To think a Sunday Dinner can follow the Mediterranean diet?

[itrezcbmko]

Obviously not made with beef and Yorkshire puddings.

I have started following the Mediterranean diet, which a couple of friends also do, and we were chatting about it. Somehow I also mentioned that I’d had a roast dinner on Sunday, which was deemed now following the diet. I know I can break it whenever I like, but surely this does follow the ‘rules’.

Skinless chicken breast, new potatoes (boiled), carrots and broccoli roast with olive oil, sweetcorn, peas, and cabbage, with gravy.

Maybe the gravy doesn’t fit but surely this largely does follow the Mediterranean diet? Is it just because it’s such a British meal that it’s not deemed good enough?

Apart from the olive oil, none of that sounds even remotely mediterranean to me!

I don;t know what the actual 'rules' are though.

Call the gravy jus and the bake a gratinado or al forno and it will be fine.

I used to work with someone who said he followed a Mediterranean diet. All he seemed to eat for lunch was hula hoops and ham sandwiches on white bread. I think you might be slightly at a more advanced level.

Roast potatoes are what makes a roast dinner. Boiled potatoes and chicken breast ain't a roast!

YABU for describing that monstrosity as a roast dinner.

It's not even remotely Mediterranean, complex carbs/grains are a HUGE part of the indigenous diets in blue zones.

And the term "Mediterranean diet" as used in western culture is hugely problematic (i.e. racist as well as just factually wrong) as it always erases the enormous influence that north African and west Asia has had on Mediterranean blue zone diets, and picks out a curated white washed list of approved less brown influenced foods

In short it's a nonsense diet.

Blue zone eating is balanced, seasonal, and with short farm to table distances. If it grows near you it's good for you. Have a bloody potato.

I would not consider that to be a roast really. Nor entirely a med diet.
But in all honesty if you are following a med diet you can not do it for a day or two sometimes. I don’t think the chicken meal is unhealthy at all.
The med diet has a lot of fish to it, beans too.

I'd rather eat hummus, olives and grilled aubergine any day than your Sunday meal OP. If I wanted a roast, then I'd make a proper traditional one or not bother at all. Besides, the benefits of a Mediterranean diet aren't just about food. It's about lifestyle, climate, genetics and other factors. So whilst the ingredients are undoubtedly good for you, it isn't the whole story.

Why would anyone want actual 'rules' around food anyway, aside from everything in moderation?

Life is far too short.

That's the worst of both worlds. It's not Mediterranean and it's not a roast!

A Sunday roast isn't bad for you, it's a very well-balanced meal. All depends on amounts, portions and how you cook things.

Was just about to say exactly the same!

I mean crack on op if you enjoyed it but it sounds a bit dull,
like a care home Sunday dinner, and neither here nor there as a meal in terms of Mediterranean or roast.

My relative has been advised to follow a Mediterranean diet to help heal her fatty liver, she eats a lot of pulses, grains, seeds/nuts, eggs and oily fish and just non processed foods in general.

Sounds dreadful. Not a Sunday dinner and not Mediterranean.

Peas, sweetcorn and boiled potatoes do not belong on a roast dinner.

British cold pressed rape seed oil is better for roast potatoes as it has a higher frying point.

I do things like chicken, courgette, peppers, tomatoes, onions, garlic, small potatoes and herbs and/or a bit of ras el hanout and some olive oil as a traybake in the airfryer. You don't need much oil and I would think of that as (a bit) Mediterranean but not a roast dinner per se.

Is this a dinner from a really terrible café in Gibraltar? An ultra-cheap cruise ship that's gone aground near Piraeus and waiting for an airdrop?

Isn't the idea that Mediterranean diet is especially good for you a myth stemming from pension fraud? Like, people saw that there were loads of old people in the poor parts of France Italy etc and figured that must be because of their diet, but actually most of the old people were long dead, just their children hadn't declared them so so that they could keep claiming their pensions. A similar thing happened on those islands in Japan that supposedly had more centenarians than anywhere else.

If I was having a roast and wanted to make it more Mediterranean I would roast a chicken using olive oil on the skin and put half a lemon in the cavity. Season with salt and pepper. I’d probably do roast potatoes but using olive oil. Possibly with some rosemary sprinkled on them. And roast red onions, peppers, carrots, courgettes. I’d probably still have peas as I like them. Maybe sprinkle some feta on the roast veg.

Eat whatever you want and don’t tell your friends

Kind of

There are Mediterranean blue zones but the "Mediterranean diet" fad white-washes out the heavy reliance on rice and couscous etc in these areas. A lot of blue zones in the med have dishes that are more closely related to north African etc food than the "picky bits" fake version that's sold as the Mediterranean Diet. And also totally misses the point of eating what's seasonal IN YOUR LOCATION.

that and remaining occupied and active into old age

Eating seasonally and locally and routinely engaging actively with your local environment are the common denominators in blue zones

NOT cutting out potatoes and grains!

No reason not to roast the bird. You don't have to eat the skin. But it's not Mediterranean if it doesn't include at least 2 out of peppers, courgettes or Aubergines which are all gorgeous roasted. I'd do some pearl barley, cooking it in chicken stock, instead of potatoes if it was just for me, but if other people are eating this meal please roast some spuds for them, you don't have to put any on your plate.

Op you have far too much time on your hands..

Why not just try to include as many, vegetables, leaner meats, beans and pulses as possible, rather then switch to a eating pattern with rules? You are setting yourself up to fail. Roasts/Stews/casseroles are fine, we live in a cold, wet country, just make it veg heavy and put beans and pulses, which was always part of British cuisine, anyway. Rice isn't healthier than potatoes.

That's not a roast. Boiled potatoes and no yorkshire pudding is not a roast.

But nor is it a Mediterranean diet.

It's just normal food

I don't see any of this is a roast dinner, or British for that matter!