The Mediterranean diet, by an actual Mediterranean

I. What the research gets right

The Seven Countries Study of the 1950s and 60s, and the literature that followed, accurately identified the characteristics of the diet: high consumption of olive oil, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains; moderate fish and seafood; moderate wine with meals; low red meat and processed foods.

These are real characteristics of how people in this region actually eat. They are not aspirational. They are descriptive. I eat this way because this is what the food culture I grew up in produces.

II. What the research gets wrong

The research describes the diet as it existed in the 1950s and 60s — a period of relative poverty where meat was expensive and olive oil and vegetables were cheap and accessible. The Mediterranean diet was partly a diet of necessity.

The global export of the diet as a health framework happened at the same moment Mediterranean populations were beginning to eat more like northern Europeans and Americans. A Greek person eating at a McDonald’s in Athens is eating a Greek meal in the geographic sense. They are not eating the Mediterranean diet.

III. What is actually on the Valencian table

Paella is from Valencia. This is correct. The restaurant version that exists outside Spain — the seafood-and-rice combination called paella everywhere in the world — is not.

Valencian paella is made with chicken and rabbit, green beans, garrofón, rosemary, and saffron. Seafood paella is a separate dish. Mixed paella is what most of the world calls paella and is considered by Valencian purists a category error.

The rice is the point. The socarrat — the toasted layer at the bottom of the pan — is the prize that everyone at the table wants and nobody gets enough of.

IV. The part that travels and the part that doesn’t

The ingredients travel. The recipes travel, with local adaptation. What does not travel as easily is the pace — the long lunch, the two-hour midday break, the culture of eating with family or colleagues rather than at a desk, the absence of urgency at the table.

The way the meal is eaten is part of the health outcome. Eating the correct ingredients at a desk in ten minutes may not produce the same results as eating the same ingredients at a table with people you know for an hour. The pyramid is the easy part. The pace is the hard part to export.

Recipe — Paella Valenciana · serves 4

Pilar Núñez · Valencia · 40 cm paella pan · 30 minutes

• Serves 4
• 40 cm pan
• 20 min rice
• 5 min rest

Ingredients

• 400 g bomba or calasparra rice
• 400 g chicken pieces, bone-in
• 300 g rabbit pieces (or substitute additional chicken)
• 200 g green beans, cut into 4 cm pieces
• 100 g garrofón or lima beans
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 Roma tomatoes, grated
• 1 tsp sweet smoked paprika
• Large pinch of saffron
• 1.2 L hot chicken stock
• Salt and a sprig of fresh rosemary

The method

1. Heat olive oil in the pan. Season chicken and rabbit with salt. Brown on all sides over medium-high heat. Push to the edges.
2. Add green beans to the centre, cook 3 minutes. Add garlic, cook 1 minute. Add grated tomato. Cook until the sofrito is dark and thick — 8–10 minutes. Add paprika, stir 30 seconds.
3. Add hot stock. Bring to a boil. Adjust salt — it should be slightly overseasoned; the rice will absorb it.
4. Add saffron. Add rice in a cross or thin even layer — do not stir after this point. Add beans. Lay rosemary on top.
5. Cook on medium-high 10 minutes. Reduce to medium-low for 8 more minutes until stock is absorbed and rice is al dente.
6. Raise heat to high for 2 minutes at the end to develop the socarrat — listen for the faint crackle from the bottom of the pan.
7. Remove from heat. Rest 5 minutes covered with newspaper or a clean cloth. Serve directly from the pan.

About the contributor

Pilar Núñez

Pilar Núñez writes about the Mediterranean diet as lived practice and Valencian food culture from Valencia, Spain. She makes paella most Tuesdays because she has the ingredients, not as performance.

Editor’s notes — the longer view

A note on the chorizo. Chorizo is not a paella ingredient. It has never been a paella ingredient. A paella containing chorizo is a recipe by someone who has not been to Valencia.

A note on the rice. Bomba or calasparra. Not arborio, not basmati, not «rice». The variety absorbs stock without turning to porridge and is the foundation of the entire dish.

A note on the pan. A wide, shallow pan is non-negotiable — the rice cooks in one even layer. A deep pot produces risotto, not paella. Measure your burner before you buy.

A note on the socarrat. The thin caramelised crust at the bottom is the dish’s reason for being. Listen for the faint crackle at the end. There is never enough.

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