Mediterranean Cuisine: A Culinary Kaleidoscope

When it comes to great food and wine, there’s really no better place to enjoy it than the land of ancient ruins, cliffside villages and legendary cities known as the Mediterranean. It’s a place where the passion for living well melds into the art of cooking and dining, and where eating well is both daily life and a pleasure meant to be savored. Since the region encompasses everything from the sun-drenched coasts of Spain, France and Italy to the ancient shores of Greece, Turkey and Israel, there’s an incredible diversity in the dishes, ingredients and cooking techniques. Mediterranean cuisine is highly versatile, one that is known as being one of the healthiest cuisines in the world.

What is the Mediterranean Diet?
Though the foods that make up the Mediterranean diet have been grown, gathered and eaten since nearly the dawn of civilization, the recognition of the Mediterranean diet as a beneficial lifestyle began in the 1960s when Ancel Keys, an American physiologist, associated it with a lower risk of coronary heart disease. He led the famous “Seven Countries Study,” which revealed that those living on the Greek island of Crete were in especially good health and had the lowest rate of cardiovascular disease. Rural Cretans at the time focused on simple cooking and plant-based foods – fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, seeds and olive oil took center stage. Eggs, dairy, poultry and fish also appeared on the table regularly, while meat only on occasion.

This diet, which is really more of a holistic approach to eating and lifestyle, is now recognized the world over for its many health benefits. It’s fresh, colorful and varied – your plate will never be boring and that’s why it’s timeless.

Greek Cuisine: Food of the Gods
With Crete as the epicenter of the Mediterranean diet, it’s no wonder that so many travel to Greece to experience healthy Mediterranean cooking and cuisine. In fact, Greece has always been one of my ultimate culinary destinations.

Crete, Santorini, Athens…all of these are so emblematic of Mediterranean cooking and cuisine although the dishes vary quite a bit on each island and in each region of Greece. We have so many fantastic Mediterranean food and wine tours, but one of my all-time favorite experiences is our Culinary Discovery Tour on Crete – we do a little tasting tour in the center of Heraklion followed by a wine-pairing lunch at a Cretan restaurant internationally renowned for its focus on ancient ingredients and cooking methods.

Wherever your travels take you to next, Mediterranean cuisine can be exactly what you want it to be: healthy and light, elaborate and more decadent, or perhaps somewhere in between. That’s the best part about Mediterranean cruises with Oceania Cruises – it’s like a sprawling table of flavorful mezze or a counter full of perfectly prepared tapas – you get to choose exactly when and how to indulge.

About Director of Culinary Enrichment & Executive Chef Kathryn Kelly
Celebrating nearly a decade with Oceania Cruises, Chef Kelly’s passion for adult learning has been the driving force behind The Culinary Center since first developing it with Oceania Cruises co-founder Bob Binder in 2011. While overseeing a faculty of dedicated Chef Instructors, she is the chief architect of more than 100 unique culinary classes as well as our popular Culinary Discovery Tours™, which are immersive chef-led excursions offered in more than 40 destinations worldwide. Chef Kelly is an honors graduate of the Culinary Institute of America, completed her doctoral studies in Epidemiology at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and also holds dual Master’s degrees in Community Medicine and Public Health. Chef Kelly resides on Amelia Island and is an avid golfer, proud grandmother and heritage seed gardener.

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