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As we are now in summer time, diets are a common topic of conversation. The one diet which seems to be truly time-tested is the Mediterranean diet.

Fifteen countries and three continents encompass this shallow and landlocked sea. The Greeks, Romans and the Phoenicians had colonised the entire area;the agriculture is based on wheat, olives and wine.

Such was the reach of their trade that Roman amphorae that had contained olive oil and wine were found in Kerala, witnessing the trade between India and Rome at the time of Augustus.

This area has a common climate in having hot dry summers and wet warm winters so that the cuisine has a fundamental consistency with interesting variations. In the south you find the Islamic influence and spiciness to the food because of the Arab control of the spice trade with India and the Far East.

Food writers have often commented on the relative health of the Mediterranean diet as opposed to the normal fast food stodge which prevails in the Anglo-Saxon world. People there live longer, have less cholesterol and diabetes, suffer from less cardiac arrests and cancer.

Olive oil has been singled out as an important factor, and the popularity of olive oil has been growing even here as importers will testify. But is it not just that, one other factor is that the diet is very low in animal fats. Garlic is also widely used and this was something which the Romans spread. Its health-giving properties have been known from antiquity.

What are the elements of the Mediterranean diet? Much of the image of Mediterranean food is identified with writers such as Elizabeth David who waxed eloquent about the intensity of the flavours, the sharpness of the colours and the tantalising aromas, making it almost a theme park brochure for Positano.

The reality is that Mediterranean cooking is like all great home cooking — the ingredients are critical, seasonality is vital and it is home as opposed to restaurant cooking. The herbs such as basil, parsley, mint, dill, oregano are vital and give a dramatic quality to the cooking, making the most mundane dish come alive.

It has also produced some magnificent salads, the Lebanese fatush, is an example, as are the Nicoise and the Greek salad with feta. There are few cuisines where the introduction of fresh seasonal vegetables is as important. The Italians and the cooks of Provence have a love affair with the zucchini; the Arabs introduced the aubergine leading to the creation of some marvellous dishes such as the caponata of Sicily.

There are also soups made of lentils, chickpeas, and beans, as pulses have traditionally featured in that region. There is also an abundant supply of exotic fruit, such as melons, figs, pomegranates, citrus fruit. Much of these came through Persia and Turkey. The Moroccans have excelled at producing a cuisine in which fruit and meats are cooked together in a savoury tagine.

Another aspect of the Mediterranean cuisine is the carbs, the bread and the pasta. It was the Romans who built massive beehive shaped bread ovens in every country they conquered, and these bakeries became in turn communal centres for the village. In fact even Herodotus remarked on the Egyptian diet being healthy because ancient Egyptians enjoyed eating whole grain bread with olive oil.

The Mediterranean diet also includes copious amounts of wine. The health benefits of one or two glasses of red wine a day are beyond argument. So drink up.