Talk:Cuisine of the Mediterranean

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Are recipes allowed?

In Wikibooks Pictureuploader 22:43, 12 October 2006 (UTC)

How can we "Expand it"? Conquest1980 01:13, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] remove some of the close related

A main characteristic of the Mediterranean cuisine is the use of olive oil. Cuisines that are not using olive oil can’t be at any way close to the Mediterranean cuisine. Therefore I request the removal of the following Links (How are those close related to Mediterranean cuisine?) Albanian cuisine, Bosnian cuisine, Bulgarian cuisine, California cuisine, Croatian cuisine, Montenegrin cuisine, Macedonian cuisine (Slavic), If anyone has any objections please advise and contribute! Thank you! (Seleukosa 13:22, 19 February 2007 (UTC))

As it says at the beginning of the article, the category "Mediterranean cuisine" is not a particularly meaningful one. It presumably should mean "cuisine of the regions around the Mediterranean", but it is used by some nutritionists (especially) to refer specifically to the cuisine of poor coastal people in Crete, Southern Italy, etc. Emilia-Romagna is right on the Mediterranean, and their primary cooking fat is butter. Algeria is right on the Mediterranean, and their primary cooking fat is sheep fat. For more on the made-in-America Mediterranean diet, see that article. --Macrakis 15:47, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] "mediterranean"

"Mediterranean cuisine" refers not to "the food of the countries with shores in the mediterranean" but to areas around the mediterranean, which constitute of mediterranean common denominators contributing to shared elements, such as origins and culture just as any other aspect of things "mediterranean" such as climate, ethnic groups, flora and fauna, etc.

To distinguish portugal from spain because portuguese shores are in the atlantic is simple minded and narrow thinking. portugal and spain have ties that are undeniable and to separate the two would be like drawing a line down france creating two new countries and then saying that they are different.

Also, northwestern spain is excluded. This is wrong. what about the very north of italy?.. shouldn't that be excluded going by the existing logic, because it isn't. that isn't in the mediterranean either. are we designating regions here by actual cuisine that come from a mediterranean "eco"-culture or are we only counting a specific number of miles or kilometers from mediterranean beaches going only so far into land as far as this author concerns what "mediterranean" is in his/her mind?

If there were an article on Iberian cuisine, a solid differentiation between portugal and spain would not exist because it dos not exist. there is much more in common than there is different and many differences between the two countries happen to be regional. the peninsula needs to be looked at as a whole in amny many matters. very often there is as much different between one region of spain to another as there is between portugal and spain, and many times there is more in common between portugal and a certain region of spain then there is between taht region of spain to another region of spain. many people who are not portuguese or spanish don't understand this. It would then, and does, contradict the insinuation of this article that they are different. "closely related" doesn't cut it. regardless of the shoreline, it is "mediterranean".

There may be more gross errors concerning the exclusion of other cultures but I don't mention them because I can't speak for them. I don't know, but Portugal I know.

The definition of "mediterranean" here is preposterous.

Lusitano Transmontano 08:24, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Lusitano, the basic problem (which is already discussed in the article) is that "Cuisine of the Mediterranean" may not be a meaningful category in the first place. Note the quote near the beginning where an Italian writer says that northern Italian cooking is really more Central European than Mediterranean, for example. There is also a confusion between recording what is actually eaten in the Mediterranean region and idealizing it based on current nutritional theories about the Mediterranean diet, which is essentially based on the diet of poor people in Crete and coastal southern Italy as observed in 1945-1960. --Macrakis 15:49, 1 March 2007 (UTC)

Macrakis, thanks for bringing it to my attention. I admit sometimes I can get jumpy. But aside from the quote about Northern Italian/Central European cuisine and the acknowledgement that the title may not be a suitable one in the first place I still felt the need for, and don't regret, saying my piece regardless of whether or not it has been brought up. My thoughts are here and can may help improve this or another related article for talk page readers by bringing some ideas to their attention. Still thanks for your reply and making me aware of the point you bring up.

Lusitano Transmontano 03:09, 5 March 2007 (UTC)