For centuries, diets of the Mediterranean region have been touted has having special health benefits. Historically, people of countries that surround the Mediterranean seemed to live longer and suffer from less chronic disease.


Now, emerging scientific data indicates that the Traditional Mediterranean Diet does indeed have heart protective benefits. While the specific foods may have differed a bit depending on the country, the Traditional Mediterranean Diet emphasizes whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables. The primary source of dietary fat is olive oil.

Food is an important conduit for the Mediterranean mania. What began nearly a decade ago as a love for all edibles Italian is now a growing taste for the cooking from the lands of Anatolia and Aegean Coast. This year, a dozen or more cookbooks are being published about the Mediterranean, more than on any other single topic. They range from the sweeping, like Joyce Goldstein's "Mediterranean the Beautiful Cookbook" (Collins, San Francisco), to the particular, like "The Cooking of the Eastern Mediterranean," by Paula Wolfert (HarperCollins).

The cuisines of the Mediterranean vary as widely as the language, politics and religions of the individual countries. But in all of them, vegetables and grain are prominent, meat is used sparingly, and there is olive oil -- lots of olive oil.