How to Eat Well at a Mediterranean Buffet
The mistake most people make at a buffet is treating the first plate as the only plate. They load it evenly, everything touches everything, and half the flavours cancel each other out.
Mediterranean food is built on contrast — rich against sharp, warm against cool, soft against crisp. A little structure makes an enormous difference.
The mistake most people make at a buffet is treating the first plate as the only plate.
Walk the line first
Before you pick up a plate, look at what is there. It costs you thirty seconds and stops you filling up on the first three things you pass.
Start cold and sharp
Begin with mezze and salads: hummus, baba ghanoush, muhammara, fattoush, tabbouleh, a little pickled vegetable. Add warm bread. This is how the meal is eaten at home, and it wakes your palate up rather than dulling it.
Keep the portions small. This is the tasting round.
Then go warm
Second plate is the substantial one: something from the grill, rice, a cooked vegetable dish. Take one protein rather than three. Kafta, chicken kebab and gyro are all excellent and they do not flatter each other when piled together.
Put a spoonful of salad on the same plate. The sharpness is not a garnish, it is what stops the rich food becoming heavy.
Use the sauces properly
Garlic sauce with chicken. Tahini with anything fried or baked. Tzatziki with gyro and lamb. Spicy sauce with whatever you want, sparingly at first.
These pairings exist because they work. Drowning a plate in all four at once is a waste of good sauce.
If you are vegetarian or vegan
Mediterranean cooking is unusually generous here, because so much of the traditional repertoire never contained meat in the first place.
Falafel, hummus, baba ghanoush, muhammara, tabbouleh, fattoush, stuffed grape leaves, grilled vegetables, spicy potato, cauliflower, okra, green beans, rice with lentils and fresh pita will build a full meal without touching the grill.
Vegans should be aware that yogurt-based dishes such as tzatziki and yogurt with cucumber and mint are dairy, and some pastries contain butter or cheese. Everything else on that list is naturally plant-based. If you are unsure about a dish, ask — the answer is usually simple.
Leave room for dessert, but not much
Baklava and namoura are sweet and syrup-heavy by design. One or two pieces with coffee finishes the meal properly. A plateful will not.
The honest advice
Eat slower than you think you need to. Buffet food arrives faster than your body registers it, and the difference between leaving satisfied and leaving uncomfortable is usually about ten minutes of pace.
