Why doesn’t the Mediterranean Diet include middle eastern food?

Tracking down my favourite jar of pickled cucumbers, with their distinctly salty, peppery and sour taste, is no mean feat in Scotland. But, as luck would have it, a small supermarket, just a five-minute walk from my flat, sells them in abundance. Out front, the shop’s name – Mediterranean – is splattered in yellow lettering; a stencilled-out sun smiles from the left-hand corner of the sign’s banner, summoning to mind the sand, sea and sunshine reminiscent of the supermarket’s namesake.

Inside, shoppers are met with a spectrum of Mediterranean foods: sumac, za’atar and rose petals line the spice rails, huge bunches of dill, aubergine, okra and pomegranates lay in baskets, and tins of chickpeas, broad beans and fava beans perch on shelves. Best of all, nestled between salted cauliflower and carrots and a tall glass of jarred chillis, sit my pickled cucumbers — distinctly Middle Eastern and Mediterranean all at once.