Imagine yourself sitting in a sun-drenched outdoor café on the banks of the Greek Mediterranean shore. The vast turquoise sea meets the brilliant blue sky, and everything around you seems influenced by sea and sky, from the aquamarine-painted tables and chairs of the café to the foamy white buildings and small shops jutting out over the seawall where the Mediterranean laps and splashes. The warm sun on your shoulders and the cool sea breeze on your face enhance the spectacular view, as the fragrance of white flowers scaling a peach-colored trellis above your table mingles with the smells of salt and sea.
You feel yourself relaxing into your chair as you are gently serenaded by the musical dialect around you. You recall your morning trek across the vast white beaches, and images of ancient Greece envelop you. You can almost envision Socrates walking along the shoreline with tall Greek ships sailing in the far distance, the ruins whole, the early blos - soming of Western civilization. Poseidon, that great god of the sea, is smiling at you, amused to see how easily the stresses of daily life have suddenly melted away.
Ah, the magical Mediterranean. With all its glorious old- worldliness, you feel connected with history. You feel com pletely at peace. And just when you think it couldn’t get any better, you are awakened from your relaxed bliss by a waiter who brings you a bowl of fragrant, lemony soup the color of the sun, followed by a steaming plate of sea bass infused with oregano, olive oil, and lemon, surrounded by colorful roasted vegetables grown on the rolling hills just behind you.
With each bite you are catapulted further into the heaven that surrounds you. You cannot help but savor every mouth ful. You’ve never tasted food so fresh, so wholesome. You feel renewed, even healed, down to your very soul.
Who can deny the sensual power of the Mediterranean? Anyone who has traveled to this area cannot forget its beauty, its history, and its charm. Sun and sea, relaxed lifestyle, and miraculous food—these things draw people to the shores of the Mediterranean from every corner of the globe.
Yet the seductive Mediterranean climate, cuisine, and way of life aren’t the only reasons to focus on this region’s approach to eating. Study after study have revealed that people eating a traditional Mediterranean diet are generally healthier, are longer-lived, and have a lower incidence of chronic diseases—particularly coronary artery disease— than people in other parts of the world.
The potential health benefits inherent in eating and living in the traditional Mediterranean way are the impetus for writing this book. Is it really possible to eat so well, savoring and relishing delicious food, and at the same time increase our wellness? In fact, it is both possible and surprisingly easy to accomplish. We need only look to the Mediterranean lands of Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Turkey, North Africa, and the Middle East.
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