Mediterranean Barley Salad

 

I'm one of those people who ate badly in my younger years. Chips here, overly sweet cakes there, fried food, endless pork meat, burgers from fast food chains, hotdogs, all drowned with a big glass of Coca Cola filled with ice. Be still, my heart! For a minute there, I was actually going to say yum!  I did not become a super health food nut but I learned to regulate. I still eat all of those food mentioned above but with regulation now in my diet. I finally understood how bad my body will become if I continue eating like how I used to when I was young. It had not been easy but I did it.

When I was still single, in my parents' house, I had my own refrigerator in my bedroom. I'm not speaking about a small one like the ones in the hotels. I'm referring to a regular-sized one that you normally put in a kitchen. Believe it or not, I was able to fill that up. The chips and biscuit basket on top of the refrigerator was always overflowing too. I used to go through my food stock while I watch movies or stay at the computer. Looking back, I am glad that that lifestyle ended. I'm glad that I eat better now, a thousand times better and a million times healthier.

Try to think what a headache I had been to my husband when we first started living together. Being in Italy, I couldn't have a better selection of chips other than "healthy" oven-baked potato chips. That's it. And these chips usually occupy a just a fourth of a supermarket shelf. And no one was drinking Coke! It's either water or wine. Sad. Slowly, I learned to accept it. It took me time to change and I am so glad I did.  I can't imagine eating that stuff with my kids. They do at times when we declare party time with chips. As a parent, I believe that eating healthy is very important but it doesn't mean that I will deprive them of these little snippets of "chips or fast food burgers" time with us. I'm quite sure my kids will start covering their ears when I start my lessons about "chips & fast food burgers" again. Would you like to hear it? I guessed not. Let me discuss instead, in a nutshell, what Mediterranean diet is. 

Mediterranean diet is the kind of diet with high consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, olive oil & unrefined cereals, moderate consumption of fish, wine & dairy products (mostly yogurt & cheese) and low consumption of meat. In 2010, this diet was recognized by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Italy, Greece, Spain & Morroco. 

This salad is very healthy, as you can see from the ingredients that I mixed together. It's also very good and tasty. So it's not true that all health food are bland and boring. That was what I believed in when I was young. If you are interested in my recipe, please click on this link. It will take you to She Knows, a site where you can see my original recipes often. You can also click on this link if you want to see the list of recipes and travel articles I have written there. 

Thanks and enjoy your week!