A Taste of the Mediterranean (ATOTM) is a six-lesson nutrition and cooking program that brings the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid to life. Most programs run over the course of six weeks, offering one class per week. Each lesson is 1 hour and 45 minutes to 2 hours long, and covers a specific food group from the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid. 

Lesson 1: The Mediterranean Diet and Healthy Fats
Lesson 2: Fruits, Vegetables, and Herbs
Lesson 3: Whole Grains
Lesson 4: Beans, Peas, Lentils, and Chickpeas
Lesson 5: Fermented Dairy
Lesson 6: Seafood

• Class schedule: 1 class per week, for 6 weeks
• Number of recipes per class: 2-3
• Class components: Each class is divided up into 1) an introduction with a fitness minute, 2) an historical and nutritional discussion, 3) a cooking lesson and 4) a time to eat together and reflect.
• Tracking success: Using confidential lifestyle evaluations, instructors and students track their success.

A Taste of the Mediterranean is targeted to adults and young adults with a broad range of cooking experiences.

Check out our class site directory to locate a class near you. And if you can’t find one happening now, don’t despair! New classes are added all the time, so check back with us regularly. Or, become a teacher and bring the class to your community.

A Taste of the Mediterranean is an excellent program to teach for anyone working in nutrition, education, food service, faith-based initiatives, community outreach work, or public health and wellness. You don’t have to be a chef or nutrition professional. Our on-demand (1-hour) teaching training webinar will give you the background information you need to know to confidently teach this course. Lesson plans have easily-followed, step-by-step guides for preparing and teaching.

After you’ve viewed the (1-hour) teacher training webinar, fill out our “Become a Teacher Form” or contact [email protected] to get started. To access the curriculum, you can buy a license for 1 year of digital access.  More details below:

Licensing

Organizations interested in teaching A Taste of the Mediterranean cooking class series can license the curriculum on an annual basis. This license allows access to downloadable PDF versions of the curriculum and related resources.

We also offer discounted multi-curriculum bundles (e.g., ATOTM, ATOAH, ATOLAH, and ACTOAH) for both 1-year and 3-year license subscriptions. 

• Standard Single-Site License: $300/year per program – Ideal for community health centers, SNAP-Ed providers, local organizations, and small businesses. Purchase here. 
• Multi-Site License: Designed for larger national organizations or those with multiple locations.

For more information, email [email protected].

Classes are also invited to purchase the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid Poster ($19.99) to display in the class, and purchase the trifold brochures ($49.99 for 100).

Long before we created our cooking and nutrition curricula, we assembled an advisory committee of nutrition scientists to develop the Mediterranean Diet Pyramid, in partnership with the Harvard School of Public Health, in 1993. In the decades since, we have continued to study new research on the Mediterranean diet and use these findings to guide the creation of our educational materials.

A Taste of the Mediterranean was launched in 2025, and is modeled off of A Taste of African Heritage. Many partners teaching A Taste of African Heritage, A Children’s Taste of African Heritage, and A Taste of the Mediterranean requested a curriculum featuring the Mediterranean diet, and it was their feedback that shaped this programming.

A Taste of the Mediterranean is Oldways’ newest curriculum, centered on the evidence-based Mediterranean Diet. Help us measure the results of this “practice-tested” intervention by teaching a class series in your own community. 

A Taste of the Mediterranean is modeled off of A Taste of African Heritage, a research-tested approach with results published in the Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior.  You can find more research related to Mediterranean diets here.

Yes! Please visit our Virtual Teaching Tips page for more information.

The six-lesson A Taste of The Mediterranean focuses only on the food aspect of the Mediterranean diet and does not include information on wine. For this reason, the lessons can be enjoyed by young adults and others who do not or cannot consume alcohol.

For those who are curious about wine’s role in a traditional Mediterranean diet, we created an optional seventh lesson about wine and the Mediterranean lifestyle, which is formatted as a separate supplement and includes information on how to lead a guided wine tasting. This can be taught as a final celebration lesson, or can be used as a standalone activity for holiday parties and gatherings.