Amira Elmalawny

Writing and Inquiry in Academic Contexts II

Stephanie Otis
6 November 2014
Inquiry Paper: Mediterranean Cuisine
Mediterranean food is a category of food that can be broken down into many
different types of food because it is made up of food from different countries. Is it
certain ingredients or ways the food is cooked that makes it Mediterranean?
Mediterranean cuisine is much more than just a type food. It is how culture is
passed from place to place and how it can be evolved into something new. A
distinctive cuisine and a shared food vocabulary function as central elements in the
definition of a national culture. Cookery books can be put to ideological uses by
demonstrating the homogeneity and antiquity of a nation, in Consuming Nations
explains how food explains more than just food, it can explain the country and the
customs. (Peckham, 173)
The idea of Mediterranean food is that it is made of the types of food of places
that are around the Mediterranean Sea; however many misunderstand where the
typical food they associate with Mediterranean food is from: Many of the recipes
we typically associate with Mediterranean countries dont come from coastal
communities, but from regions farther to the north. (Peckham, 174)
Mediterranean food goes much further than a few countries, something that can be
implied in The Mediterranean Food, a book by Elizabeth David. In the introduction
David gives the reader an idea of Mediterranean origin of the food, From Gibraltar

to the Bosphorus, down the Rhone Valley, through the great seaports of Marseilles,
Barcelona, and Genoa, across to Tunis and Alexandria, embracing all the
Mediterranean islands, Corsica, Sicily, Sardinia, Crete, the Cylades, Cyprus (where
the Byzantine influence begins to be felt), to the mainland of Greece and the much
disputed territories of Syria, the Lebanon, Constantinople, and Smyrna, stretches the
influence of Mediterranean cooking, conditioned naturally by variations in climate
and soil and the relative industry or indolence of the inhabitants. (David, 10)
David went through the Mediterranean and broke down the food by her
experience. Davids chapter Eggs and Luncheon Dishes includes chatchoucka, a
Turkish dish and huevos al plato a la barcino, a Spanish dish, as well as many others.
(David, 36) She also includes burek, a pastry that can be filled with spinach or fresh
cream cheese. The pastry that is used is called fila. Even though this pastry is of
Turkish origin it is made and sold in Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and even London.
(David, 41) The chapter also mentions Spanakopitta, which is a Greek dish that is
made with fila as well. (David, 42) Fila started off as part of burek, a Turkish dish
but helped create new Greek dish.
An idea David presents is that much Turkish food becomes Greek food,
Exquisitely simple, they are in fact of Turkish orgin, like many Greek dishes,
although the Greeks do not always care to admit it.(David, 77) However in The
Middle East Turkish cuisine is explained as, a fusion and refinement of Turkic,
Arabic, Greek, Armenian and Persian cuisines. And although there are common
dishes found throughout Turkey (kebobs, pilaf) each region has its own particular
specialties.(Ridge, 47) The World Atlas of Food shows that Turkish cuisine and

cooking has it is own blend of different types of food, The cooking of modern
Turkey is richly varied, exotic and frequently extravagant. It is not purely Turkish,
nor Greek, nor Arab, nor Armenian, but an amalgam of all.(Grigson and Angeloglou,
188)
The borders of food are not along the lines of a country, but rather having
their own borders. Because the food is not restricted to the borders of a country this
helps spread the culture and around. This could also cause an overlap of cultures
with the food causing new cultures to form: The food of eastern Turkey, which
borders on Armenia and Iran, although similar to the neighboring regions, also has
certain individual characteristics. (Grigson and Angeloglou, 188) There are also
some foods that are just called different names and are cooked a little differently but
are mainly the same idea. Calamari is described for the countries that it is focused
in, Very small inkfish, in France suppions, in Italy calamaretti, in Greece
calamarakia, are a great delicacy. They are ususally dipped in batter, fried crisp in
oil, and served with lemon.(David, 68)
Mediterranean food may be made up of many different foods but many of the
countries seem to have custom to go with. In Confusion About Mediterranean
Cuisine Parker-Pope also explains how the meal is usually eaten, One of the key
components of Mediterranean eating has to do with the elevation of the meal as a
social event. Meals are consumed at leisure with family and friends.(Parker-Pope,
1) Even the cooking seems to have a style: Turkish cooking requires patience and
hard work (Grigson and Angeloglou, 189). The Greeks have a way of eating their
food: The hour is late and the meal eaten. The talk dies down and the bazouki takes

over. Later there is time for a cup of strong, sweet coffee and a piece of baklava or
loukoumades, little dough puffs, dusted with cinnamon and dripping with honey.
(Grigson and Angeloglou, 193) It is common within Mediterranean food that a hot
drink is served after a meal mentioned in PART I: The ABCs of Traditional MiddleEastern Spice Medicines (A through C):Traditional Moroccan mint tea, or tea with
a sprig of wormwood in it, aid digestion after a rich meal.
The Mediterranean diet is newly popular because it has become a new
healthy diet. It is much more common now than it was a few years ago. The diet is
plant-based in nature, with a heavy emphasis on fruits and vegetables, nuts, grains,
seeds, beans and olive oil. (Parker-Pope, 1) An important factor that makes the
Mediterranean diet is the use of olive oil which is explained in The Characteristics
of Mediterranean Cuisine: An Overview of Typical Mediterranean Fare: Olive oil is
an integral part of traditional Mediterranean dishes, and it takes the place of butter
or vegetable oil in the cooking process. (1) This can make the food making process
more natural and lighter. In the contemporary world, there is no doubt that
healthful aspects of Mediterranean Diet and aesthetic appeal of the Mediterranean
as an imagined space-both unifying different orders of qualisigns of antiquity,
natural-ness, and artisanal technes of distinction and tradition-shape how olive oil
flows globally.(Meneley, 684), shows the significance of the Mediterranean diet in
the article Like an Extra Virgin. It also highlights the importance of olive oil in the
Mediterranean diet by saying that Mediterranean cuisine came together by going
back to the natural and past culture of food through olive oil. Olive oil is mostly
known to come from Greece, The ancient Greeks knew the olive oil well and used

its oil medicinally as well as in their food. (Grigson and Angeloglou, 192) Although
the actual Greek olive seems to be a little different, Greek olive oil is fruity, thick
and green and is more flavourful than the more refined olive oils of western
Europe.
The Characteristics of Mediterranean Cuisine: An Overview of Typical
Mediterranean Fare explains how red wine is another important aspect of
Mediterranean cuisine, Red wines such as malbec, Sangiovese and Nebbiolio are
the wines of choice in the Mediterranean diet.(1) Confusion About Mediterranean
Cuisine also mentions the use of red wine, Mediterranean eating also typically
includes moderate consumption of red wine.(1)
Mediterranean cuisine not only brings cultures together but religions as well.
Many of the foods included in it like humus or tabbouleh come from a Muslim
country. Even though part of the Mediterranean is Muslim-long considered
Europes despised Other and now depicted as the troubling Other within the Muslim
Mediterranean can be encompassed or elided through the rubric of Mediterranean
Cuisine, which can be consumed as delicious and healthy food without reference to
religion and politics.(Meneley, 684) This statement implies that most of the Middle
Eastern food can be referenced as part of the Mediterranean food, even though it
seems that many Europeans would not like to say that it is Middle Eastern. Many
foods are passed from the Middle East to Europe and from Europe to the Middle
East, creating Mediterranean Food. The Middle Eastern countries bring more variety
to the Mediterranean cuisine. Fool or Egyptian brown beans is written to be the
staple food of the Egyptian peasant. (David, 104) She also writes about it, This is

very filling, nourishing, and cheap dish. Tins of ready cooked Egyptian brown beans
are also to be bought in Oriental shops. This helps give an idea of the dish by
analyzing what the food is like. There are also Middle Eastern foods that get passed
to European countries. Couscous is a dish of Morocco that spread to other countries
as well, Couscous, the national dish of the Maghreb(Morocco), was introduced by
the Berbers, whose influence, above all others, has shaped the culinary tradition of
North Africa. Today couscous is eaten throughout the Arab world, as well as in
Europe.(Grigson and Angeloglou, 174)
The way Mediterranean Cuisine is perceived in the US is a mixture of Greek
food and Arab food, which can be inferred by the items that are placed on the menu.
For example Zatar is a restaurant that offers Mediterranean food items like hummus
(Arab food) and gyros(Greek food) The Middle East explains what Middle Eastern
food is to chefs in the United States, For many chefs in the U.S., Middle Eastern
menu inspiration comes from those cozy neighborhood restaurants just around the
corner, each with its own rendition of hummus, kebobs, and baklava on the
menu.(1)
Mediterranean Cuisine is looked at as a type of food. For some it just happens
to be only what they have for lunch that day but it goes much further than that,
because a person experiencing Mediterranean food is also experiencing a merge of
culture, customs, and religion. As time goes on many things change but the beauty of
food is that it does not fully change it is handed down as well as evolves with little
differences, and sometimes something new can come out of that difference.
Mediterranean Cuisine is an example of that.

Citations

"The Characteristics of Mediterranean Cuisine: An Overview of Typical

Mediterranean Fare." Cooking Recipes Food. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.

David, Elizabeth. A Book of Mediterranean Food. New York: New York Review,
2002. N. pag. Print.

Griffiths, Sian, and Jennifer Wallace. "Consuming Nations." Consuming

Passions: Food in the Age of Anxiety. Manchester: Manchester UP, 1998. N.
pag. Print.

Grigson, Jane, and Maggie Angeloglou. The World Atlas of Food: A Gourmet's
Guide to the Great Regional Dishes of the World. New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1974. Print.

Kresh, Miriam. "PART I: The ABCs of Traditional Middle-Eastern Spice

Medicines (A through C) " Green Prophet. N.p., 24 Feb. 2010. Web. 7 Nov.
2014.

Meneley, Anne. "Like an Extra Virgin." American Anthropologist. 4th ed. Vol.
109. N.p.: n.p., 2007. N. pag. Print.

Parker-Pope, Tara. "Confusion About Mediterranean Cuisine." New York Times.

N.p., 11 Feb. 2009. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.

Ridge, Diane. "The Middle East." The Middle East. N.p., n.d. Web. 24 Oct. 2014.