Mediterranean Diet

[RAZR63]

Article from a well known newspaper today:

[Keithcaley]

Also featured on BBC News this morning.

Eat more Fruit, veg, fish, olive oil (and less crap! ) and reduce your chance of a heart attack by up to 37%...

I know that Woody Allen said "I can live to be 100, as long as I don't do any of the things that would make me want to live to be 100" - but you can do some of 'em!

[sophie]

Sadly if you take away the piles of rice, chips, bread of all description and type which accompanies much of the food here, you are left with a poor resemblance to the Med Diet. I was looking forward to the archetypal Med Diet when when we first moved here with plenty of different fresh fish to choose from, but hadn't realised it would be mostly frozen. Do you follow the Med Diet to the letter Keith? I still like the food here, but push all the starch to one side and sometimes, not left with a lot on my plate.

[Keithcaley]

Sadly if you take away the piles of rice, chips, bread of all description and type which accompanies much of the food here, you are left with a poor resemblance to the Med Diet. I was looking forward to the archetypal Med Diet when when we first moved here with plenty of different fresh fish to choose from, but hadn't realised it would be mostly frozen. Do you follow the Med Diet to the letter Keith? I still like the food here, but push all the starch to one side and sometimes, not left with a lot on my plate.

To the letter?

Which particular letter were you thinking of?

The three that spell n.o.t. perhaps

[RAZR63]

Presumably your talking about eating out? You'll have a much better choice preparing your own food..

[sophie]

Yes RAZR63, I should have made that plain, it was eating out I was referring to. I still wish there was a lot more choice of fish to cook though. Bream, Bass, slices of pre-frozen Sword fish or Salmon and maybe some Lagos is about all I see. We were offered Red Mullet once, but the bones made it a real drag to eat.

[Hippocampus]

It is no wonder there is little fresh fish to be had here, the sea is empty! We have dived all around the world, including other Med. coasts, and I can say that the sea off the coast here is the most barren we have ever encountered. The Med has been overfished for milenia, and there seems to be little evidence that anything is being done about it here. There needs to be well policed no-take zones to give the fish somewhere to breed in safety. There is a supposedly protected zone locally, but there are frequently fishing boats to be seen there at night. We have seen spear fisherman spearing fish, for example grouper, which are too young to breed, which is just not sporting, and ruinous for the fish population. I suppose it all boils down to poor management and lack of funding for policing.

[Ragged Robin]

Speed Boats and particularly Jet Skies are also responsibly for scaring away fish and what fish feed on, as well as destroying their environment, and damaging other marine life such as dolphins.

I am not a great fish eater, Sophie, and I do not know where you live but Supreme and Şah at Catalköy seem to have well stocked fısh counters, By the way, frighteningly,, I saw an article on the Internet which said the seas of the world (including the Med) are so polluted that one should eat at most two helpings a week for fear of poisening!!!!!!

The food you get in most restaurant bears little relation to what Turkish Cypriots cook in their own homes. Pilaf Rice, potatoes and bread are a basic in most Mediterranean diets - it depends how they are prepared and cooked.. and moderation in all things. The trend for chips with everything and fattening high cholesterol Great British Breakfasts is simply a response to demand by Tourists and Expats!

The great thing is grilled meat rather than fried and that olive oil and Yoğurt appear in virtually all TC cooking and are very beneficial and have medical benefits as well.

On the other hand ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, according to Peter Mayle (a Year in Provence) the French (with a med coast) eat loads of red meat, animal fats, dairy fats, sugary confections and wine, and have a low heart disease statistics!

If you give up drinking, smoking and sex (and bad eatinghabits) you dont live any longer, it just feels like it! Just watch out for that baclava!

[ElectricianPete]

Does eating Burger and chips by the sea make it a Mediterranean diet?

[Keithcaley]

Only if it's a dolphin burger, and you eat it while sitting on a jet ski, wearing a ba(la)clava

Apologies to RR - I just couldn't resist

[Ragged Robin]

OK Keith, baklava! Why didnt the spell check tell me?

Well It always has been my downfall, and would actually be my one complaint about Turkish (Cypriot?) cuisine that the sweets contain far too much sugar, and often sugar is used when honey is better.

Pete: I dont think so. Surely you would actually have to be IN (apologies for the caps) the sea or at least floating on it to avoid getting them wet!