Debbie Matenopoulos

Just this week the Mediterranean diet has been in the news as one of the original supporting research papers has been withdrawn because there were mistakes in the statistics. A reexamination of the work seems to revalidate the original claims, but does not excuse the mathematical mistakes of the original publication.

So the enthusiastic 2014 Foreword by a cardiologist may sound a little funny this week, his endorsement of a cookbook that encourages health and good cheer is spot on.

TV personality Debbie Matenopoulos dedicates this big fat Greek cookbook to her late father and plants family photos among the ruins, fishing boats and food photos. Even grainy 19?? photos of mom and dad and the kids. She writes of learning to cook alongside the women in her extended family as Greeks have always done. Her dad gardened as so many did in those days. There was no "Mediterranean Diet" here, it was home cooked traditional food!

The book is arranged by courses from appetizers to desserts, with some extra bits thrown in after. There are lots and lots of recipes for every bit of Greek food you will ever want. It all sounds yummy and my stomach is growling. I would love a plate of fried calamari right now.

Funnily enough, the book is a bit dated in that olives of all sorts are now available in any community with a large supermarket like Whole Foods or Wegmans. More kinds of packed olives are on the shelves.

Some of the nutrition information in the book is a bit suspicious, like the claim that dandelion greens have all of the essential amino acids. I tried to check this online. Only one of the sites touting the nutritional benefits of dandelion greens mentioned amino acids and there was no citation. Another nutrition calculator listed 0 on all amino acids. I really wish people would stop giving nutrition advice in cookbooks.

Some of the photos are a bit garish. The eggplant spread photo is unfortunate.

Anyway, my gripes aside, this is a fun book with tasty, homey recipes and cheerful photos. Give it a try.

I received a review copy of "It's All Greek to Me: Transform Your Health the Mediterranean Way with My Family's Century-Old Recipes" by Debbie Matenopoulos with Peter Capozzi (BenBella Books) through NetGalley.com. It was originally published in a hardback edition in 2014 and has been reissued as a trade paperback in 2018.… (altro)

I love to cook so I found this book very interesting. I've always wanted to try a little Greek cooking and now I can. I have a few recipes to try. The ARC book only has a few recipes in it. I will be trying the Greek Village Salad (Horiattci Salata) today. I can't wait to try some more recipes in this book.

I recommend this book to others. I can't wait to get the whole book and see what other recipes are in there.

So I tried the Greek Village Salad and I loved it. Can't wait to try some recipes.… (altro)