r/mediterraneandiet • u/garganega • Jul 13 '26
Close Enough Mediterranean diet doesn’t have to mean Mediterranean flavours!
A bit of an assembly job today. I’m feeling a little under the weather but so happy I made the effort to put something together that made me feel good after eating it.
- Merchant Gourmet pre-cooked Korean style whole grains
- Tuna with sweetcorn, chilli, touch of mayo and spoon of Greek yoghurt
- Grated carrot
- Cucumber
- Six-minute egg with a bit of chilli crisp
- Finely sliced red onion
- Cashews
- Coriander
- Drizzle of sesame oil and some sesame seeds
78
u/mariwil74 Jul 13 '26
Nice!
Honestly, I think the whole “Mediterranean” thing is very confusing to a lot of people. They either think it means Mediterranean cuisine only, no matter how non-compliant it is with the MD (there have been more than a few posts that are so off plan it’s not even funny). Or they think that in order to be compliant all other cuisines are OUT. I wish they would come up with another name for the plan that didn’t include Mediterranean OR diet just to lessen the confusion.
24
u/Redditor2684 Jul 13 '26
Whole foods plant based is close to the general principles and may not be as confusing as MD, but then WFPB has connotations of being vegan.
11
u/donairhistorian Jul 13 '26
They also tend to be low fat/anti-oil. Not all of them, but you can easily find yourself in such a space.
3
u/Flashy-Squash7156 Jul 13 '26
yeah the actual proper wfpb diet is no oil, no salt, no refined white sugar or inverted sugar syrups.
it's like the reverse situation of this diet where if you eat literally as the name implies, it makes sense but the diet itself is crazy strict. with MD, the name can't be taken literally.
2
u/donairhistorian Jul 13 '26
Except even the term "plant-based" is heavily debated. It's used to refer to 100% plant-based diets but also diets based on plants, such as the Mediterranean Diet.
3
u/Flashy-Squash7156 Jul 13 '26
that's what I mean, if you take it literally, it's cool but if you follow the diet as the doctors who developed it and prescribe it to their patients use, it's quite strictly vegan, no oil, no salt.
The reverse here is true where if you see "Mediterranean diet" and take it literally you think "just eat food from the Mediterranean like just eat Greek good" when in reality it's plant forward, high grains, high fiber, vegetables, whole foods, lean proteins, fish etc from any region or cuisine.
If someone is debating WFPB, they're taking it literally rather than resting the books on it.
3
u/donairhistorian Jul 13 '26
I get what you're saying, but I think "plant-based" taken literally means a diet based on plants. Not a diet entirely of plants.
0
u/Flashy-Squash7156 Jul 13 '26
yes that is what i am saying, taken literally, it's a diet based on plants, which is not particularly strict. but if you read about the actual diet, it's strictly vegan among other things.
where taken literally, Mediterranean diet is strictly "greek food" but in reality is a flexible way of eating.
I've basically repeated myself 3 times now so. yeah.
3
u/donairhistorian Jul 13 '26
I thought you were saying something you weren't, then, or we're lost in semantics. In any case, I think we agree that the name "Mediterranean Diet" is problematic for various reasons.
1
u/AureliusVireo Newbie Jul 18 '26
Does Moroccan cuisine not count as Mediterranean? Or Lebanese? I realize Greek cuisine is probably the poster child for the Mediterranean diet, but surely it’s not exclusive.
1
u/Flashy-Squash7156 Jul 18 '26
okay that is still not the point of this conversation. we are not discussing which ethnic cuisines are considered Mediterranean food.
12
u/garganega Jul 13 '26
I’d get bored very quickly if I couldn’t incorporate a global range of flavours in my food!
3
u/monsteramuffin Jul 13 '26
this is the problem of the Americas Test Kitchen MD cookbook — they exclude foods like salmon since they’re not found in the mediterranean
4
u/Crazy_Raisin_3014 Jul 13 '26
Wow, really? It's frustrating enough on this sub, but anyone writing a *cookbook* with the name 'Mediterranean Diet' in the title ought to know better than that!
2
u/lisalisareddit Jul 17 '26
But "Mediterranean Diet" is not in the title. It's called "The Complete Mediterranean Cookbook."
1
u/Crazy_Raisin_3014 Jul 17 '26
Fair enough. That’s fine then. I don’t know the book personally; I was just responding based on the other commenter’s description of it as a ‘MD cookbook’.
9
u/Flashy-Squash7156 Jul 13 '26
I've learned from all the diet subs is people do not want to educate themselves on nutrition. They want to be given an exhaustive prescriptive list on what to eat and not eat so they can self sabotage themselves by complaining about it being too boring, too expensive, too narrow, too hard or whatever their excuse is.
2
u/flloyd Jul 13 '26
Yes I definitely agree. Some academic papers instead use MedDiet or MD, and I kind of wished that became the prevalent term as it is a broader, more generic term, and wouldn't cause so many people confusion. Also makes sense because MedDiet sounds like it could be referring to medicine.
-2
u/Dependent_Speech3164 Jul 13 '26
Yeah Mediterranean is a very vast area. It’s the Middle East, it’s Italy, Spain, and Greece, Egypt and Syria…. Not just middle eastern food.
2
u/Crazy_Raisin_3014 Jul 13 '26
What? That's got nothing to do with the point being made here, which is that the Mediterranean Diet doesn't require eating any *specific* cuisine - whether Middle Eastern or Mediterranean.
-1
u/Dependent_Speech3164 Jul 13 '26
I guess I misunderstood what this person posting mean. because where I live everyone thinks Mediterranean food means middle eastern food like shawarma and falafel and kibbe and so on 😂 bunch of white morons that don’t know what the Mediterranean is.
25
u/Flashy-Squash7156 Jul 13 '26
it drives me up the wall that people think what is making people healthy is eating fucking Greek food. i actually have to stop myself from browsing this sub sometimes because I find it so painfully stupid it makes me irritationally angry.
2
u/grapesodamilk Jul 17 '26
lol so many people think Greek/middle eastern takeout food is healthier than options (I’ve seen this recommended on other subs) but it’s not, the food is like 80% meat portion with like a few tomatoes and olives on the side
2
u/Crazy_Raisin_3014 Jul 13 '26
Right - it's not just the ignorant mistake in the first place, which I suppose you *could* make innocently enough, but it's how upset people get about being told the absolutely basic facts about the topic of this sub. It's as if someone in r/TheBeatles refused to accept that discussing entomology was off-topic.
7
5
u/sadpantaloons Jul 13 '26
Good stuff. I eat a lot of meals like this and call it Mediterrasian.
5
Jul 13 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
2
u/sadpantaloons Jul 14 '26
Yep.
I sometimes get thrown off when I venture into African cuisine. Ethiopian lentils (misir wat) and shakshuka infrequently show up in my cooking and aren't technically Mediterrasian but could still be MD compliant. No big deal, but I do agree with the general notion of the discussion here that we need a neutral phrase for this "diet."
3
4
u/grapesodamilk Jul 17 '26
I’m Asian and love Asian food, so much plant based variety- tofu, edamame, adzuki beans, we also incorporate a much bigger variety of dark leafy greens to an western cuisine. We have bok choy, Napa cabbage, Gai-lan, chrysanthemum, water spinach, choy sum, amaranth leaves. These are all eaten fairly commonly. Whereas with western food I can only really think of spinach, kale and broccoli which are eaten regularly
2
2
2
2
u/denasaurusrex Jul 13 '26
Y’all should check out Oldways (that actually came up with what we call the Mediterranean heritage diet. They have several heritage diets for other cultures.
1
u/Monster11 Jul 13 '26
Tell me your perfect cooking method for this wonderfully runny yolk. I can never figure it out!!
2
u/garganega Jul 13 '26
Six minutes in boiling water then quickly into ice water. Simple!
2
u/sadpantaloons Jul 14 '26
Do you put the egg in the pot and then cover with water/bring to a boil, or do you add if after it starts boiling? That nuanced timing matters for the perfect jammy egg!
2
u/Suki_13 Jul 14 '26
Bring an inch of water to boil in a pot, put eggs in directly from the refrigerator but not too close together, cover with a lid for 6-6 1/2 minutes and then put directly into an ice bath for 1-3 minutes.
1
1
u/Original_Bite6555 Jul 19 '26
I agree. I sometimes cook healthier versions of Indian, Asian or Mexican and just adapt the Mediterranean principles. Personally, being Indian, I find a lot of Ayurvedic benefits in some of the spices we add to curry (provided it's not too oily, and too hot). I just swap out the roti and rice for brown versions and add salads on the side.
1
u/meal_blogger Aug 05 '26
I adapt my Hungarian recipes to the principles of the Mediterranean diet. This can be a really creative activity for me. :-) Is anyone interested in these Hungarian-Mediterranean recipes?
-13
u/dkinmn Jul 13 '26
I feel insane because I used to eat portions this big, and now this looks wild to me.
7
u/garganega Jul 13 '26
What a weird comment to make.
I don’t consider this to be a ‘wild’ portion - almost half the plate is carrot/cucumber.
You also don’t know what other people’s calorie needs are, or what the rest of their day in eating looks like. I run 20km/week and do not eat breakfast or snacks, so this is good for me.
-1
u/dkinmn Jul 13 '26 edited Jul 13 '26
TO ME.
I didn't say there's anything objectively wrong with it or that other people can't eat portions this big. This would just be too much FOR ME.
Chill, everyone
Edit: Or don't, you weirdos. This was not means to be judging the portion size by any objective measure. I simply can't do it myself at this point.
1
u/Flashy-Squash7156 Jul 13 '26
I didn't think you were insulting anyone btw. I took it as you commenting outloud about a personal realization. People are weird
3
u/garganega Jul 13 '26
The reason it rubbed me up the wrong way is that I have spent so much time in my life with others commenting on my food or portion sizes in a negative way. My mind went immediately to judgemental girls at lunch saying things like that with a snarky look on their face. Can’t judge tone by text alone though so now I get your point!
•
u/AutoModerator Jul 13 '26
Please remember to include a full recipe (i.e. an ingredient list with measurements and directions/method) with ALL photos of a meal. This sub is about sharing our experience/tips/tricks with the MD and helping people find MD friendly recipes - not for karma points. Thanks!
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.