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I do eat tofu, but personally I’d rather chew on a shoe than eat it plain on a plate. The exciting thing about tofu is that it truly is a blank canvas that allows you to infuse it with or mold it into an infinite assortment of tastes, textures, and shapes. Whether it comes in a 16-ounce box in the dairy section in soft, medium, firm, or extra-firm, or in an aseptic, shelf-stable box, the array of possibilities that can be made from tofu is limitless: stir-fries, burgers, soups, desserts, dips, smoothies, stews, scrambles, and casseroles.

However, if tofu isn’t your thang, there are several other dynamic, plant-meaty substitutes that might catch your eye and your palate, and save your heart.

First up, there’s tempeh. If tofu is the ambassador of vegetarian proteins, tempeh is the James Bond: They do similar jobs, but tempeh just does everything with more style and effectiveness. Everything about it, from its nutritional content to its texture and its savory, nutty flavor, is bigger and bolder than its soy-based cousin. Tempeh also happens to be the only major traditional soy food that didn’t originate in China
or Japan. Instead, it comes from Indonesia, where it isn’t just used for soups and stews, but is a staple protein.

Tempeh is made by inoculating cooked soybeans with a mold called
Rhizopus oligosporus
in a process similar to making yogurt. The soybean-mold mixture is then packed into cakes and left to cure into bricks of delicious, protein-packed goodness.

Tempeh contains about 37 percent protein, on average, which is about the same proportion as hamburger and chicken. It’s also a great source of fiber, is easy to digest because it is partially fermented, and contains a measly 157 calories per 100 grams.

Oh, and did I mention that it’s delicious? Whereas tofu needs to soak up other flavors in order to actually taste like something, the natural savoriness of tempeh means it adds flavor to dishes instead of just being a filler. It’s perfect for stir-fries, barbecues, stews, and curries. Its firm texture also keeps it from crumbling into soy mash, as is often the case with plain tofu. (See the recipe for unbelievable barbecued tempeh sandwiches
here
.)

If tempeh still doesn’t have quite the bite you’re looking for, try seitan. This Chinese invention is comparable to tempeh in nutrition but even more reminiscent of meat—so much so that some vegetarians refuse to eat it. It’s made by kneading and washing wheat flour dough until all the starch has been rinsed off and you are left with a ball of pure protein, which is then simmered in flavored broth in order to set it and impart flavor.

At 81 percent protein and only 1 percent unsaturated fat per serving size, it’s hard to beat this thousand-year-old “Buddha Food” for taste and nutrition. (See the recipes for an unbelievable seitan loaf
here
, kabob
here
, or Italian balls you can make at home
here
.)

Most meat eaters operate under the delusion that if protein doesn’t come from meat, it should at least act like it does. Quinoa doesn’t care what anyone thinks: It’s a seed (related to the beet and chard families) that looks and tastes like a grain but packs as much protein as meat.

Its goodness doesn’t stop there, either: Quinoa contains nutrients including lysine, manganese, magnesium, copper, and phosphorus. No wonder the Incan Indians, who first grew it in the Andes around 5,000 years ago, called it the “Mother of All Grains.” More recently, the United Nations designated it a “super crop.” I just call it dinner.

The beauty of quinoa is its versatility; almost anywhere a grain will go, it will go better, so have fun with it. It can replace rice in a stir-fry or couscous in a salad. You can grind it up and put it in bread or cake dough, or even mix it with fruit and nuts and eat it instead of oatmeal in the morning. (See
here
for The Machu Picchu breakfast and
here
for the Red Quinoa Salad with Black Beans and Corn.)

A less versatile but still rib-sticking good protein source is a legume: the humble lentil. Humans have been eating these babies since prehistoric times (break that one out the next time someone hits you with the “our ancestors were meat eaters” argument), and lentils were long considered a poor man’s food because they are cheap and nutritious. In my eyes, that also makes them a smart man’s food.

Don’t be fooled by the prejudices, though: Lentils are also one of the most flavorful of the legumes, and they are packed with more than 25 percent protein, folic acid, vitamins B and C, and both soluble and insoluble fiber. If that isn’t enough, according to recent studies they are also super-troopers at helping to lower cholesterol. Eat them in soups, stews, and salads, especially during the winter, when you can really appreciate their hearty goodness. (See
here
and
here
for lip-smacking good lentil recipes.)

Next, don’t let our fungi friends, mushrooms, fly under the radar! Low in fat, sodium, and calories, they are also packed with protein, fiber, antioxidants, minerals, and vitamins, and—when sunshine grown—one of the only food sources of vitamin D; ’shrooms have a terrific meatlike texture and are one versatile food. Have fun with portobellos slathered with barbecue sauce as burgers on the grill or sliced up and served with all the fixings as fajitas. Try sliding creminis or white buttons on a skewer with onions, bell peppers, and pineapples and build a killer shish kabob. Sprinkle them in salads for substance, toss them in stir-fries for flavor, mix them in with marinara sauces for texture, and strategically place them atop pizza for pizzazz! Or why not take a walk on the wild side and experiment with oysters, chanterelles, giant puff balls, morels, and porcinis? Mushrooms are a cornucopia of delectability!

Hey, and don’t forget about nuts! They’ve got protein, fiber, and plenty of vitamins. One caveat, though: Because of the high fat and calorie content of nuts, limit your daily intake to 1 to 2 ounces (1 ounce is a small handful). The problem with nuts is that most people eat four
to eight large handfuls in a sitting, and each handful contains approximately 200 to 300 calories! Before you know it, you’ve just tossed back up to 1,400 calories without making a dent in your tummy.

Personally, I use nuts as condiments to enhance my main meals rather than eating them as a snack food. I toss a small handful of walnuts on my cereal, pour a nut sauce on top of leafy greens (see
here
), sprinkle a mock nut-cheese on top of a pizza or casserole, add some nut spread to a sandwich (see
here
), use cashews in a pizza sauce (see the Arrabbiata Creamy Cashew Sauce on
here
), toss toasted walnuts on top of a salad, and even smear a little nut butter on my toast. As long as you avoid the sodium, sugar, and hydrogenated oils present in many nut butters, and aren’t digging in with a spoon and bringing it straight to your mouth, I approve. Hey, we’ve all been there!

By the way, the foods mentioned above are just a few of the plant-based goodies in the repertoire. There are about, oh, 1,000 more we could talk about. Mother Nature’s plant-based kitchen is about as large as, well, the Earth itself.

D
oes this list sound healthy? Racks of lamb. Platters of fish. Bottles of red wine. Salads of feta cheese. Vats of yogurt. Ladles of olive oil.

Most Americans would say “yes” to these foods, which form the heart and soul of the so-called Mediterranean diet. And once you say Mediterranean diet, people think: “Wow, I can eat all these foods, do the Mediterranean thing, and live forever!”

The fact is, there is no real Mediterranean diet! Where did the myth originate? And why? And what’s wrong with it?

In order to get the answers to these important questions, I asked Jeff Novick if he could lend me a lentil or two to help me get to the bottom of this riddle. We had a long conversation, and here’s what we came up with:

First and foremost, at the heart of the Mediterranean diet is a multi-billion-dollar-a-year branding business that runs the gamut from hummus to packaged trips to Italy. It is a brilliant campaign concocted by the food industry, based on a lot of misinformation that even some of its proponents now admit was based on faulty research.

For one thing, there is no real Mediterranean diet. More than twenty countries border the Mediterranean Sea, and they have completely different diets. Some use olive oil, some don’t. Some eat fish, some don’t. Some devour feta cheese, some don’t. Some drink alcohol, some don’t.

According to Rami Zurayk, an agriculture professor at the American University in Beirut, “There is no such thing called the Mediterranean diet; there are Mediterranean diets… They share some commonalities—there [are] a lot of fruits and vegetables, there is a lot of fresh produce in them, they are eaten in small dishes, there is less meat in them. These
are common characteristics, but there are many different Mediterranean diets.”

In addition, in a 2009 article on dietary fat published in the
Journal of Clinical Lipidology
, author Dr. W. Virgil Brown (the journal’s editor-in-chief) debunks the way the Mediterranean diet and olive oil have been promoted in the United States. He writes, “I’m afraid that this has become a great hoax applied to the American diet and that we have not paid as much attention to the data as we should have in order to make a better decision about the content of fat in our diet.”

Let’s take a good look at one of the countries that is supposed to be a sterling example of the great Mediterranean diet: Spain. According to one of the most comprehensive recent studies of Spanish nutrition and health, more than 50 percent of the 2,000 adults studied were either overweight or obese; 33 percent had high blood pressure; 65 percent had high cholesterol levels; and about 30 percent had three or more cardiovascular risk factors that could be modified by changes to their lifestyle or diet.

In regard to that study, Dr. Ricardo Gómez-Huelgas from the Internal Medicine Department at Hospital Carlos Haya in Málaga said, “The prevalence of obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol in Spain have all risen at an alarming rate over the last twenty years and this is likely to cause future increases in bad health and death due to cardiovascular disease.”

The myth of the Mediterranean diet seems to have originally arisen after World War II, when most people were still suffering the consequences of the war. Sami Zubaida, a leading scholar on food and culture, explains that back then, most of the area diets were similar in that they were composed of what the Italians called
cucina povera
: the “food of the poor.” In the 1940s and 1950s, people ate lentils instead of meat because they had no choice. “A lot of it has to do with poverty, not geography,” he says.

Here’s what another expert, Dr. Anthony S. Wierzbicki, a London-based consultant in metabolic medicine, had to say: “The myth that the Mediterranean diet and lifestyle is so healthy is based on forty-year-old data from rural areas, and so much has changed during those four decades.”

Case in point: The information that has been translated into the
Mediterranean diet originally arose from a 1950s study that found low rates of heart disease among people living on the island of Crete. While these people did consume some olives, avocados, olive oil, and other monounsaturated fats, their diets were predominately composed of fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and legumes, plus small amounts of fish.

Part of the reason for this was that the community, recovering from postwar poverty, was very economically depressed and couldn’t afford butter, cheese, and meat. As soon as they could, and did, they got fat. In fact, the rates of obesity and heart disease on Crete have been rising steadily since the time of the original study, as the Cretan diet and fitness patterns have changed. Visit the island of Crete today, and you will find obesity centers and billboards advertising gastric-bypass surgery strategically placed in downtown areas.

Still another study, from France, was also flawed: In 1999, the well-known Lyons study supposedly proved that the Mediterranean diet was better than a so-called low-fat diet. But when you looked at the facts, the people on the Mediterranean diet were actually consuming less fat, and much less saturated fat and cholesterol, than those on the low-fat diet! The latter diet wasn’t really low fat. It was called low fat only because it was modeled on the current, typical American diet, which is lower in fat than the previous, 1960s typical American diet, which was 40 percent fat!

Don’t be fooled by the marketing and advertising that is being pushed down our throats by the food industry. If there were a real Mediterranean diet, it existed at a time of postwar recovery and was a diet of poverty, limited resources, and food restriction. Today, more than half the populations of Italy, Portugal, and Spain are overweight. In eastern Mediterranean countries like Lebanon, obesity is looming in a large way. And Greece, the country most people think about when they think Mediterranean, is now the sixteenth-fattest country in the world, with more than two-thirds of its citizens overweight, according to a recent article in
Forbes
magazine.

So, for your best health, put down the olive oil (see
chapter 29
) and skip the hype about the Mediterranean diet. Instead, follow the time-honored and proven principles of healthy living and eating in practice all over the world where people eat a whole-food, plant-strong diet.