To cook the Mediterranean way at home, build meals around vegetables, beans and lentils, wholegrains and bread, with olive oil as your main cooking fat, fish and seafood fairly often, and meat in smaller amounts. Stock a short list of pantry staples, learn a handful of techniques such as slow-cooking vegetables in olive oil, and season generously with garlic, lemon and herbs. You do not need special equipment or expensive ingredients. This guide covers what to keep in the cupboard, the principles behind the food, a simple week of meals and the mistakes that make "Mediterranean" cooking taste like anything but.
What "Mediterranean" actually means
There is no single Mediterranean cuisine. The sea is bordered by more than twenty countries, from Spain, France and Italy to Greece, Turkey, Lebanon, Egypt, Tunisia and Morocco. A Sicilian caponata, a Lebanese tabbouleh and a Moroccan bissara have little in common on the plate.
What they share is a way of eating shaped by climate and history: plenty of vegetables and pulses, olive oil rather than butter in many places, bread and grains as the base, herbs and citrus for flavour, and meat treated as something to enjoy rather than the centre of every meal. This traditional pattern is often held up as a model of healthy eating, although, as with any diet, the details and your own circumstances matter.
Stock the pantry first
Most Mediterranean cooking is simple food made from good basics. With these in the cupboard, you can make a proper meal on most evenings.
- Extra virgin olive oil for dressing and finishing, and a more affordable olive oil for everyday cooking.
- Tinned tomatoes and passata for sauces, soups and braises.
- Tinned or dried pulses: chickpeas, cannellini and butter beans, and green, brown and red lentils.
- Grains: bulgur, farro, couscous, rice and good dried pasta.
- Aromatics: onions, garlic, lemons and a few dried spices such as oregano, cumin, paprika and chilli flakes.
- Fresh herbs: parsley, mint, basil and dill do much of the heavy lifting.
- Something salty and savoury: olives, capers, feta and anchovies if you eat them.
- Nuts and seeds: almonds, walnuts, pine nuts and sesame seeds or tahini.
Where fish and meat fit in
Traditional Mediterranean cooking is not vegetarian, but it rarely puts a large piece of meat at the centre of the plate. Fish and seafood appear often along the coast, grilled simply with lemon, baked with tomatoes or added to stews. Meat tends to be used in smaller amounts: a little lamb in a pot of beans, some chicken on skewers, a meatball stretched with herbs and bread. If you eat meat, a practical approach is to cook it less often and let vegetables and pulses take up more of the plate.
Five principles behind the food
1. Vegetables are the main event
Aubergines, peppers, courgettes, tomatoes, beans and greens are rarely an afterthought. They are braised slowly in olive oil until soft and sweet, roasted until caramelised, or served raw and generously dressed. Many classic dishes are vegetable dishes first.
2. Pulses do the filling
Beans, chickpeas and lentils appear in soups, salads, stews and dips. They are cheap, keep for months and turn a plate of vegetables into a meal.
3. Olive oil is an ingredient, not just a fat
Use it to cook, and then use a little more to finish. A thread of good oil over a bowl of bean soup or a plate of roasted vegetables just before serving adds a fruity, peppery note that cooking would dull.
4. Season with brightness
Lemon juice, vinegar, garlic, fresh herbs and a pinch of chilli provide most of the flavour. Taste at the end and add acid or salt until the dish comes alive.
5. Keep it simple and seasonal
A ripe tomato with good oil and salt needs very little help. Cooking with what is in season makes simple food taste its best and usually costs less.
A simple starter week
You do not need to overhaul everything at once. Start with a few dishes that rely on the pantry above. These come from The World Healthy Kitchen, which gathers recipes from right around the Mediterranean and far beyond it.
- Monday: Fasolada (Greek White Bean Soup). Beans, tomato, carrot, celery and plenty of olive oil. Make a large pot and have leftovers for lunch.
- Tuesday: Horiatiki (Greek Village Salad) with warm bread and a tin of chickpeas or some grilled fish on the side.
- Wednesday: Salada de Feijao Frade. A Portuguese black-eyed bean salad with onion, parsley and oil. Portugal sits on the Atlantic, but it cooks very much in the same spirit.
- Thursday: Lebanese Tabbouleh with hummus, flatbread and any leftover roasted vegetables.
- Friday: Melanzane alla Parmigiana (Baked, Lighter). Aubergine, tomato and cheese, baked rather than fried. Good with a green salad.
At the weekend, try something slower, such as Caponata Siciliana, a sweet and sour aubergine stew that tastes even better the next day. If you want to explore further, our overview of healthy cuisines around the world shows how other regions arrive at similar ideas.
Common mistakes
- Being mean with olive oil. Many Mediterranean vegetable dishes rely on a generous amount to become silky and rich. Use a measured amount, but do not strip it back so far that the dish turns dry and flat.
- Rushing the onions. Soffritto, sofrito and similar bases need slow, gentle cooking. Five minutes on high heat gives you sharp, browned onion rather than a sweet, soft foundation.
- Over-complicating it. Adding too many ingredients muddies the flavours. Most classic dishes use a handful of ingredients cooked well.
- Serving vegetables straight from the pan. Many braised vegetable dishes taste better warm or at room temperature, once the flavours have settled.
- Forgetting the finish. A squeeze of lemon, a scattering of herbs and a final drizzle of oil are often what make the dish.
Questions people ask
Is the Mediterranean diet the same as Mediterranean food?
Not quite. "Mediterranean diet" usually refers to a general eating pattern based on the traditional cooking of the region, especially Greece and southern Italy. Mediterranean food, in the everyday sense, covers a much wider range of dishes, some of which are rich or indulgent.
Can I cook Mediterranean food without olive oil?
You can use other oils, but olive oil is central to the flavour of many dishes. If cost is a concern, use an affordable olive oil for cooking and keep a small bottle of extra virgin for finishing.
Is Mediterranean cooking suitable for vegetarians?
Very much so. A large share of the region's everyday dishes are built on vegetables, pulses, grains, cheese and eggs. Search the finder for chickpea recipes to get started.
What is the easiest Mediterranean dish for a beginner?
A simple bean or lentil soup is hard to get wrong and teaches you the basics of slow-cooked onions, olive oil and seasoning. A good tomato salad dressed with oil, salt and oregano is even simpler.