What does the greek meditarian diet consist of?!
Answers:
Best Answer - Chosen by Voters
Hello, i am greek and indeed the mediteranean diet is considered to be very healthy!
1. First of all, we only use virgin olive oil in all kinds of cooking (oven, casserole, frying).
2. We eat a lot of salads, sometimes we even boil some green vegetables and serve with oil and garlic
3. We eat a lot of fresh fish
4. We eat a lot of beans, lentils, chickpeas etc (along with feta cheese and bread!) as a main course, not just at the side
5. We like grilling the meat (steaks, burgers, lamb chops etc) so most of the fat is drained
6. We use a lot of olive oil, lemon, oregano, parsley, dill, vinegar, onions, garlic to make our dishes tastier instead of bought-in-a-bottle dressings
7. We eat a lot of yougurt, it's a nice substitute for candy with honey and fruits
The good thing in Greece is that most people like cooking by themselves and they buy the best ingredients (organic, bio etc), but of course there are others who just order pizza and souvlaki, extremely tasty but not so healthy!!
Greece, like other Mediterranean countries isn't hot all year round. It has some bloody cold winters. So some of their food is filling and hearty. We live in the south of NZ where it's quite cool. Our favourite Greek dishes are their meat and potato pie, consisting of a layer of sliced potatoes, over which you pour a meat mixture, consisting of minced beef,tomato puree, chopped onions, garlic and herbs, then another layer of sliced potatoes, then more meat mixture then a final layer of potatoes. Then you pour bechamel sauce, containing cheese and nutmeg, on top and grill until bubbling golden brown. The other favourite is moussaka. In Greece this is minced beef with chopped aubergine as an extender, and an egg mix. Google it. In Greece, beef is expensive and aubergine cheap. Here it's the other way round, so we use a little aubergine and a lot of meat. Oh yeah, sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.
I am greek american and the basic mediterannean diet of greek extraction consists of:
1) OLIVE OIL we cook veggies in it, put in on salads, etc. Soem people from greece also make pastries with it.
2) Lentil soup, bean soup with no meat, but olive oil added as the fat
3) Breads made with whole wheat or unbleached flour.
4) Seaonal fruits for dessert.
5) Seafood.
I don't have specifics, but I know they eat a lot of seafood. For example, shellfish, like clams and scallops, and even squids. They also eat a lot of breads, often with an olive oil dipping sauce and they have amazing yogurt!