The only place you should ‘go on a diet’, according to a food writer

Going on a diet is the last thing any sane person would think about while swanning around the Mediterranean. But if you’re having yoghurt for breakfast, pasta al pomodoro for lunch, and grilled fish and a glass of wine for dinner, you’re already on one of the oldest diets in the world. The Mediterranean one.

In a nutshell (because nuts are a part of it as well), the Mediterranean diet is based on loads of vegetables and olive oil, some fish, whole grains, fruits, smaller amounts of dairy products and meat, and moderate amounts of alcohol. Multiple studies have shown that eating in this way can lower your risk of heart disease and add years to your life.

Try Greek salad on Samos, an island in the eastern Aegean Sea.Credit: iStock

Each of the countries that fringe the Mediterranean Sea has developed its own flavour profiles and eating traditions, drawn from their markedly different landscapes, languages and customs, but they all cleave to the same general – and very delicious – principles.

So here’s a guide to what to eat and where; based purely on, let’s be honest, my personal greed.

When in Greece, for instance, order horiatiki, aka Greek salad, for its vibrant mix of tomatoes, red onion, black olives and salty feta cheese. Look for briam, a wonderfully fruity mess of vegetables roasted down in olive oil, and spanakopita, or spinach pie, for a big fix of leafy greens.

Greek recipes are ancient and their methods are simple, but the resulting flavours are deeply savoury, textural and comforting. Sit down at a wooden table in the underground cellar of Diporto, Athens’ oldest underground taverna, for instance, and have revithia, a thick, almost creamy soup of chickpeas with olive oil. Mitsos, owner and chef, will bring you a jug of cloudy retsina – although you’ll be keeping the drinking moderate, of course, in keeping with the tenets of the diet.

Freshly grilled sardines in Portugal.Credit: Alamy

In Turkey, you should go nuts for nuts. Head for the bustling Karakoy Market in Istanbul for the rich, honey-drenched baklava at Karakoy Gulluoglu, a bakery that opened in 1949 and has turned the layering of filo pastry and chopped nuts into an art form.

Portugal may face the Atlantic Ocean rather than the Mediterranean, but the Portuguese have the same dependence on natural, local and seasonal foods, particularly fish. Lunch on oily-fleshed sardinhas grelhadas (grilled sardines) wreathed in billowing smoke at an outdoor grill in the Alfama district of Lisbon, with its maze of tiny narrow alleys and pateos (terraces), for one of the most atmospheric eating experiences in Europe.

Likewise in Spain: if you’re eating paella de marisco (seafood paella) while sitting at an outside table at a beachside bar anywhere on the Spanish coast (try Chiringuito Sicsu on the Playa de la Malagueta in Malaga), well, you’re just sticking to your diet.

A classic village fruit and vegetable store in Gordes, Provence.Credit: IStock

When in Italy, order insalata caprese every day – the famous “tricolore” of ripe red tomato, fresh and creamy white mozzarella and sweet green basil dressed in rich, fruity olive oil is Med central. The best can be found at the Hotel Caruso in Ravello, with three or four different buffalo mozzarella cheeses from Aversa and local tomatoes from the slopes of Mount Vesuvius, drenched in extra virgin olive oil and eaten with a sparkling view of the Amalfi coast.

In France, anything Provencal will fill the bill, from tiny vegetables stuffed with rice and herbs to dipping crisp raw vegetable crudites into jars of pistou (pesto). Give the churches and monuments a miss – they’ll be there tomorrow – and splash out on a big, celebratory assiette de fruits de mer (try Le Cabanon de l’Escalier, between Grasse and Mougins). Crack open a bottle of Provencal rosé, and give yourself time to peel every prawn, winkle out every periwinkle and slurp every oyster.

The Mediterranean diet isn’t just about food; it’s a way of placing value on the oldest social act we have – gathering at the table. The time we take and the mood we’re in are as vital to our health and happiness as the raw ingredients. It might be just what the doctor ordered, but that just looks like a great holiday to me.