The Mediterranean Diet and Your Family

The Mediterranean Diet is all about delicious flavors, textures and colors, with something for everyone—even finicky eaters! Try these tips for introducing the Med Diet to your family.


Exploring the Med diet gives the whole family an opportunity to discover new tastes together. Introduce a small taste of a new food each week to encourage variety. Be patient and keep in mind that kids’ palates change over time. It can take up to 20 tries over weeks and months for them to accept a different flavor or texture. And be a role model by eating new foods yourself.

Encourage your kids to play with their food! When they need an afterschool snack or before supper when everyone is starving, get into the habit of setting out small bowls of Mediterranean Diet favorites: tzatziki, baba ghannouj, spicy muhammara, and different flavors of hummus. Provide an ever changing variety of fresh, raw vegetables cut into pieces small enough for dipping: baby carrots, celery sticks, sliced cucumbers, sliced red, green, yellow, and orange peppers, snow peas, sliced fennel, and zucchini strips and let them dip away. Try whole grain pita for dipping too!

Add vegetables to the kinds of foods your kids already like. If pancakes are popular, add some grated carrots, or shredded zucchini to the batter. Toss frozen peas with hot pasta, camouflage extra veggies in a zesty spaghetti sauce, or add diced sautéed onions or peppers to scrambled eggs.

Make your own family-favorite trail mix. In a large bowl, combine peanuts, chopped walnuts, raisins or other dried fruit, some whole grain cereal and a few small pieces of chocolate if you wish. Package it in “snacksize” zip-lock bags to have on hand for car trips and lunch boxes.

Luscious fruits at every meal are a key part of the Mediterranean Diet, so keep apples, clementines, oranges, grapes, pears, melon, peaches, dates, strawberries and other fruits in plain sight. Encourage the whole family to eat fresh fruit rather than drink fruit juice for a better source of fiber, often lacking in our diets. Mediterranean Diet Make healthy parfaits for dessert by layering Greek yogurt and sliced fresh fruit in tall glasses. Use frozen berries to make great smoothies.



Almost everything tastes better with olive oil. Kids who won’t eat a steamed carrot may love them roasted (or raw!) And you may succeed in getting everyone to eat sweet potatoes if you serve them as ovenbaked fries rather than mashed. Or, try making kale chips instead of steamed kale, for a whole different take on greens.

Create Med-style “variety plates” to help your kids enjoy a wide range of flavors and to serve up a wellbalanced meal. Put small helpings of six or eight different foods on a colorful plate or small platter, relying on leftovers and items you have on hand. For example: a few slices of cold turkey, a few baby carrots, a spoonful of hummus, several cubes of cheese, a helping of pasta or a whole grain roll, a small serving of lettuce with a favorite dressing, apple slices, a few olives, and several pickles. Kids usually enjoy such a selection.

Get the family involved in preparing meals. Let little kids wash fruits and vegetables at the sink; ask older kids to chop the vegetables, toss the pasta, dress the salad and set the table. Children who learn basic kitchen skills appreciate it later in life and have a legacy to pass along to their children.