A journey through the Mediterranean region, devoted to the essential ingredients that make the Mediterranean diet so healthy and the culture so vibrant.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins writes about the 25 years she's spent living, cooking, marketing, gardening, and happily eating her way through the Mediterranean region. She explores the culinary life of the Inner Sea, offering recipes and cultural history from North Africa, Turkey, Lebanon, Italy, France, Greece, Spain, and the Middle East. Chapters serves as extended introductions for 120 recipes that best make use of the staple ingredients of Mediterranean cuisine: salt, olives/olive oil, wine/vinegar, tomatoes/peppers, pork, seafood, and cheese/dairy products.

The book is filled with folklore, anecdotes, history, interviews with chefs, artisans, and home cooks, and conveys a deep understanding of the fundamentals of Mediterranean cooking and culture.