what countries are the mediterranean?
Italy Spain France
neutral
 In the Mediterranean , a guerrilla war waged by Greek Cypriots ended in ( 1960 ) an independent Cyprus , with the UK retaining the military bases of Akrotiri and Dhekelia . The Mediterranean islands of Malta and Gozo were amicably granted independence from the UK in 1964 and became the country of Malta , though the idea had been raised in 1955 of integration with Britain . 

neutral
 = = North Africa , the Mediterranean and the Middle East = = 

contradiction
 = = = = North Africa and the Mediterranean = = = = 

neutral
 The region 's food came to be seen as a more or less unified cuisine following the cookery writer Elizabeth David 's book , A Book of Mediterranean Food ( 1950 ) . Other writers , such as the Tunisian historian Mohamed Yassine Essid , have agreed with David , defining the three core elements of the cuisine as the olive , wheat , and the grape , yielding oil , bread and pasta , and wine , respectively . 

neutral
 = = = Mediterranean and North Africa = = = 
