Not since Never on Sunday has the Mediterranean ever looked so very… black and white. Yes, thanks to an artistic decision by director Steven Zaillian, that’s how the new eight-part Netflix “limited series” called Ripley was shot. And while we’ll always love the endless variations on blue that are the Mediterranean, that decision now comes […]
The word arancini in Italian means “little oranges.” But in the Sicily that named them, going back to the Arab occupation in the 12th century, they are literally no such thing. They were named so, as you might expect, because of a physical resemblance. Some arancini – a deep-fried form of risotto – are round […]
Based on our last few visits to Greece, the title Killer Heat might refer to the incendiary summer weather alone. But the words actually ride atop a new thriller set on the island of Crete that just started streaming on Prime. Yes, we did say NEW thriller, though its roots and numberless homages reach back […]
One of the most surprising things to many Americans visiting Greece is how much pork is enjoyed there. Somewhere along the way, the world bought into the notion that in Greece lamb is the only meat. Even delicious gyros, invented not in Athens but in Chicago, incorporate lamb into their signature mixture of pulverized meats. […]
To most people from anywhere else, Moroccan cooking is one huge explosion of exotic beauty – made all the more so by the faces and clothing of the cooks and servers, the shimmering fabrics flowing all around, and the otherworldly architecture giving human life a chance to survive in the vast desert. Yet far from […]
We all know what to do when life hands us lemons – we make lemonade, of course. But what would we do if there were no lemons. From its western meeting with the Atlantic Ocean to its eastern terminus with Syria, Lebanon and Palestine, the Mediterranean world would certainly never have looked, felt or tasted […]
Quite a few Mediterranean countries, cultures and cuisines make their claims (often passionately) on the eggplant-tahini dip called baba ganoush, though in the United States it seems to be considered mostly Lebanese. It is, however, also a national dish of countries as diverse as Iraq, Yemen, Jordan, Armenia, Palestine, Turkey and Egypt. Like hummus and, […]
In Italy, as in other parts of the wine-blessed world, there is a tendency to link certain regions with certain beloved grapes – thus the Chianti region in Tuscany with its sangiovese, the Veneto with its pinot grigio and all of Sicily with its nero d’avola. The commercial success of these grapes has inspired their […]
Americans don’t typically think of Syria or Damascus, its capital since ancient times, as being “Mediterranean.” The modern country’s coastline is only 110 miles long. And most importantly, its recent decades of anti-American leadership and now civil war make it an unlikely choice for the family vacation. The inland city of Damascus isn’t top-of-mind these […]
Pound for pound, day in and day out, I think all Greeks are secret almost-vegetarians. Sure, they eat lamb on special occasions, especially Orthodox Christian holidays, and plenty of pork the rest of the time. But I can’t think of a culture that grows more vegetables in its backyards and turns them into such delicious […]