Best for beginners
The Mediterranean Dish
The friendliest way into Mediterranean home cooking.
See it on amazon.co.uk*Category
Mediterranean Lifestyle
On the Mediterranean coast, good food is simple: excellent olive oil, fish, vegetables, bread and time at the table. Here you will find how to choose the basics, the books that teach the cooking and easy meals that come together on a weeknight.
In short
Buy two olive oils – one to cook with, one to drizzle; the olive oil guide shows how to read a label, and the Spanish olive oil guide takes you to Andalusia. Then cook from a good cookbook or start with our easy weeknight meals.
Olive Oil & Pantry
Olive oil and the pantry
The one ingredient worth spending on, and what else belongs in a coastal pantry.
AI imageBest Olive Oil
How to choose a good extra virgin olive oil – harvest date, dark bottle, origin, taste – plus the bottles we'd buy for everyday cooking and for drizzling.
AI imageSpanish Olive Oil
Picual, Hojiblanca or Arbequina? How to choose Spanish extra virgin olive oil from Andalusia and Catalonia, plus the bottles worth buying.
The Coastal Table
The coastal table
Tableware, linen and the pans that go from stove to table; a guide follows.
A guide to tableware and table linen is in the works.
Recipes & Meal Plans
Recipes and meal plans
Weeknight cooking from the coast, without a diet plan.
AI imageEasy Meals
Easy Mediterranean meals that come together in about 30 minutes: sheet-pan fish, chickpea stews, big salads and pasta – with a simple pantry list.
AI imageCookbooks
The Mediterranean cookbooks worth owning – from easy weeknight books to Spanish and Middle Eastern classics – and which one to start with.
Mediterranean Style
Mediterranean style at home
Whitewash, terracotta and olive wood: the European side of coastal decor is part of the modern coastal style guide.
Quick picks
Three for a Mediterranean kitchen
Best paella pan
Garcima paella pan
A thin carbon-steel paella pan, the Spanish classic, for the stove or the grill.
See it on amazon.co.uk*Food, not medicine
We write about cooking and the pleasure of eating, not about health effects. If you follow a diet for medical reasons, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian.
Questions readers ask
What belongs in a Mediterranean pantry?
Extra virgin olive oil, canned tomatoes and fish, chickpeas and lentils, olives, garlic, lemons, dried herbs, nuts and good bread.
Is Mediterranean cooking expensive?
Not really: most of it is beans, grains and vegetables. Spend your money on the olive oil.
How do Spanish, Italian and Greek olive oils differ?
Mostly by olive variety: Picual and Arbequina in Spain, Coratina and Frantoio in Italy, Koroneiki in Greece – each with its own taste. More in the Spanish olive oil guide.