3. The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook

The New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook: A Delicious Alternative for Lifelong Health
By Nancy Harmon Jenkins, Bantam, 2009. Hardcover. $35; 496 pages

Almost two decades ago, when Nancy Harmon Jenkins published The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook, she helped advance the concept of healthy fats at a time when all fats were under the gun. Her New Mediterranean Diet Cookbook updates this now-mainstream idea and others: Eat a plant-based diet, let olive oil be the main fat source, and enjoy wine with meals. The most notable change is that Harmon Jenkins has dropped nutrition analysis with her recipes (which we found a bit troubling), arguing that analysis is often inaccurate, and that eaters should focus on diet at a whole-foods level, not a nutrient level. The book then takes a grand tour through the region: paella from Spain, eggplant stuffed with meat and rice (Karni Yarik) from Turkey, tagines from Morocco. Pasta, breads, pizza, couscous, rice: The grains are all here.

GIVE THIS TO: Med enthusiasts, unless they’re avid number crunchers. —Julianna Grimes