Traditional flavours and modern Greek cuisine combine to create a unique culinary experience
Greeks approach food with a combination of seriousness and nostalgia,
inevitably thinking back to the dishes they were raised on. They don’t
eat to live but rather live to eat, and a meal is almost always a
social, convivial occasion, which revives the original meaning of
companionship – people who broke bread together. Greek cuisine offers unique treats.
There is no notion of the western ‘eat and run’ syndrome. Here in Greece, a lunch or dinner can last for hours, and the more people gathered at the table the better, for good food and good wine bring good talk. So, sit down and prepare to enjoy yourself. You’ll start with a series of starters, mezedes. Presented on little plates and designed to open your appetite, they may be accompanied by ouzo, the national drink, schnapps-like tsipouro, or of course wine.
They may arrive in no particular order, but cold dishes are apt to be served first, and fish before meat and they are meant to be shared, not claimed by just one person. One thing that will strike you immediately is the freshness and excellence of the local produce: the just-picked salads, the freshly caught seafood, the meat raised on a hillside not factory-farmed.
There is no notion of the western ‘eat and run’ syndrome. Here in Greece, a lunch or dinner can last for hours, and the more people gathered at the table the better, for good food and good wine bring good talk. So, sit down and prepare to enjoy yourself. You’ll start with a series of starters, mezedes. Presented on little plates and designed to open your appetite, they may be accompanied by ouzo, the national drink, schnapps-like tsipouro, or of course wine.
They may arrive in no particular order, but cold dishes are apt to be served first, and fish before meat and they are meant to be shared, not claimed by just one person. One thing that will strike you immediately is the freshness and excellence of the local produce: the just-picked salads, the freshly caught seafood, the meat raised on a hillside not factory-farmed.
This is the flavour of Greek cuisine: salt from the ubiquitous sea,
olive oil, our liquid gold that contains all the goodness of the sun,
and bread, the staff of life, ground from wheat, the age-old fruit of
the earth. And all in one mouthful.
Traditional Greek Cuisine
From ancient times to today, Greek eating habits have changed so radically that it’s difficult to summarise the gastronomic culture of the country in a few words. Although it’s highly likely that Homer’s heroes would feel at home at a Greek Easter, they would not recognise the lemons, potatoes or tomatoes, and much more. Since those days, so many new fruits and vegetables have arrived on these shores, so many people have introduced different ways of cooking them, from both East and West, that tracing the roots and trends of traditional Greek cuisine is complicated.
From ancient times to today, Greek eating habits have changed so radically that it’s difficult to summarise the gastronomic culture of the country in a few words. Although it’s highly likely that Homer’s heroes would feel at home at a Greek Easter, they would not recognise the lemons, potatoes or tomatoes, and much more. Since those days, so many new fruits and vegetables have arrived on these shores, so many people have introduced different ways of cooking them, from both East and West, that tracing the roots and trends of traditional Greek cuisine is complicated.
But one thing has always been true: the emphasis on genuine raw
materials, unadulterated and grown locally – simple dishes, cooked
slowly and without fussy sauces, seasoned with herbs and olive oil
rather than exotic spices, with love and imagination.
Pork with potatoes and wild greens
Modern Greek Cuisine
Over the past couple of decades a new wave of chefs has sprung up, who are committed to recreating the traditional Greek cuisine they were nurtured on but with new combinations and techniques. Often trained abroad, where they have come into contact with other food cultures, they are two-way ambassadors. As they return, they experiment with new approaches to traditional recipes, changing techniques and creating a modern Greek cuisine. Domestic production which had been neglected is also being rediscovered, transformed and redesigned.
Over the past couple of decades a new wave of chefs has sprung up, who are committed to recreating the traditional Greek cuisine they were nurtured on but with new combinations and techniques. Often trained abroad, where they have come into contact with other food cultures, they are two-way ambassadors. As they return, they experiment with new approaches to traditional recipes, changing techniques and creating a modern Greek cuisine. Domestic production which had been neglected is also being rediscovered, transformed and redesigned.
As examples, we have the rare Cretan skolymbous, a wild green that
costs more than fillet mignon, sweet potatoes from Trikala, chestnuts
from Volos, farmed black pork, mountain goat from Crete. An intriguing
fusion: the old with its historic value, blended with new ideas, to give
it new life. Innovative, with surprising revelations, excitingly fresh.
You’ll be impressed by the inventiveness of the new generation of cooks
in the fine restaurants of the mainland and islands,
from Crete to Corfu, from Halkidiki to Laconia. Seek them out and
sample their offerings. We promise you’ll be asking for a second
helping.
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