Amy Riolo - The Ultimate Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: Harness the Power of the Worlds Healthiest Diet to Live Better, Longer

Harness the Power of the Worlds Healthiest Diet to Live Better, Longer

AMY RIOLO

2015 Fair Winds Press

First published in the USA in 2015 by

Fair Winds Press, a member of

Quarto Publishing Group USA Inc.

100 Cummings Center

Suite 406-L

Beverly, MA 01915-6101

www.fairwindspress.com

Visit www.QuarrySPOON.com and help us celebrate food and culture one spoonful at a time!

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

Digital edition: 978-1-62788-304-7

Hardcover edition: 978-1-59233-648-7

Digital edition published in 2015

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Riolo, Amy.

The ultimate Mediterranean diet cookbook : harness the power of the worlds healthiest diet to live better, longer / Amy Riolo.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-59233-648-7 (paperback)

1. Cooking, Mediterranean. 2. Diet--Mediterranean Region. 3. LongevityNutritional aspects. I. Title.

TX725.M35R56 2015

641.591822--dc23

2014041235

Cover and book design by Laia Albaladejo

Photography: Glenn Scott Photography; food styling, Natasha Taylor; accent images, Shutterstock.com

Illustration, , Mattie Wells

The information in this book is for educational purposes only. It is not intended to replace the advice of a physician or medical practitioner. Please see your health care provider before beginning any new health program.

To the memory of my nonna, Angela Magnone Foti, for showing me that food is the foundation upon which our families, communities, cultures, and lives are built

Let food be thy medicine, and medicine thy food Hippocrates

My personal relationship with Mediterranean cuisine did not begin with a so-called diet. It began in the kitchens and at the tables of my grandmothers. With them, I learned that food was not just something to fill our stomachs, but a powerful tool that affected our moods, daily lives, holidays, and wellbeing. Our food provided our family with a sense of tradition and an important cultural rite that connected us with our ancestors and our relatives overseas. To my grandmothers, food was also medicine, and they had an edible remedy for almost every ailment.

Somewhere along the line, however, things changed. As our family became busier and people began relocating for work, many of our traditional foodways were lost. Eating in restaurants and taking medicine began to replace homemade food and natural remedies.

In the United States, the majority of my family members suffer from heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, and high cholesterol. It was a fact of life that I believed to be genetic until I had the opportunity to visit relatives in my ancestral homeland in Calabria, Italy. I was struck by how much healthier they were than our American family. When I asked the Italian relatives about their health, they had, thankfully, no major problems to report. We shared the same genes, the same looks, character traits, and sometimes even the same names, but those who grew up in Italy were decidedly healthier. It was at that moment that I became a fan of the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle.

I ended up returning to Italy not long after that trip and living there for a year. I wanted to truly immerse myself in the culture and reap the benefits of its healthful lifestyle. I also wanted to be able to translate the living traditions into simple acts that anyone, anywhere could incorporate into their lifestyle to achieve optimal health. Years later I had the opportunity to live in and visit other Mediterranean countries, and my research continued. I began searching for commonalities that could benefit people everywhere.

I learned that three factors hold true throughout the Mediterranean region:

Food is treated as medicine.

Moderation is key.

An active physical and social lifestyle is mandatory.

Since these elements have been practiced since antiquity in the twenty-seven countries in the regioncountries as diverse as France, Israel, Egypt, and Moroccothey are second nature to the people living there. My mission with The Ultimate Mediterranean Diet Cookbook is to illustrate the easiness, effectiveness, and deliciousness of the Mediterranean diet in the most comprehensive, easy to implement, and fun manner possible.

I purposely chose the recipes in this cookbook because of their taste, authenticity, and nutritional value. Not only are most of them low in fat, cholesterol, and sodium, they are also packed with vitamins, minerals, and healthful properties that our bodies crave. The recipes are organized in the same format as the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, (opposite), offering the most varieties of foods that we should eat the most of, and the least of foods we should limit. Each recipe contains a Mediterranean Tradition to enhance the daily living aspects of the eating plan, and meal plans and serving suggestions are noted, Mediterranean style.

I personally love the Mediterranean diet because it offers great-tasting food with rich traditions attached to them. Just like a multigenerational family sitting at an open air table, the Mediterranean diet pleases all ages and palates. I hope that this book inspires more shared memories at the table, as well as happiness and health to everyone who reads it!

Enjoy with pleasure and health,

Amy Riolo

The Mediterranean Diet Pyramid

Sit at dinner tables as long as you can, and converse to your hearts desire, for these are the bonus times of your lives.

Al-Hasan bin Abi Talib (grandson of the Prophet Muhammad)

The Mediterranean diet is known as the healthiest in the world because it is not truly a diet, but rather a lifestyle that prescribes a lot of what we should eat, and a little of what we shouldnt, along with shared physical and social activities. Oldways, a nonprofit food and nutrition education organization that features the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid (), refers to the Mediterranean diet as the gold standard eating pattern that promotes lifelong good health.

The base of the Pyramid shows the importance Mediterranean cultures place on enjoying meals with others and being physically active. Regardless of religion, ethnicity, or language, the people of the Mediterranean region share a common desire to spend time eating and socializing with friends. In the Muslim countries of the Mediterranean region, there are even prophetic sayings encouraging believers to choose who they eat with before they decide what to eat.