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Greek food |
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Food in GreeceThe 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. 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. What to order in a Greek Restaurant: Greek Wines 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.
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