Mediterranean cuisine

The infrastructure is practically designed to make your life effortless.

But then you step into the geographic reality of certain like hidden corners of the Mediterranean.

Yeah.

And suddenly you realize the velvet rope isn't there to let you in.

Which means it entirely missed the 1970s and 1980s development wave.

Exactly.

Because when you look at other parts of the Mediterranean or even just neighboring Croatian islands, that era was defined by massive concrete resort build outs.

Yeah.

What if the only reason your guests came once is that nothing changed after they left? Today's guest is the chef and partner at Goodnight Hospitality in Houston, Texas.

At his restaurant March, his tasting menu restaurant, the entire menu is thrown out twice a year and rebuilt around a different corner of the Mediterranean, and he's 12 seasons in.

And he'll tell you that it's probably not a winning formula, but what we unpack today are the elements of that formula that win.

In today's conversation, we get into why a concept nobody can repeat back to you will never travel, how discipline and paperwork are what buy a chef creative freedom, and what it costs to close a restaurant for two weeks twice a year on purpose.

Understanding for me and sort of the style of cook, like understanding the cultures.

My family is from southern Italy and southern Spain.

I cook mostly Mediterranean, southern European food.

So for me, those intangibles of being in the place, being in that circumstance.

And although there are yet not magic bullets available, who knows in the future, there are effective holistic approaches.

And the Mediterranean diet, for example, and some of its components are very well validated for supporting healthy aging and preventing or reducing cardiovascular, neurological, and metabolic risks.

Absolutely.

Silvia, do you want to add anything to that?

Yeah, sure.

Like I'm completely with Andrea's answers and what he said about longevity and health span.

So, yeah, although there are no magic bullets for approaching these topics, the most effective approaches are like the holistic ones, as said, like the Mediterranean diet.

So particularly Pomonox fits right into that.

Uh, carbs.

Okay, so carbs are one, like we eat a lot of Turkish cuisine, uh, Turkish, Syrian, Mediterranean, Greek, like in that whole region, uh, Le- Lebanese, yeah.

It was anyways, a lot of Mediterranean foods.

This was one I was introduced recently, and I, I very much-- Like I, it's not that I don't like rice.

People think I don't like rice 'cause I have like offer alternatives.

Use it to enhance the dish.

Um, nut butters are, are fine, but it's just like I don't even wanna say they're boring 'cause I enjoy them, but it's just there's so many other ways that you can add fats to your meal.

And like one that I really enjoy, because we do eat a lot of Mediterranean when we eat out, tahini, chickpea-- Uh, sorry, what's, what's the, what's the one that's made of chickpeas? Hummus, baba ganoush, yogurt, uh, the yogurt dill type...

Yeah, yeah.

It does grow well anywhere in the Mediterranean.

Very much so.

Not great here.

think I've stepped in some.

We definitely have.

So we know that pomegranate was being used in Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisines in a few different forms, including pomegranate juice and pomegranate molasses going back centuries.

So that's why, like, I do think that, you know, this stuff is very much out there.

And they can also help explain why there isn't one diet that works for everybody.

The Mediterranean may work well for one person, the dash may work well for another.

A flexitarian approach may make sense for someone else.

A vegetarian or vegan eating pattern can work for another person when it's nutritionally adequate.

So I'll address DASH and MIND.

Now, if you've never heard those before, I promise I'll go into what those are.

Mediterranean style eating, flexitarian eating, another one where you may not have heard this expression before this before.

And what do these approaches have in common? Because again, it's not about finding one diet that everyone needs to follow, but what the evidence is about eating patterns that support health.

That's from my grandpa.

So do you really enjoy the Greek Mediterranean? I do love Greek.

Lamb.

I do.

Nice.

Yes.

How could you not? Mediterranean is so good.

It's incredible.

The key thing to understand is that the country has two very different types of cooking and which one you're eating really depends on where you are.

Down on the coast, it's pure Mediterranean diet with a strong Venetian and Italian influence.

Think fresh Adriatic seafood like grilled fish, calamari, inky black risotto, mussels and prawns in busara sauce.

Plus lots of olive oil, wine and of course pasta.

And I promise this drive is not a chore, but instead a part of the entire experience.

As you climb up out of the bay, you'll notice how the world outside your window slowly starts to change.

The palm trees, bougainvillea, and Mediterranean architecture gives way to something wilder and grander.

Think deep gorges, dark pine forests, rushing rivers, little stone villages with smoke curling from their chimneys, roadside stalls selling honey and homemade rakia, and eventually those massive imposing mountains.

And the book that I published with my publisher, Harvest House, I went around the world.

It's cuisines from the Mediterranean.

I did Asian cuisine.

obviously European, American.