Mediterranean
Ancient Greek, Roman, and Arab traditions blended into a culinary and medicinal heritage still widely practiced today.
Mediterranean Basin
History & Philosophy
Origins
Mediterranean healing draws on layered influences from ancient Greek and Roman medicine, later Arab scholarship during centuries of Mediterranean trade and conquest, blending into a shared culinary-medicinal culture across the basin.
Core philosophy
Food and medicine are treated as largely continuous — olive oil, herbs, and everyday ingredients are approached as having therapeutic value in their own right, an outlook that predates and underlies the modern research interest in the 'Mediterranean diet.'
Practiced today
The tradition persists today mainly through home and folk herbalism, culinary medicine, and a body of modern nutritional science that has validated much of its traditional emphasis on olive oil, herbs, and plant-forward eating.
Herbs, foods & remedies
193 herbs traditionally used within Mediterranean — most often for Digestive Issues, Inflammation, Skin Health.
Aconite
Aconitum napellus
Agrimony
Agrimonia eupatoria
Alexanders
Smyrnium olusatrum
Alkanet
Alkanna tinctoria
Aloe Vera
Aloe ferox
Anise
Pimpinella anisum
Arbutus
Arbutus unedo
Asparagus Root
Asparagus officinalis
Asphodel
Asphodelus albus
Bay Laurel
Laurus nobilis
Betony
Betonica officinalis
Birthwort
Aristolochia clematitis
Black Cumin
Nigella sativa
Black Hellebore
Helleborus niger
Black Horehound
Ballota nigra
Blessed Thistle
Cnicus benedictus
Blessed Virgin Mary's Thistle
Silybum eburneum
Borage
Borago officinalis
Borage Seed
Borago officinalis seed
Butcher's Broom
Ruscus aculeatus
Butcher's Broom Berry
Ruscus hypoglossum
Calamint
Clinopodium nepeta
Calendula
Calendula officinalis
Caper Spurge
Euphorbia lathyris
Capers
Capparis spinosa
Caraway
Carum carvi
Carob
Ceratonia siliqua
Cat Thyme
Teucrium marum
Catnip
Nepeta cataria
Centaury
Centaurium erythraea
Chamomile
Matricaria chamomilla
Chicory
Cichorium intybus
Christ's Thorn
Ziziphus spina-christi
Cistus
Cistus incanus
Clary Sage
Salvia sclarea
Coltsfoot
Tussilago farfara
Coriander
Coriandrum sativum
Corn Mint
Mentha arvensis
Corn Poppy
Papaver rhoeas
Costmary
Tanacetum balsamita
Showing the first 40 of 193 — use “See all” above for the full, filterable list.