Who’s the author? Anastasia Miari is a food and travel writer and the creator of Matriarch Eats, a long-running project dedicated to documenting the culinary wisdom of grandmothers around the world. Her work blends storytelling with deep cultural curiosity, shaped by a decade spent cooking alongside the matriarchs who have refined traditional dishes over generations.

With a background that spans journalism, travel writing, and immersive retreats on her home island of Corfu, Anastasia brings together a rare mix of authenticity, insight, and heartfelt respect for the cooks who anchor their communities through food.

What’s it about? Mediterranea journeys through kitchens across the region, celebrating the dishes and traditions that define one of the world’s most beloved food cultures. Each recipe is rooted in place and memory, introduced by a grandmother who has spent a lifetime perfecting it.

The book spans coastal France, Italy and Spain, the islands and mainland of Greece, the rich culinary landscapes of Turkey, Croatia and Slovenia, and the vibrant spice-filled kitchens of Morocco and Tunisia. Alongside the recipes, readers will find portraits, interviews and location photography that transport you into each home, capturing the gestures, stories and quiet rituals that bring these dishes to life.

Packed with vegetable-forward plates, regional classics, celebratory family dishes and little pearls of passed-down wisdom, this is both a cookbook and a love letter to the matriarchs who preserve and nourish Mediterranean ways of life.

Recipes we love: Margarita’s Coca de Verduras, Nicoletta’s Involtini di Pesce Spada, Latifa’s Lablebi, and Chiara’s Spaghetti all’Amatriciana.

Perfect for: Anyone drawn to authentic Mediterranean flavours, food lovers who enjoy recipes with history and heart, and cooks who appreciate dishes shaped by time, tradition, and the hands that know them best.