Customer Reviews

Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(7)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

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.

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.

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.

This book is an invaluable staple in my kitchen. The recipes utilize fresh, delicious, readily available ingredients; they are flavored to please both the palate and the body. Tired of diet after failed diet, I wanted to find an alternative that was good for my health as well as my waistline, and this fits the bill. I am not only losing weight, I feel better, have more energy, and my blood pressure and cholesterol levels have dropped significanly. I highly recommend this book and this style of eating to anyone who wishes to improve his or her general health.

The Mediterranean diet features naturally healthy, lusty dishes that please the eye, tempt the palate, and satisfy one's love of robustly flavored food. This practical and informative book offers traditional recipes that highlight the bold flavors, vibrant colors, and wholesome ingredients of the region's cookery. The dishes are not difficult to prepare, and the fun in the kitchen is equaled by the reward at the table.

Also recommended: "Recipes and Remembrances from an Eastern Mediterranean Kitchen: A Culinary Journey through Syria, Lebanon, and Jordan," by Sonia Uvezian. This is a totally unique and masterly volume that showcases a dazzling collection of healthful and imaginative recipes, many of them documented for the first time.

I love this book. The recipes are simple and easy to prepare. The author explains the thinking behind everything and also tells you how recipes can be easily adapted. The produce and ingredients are for the most part readily available and it is so comprehensive. I have looked through many other recipe books covering this way of eating and found this was by far the best.

"The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook" has received many glowing reviews, all of them likely very much warranted. While I understand its worth as a cookbook, I have to object to how this book is marketed as being able to change one's lifestyle.

Recently diagnosed with heart disease in my mid-thirties, I have been looking for information that will both improve my health and work within the limits of my lifestyle. This book, at least for me, will not and cannot work. But I recognize it will for others.

First of all, as the author indicates, this type of cooking requires time and preparation. This is, after all, a part of Meterranean culture. I understand that. But it is not part of American culture. More importantly, it's not even feasible for many people trying to scrape by financially. The idea of working in the kitchen for hours each day is simply not possible for many Americans - regardless of their own desires. This is why I suspect that the audience for this type of book is restricted almost exclusively to families and individuals who are wealthy (or at least not in financial debt) or who are in a traditional relationship in which one spouse stays home during the day.

Another thing that I found annoying was the author's attitude that one's sweet tooth should be easily satisfied with a basic cookie or a piece of fruit. Having been raised a vegetarian throughout most of my childhood I can attest to the fact that eating natural foods all the time does _not_ guarantee that your desires for cake, ice cream or brownies will simply disappear. For some people, perhaps even a majority, it is a question of just giving up what they desire. If there's one thing I've grown to detest after my own diagnosis is that I will be easily satisified with my new diet and lifestyle. Like many individuals with heart disease, I must accept my plight. However, I don't have to put up with anyone telling me that I will be satisfied with something that I already know from my own experience to be a poor substitute. In other words, don't manipulate me, just state the truth outright: you may like desserts, but you're going to have to give them up.

If you have the time and interest to cook this book is an excellent choice. If your lifestyle simply cannot adapt then I would recommend looking elsewhere. In my personal experience I found "SuperFoods Rx : Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life" by Steven G. Pratt to be the most helpful thus far.

I am going to do something I rarely do, and criticize a cookbook on style rather than content. I had to return this book because I simply couldn't stand the author's smug, self-satisfied editorializing. I love "local color" about recipes, but I don't like writers who think the point of local color is to make themselves look cool and sophisticated.

I originally bought the book for my father, whose doctor has recommended that he adopt the "Mediterranean" diet. However this cookbook would not be much use to someone who wasn't already an accomplished cook with a good idea of what a Mediterranean diet looks like. The cookbook doesn't particularly address how one builds a diet up out of a collection of recipes. It reads as if the health aspect of the book was tacked onto what is, from the recipe point of view, a fairly conventional cookbook.

The recipes looked fine, but there are so many wonderful Mediterranean cookbooks, written by authors whose personalities are a lot more inviting. I will second another reviewer's praise of Sonia Uvezian's very personal book on Lebanese cooking. Despite being a more narrowly focused book, or perhaps because of it, the reader gets a much better idea not just of how to make a few Lebanese dishes, but of the overall structure of the Lebanese diet.

I have a lot of heart trouble and I bought this cookbook specifically to look into The Mediterranean Diet as a means to benefit my precarious health. I cook a lot, every day, as I'm retired and it's my job to prepare a balanced suppertime meal for my wife and me each day -- she's still working full-time and, of course, she's pretty hungry when she comes through the door each evening. (If you want to see what my own chefing skill-level is, go to "Recipezaar" and look up "Bone Man" -- that's me and I have about 300 recipes posted there that you can view and/or print for free).

This cookbook is intelligently written, bulging with great and useful advice, and details of The Mediterranean Diet are clearly stated therein; however, one would be very hard-pressed to complete all the tasks which go with owning a home and raising a family, and balancing that burden with cooking the dishes found in here.

These are, in fact, fine recipes (I've made several of them), but my point is, they're too complex and ingredient-diverse to pull off every day and that objective is sort of the purpose of any particular diet. An example of the problem is that sometimes, one recipe refers you to yet another recipe, on a different page, for preparation. Another evaluation is that one would need to go to the grocery at least every other day as this author uses a LOT of different ingredients -- while conforming nicely to The Mediterranean Diet requirements, these recipes are very diverse in regard to ingredients. A final comment is that these dishes are not largely all that cheap to make and, over time, this becomes a problem for many of us.

One other criticism I have is that, while the book is nicely bound, it's inappropriately bound for a cookbook. It's fairly large and it doesn't lie flat. The paper is not of a "slick" variety and it's of a type of paper that seems to absorb every splash and stain that gets near it. All this is really just a minor complaint but I think that this was a huge oversight on the part of the publisher and certainly represents an inconvenience for the home cook.

So, my summary is this: if you have a helper in the kitchen who can also go to the grocery for you on short notice, this cookbook might be okay. I would also say that the recipes are quite worthwhile for folks (even non-dieters) who wish to prepare one of these dishes just once in awhile -- but to stick to the recipes herein, day after day, would be notably difficult and costly.

I borrowed this book from the library to try. Now I must purchase it! The recipes use ingredients easy to obtain and the instructions leave no questions on how to prepare it. If one follows this complete healthy eating regime they WILL find that their sweet tooth is satisfied with a simple cookie or piece of fruit. Your cravings come from a diet lacking in complete nutrition and your body lets you know it in no uncertain terms! This book may not have pictures but the author paints wonderful word pictures if you take the time to enjoy it. Not a fast read. Let's slow our pace down like the Europeans do and find enjoyment in the simple pleasures of life.