A fresh and exciting approach to Greek culinary tradition, wherein food is healthy, simple, and most of all, delicious Take eighty-seven ambrosial recipes designed for the needs and appetites of everyday cooks, leaven with delectable anecdotes about the Greek lifestyle, then pepper with revealing scientific insight, and the result is Greek Revival: Cooking for Life ―an appetizing introduction to wonderful flavors and health benefits of the traditional Mediterranean diet. Patricia Moore-Pastides, an accomplished cook and public-health professional, presents dozens of easy-to-make and impossible-to-resist recipes that infuse a healthful diet with the enticement of great taste. Greek Revival showcases a pantheon of healthy recipes, accompanied by beautiful color illustrations, helpful preparation techniques, and tips for making the most of familiar ingredients, from colorful fresh fruits and vegetables, to whole grains, beans, and seafood. These natural flavors are enhanced by rich extra-virgin olive oil, so the delectable dishes are savored without guilt. Following Greek tradition, meat is not eliminated from the diet, but rather saved for special occasion, and you will find a variety of succulent and creative meat recipes in Greek Revival as well. Always mindful of time, health, and budget, the author makes wonderful use of natural, minimally processed ingredients readily found in most neighborhood supermarkets. Recipes include dolmades (grape leaves stuffed with cracked wheat and pine nuts), imam baildi (caramelized eggplant), gemista (vegetables stuffed with barley and mint), xifias souvlaki (herbed swordfish kebabs), tavas (oven-roasted onion, tomato and lamb stew), karidopita (spiced walnut cake), and many more. Throughout the book Moore-Pastides shares lively stories of her days living in Greece and Cyprus that exemplify the enduring charm of an Old World lifestyle. Through her tales we see a snapshot of a world lost to fast-paced modern living, and we are introduced to the health benefits of the Mediterranean lifestyle. Her observations are supported with illuminating summaries of current scientific research. Health-conscious readers looking to improve their diets and protect themselves from the perils of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, and Alzheimer's disease will find hope in the author's research, presented in a way that is accessible and inspiring. In Greek Revival, Moore-Pastides happily eliminates the frustration and deprivation so often associated with dieting and gives us instead a fresh and exciting approach to a lifestyle wherein food is healthy, simple, and most of all, delicious. Greek Revival also includes a foreword by Dimitrios Trichopoulos, the Vincent L. Gregory Professor of Cancer Prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health. Down-home Greek, even Mediterranean cooking is best experienced as a meat-light peasant diet, embracing olive oil, grains, beans, vegetables, and fruits as its main ingredients. No wonder that public-health professional (and first-time author) Moore-Pastides, Greek by marriage, not only provides 87 authentic recipes but also promotes this healthy way of eating through frequent references to current scientific research. Many of these diet’s benefits are widely recognized, especially protection against heart disease; other features, like the avoidance of highly processed foods and the use of omega-3 fatty acids, are well documented within her text and in the appended references. Each recipe, though simple to follow, doesn’t emulate modern cookbooks in its format; instead, all are written in a narrative, surrounded by the author’s stories of living in Greece and Cyprus. Color photographs and occasional sidebars also help cooks complete dishes successfully, whether a traditional gyros or saganaki or a special-occasion moussaka or tava (slow-cooked lamb stew). A foreword by Dimitrios Trichopoulos, from Harvard School of Public Health, emphasizes the goodness of Greek eats. --Barbara Jacobs "Patricia Moore-Pastides is a talented writer, a person of sharp intellect and, more important, sensitivity and compulsion to perfection. . . . Patricia draws a parallel between the revival of classical Greek architecture in the United States at the beginning of the nineteenth century and the current revival of the traditional Greek diet. Culture has many dimensions, and different people rank them in different ways. Patricia's book honors a particular aspect of Greek culture and, just as important, provides a blueprint for cooking for life―a longer, healthier, and more enjoyable life."―Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Vincent L. Gregory Professor of Cancer Prevention at the Harvard School of Public Health, from the Foreword "The delectable recipes in Greek Revival are distinctive, flavorful, and representative of their chef's commendable passion for healthy living through time-tested Old World cooking practices. Patricia Moore-Pastides retains the in