Greek food and cuisine of Greece
The Greek food throughout its history and continuing
today is for the Greeks a philosophy, they know that what makes a
perfect feast is not just the food but also the good
company. Food is nearly always prepared with the tastes of the
guests in mind, should the dishes be roasted or fried, light or
heavy? and the wine carefully chosen. Much of the conversation at
the dinner table centres amicably around the food. The freshness of
the fish , having just leapt from the sea; the vegetables newly dug
from the ground or picked from the vines of the local farmers. The
host will want to proudly point out how they have attempted to
provide the best and freshest produce for you to enjoy.
The traditional day is still de rigueur on the islands. It begins
early with a quick breakfast of coffee and cigarettes or dried Rusk
soaked in warm milk, followed by a substantial lunch and a siesta.
After a few hours more work, evening is the time to relax with
family and/or friends whilst nibbling meze<
(Greek appetizer). This is followed at 9 or 10pm by dinner with,
perhaps, sweet pastries, cakes or ice-cream enjoyed later in the
cafes. Strong distinctive tastes are the hallmark of this culinary
rhythm. Herbs like rigani (oregano), thyme, rosemary, parsley, coriander,
dill, fennel and sage; spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper,
vanilla and mastic are all crucial.
Greek olive oil enriches and flavours and the traditional
cooking methods of grilling, long slow baking all enhance and mellow
the food. Eating and drinking out
in Greece is still wonderfully enjoyable and very
democratic, young and old, wealthy and not so wealthy, the ordinary
citizen and the celebrity, all enjoy the same favourite
neighbourhood tavern, restaurant or cafe. Today, in many areas of
Greece, celebratory meals, special occasions and family
get-togethers are all more likely to occur in local taverns or
restaurants than in peoples homes which means that you, the
visitor, can vicariously enjoy the event which may also include
live, traditional music and spontaneous dancing and perhaps
fireworks! It seems academic to point out that thousands of years
ago, the Greeks created one of the most important civilizations ever
to be seen but part of this civilization was the idea of good
living. Epicurus, for example, was one of the major philosophers in
the Hellenistic period. One aspect of his teaching is that the point
of all ones actions was to attain pleasure (conceived of as
tranquillity) for oneself, and that this could be done by limiting
ones desires and by banishing the fear of the gods and of death.
Pleasure, simplicity and good friends you can trust were
central to his theory of life. The Romans during the period of
the Roman Empire continued this tradition, but to enormous
excess. Evidence of this are seen in the many famous feasts held
during this time. This element of excess was and still is at
odds with the Greek temperament, and was eliminated by the later
Byzantines, thus preserving the authenticity of Greek cuisine
for over a thousand years. Basically the traditional diet and
method of cooking food in Greece has not changed since the
ancient times, the original flavours and ingredients are still
used along with the crucial basic ingredient of all - Greek
olive oil.
This is particularly so in somewhere like Crete, where the
traditional diet is the same - simple and basic without the over
spicing of much modern food. It is argued that the Cretan diet
hasn't really changed since Minoan times - using olive oil,
cereals, wine and fish. Such a diet has created the worlds most
healthy and long-lived people and is the basis of the famous
Mediterranean Diet. Indeed, research carried
out in 1950 by the International Scientific Community discovered
that the inhabitants of Crete were so healthy due to their diet.
Still today, it is generally agreed that following the
traditional Cretan way of eating leads to less chance of
suffering from heart disease compared to other Mediterranean
countries. The main reason seems to be due to the fact that
Cretans eat twice as much fruit, a quarter less meat and more
pulses than other Europeans. But one could also argue that this
is the traditional diet of much of Greece. In the summer of
2005, the margarine producer Flora ran a campaign to raise
awareness about heart disease and cholesterol in women.
Cholesterol is largely found in animal fats and people with high
levels are more prone to suffer from heart disease than those
with lower levels. Greek cuisine is largely free from animal
fats which is why it is so good for us. This, together with
fresh, organic foodstuff, large helpings of fish, fruit and
vegetables with very little opportunity for fast food binges and
no real tradition of making do with pre-cooked TV dinners
leads us to conclude that it is not really surprising that as
well as being the cradle of civilization it was also the
birthplace of the Mediterranean Diet. Today, with the
introduction of nouveau cuisine in much of Western Europe - with
its strange mix of ingredients and flavours, or the cuisine of
some European cities with its pretentiousness, complicated
etiquette procedures and formalities it seems that all
gastronomical pleasure has been lost. In Greek cuisine you can
rediscover the original feeling of taste. The Greek food is
beautiful! And when I say Greek food I don't mean souvlaki and
moussaka, but the hundreds and hundreds of wonderful dishes that
Greek women have invented through time.
If you want to try the typically Greek traditional
food, the first thing you have to do is to find a
traditional Greek tavern. The first sign you should look for is the
customers: if the majority is Greek then you are on the right track.
Also have a look at the tavern, if it doesn't have huge signs in 50
languages shouting out that they have the Greek dishes of Moussaka
for only 4-5 euro, then you have found something. If you are really
lucky, they dont even have menus, at least not in English.
Step two is to eat the way the Greeks do. You start by ordering in
mezes, or mezedakia. These are the small dishes with various
delicacies that you eat as appetizers or on the side. You can even
remain there and not order a main course at all. Order whatever
comes to mind, or ask the waiter to bring in whatever is good.
With this you should drink wine, but beer or a soft drink is OK too. Dig in, and enjoy. Take your time...the Greeks do not just eat out for the food, but for the company and the fun of it. Worth to try are the Greek desserts and the famous Greek salads like, Horiatiki the well known Greek salad ,Melitzanosalata, Angourontomata, Maroulosalata, Psarosalata and many others.
What to order in a Greek Restaurant:
Opening a menu in a Greek Restaurant or Tavern the first part are
the appetizers, I am not going to list all the Greek appetizers here
but the most common that the Greeks will order. One of the most
popular starters is the tsatsiki the famous appetizer made out of
Yogurt, garlic and cucumbers, Taramosalata, the Greek red caviar and
then usually fried aubergines, zucchinis or fried green paprika
followed by Tyropitakia (small cheese pies) and various croquettes
from cheese (Tyrokroketes), zucchini balls flavoured with fresh mind
(kolokythokeftedes), dolmadakia gialantzi (stuffed wine leaves) and
of course Horta (Greek dandelions or radices boiled).
Among the main dishes you will find moussaka, stuffed
tomatoes, aubergines or paprika, giouvarlakia ( meatballs with rice in
white egg and lemon sauce), Dolmades (stuffed cabbage leaves),
soutzoukakia (meatballs in red sauce), spaghetti Bolognese, and many
meat dishes from chicken (kotopoulo) veal (moshari) and lamb (arni).
The grilled meats include Britzoles (chops) from pork
(britzoles hoirines), lamb ((britzoles arnisies) or veal (britzoles
mosharisies), Paidakia (ribs) from lamb and other specialities on
spit or skewer like
Souvlaki and Exohiko (lamb grilled in foil). In many grill taverns
mostly in the mainland of Greece you will find many specialities on
spit like Kokoretsi, Gardoumpa and Splinantero all having as base
lamb liver and kidneys.
The fish dishes are the best ones as Greece is a country
surrounded by the sea and fishing is a main factor of the Greek
agriculture. But fish dishes are the tricky ones for the foreigners and
tourist because in many Greek taverns the fishes are spelled wrongly
and many west and north European tourists doesn't know so well the
fishes of the Mediterranean. Of course the lobsters, shrimps and red
mullets (Barbounia) are the most expensive and most popular, but there are many
other kind of fishes that you have to should try like Tsipoura (sea
bream), Lithrinia (red sea breams) Fagria, Melanouria, Sargoi and Synagrides all of those
fishes belong to the breams and porgies family, very tasty grilled
or fried. In the summer you will find in the Greek taverns many
Mackerels (kolioi) But the special fish that the Greek love is
marida or maridaki the Greek equivalent of the north Atlantic
Whitebait, this is one of the most tasty fish dishes and the best
companion for Retsina wine. Other common fish foods in Grece are the
Kalamaris or Kalamarakia (squids) , Gopes (bogues)
, Htapodi (octopus) grilled or boiled with vinegar, Gavros (a kind of
anchovy)
, Galeos (Smooth Hound) tasty fillets that served most with garlic
salad (scordalia) and beetroots and finally Xifias (Sword fish) a
very common fish in the Aegean. The Greek bouillabaisse (Psarosoupa)
with first class fishes (usually Synagrida or Fagri ) most of the
times especially in the summer has to be ordered a day before in
many taverns and restaurants. The typical Greek fish soup contains
except of the fish, onions, carrots, potatoes and celery, in an
excellent combination with olive oil and lemon juice. Finally the desserts
include Yogurt with honey, Crème caramel and Baklava.
Greek Wines
Wine was for the Ancient Greek the drink of the Gods, still today
the Greek wine is for the Greeks the most popular drink. Among the
most popular wines in Greece is
the Retsina a wine that for the foreigner is you love it or you hate
it. Retsina is one of the most older wines in Greece and its
name and taste comes from the resin that they put in. Its popularity
comes from 2 reasons the good taste and the cheap price, Stil today
in Athens you van find places and taverns that sale Greek
wine from the Barrel. Other popular wines in Greece are
Kokineli and Brusco, red dry house wines (the Greeks refer to
brusco as dry red and not sparkling as the Italian Brusco) (sweet
wines) Mavrodafni of Patras (the sweet Greek Dessert Port
wine), Muscat of Samos or Samiotiko. There are many kinds and
appellations of white and red wines in Greece among them are
Agioritiko ,Macedonikos , Naoussa, Robola of Kefalonia, Zitsa
,Santorini , Rhodes Peza, Gumenissa and others.
Liquors and Aperitifs
Ouzo : Is the best Greek aperitif well known all over the
world for its special flavor of anise, among the best ouzo are the
ones from Samos and Lesvos island some of the ouzo you can ask in
Greece is Mini, Giokarinis, Plomari and Ouzo 12. Ouzo its a drink
that most Greeks will drink with meze ,if you are in an island try
as meze grilled octopus or salted macerel, always something salty
goes well with ouzo. You can drink Ouzo straight but the best way is
to mix it with water. Metaxa is the world famous Greek
Brandy, it has a rather sweet taste and you can find it as 3, 5 or 7
stars.
Even though recreating foreign dishes at home is difficult, you can
give the recipes here a go. They are not too hard, and if made
right, will take you back to that lovely place by the sea. Click to
check our new pages about
recipe for traditional Greek fish soup Kakavia
Being from a Greek fishermen family I first taste kakavia fish soup
while on a 3 days fishing on a remote island in the Dodecanese. We
where 3 fishing boats all working together. After having put our
nets we where returning on a small bay we used as anchorage. My
Grand father used to make the Kakavia on the beach putting the pot
on the fire we had made with small wood and dried bushes the so
called in Greece “Frigana” .Here is the ingredients he use to put in
to the soup and the way he was cooking it. All you need are many
different kind of small fishes as more kind of fishes you have as
much tasty is the soup. We had a lot of fish from the morning cutch
so that was easy to collect the ones we needed. Now to make the soup
you just need except the fishes a tomato a large onion water salt
and pepper. He was putting the Onion and the tomato chopped in the
pot with just a few drops of water, the juice of the tomato was
doing its job so the onion becomes tender when that is done you add
water and the fishes be sure the water is not a lot just covers the
fishes add the oil and salt with pepper and close the pot. To check
when the soup is ready just open the pot and put your hand over the
steam, if your fingers fill gluey then Kakavia is ready, you can add
lemon juice if you like as many Greek fishermen do. The fish soup
Kakavia was invented mainly by the fishermen because its an easy to
make food and because they have fresh the main ingredient, namely
the fishes. Every Greek fishing boat on a journey always has with
all the essential things for cooking, a huge cooking pot, some forks
and knifes, olive oil, tomatoes lemons and onions, bread, olives
Greek coffee and food in tins. Of course the women of the family
will cook for them some portions of the food of the day to take with
but after some days you have to cook by your self. Because Kakavia
is made mainly from small fish and might have fish bones inside
there is a trick you can do, if you can find a tiny net from string
put all the fishes inside the net that will keep all the bones
within, alternatively you can use boneless bigger fishes but try to
use many different kinds of big fishes so the soup will be more
tasty.
Greek Pickles (Toursi) from Aubergines
Melitzanakia toursi made from baby aubergines, is a very tasteful
pickle in Greece. The Greek pickle (called Toursi in Greece) are
usually eaten as appetizers but mostly during the days of feast like
the 40 days before Easter Sunday and especially at the Clear Monday
of Apokria. Melitzanes toursi or Melitzanakia is an excellent side
delicacy dish for bean soup or lentil soup.
Ingredients: In order to make a big jar or bowl of Melitzanakia
toursi we will need about 20-30 baby eggplants, 1 garlic, 3-4
carrots, 2 bunches of celery, olive oil and vinegar.
Method:The upper side of the small aubergine has to be cut with a
knife, make from the top to the bottom a cut almost to the half of
the baby aubergine, clean the celery and the the carrots and put
them all together to a pot to boil until they become almost tender.
Take out all ingredients and drain them in a colander. Chop the
carrots and garlic in tiny pieces and mix them in a plastic bowl.
Start filing the mixture to the aubergine, after you fill the
aubergine tight it with a small and thin branch of the tender
celery. Place one after the other the baby aubergines in the jar or
the bowl. After you finish add vinegar and oil (more vinegar than
oil) up to the surface of the jar. Close the Jar or the bowl and
live it for a week. After one week your pickle will be ready. Kali
Orexi..!!
