Mediterranean Diet Meals at Pass Your Plate

Here's a great story about the Mediterranean eating lifestyle and how it came to be the foundation for what we now refer to as the Mediterranean Diet.

An overview with excerpts:

While researching instances of cardiovascular disease in different parts of the world during the 1950s, Dr. Ancel Keys, an American physiologist and initiator of the K-ration meals during World War II, discovered that the rates of heart disease and cancer were surprisingly low on the island of Crete, and that people there generally lived long, healthy lives. Dr. Keys conducted a 15-year study that proved his theory of low instances of either disease in Crete, and high instances in all other countries, except Japan.

The cuisine on the isle of Crete is shaped by geography, climate and lifestyle. The cuisine differs by region and there are great stories behind traditional dishes dating back thousands of years. Crete is an arid, mountainous, rocky island with only a few major cities. Aside from seasonal tourist resorts and metro areas with modern supermarkets, this is farming and fishing country. Olive and nut groves, orchards, grape vines and greenhouses cover nearly every inch of available land.

Wild artichokes, fennel, purslane, dandelion, chicory, nettle, berries, poppies, oregano, thyme, sage and chamomile blanket the countryside. Many residents enjoy the free food, including livestock and wild game. The summers are long, hot and dry and winters are relatively mild with snowfall only in the mountains. The climate is somewhat similar to Napa Valley but Crete is surrounded by salty seas and the winds it carries.

The produce is plentiful with intense concentrated flavor and color. The down side (for farmers, not holiday makers) is the seasonal drought. Olive trees grow miraculously out of dry, rocky earth. (There are approximately 3 million olive trees in Crete.) The terrain is unfit for cows - beef products are luxury imports.

Deep green, robust extra virgin olive oil is produced in even the smallest villages, usually only by and for the community. Residents do not purchase olive oil in supermarkets - they produce it themselves or know someone who does. Several cooperatives export olive oil and have won top quality awards in international competitions. Quality organic production is increasing, although some producers have never used pesticides. Olive oil has been produced on Crete for about four thousand years - the Minoans exported it throughout the region.

Click the link below to learn more about eating habits and cooking styles in Crete - all of which became the foundation for today's Mediterranean Diet.

http://www.cheftalk.com/content/display.cfm?articleid=229