It’s finally spring and the arrival of lighter days and sunny spells have made me think of summer, in order to capture that holiday feeling I reached for a book I was given last year, Bitter Honey by British born chef and food writer Letitia Clark. This is predominantly a cookery book but also contains lots of beautiful photography, illustrations as well as lengthy introductions to every section, what results is a fascinating insight into Sardinian culture and food as well as a peek into Letitia’s idyllic life on Sardinia.
Sardinia is known as a Blue Zone, these are regions with exceptionally high life expectancy and a typically traditional lifestyle (Kreouzi et al., 2024), one of the key contributors is thought to be diet which is predominantly plant-based, rich in whole grains, fruit, vegetables and legumes with limited meat and processed food (Santacroce et al., 2024). The recipes in this book encompass all of this and more, pretty much every recipe incorporates a delicious way to include healthy ingredients without compromising on taste, a whole chapter is dedicated to ‘Verdure’ (vegetables) and I particularly like that she uses less commonly consumed vegetables in the UK such as artichokes, explaining how to prepare them and utilise in delicious ways.
Letitia talks about the food culture in Sardinia, meals are never a hurried affair she says, everyone stops work at midday to enjoy a lengthy lunch with family. I love this idea even though in the UK it is sadly unattainable for most people, the concept of eating together as a family and treating every meal as an activity to take time over and enjoyed is something we could all learn from and aim to achieve whenever possible.
I thoroughly recommend this book as a way of transporting yourself to Sardinia and lots of healthy food inspiration, the recipes are technically detailed and don’t contain cliched ideas, there are a lot of very original pasta dishes and a fantastic section on Aperitivo ideas which is becoming increasingly popular in the UK, fried sage leaves with a cold beverage could be the perfect way to start your weekend.
References
Kreouzi, M., Theodorakis, N., & Constantinou, C. (2024). Lessons Learned From Blue Zones, Lifestyle Medicine Pillars and Beyond: An Update on the Contributions of Behavior and Genetics to Wellbeing and Longevity. Am J Lifestyle Med, 18(6), 750-765. https://doi.org/10.1177/15598276221118494
Santacroce, L., Bottalico, L., Charitos, I. A., Haxhirexha, K., Topi, S., & Jirillo, E. (2024). Healthy Diets and Lifestyles in the World: Mediterranean and Blue Zone People Live Longer. Special Focus on Gut Microbiota and Some Food Components. Endocr Metab Immune Disord Drug Targets, 24(15), 1774-1784. https://doi.org/10.2174/0118715303271634240319054728
MLT Nutrition 