Changes in Mediterranean Cuisines

[gsquared]

Paula,

Have you since writing Mediterranean Cooking, observed shifts in the cuisine you described in 1976? Does regional cooking have an inertia that renders it relatively immune to what may be current (or fashionable) in the rest of the world?

[Wolfert]

Actually, I revised "Med. Cooking" in 1994, removing 60 recipes and adding 75 new ones. Among the ones I took out: a salt cod mouuse served in a shell of puff pastry with poached eggs and hollandaise; a French chicken, sausage and bacon pie; a bourride enriched with an aioli made with six eggs; and other extremely rich preparations. I also suspect that these dishes are less popular in their regions for the same reason. Certainly there's been a worldwide change in attitude toward more healthful eating. Bottom line: yes, there is a certain inertia to regional cooking, but peoples' preferences change in regions too. Yet, hopefully, the great old dishes will survive as "grandmother's cooking," and will still be served on special occasions.

For example about taste changes: just today I received an email from a friend in southeastern Turkey telling me about the rage for baking fish on tiles. A dish that never existed before in this landlocked town. By the time I get back to visit..who knows? I will be seeing it everywhere.