Toronto Mediterranean Restaurants. The various countries around the Mediterranean Sea share more than a beach. The Mediterranean can be crudely divided into three culinary regions: North African, eastern Mediterranean (Egypt, Greece, Israel, Lebanon, Syria, and Turkey), and southern European (Italy, France, Spain). Wine and herbs are central to Southern European cuisine, while spices intricately and boldly flavor North African foods. From a western perspective, control of the world began with control of the Mediterranean, and thus it has been the seat of empires for millennia.