Member-only story
What Exactly is Mediterranean?
It all started with a hummus plate
My friend and her daughter were traveling to Israel and after a harrowing arrival, decided it was time to eat. When I saw the above photo she sent, I naturally became hungry for Mediterranean food even though it was 5 am.
In typical fashion, my mind meandered away from falafel and hummus to consider just what exactly is Mediterranean food? There are lots of countries that border the Mediterranean Sea, so why do foods like hummus and falafel seem to be so associated with Mediterranean cuisine and spaghetti and meatballs not? Somehow I wasn’t hungry any longer and began my quest to figure it out.
Before doing the reasonable thing like searching the Internet, I decided I would ask a few people I know and respect, who eat a fair bit of “Mediterranean” food, what their favorite food in Mediterranean cuisine was.
The results surprised me a little bit. I totally expected responses like pita, hummus, and falafel, and when queried further, some people were more explicit and said Lebanese, Greek, or Croatian.
Wait. Croatian? I know my geography is not up to speed, but I always understood Croatia to be on the Adriatic Sea.
Down the rabbit hole, I went to figure this one out. And what a rabbit hole it was.
