The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health [Hardcover]

Nancy Harmon Jenkins (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1994

Discussing the nutritional and health benefits of Mediterranean culinary practices, this delectable cookbook presents two hundred recipes for simple traditional dishes from all over the region, all adapted for the modern American kitchen.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

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. --Schuyler Ingle

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.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 528 pages
• Publisher: Bantam (June 1, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553096087
• ISBN-13: 978-0553096088
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 7.3 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (40 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #44,977 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Mediterranean
  • #88 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Low Fat

More About the Author

Nancy Harmon Jenkins is a food writer with a passionate interest in Mediterranean cultures and cuisines, sustainable agriculture, and farm-to-market connections. Author of half a dozen highly acclaimed cookbooks, she writes for the New York Times, Saveur, and Food & Wine, and divides her time between her farmhouse outside of Cortona, Italy, and the coast of Maine.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

178 of 178 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Healthy dining and culinary delights., January 4, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health (Hardcover)

I have always felt that the word "diet" hurts the appeal of this book. It is not a "go on this and lose weight" diet, but rather "the way the Mediterrean peoples of the world eat" diet. Most healthcare professionals feel that the Mediterrean diet is the healthiest diet there is; however, this book is on a list of my top five cookbooks in a collection of approximately 500 based on how delicious the food is! Try the Greek Salad and the Salad Nicoise, two dishes that are horribly served in diners all over the Northeast, to see how they really should taste. The food is truly wonderful AND healthy. The recipes are clearly written and easy to prepare. I give this book as a present all the time to both my health-conscious friends and my cooking friends. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves to cook, to anyone who loves to eat, and to anyone who wants to clean up his nutritional act in 1997. I give my thanks to Nancy Harmon Jenkins for a monumental work and wish everyone who tries it good eating and good luck.

73 of 73 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars To your health: good nutrition doesn't have to be boring., October 26, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health (Hardcover)

I discovered this book in searching for things that could help me do a better job of managing my own recently diagnosed hypertension. It is recommended in Dr. Thomas Pickering's book, "Good News about Hight Blook Pressure." Pickering is no "alternative" health faddist. He is a real doctor who bases his recommendations on the best scientific medical research he has at his disposal. He recommends the Mediterranean diet (over no less than that of the American Heart Association) and this book by Nancy Harmon Jenkins as one which can introduce you to the cultural experience of Mediterranean eating at an aesthetic level. This book has given our family an extraordinary series of great dining experiences. There is nothing dull about the recipes in this book. And the author has traveled and researched the subject so well that many of the recipes begin with a discussion of the person from whom the recipe is taken. The Moroccan Harira is an exceptional bean soup with just a little lean beef in it to add some interest bites along with the chick peas and lentils. It is the ginger, the cinnamon and the saffron, though, that make this soup a standing ovation dish. And this just an humble bean soup. Throughout, the spices are exotic and the uses of vegetables that most Americans long ago relegated to the category of culinary boredom are creative and delicious. Get a copy of this beautifully presented book, buy a drum of olive oil and get ready for healthy dining. Oh, and a little red wine is O.K., too. The Mediterranean diet is an absolute delight for its followers. As soon as I post this review, I am ordering two more copies as Christmas gifts for people on my list who love to cook and who like to venture beyond their secure bounds of their own culture. Neither of them has any problem with hypertension as far as I know. And, with this book on their kitchen reading shelf, perhaps they never will.

61 of 61 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great for California living, January 9, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health (Hardcover)

Ms. Jenkins's Mediterranean Diet Cookbook is a super addition to anyone's cookbook shelf. Her plain language explanation of the cooking methods was a big plus. Her scientific ammunition on the benefits of this type of diet is impressive --makes me wonder how much I should believe about some of those reports on fats, etc. The book has proved especially useful here in California where lemons, fish, and other items are much more plentiful than in my previous home...and her translation of ingredients into American supermarket terms is wonderful. I espcially enjoyed the salad dressings, the fish recipes, and the vegetable soups.