With all the hoopla on the Mediterranean diet being healthier for you, what other relatively quick dishes (i.e. fuel efficient) are out there?

Have the following for dinner:

1) couscous

2) angel hair pasta (preferable with pesto too - do feel free to share your fresh pesto recipes on this thread!!)

Isn't Mediterranean diet more like fruits and vegetables, olive oil, legumes, nuts, seeds, whole grain, some fish, maybe some chicken,...

Couscous and angel hair pasta are un-whole grain - bad, bad, bad,...

But maybe when you're backpacking it's okay

There are lots of dehydrated legume dishes that would be better. Dehydrated fruit. Granola like stuff...

You can get whole wheat couscous and other pasta (couscous is a form of pasta). They cook in about the same time as the empty calorie, flavorless white variety. Health food stores are your best bet.

Because couscous is almost instant while even angel hair takes quite a while to cook (and is very "al dente" if done freezer-bag cooking style, as well as being apt to poke holes in the bag), I use whole wheat couscous for all pasta dishes.

The Mediterranean diet also includes a glass of red wine daily. Not exactly dehydratable.

"The Mediterranean diet also includes a glass of red wine daily. Not exactly dehydratable."

Is it the grape skins or the alcohol? You could eat some raisins and a cocktail with some high percentage alcohol

Take one of the shelf-stable Tetra Paks of wine...lol! OK, I despise wine for drinking :-D I eat my tasty home-dried wine grapes (raisins). So good!

Anyhow, yes, there are plenty of whole wheat options. Top with raw nuts, EVOO, lots of fried veggies and so on.

tabbouli / tabbouleh

Hummus chickpea garbanzo pea dip

lotsa eggplant... eggplant dip: Baba Ghanoush

falafel ? that needs a deep fryer. or fry at home, reheat on the trail, fart in sleeping bag.

Pita bread

smoked herring

basturma (Armenian style lean beef jerky with paprika)

get some ideas from restaurant menus:
http://www.fattoushmedrestaurant.com/#!menu

http://www.zenaslebanese.com/Menu.html

Edited by RogerDodger on 03/01/2013 15:38:34 MST.

The scientists use longevity to lend a causal rational to the so-called Mediterranen diet. But I wonder if that is their premis, how do they reconcile it with the Okinawan people who live even longer on a diet that couldn't be more different?

I think heridity and environment play bigger roles. Something calming and soothing about living in sunny climes close to the ocean in relative isolation away from the stresses of modern urban life. No big supermarkets to sell you highly processed foods promotes local self-sufficiency and lot's of home cooking.

Lots of fruits and vegetables are common between Medeterranean and Okinawa diet.

According to wikipedia, Okinawans eat more Sweet Potato instead of rice.

O and M both eat relatively small amounts of meat, sugar

O and M both eat some fish

O and M eat no processed c**p like we are marketed so heavily and eat here. No high fructose corn syrup.

I have a somwhat different experience in Okinawa than the Wiki does. Rice, sugarcane, cattle and tobacco are all major Okinawan crops. They also heavily consume a vile fire water called awamori and eat more fried noodles than potatoes.

I think the key factor is not so much what they eat but that they eat smaller portions, as do most peoples outside the USA. American food is just too cheap and choices too abundant. Too much of a good thing for ones health unfortunately.

Edited by rmjapan on 03/01/2013 18:15:19 MST.

The Mediterranean diet is healthier than current American diets because of the higher consistency of fruits and vegetables. Olive oil is lauded as a key component and as "heart healthy." But in all honesty, it could only be considered "heart healthy" compared to other fats. As a monounsaturated fat, it is healthier than saturated and trans fats, that much is true. But as a fat, it isn't something you want to ingest in great quantity as it isn't good for your heart.

Dirk