The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health

Customer Reviews

great book

This book reads like a traditional mediterranean cook book. There is an intro describing the typical meditterean diet (italy, greece, middle eastearn) Pasta, beans, garlic, veggies and olive oil. Delicious recipes, that hardly feel diet. In general, I would say they are somewhat lower in sodium than the typical american diet. I think it is healthful to get used to a lower sodium diet. You can always add a bit of salt if you find the recipes a bit bland without it.

There is a great recipe for Hummus, not *too garlicy but lots of fresh lemon! very good.Very good greek white bean soup... most soups use water as a base, and i tend to use stock instead, for flavor.Another favorte is a wild mushroom risotto... i tend to use regular mushrooms as porcinis are expensive. There are many very good recipes. There are even desserts, altho i havent made any of them.

This is an excellent addition to a cookbook collection. It is a great meditterean cookbook and a great healthy cook book. Nutitional info is included so these recipes can be fit into any diet plan.

Healthy dining and culinary delights.

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.

Excellent cookbook, but definitely not for everyone

"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.