Mediterranean Diet - Mediterranean Pyramid - Greek cuisine

Mediterranean Diet-
Mediterranean Pyramid-

Greek cuisine



 Mediterranean Diet is very healthy and thus it is well
known and respected all over the world.

 It is based on fruit, vegetables, olive oil, legumes,
fish, seafood and a lot of cereals.

 Meat is not consumed at large quantities and sweets
are home made traditionally. Honey is also consumed
and produced because it is very good for health.

 The mild climate helps the trees and the plants to
grow so there is a great variety of fruit and vegetables
which are cooked in many ways and are delicious

We discussed the importance of We collected pictures from
Mediterranean Food Pyramid magazines and created with collage
our Mediterranean Food Pyramid

Creating our Mediterranean Creating our Mediterranean

Food Pyramid Food Pyramid

 The Mediterranean food pyramid is recognized as the “gold
standard” eating pattern that promotes life long good health.

 This Mediterranean diet pyramid is based on food patterns
typical of Crete, much of the rest of Greece, and southern
Italy in the early 1960s, where adult life expectancy was
among the highest in the world and rates of coronary heart
disease, certain cancers, and other diet-related chronic
diseases were among the lowest. Work in the field or
kitchen resulted in a lifestyle that included regular physical
activity and was associated with low rates of obesity.

Fruits and legumes inspire not only Students meet Giuseppe
our health…and artists too. Arcimboldo’s art and create their
own “fruit portraits”.

Healthy foods inspire our Creating our fruit and

body and art! legume portraits

• Greek cuisine is mostly Mediterranean , it has some common
characteristics with the traditional cuisine of Italy, Balkans, Turkey

and Levant (a part of Middle East) .
• Contemporary Greek cuisine has a wide use of vegetables, olive oil,

cereals, fish, wine and meat (white and red). Additionally, other

important products are olives, tomatoes, cheese, aubergines, onion,

garlic and yogurt. The main characteristics of the Greek sweets are

nuts and honey while several fruits are used mostly of the so-called
spoon –sweets.
• Another important parameter of the Greek cuisine are dainties,
which is a collective name for a variety of small dishes , usually

served with wine, ouzo or raki at snack bars, taverns and similar

places but they are also served to a visitor that someone may have at

home.
• Arhestratos was an ancient Greek who in 320 BC wrote the first

cookery book in history.

 Greek cuisine is mostly Mediterranean , it has some common
characteristics with the traditional cuisine of Italy, Balkans, Turkey and
Levant (a part of Middle

 East) .

 Contemporary Greek cuisine has a wide use of vegetables, olive oil,
cereals, fish, wine and meat (white and red). Additionally, other important
products are olives, tomatoes, cheese, aubergines, onion, garlic and yogurt.
The main characteristics of the Greek sweets are nuts and honey while
several fruits are used mostly of the so-called spoon –sweets.

 Another important parameter of the Greek cuisine are dainties, which is a
collective name for a variety of small dishes , usually served with wine,
ouzo or raki at snack bars, taverns and similar places but they are also
served to a visitor that someone may have at home.

 Arhestratos was an ancient Greek who in 320 BC wrote the first cookery
book in history.

 Ancient Greek cuisine was characterized by frugality and had its base the “ triad of
the Mediterranean” : Wheat-olive oil-wine, based on fish. Meat was eaten more
rarely. This tendency in the Greek diet was continued in the roman and ottoman
years and has changed relatively recently, when the technological progress has
made meat more available. Urbanization after 1960 has brought equivalent changes
such as new recipes, new presentation ways and more processed food.

 Greek cuisine uses some herbs more frequently than other Mediterranean cuisines
such as oregano, mint, garlic, onions, parsley, anise and laurel leaves. In many
recipes, sweet spices are used in combination with meat, such as cinnamon and
clove.

 The climate and the soil of the country has the tendency to favor the breeding of
goats and sheep more than the breeding of beef cattle such as cows and therefor
dishes with local beef meat are not frequent. Fish and seafood are commoner as it is
natural at the littoral areas and on the islands.

 Greek cuisine uses a great variety of cheese, such as feta cheese, kaser, hard cheese,
gruere, formaela, soft cheese, metsovone, cream cheese and chaloumi (mostly in
Cyprus)

 Taverns and some restaurants are the main places that serve traditional Greek dishes
for the locals and the tourists, as well. Recently “fast food” restaurants have also
become popular in Greece and Europe. Despite the fact that fast food is gaining and
chains have opened restaurants all over Greece, they are still based mainly on the
rich and of wide range Greek diet. Moreover, some traditional Greek food such as
souvlaki and pita-gyros are often served in fast food style.

 Wine and olive oil have always been a central part of Greek cuisine and the
expansion of grapes and olive trees in the Mediterranean area and even further is
closely related to the Greek settlement.

 The most characteristic and integral element of the Greek cuisine is olive oil, which
is often used in most dishes. It is produced by olives and it consists the
characteristic taste of Greek diet . The main productions of cereals in Greece are
wheat and barley. Important vegetables are tomatoes, aubergines, potatoes, beans,
okras, peppers and onions. In Greece honey comes mostly from the nectar of fruit
trees, citrus trees and conifer trees. There is also mastic which is aromatic natural
resin which is extracted from mastic trees and is cultivated only on the island of
Chios.