Low Carbon and Delicious

In the images of gnarled olive trees, colourful fishing boats in turquoise harbours, warm breezes, and whitewashed terraced villages, an enchanting magic draws historian and traveller alike to the Mediterranean. This great middle sea pulls us in awe to its architectural glories, to its dolorous yet eternally hopeful people, and to its evocative pantry of foods. A Mediterranean feast is not only the act of eating together with family and friends, it also refers to the experiences that enrich us whenever we touch upon Mediterranean history and life.

What is Mediterranean cuisine? The Mediterranean is composed of many different cultures, and there seems to be no single image that represents a “magical” unity. Even with the shared trinity of ingredients (olive oil, wheat, and the vine), Italian food is a world apart from Turkish food, yet both are Mediterranean.

The Mediterranean of today is entirely different from the Mediterranean of the classical world. In classical times there were no oranges or lemons, or potatoes and tomatoes, which had yet to arrive from the East and the New World. Asiatic rice, called “the blessing brought by the Arabs”, was unknown as were peppers from South America, maize from North America, and coffee from East Africa. The grandeur of the Mediterranean has led to a conception of a culinary rich Mediterranean that in reality is a late twentieth-century development based on centuries of evolution.