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This book is about simple, easy to prepare Mediterranean vegetarian food. I like fast, fresh food, made with good quality ingredients – food that tastes of what it is and is above all, healthy.

Mediterranean vegetarian food is probably the healthiest and most delicious in the world. It is traditional, peasant food passed on from parent to child for generations. It is based on pulses and grains, an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, nuts and seeds and a small amount of dairy produce. Extra virgin olive oil is the main cooking medium, and wine – except in Muslim countries – is usually served with meals. Meat has always been a luxury around the Mediterranean and only eaten on Sundays or for special occasions.

Each of the fifteen or so countries around the Mediterranean has its own unique culture and cuisine, but they all share the same climate, geography, vegetation, and lifestyle. In other words the same food is prepared from one end of the Mediterranean to the other. Of course each country has its own specialties and ways of preparing food, but everywhere you will see the same ingredients. In every open air food market in the Mediterranean you will find huge bunches of fresh herbs and greens – spinach, Swiss chard, purslane, parsley, rocket, coriander, mint, oregano and basil – plus strings of garlic and onions, all kinds of olives and an abundance of fresh fruit – peaches, apricots, plums, nectarines, cherries, apples, pears, strawberries, grapes and all kinds of melons and citrus fruit.

In recent years much has been written about the benefits of the Mediterranean diet and how it lessens the risk of heart disease, cancer and other chronic diseases. The same can be said for the vegetarian diet. Put the two together and you have a recipe for good health.

The recipes I have chosen for this book are my own personal favourites that I have collected over the years while living and travelling around the Mediterranean. Most are very simple and easy to prepare. No great culinary skill is necessary. Mediterranean cooking is based on home style, peasant cooking. I hope the recipes evoke for you, as they do for me, the spirit of the Mediterranean.