some things in common and many differences from region to region and culture to culture. So to give you a list of a typical "Mediterranean" daily diet is impossible - you have to narrow your search way down.

You might want to start with this Wikipedia article on Mediterranean cuisine and follow the links to learn more about the cuisine and foods of the various regions and cultures of the Mediterranean. Then, once you have an understanding of the foods you can start looking for specific recipes.

 

[BreezyCooking]

I agree with Michael completely. What you're asking for is virtually impossible.

Breakfast, lunch, dinner, supper, & snack dishes differ immensely in every single country you've mentioned, with the exception of extra-virgin olive oil perhaps - lol!! And as Caine mentioned, Germany isn't considered a Mediterranean country, & the food isn't remotely close to anything Mediterranean.

If I were you, I'd do some serious research on my own, via some internet research on Mediterranean diets (outside of just asking for recipes), as well as some serious cookbook research/reading.

 

[velochic]

I could tell you what they eat in Turkey, but that's probably vastly different from any other mediterranean country. In general what you are looking for is to use olive oil, olives, lots of fresh fruit, vegetables, and freshly butchered meat. The diet doesn't call for boxed, processed food. For example, rice won't come from a Rice-a-Roni or Minute rice box. They will make rice and add in their own flavorings (my SIL adds in freshly cut tomatoes and sweet banana peppers, for example). My SIL still shells peas if she wants peas in a dish.

For breakfast, they usually eat a simple meal of olives and feta cheese. Lunch might be kofte and rice or lahmacun. Traditional evening meal is Tas kebap with rice, simple bread, shaved carrots dressed with olive oil and lemon, and borek (filled dough) as a meze (appetizer). Other mezes are eggplant that has been roasted (in the same method red peppers), peeled and mashed with garlic and olive oil, bean salad swimming in olive oil, meats cured in garlic (pasterma), something similar to taramasalata, which is greek and I can't remember the Turkish for it. Baklava is rarely eaten as dessert. Pishmaniye is a candy floss that's eaten as dessert. They have helva and chocolates, and ice cream. I could go on with names, but I don't have the time to write out any recipes and the internet easily can tell you how to make these.

 

[Chefellas]

In Greece, we might start our day with a slice of bread with honey and butter or maybe yoghurt with honey and fruit. For lunch, our main meal, we might have something simple like baked chicken and potatoes ,fresh string beans with zucchini and potato in tomato sauce, meatballs with egg lemon sauce or something more complicated like moussaka or pastitsio. In the evening, we mostly eat some thing grilled either meat or fish with salad or boiled greens with lemon and olive oil. Snack food here is spinach and cheese piesmostly. Also for a late night pick me up after a night of partying we eat "patsa" a broth made from tripe.

 

[Green Lady]

Have a caprese salad using freshly sliced mozzarella, alternating with fresh tomato slices. Sprinkle some fresh basil leaves and olive oil drizzled over it add some salt and pepper, maybe some garlic, too. That's simply Italian!

 

[AllenOK]

Get some cookbooks on the cuisines of North Africa, like Morroco, Libya, Egypt, etc. Don't forget a good Kosher cookbook from Isreal. Lebanese, Turkish also are Mediterrean. And while Spanish was mentioned, near Gibraltar, you can expect to find some British influences as well.