Who is Seated Around The Oldways Table?

Acknowledgements

The Oldways Table, and Oldways itself, could not have flourished without the generous help and contributions of a great many friends in food, wine, health, restaurants, media, nutrition, and agriculture. There are too many to mention by name, and we apologize if we have missed someone.

We very much want to thank those who contributed the essays and recipes that make up this book, who are listed in "About the Contributors" (page 252).

Many thanks also to Lisa Ekus, our agent, who has been such a valuable help as we found our way through this often puzzling world of publishing. At Ten Speed Press, we want to thank Phil Wood, Lorena Jones, Kathy Hashimoto, and Brie Mazurek, as well as others who helped make this book possible. Our longtime friend Edouard Cointreau was another guiding hand.

In addition, there are individuals, some of whom did not contribute directly to the book but who have been instrumental to Oldways, we would also like to thank.

In 1991 and 1992, Dun and others worked with a group of scientists to define the Mediterranean diet. The group includes Elisabet Helsing, Marion Nestle, Frank Sacks, Dimitrios Trichopoulos, Antonia Trichopoulou, and Walter Willett. They were the core group that helped us get the science right as Oldways spread "Mediterranean Madness" across the United States. We thank them for sharing their knowledge and expertise, and for the many years of wonderful collaborations.

We also want to thank other scientists who worked with us over the years, helping ensure that Oldways' programs have a foundation of solid nutrition science, especially: Hannia Campos, Michael Crawford, R. Curtis Ellison, John Foreyt, Attilio Giacosa, Joan Gussow, Eric Hentges, Frank Hu, David Hunter, David Jenkins, Julie Miller Jones, Cyril Kendall, Penny Kris-Etherton, Len Marquart, Kathy McManus, Jose Maria Ordovas, Chris Pelkman, Serge Renaud, Gabriele Riccardi, Eric Rimm, Irwin Rosenberg, Luis Serra-Majem, Gene Spiller, Meir Stampfer, Rosemary Stanton, and Andy Waterhouse. Thanks also to the late Ancel Keys and his wife, Margaret; without their groundbreaking research and work on the Mediterranean way of eating, there would be no Mediterranean diet pyramid.

As Oldways has grown and evolved, we've been fortunate to have a number of talented, dedicated, and fun-loving individuals in our offices, who for more than fifteen years have helped us transform our mission into programs, conferences, and publications. Many thanks and much appreciation go to Oldways employees, past and present, and especially: Annie Bonney, Aimee Murdock Burke, Annie Copps, Birthe Creutz, Courtney Davis, Greg Drescher, Catherine Dry, Cynthia Harriman, Robin Insley, Francie King, Lauren McGuire, Liz Mintz, Jessica Musikar, Nicole Nacamuli, Sarah Powers, and Christine Smith.

Oldways could not exist without the individuals, organizations, associations, and companies that have supported and attended our educational programs since 1990. We give special thanks to the individuals below, who, in addition to all the contributors to the book, have been truly instrumental in making the book and Oldways what it is.

Fausto Luchetti, formerly Executive Director of the International Olive Oil Council in Madrid, was an early supporter of Oldways, and worked closely with Dun for more than a decade as we developed our programs around the Mediterranean.

Jody Adams, Jesse Cool, Nancy Harmon Jenkins, Aglaia Kremezi, Chris Kurth, Elizabeth Minchilli Claudia Roden, Michael Romano, Ana Sortun, Patricia Wells, and Paula Wolfert have helped us improve the quality of our programs with their talents, ideas, comments, and imagination.

The following individuals around the world have also contributed.

Australia: David Evans, Marina Libia, Jane Lomax-Smith, Ian Parmenter, Mike Rann and Sasha Carrruozzo, Cherry Ripe, Jon Sainken, Jen Skiff, and Bill Spurr.
Belgium: Fabio Gencarelli, Mike Knowles, Steve Leroy, Hannu Loven, and Joan Prats.
Brazil: Yara Roberts.
China: Junshi Chen, Keyou Ge, and Li Zhu.
France: The Cointreau family, the late Mireille Johnston, Susan Hermann Loomis, and Jean François-Poncet.
Greece: The Boutari family, the Carras family, John Kelidis, Diane Kochilas, Ioannis Kosmidis, Aglaia Kremezi, Mirsini Lampraki, Yannis Mandalas, Orestes Manousos, Panagiotis Mathiellis, Christina and Dimitrios Panteleimonitis, and Claire and Vangelis Xyda.
Italy: Corrado Assenza, Caterina Barla, Guido, Luca and Paolo Barilla, Mauro Battaglia, Raffaele Beata, Leo Bertozzi, Franco and Rossella Boeri, Elia Bois, Luca Bolla, Francesco Bonfio, Andrea Cozzolino, Gian Guido D'Amico, Rosanna D'Antona, Paola DeDonno and family, Michele Errico, Giusepee Ferro, the Forcella family, Gennaro Limone, Domenico Maggi, Massimino Magliocchi, Maria Manfredini, Felice Merola, Rosanna Muolo, Serena Pederiva, Onofrio Pepe, Ivana Picciotto, Maria Paola Profumo, Raffaelle Ragaglini, Renzo Rizzo, Francesca Ronca, Luciano Sardelli, Rossella Speranza and family, the Stucchi family, the Taibi family, Benedetta Vitali, and Gianluigi Zenti.
Mexico: Hector Bourges, Rodrigo Calderon, Eduardo Cervantes, Adolfo and (the late) Miriam Chavez, and Patricia Quintana.
Morocco: Moulay Messaoud Agouzal and Driss Brittel.
Spain: Clara Maria de Amezua, Pepa Aymami, Begona and Pedro Ferrer, Norberto and Carmen Garcia, Juan Vicente Gomez Moya, Pau Roca, Paco Sensat, and the Torres family.
Turkey: Engin Akin, Vedat Basaran, Musa Dagdeviren, Ferda Erdinc, Filiz Hosukoglu, the late Tugrul Savkay, and Ayfer Unsal.
The United Kingdom: Anna Bevan, Nino Binns, Claire Clifton, Philippa Davenport, Anna del Conte, Randolph Hodgson, Elisabeth Luard, Simon Parkes, Maria Jose Sevilla, and Colin Spencer.
The United States and Canada: Sari Abul-Jubein, Rick and Deann Bayless, Amy Binder, Dixie Blake, Ed Blonz, Terrance Brennan, Kari Bretschger, Cinnamon and Victor Broceaux, Jane Brody, Maxime Buyckx, Linda Chaves, Deb and Ken Coons, Narsai David, Robert and Mimi Del Grande, Julia della Croce, Debra Dickerson, Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford, Carol Field, Ruth Flore, Mark Furstenberg, Joyce Goldstein, Paolo Grandjaquet, Maria Guarnaschelli, Elisabeth Holmgren, Ihsan and Valerie Gurdal, Steve Jenkins, Pat Kearney, Corby Kummer, John LaPuma, Karen MacNeil, Tony May, Giovanni Mafodda, Augusto Marchini, Kiesha Marusa, Linda McCashion, Chuck and Jill McCauley, Jeanne McKnight, Phil Meldrum, Nancy Moss, Aniello Musella, Carolyn O’Neil, Kyle Potvin, Fred Plotkin, Maricel Presilla, Nancy Radke, David Rosengarten, the Rowley family, Lorna Sass, Kim Sayid, Joel Schaefer, Sally Schneider, Rosie and Earl Schwartz, Mimi Sheraton, Donna Shields, Don Short, Nina Simonds, Don Soetaert, Jeffrey Steingarten, Paul Sullivan, Asima Syed, Maureen Ternus, Phil Teverow, Judith Weinraub, Ari Weinzweig, Jasper White, Charley Wolk, and Daphne Zepos.

And finally, and especially, many thanks to our families and close friends. They have understood our dedication to Oldways and its mission, and have generously given us the freedom and encouragement to help us make a difference in how people around the world make their food and drink choices.

About the Contributors

Sari Abul-Jubein is the owner of Casablanca Restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Engin Akin is a Turkish newspaper columnist, radio show host, cookbook author, and a much-in-demand speaker on Turkish food. She lives in Istanbul.

Norma Baer is a home cook living in Exeter, New Hampshire.

Sara Baer-Sinnott is executive vice president of Oldways, joining in 1992 after working on special editorial projects at Inc. magazine. She was previously an environmental resources, business, and education consultant.

Anne Banville travels around the world for the USA Rice Federation, but she calls Washington, D.C., her home.

Lidia Bastianich is the chef and owner of Felidia and Becco in New York City, and Lidia’s Kansas City, and Lidia’s Pittsburgh. She is the author of four cookbooks, including Lidia's Family Table and Lidia's Italian Table, and host of her own PBS cooking show, "Lidia's Family Table."

Deann Bayless and her husband, Rick, are chefs and owners of the internationally known Mexican restaurants Frontera Grill and Topolobampo in Chicago. They are authors of a number of cookbooks, including Mexico: One Plate at a Time.

Janice Newell Bissex, MS, RD, has been a nutrition advisor to the U.S. Senate, worked at Boston Harbor Hotel with chef Daniel Bruce, and has been president of the Massachusetts Dietetic Association. With Liz Weiss, she coauthored The Moms' Guide to Meal Makeovers and cofounded the free online Meal Makeover Moms' Club.

Jenny Brand-Miller, PhD, is Professor of Human Nutrition at the University of Sydney, Australia, and the author of The Low GI Diet.

Victor Broceaux is a longtime chef and an experienced restaurateur with Restaurant Associates, the New York City-based restaurant management company. His expertise has taken him from the elegant Four Seasons restaurant in New York to corporate dining rooms and trendy restaurants across the United States.

Hannia Campos, PhD, is a professor at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her research interests include the health of the people of her native country, Costa Rica.

Penelope Casas, one of the most knowledgeable experts in the United States about Spanish cooking, is the author of six books about the subject, most notably Tapas and The Foods and Wines of Spain.

Melissa Clark is a prolific cookbook author and food writer. She's written with chefs (Waldy Malouf and others), she's written about food and places (Nantucket and others), and she's written with celebrities (Faith Ford and others). Her latest book, Chef Interrupted, features recipes from famous chefs, pared down for home cooks.

Edouard Cointreau is president of the Gourmand World Cookbook Awards, and when he isn’t traveling around the world searching out the best cookbooks in the world, he divides his time between his home country of France and his adopted home in Spain.

Mel Coleman, Jr., is head of Coleman Natural Meats in Golden, Colorado, which was founded by his father, Mel Coleman, Sr., in 1979. The company pioneered the production and marketing of pure and natural beef, raised humanely and with respect for the environment.

Jesse Cool is the author of six books, including Your Organic Kitchen, and is the chef and owner of three restaurants in Palo Alto and Menlo Park: Flea Street Cafe, JZ Cool, and Cool Cafe at the Cantor Art Gallery at Stanford University.

Jeff Dahlberg, PhD, is an agronomist and director of research for the National Sorghum Producers. He is also chairman of the Whole Grains Council.

Narsai David has done it all in the food world: restaurant owner (Narsai's Restaurant in Berkeley, California), retailer (Narsai's Market, also in Berkeley), cookbook author (Monday Night at Narsai's), television host (PBS series "Over Easy"), and newspaper columnist (San Francisco Chronicle). He is now the food and wine editor for KCBS radio in San Francisco.

Julia della Croce is a prolific cookbook author, mostly of books on Italian cooking, including Pasta Classica and Salse di Pomodoro. She also writes about food, cooking, and traveling for newspapers and magazines, and teaches cooking classes.

Lou DiPalo is a third-generation purveyor of Italian specialty foods at DiPalo Fine Foods in New York City. The shop prides itself on selling foods from all areas of Italy, including oils, cheeses, honeys, chocolates, artisanal pastas, preserves, and cured meats from the Alps to Sicily.

Catherine Donnelley, PhD, is a professor of food microbiology at the University of Vermont and is considered one of the world's experts on listeria, a feared bacterial pathogen in foods. She has guided Oldways on the safety of traditional raw milk cheeses.

John Mercuri Dooley is a writer and poet who lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Ed Doyle was formerly chef of Aura at the Seaport Hotel in Boston, and is now a consulting chef and a member of the board of the Chefs Collaborative.

Naomi Duguid and Jeffrey Alford are cookbook authors and photographers based in Toronto. Their prize-winning books include Flatbreads and Flavors and Hot, Sour, Salty, Sweet.

Curtis Ellison, MD, is a professor at Boston University School of Medicine and one of the original researchers of what has been termed "the French Paradox," the studies concluding that "wine is part of a healthy diet."

Alice Feiring lives in New York City and is a wine/travel columnist for Time magazine. She also organizes wine tastings and classes.

Carol Field is a prize-winning cookbook author and novelist who lives in San Francisco and Tuscany. She's best known for The Italian Baker and In Nonna's Kitchen.

John Foreyt, PhD, is one of the leading authorities in the United States on obesity, dieting, and behavior. He is director of the Nutrition Research Clinic and a professor in the Department of Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine in Houston.

K. Dun Gifford is the founder and president of Oldways. Previously, he has also owned and managed a number of restaurants in Boston and Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was a legislative assistant to Senator Edward F. Kennedy and national campaign coordinator for Senator Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 presidential campaign.

Cynthia Harriman is the director of food and nutrition strategies for Oldways and the Whole Grains Council. She is also the author of Take Your Kids to Europe.

Sam Hayward is the chef-owner of Fore Street Restaurant in Portland, Maine, and is a longtime supporter of local foods and sustainable agriculture.

Allison Hooper is the cofounder of the Vermont Butter & Cheese Company in Montpelier, Vermont. With a network of more than twenty family farms to provide them milk, the company crafts European-style artisan dairy products.

Frank Hu, MD, PhD, is an associate professor of nutrition and epidemiology in the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. His main research interest is epidemiology and the prevention of type 2 diabetes.

John and Sukey Jamison raise lamb at Jamison Farm in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, in the rolling Appalachian foothills.

Nancy Harmon Jenkins is a Mediterranean cookbook author and food writer. She is the author of The Mediterranean Diet Cookbook and The Flavors of Puglia, among others. She lives in Camden, Maine, and Cortona, Italy, and helped found Oldways.

Steve Jenkins is a cheese expert and the author of The Cheese Primer. He is also a partner at Fairway Markets in New York City and is responsible for the many specialty food products sold at Fairway.

Steve Johnson, formerly chef and co-owner of the Blue Room, is now chef and owner of Rendezvous, both in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Lynne Rossetto Kasper is host of the NPR show "The Splendid Table" and also the author of the award-winning book of the same name (the only book to be named Cookbook of the Year by both the IACP and the James Beard Foundation in the same year). Lynne has also written for a number of newspapers and magazines.

Rob Kaufelt is a cheese-monger and owner of Murray's Cheese Shop in New York.

Ancel Keys, PhD, "Father of the Mediterranean Diet," was a professor at the University of Minnesota. He was the inventor of K-rations and the coauthor of How to Eat Well and Stay Well the Mediterranean Way with his wife, Margaret. Dr. Keys died in 2004 at the age of one hundred.

Robin Kline, MS, RD, is a writer with Savvy Food Communications. In her past lives she's been president of the International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) and executive director of the National Pork Council (she’s the one responsible for the catchy slogan, "the other white meat!").

Aglaia Kremezi is a Greek cookbook author, food writer, photographer, and an expert in Greek foods and wines. Aglaia and her husband Costas live on the island of Kea, where Aglaia runs a cooking school and continues to write for the Sunday Athens paper Kryiakatiki Eleftherotypia. Her most recent book is The Foods of the Greek Islands.

Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD, teaches nutrition at Pennsylvania State University and served as a member of the 2005 U.S. Dietary Guidelines Committee.

Susan Kron is managing editor of CFO Magazine and a home cook living in Boston, Massachusetts.

Mirsini Lampraki is from Crete and is a cookbook author and food writer. She has written several books on Greek cooking, edible greens, and olive oil, as well as one entitled Greece/Turkey at the Same Table, co-authored by Engin Akin.

Giuseppe Licitra, is the director of CORFILAC, a Consorzio in Ragusa, Sicily. His passion is to keep alive Sicily's cheesemaking traditions, and to promote and sell the traditional cheese of Sicily, particularly Ragusano cheese.

Elisabeth Luard is a cookbook author and food writer who lives in London and Wales. Books she has written range from European Peasant Cookery to Sacred Food to Family Life, an autobiography. She won the 2001 Glen Fiddich Award for her food writing.

Fausto Luchetti is the former executive director of the International Olive Oil Council in Madrid.

Barbara Lynch is the chef-owner of two award-winning Boston restaurants (No. 9 Park and B&G Oyster).

Deborah Madison was the original chef at San Francisco's famed Greens restaurant and is a cookbook writer and cooking teacher. Her books include Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Local Flavors, Cooking and Eating from America's Farmers' Markets.

Robert Marsh is the chef at Momo's restaurant, a popular spot in San Francisco located across the street from the PacBell Stadium.

Zarela Martinez is a pioneering chef who introduced true and traditional Mexican foods to American tables at Zarela, her restaurant in midtown Manhattan, and through her three highly accessible cookbooks, including The Food and Life of Oaxaca and Zarela's Veracruz, a companion volume to her television series.

Kathy McManus, RD, is the director of nutrition for Brigham & Women's Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.

Rick Moonen is the chef-owner of RM Restaurant in New York City.

Marian Morash was the founding chef of the superb Straight Wharf Restaurant in Nantucket, is the author of two longtime best-selling cookbooks, The Victory Garden Cookbook and The Victory Garden Fish & Vegetable Cookbook, and was the television chef of "The Victory Garden."

Claudette Nacamuli, a home cook in Winchester, Massachusetts, was raised in Switzerland.

Eduardo Napolitano is by training a biochemist, but by passion a champion of entrepreneurial artisan food makers in Salerno, Italy.

Bill Niman is a pioneer in sustainable ranching, raising cattle, pigs, and lambs for many years. Today, Niman Ranch is a network of independent family farmers and ranchers who all raise livestock according to strict protocols. The quality of the meats grown by his network of committed colleagues is so high that it appears on leading restaurant tables and in grocery stores from coast to coast.

Anna Nurse is an opera singer turned beloved cooking teacher in New York City.

Paul O'Connell is the chef and owner of Chez Henri in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

Ellen Ecker Ogden was a cofounder and co-owner of the Cook’s Garden, a catalogue full of seeds, plants, and garden and kitchen supplies. She is now the chef of the Cook's Garden, directs the test kitchen program, and gives cooking lessons. She is the author of From the Cook's Garden.

Mike Orlando is chairman of Fresno-based Sunnyland Mills and founding chair of the Whole Grains Council.

The Peanut Institute is a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to research and educational programs about peanuts and nutrition.

Steve Petusevsky is a chef, cookbook author, and journalist who writes a syndicated newspaper column for the Chicago Tribune News Service. He was for many years a corporate chef for Whole Foods Market, and is the author of The Whole Foods Market Cookbook. He is now a consulting chef and journalist in southern Florida.

Susan Purdy has written thirty books, twelve about baking and pastry, including Have Your Cake & Eat It, Too; The Perfect Cake; The Perfect Pie; and most recently, Pie in the Sky.

Renzo Rizzo is chief of research and development at Barilla. His wife, Margherita Rizzo, is a home cook, and they live with their children in Parma, Italy.

Claudia Roden is a prize-winning cookbook writer who was born in Egypt, grew up in Paris, and now lives in London. She is the author of many cookbooks, including A Book of Middle Eastern Food, The Food of Italy, and The Book of Jewish Food. In the 1980s, she was the host of the BBC television series "Mediterranean Cooking."

Jeannie Rogers is the sommelier at Il Capriccio Restaurant in Waltham, Massachusetts, well known for its astonishing list of superb, small-production Italian wines.

Kerry Downey Romaniello is the chef at Westport Rivers Vineyard & Winery in Westport, Massachusetts.

Michael Romano is the chef and partner at Union Square Cafe in New York City. He is also the coauthor of several cookbooks, including The Union Square Cookbook.

Judy Schad raises goats and makes a prize-winning goat cheese (Capriole) at her farm in southern Indiana.

Chris Schlesinger is executive chef and owner of the East Coast Grill in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and the author, along with John Willoughby, of several award-winning cookbooks, including License to Grill, and of New York Times newspaper food columns.

Rosie Schwartz, RD, is a well-known Canadian nutritionist, magazine and newspaper columnist, healthy eating crusader, and television commentator. She is author of The Enlightened Eater's Guide.

Scott Sechler is passionate about chickens and is growing his company, Pennsylvania-based Bell & Evans, with the same passion.

Robert Serrano is a grain miller from Grain Millers, Inc., in Portland, Oregon.

Cat Silirie is the wine director at No. 9 Park, Barbara Lynch's award-winning restaurant in Boston.

Joe Simone is now a private chef in San Francisco, California, but was formerly executive chef at Papa Razzi in Boston, Massachusetts, and was one of the chefs of the PBS show Cucina Amore.

Ana Sortun is the award-winning chef of Oleana Restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts. She is also the author of Spice.

Colin Spencer is a noted British food writer. He's the author of The History of Vegetarianism, The Heretics Feast, The Vegetable Book, Vegetarian Gourmet Dinner Party, The New Vegetarian, and the prize-winning British Food: An Extraordinary Thousand Years of History.

Rossella Speranza is the managing director of Natura & Cucina in Bari, Italy, and works closely with Oldways on projects in southern Italy, particularly in her home region of Puglia.

Molly Stevens won a James Beard Award and an IACP Award for All About Braising: The Art of Uncomplicated Cooking. She was named the IACP Cooking Teacher of the Year in 2006. She is a contributing editor for Fine Cooking magazine and coauthor of several cookbooks, including One Potato, Two Potato.

Cathy Strange is the National Team Leader for cheese for Whole Foods Market.

Antonia Trichopoulou, MD, is a medical doctor and nutrition scientist at the University of Athens Medical School, Department of Hygiene and Epidemiology, in Athens, Greece. She is also editorial board director of the W.H.O. Collaborating Center for Nutrition in Greece.

Anne Underwood writes for Newsweek magazine. She is the coauthor of The Color Code, a book she wrote with Dr. James Joseph and Dr. Dan Nadeau about the healthfulness of foods (fruits and vegetables) with color.

Anya von Bremzen is a cookbook author and food and travel writer for Travel & Leisure and Food & Wine. She has written a number of books, including The New Spanish Table and Fiesta! A Celebration of Latin Hospitality.

Ari Weinzweig is a cofounder of Zingerman's, one of America's premier sources of high-quality ingredients from all over the world, and also known as "The Coolest Place to Work in America," according to Inc. magazine. He is also the author of Zingerman's Guide to Good Eating.

Liz Weiss, MS, RD, has spent two decades writing and reporting on nutrition and health for CNN and PBS, among others. With Janice Newell Bissex, she is co- author of The Moms' Guide to Meal Makeovers and co-founder of the free online Meal Makeover Moms' Club.

Walter Willett, MD, DrPH, is the Fredrick John Stare professor of epidemiology and nutrition, Departments of Nutrition and Epidemiology, and chair of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health. He assisted Oldways in the development of the Mediterranean diet pyramid and is also the author of Eat, Drink and Be Healthy and Eat, Drink and Lose Weight.

Paula Wolfert is the author of several acclaimed Mediterranean cookbooks, including Couscous and Other Good Food from Morocco, Mediterranean Cooking, Paula Wolfert's World of Food, The Cooking of Southwest France, and Mediterranean Grains and Greens.

Clifford Wright is a culinary historian and food writer. He is the author of A Mediterranean Feast, a James Beard Cookbook of the Year, and Mediterranean Vegetables.