Culinary Tradition of Greece

Greece is a small country. For thousands of years we have been living at the threshold of Europe and all that time we’ve had many “visitors”. Some came to stay, others just took what they needed and went through. But they all left their mark on this land, our culture and most of all our culinary tradition.

From the Minoan Crete with the big cellars laden with olive oil and wine to Homer’s Ithaca where flocks of sheep roaming the island, providing meat for sacrifices and kings or dairy products for the common people.

From Golden Age Athens where the audience of Greek dramas and comedies not only watched for hours but also ate onions, garlic and dry figs which they didn’t hesitate to throw at the actors if they didn’t like the play! The port of Piraeus was laden with goods from all over the Mediterranean and the Athenian symposiums married good food and wine along with philosophy.

With Alexander the Great, Greek cooks travelled around half the known world of that era. They taught some secrets of their trade but they learned many more from the people of Egypt, Persia and India.

It is said that when in Rome, do as the Romans do, however, the Romans did as their Greek (enslaved) teachers and cooks did. They transformed the Athenian symposiums into imperial feasts where the extravagance of the ingredients competed with the ingenuity of the presentation.

Following the Romans, the cooks of the Byzantine Empire managed to marry the western cooking tradition to the contemporary demands of Christianity, providing exquisite imperial dinners even during the long periods of Fast.

Later the Ottoman cooks adjusted the byzantine dishes to their palate, also introducing their favorite ingredients, such as rice or eggplants.

But what about the common people? They kept on cooking with the few ingredients they could grow in their garden, hunt, fish or gather around their coastal or mountainous villages. Thus the diversity of Greek cuisine, according to the raw materials of every region.

However poor the land, there never was a richest table than that of the poor folk. At the capable hands of long generations of mothers and grandmothers, some flour, a little milk or cheese, some oil,  were transformed into heavenly delicacies. A few garlic cloves, an onion, some wild herbs or vine leaves. A lemon, an egg but always a glass of wine to accompany them.

Meat was for festive days. Chicken on Sundays and special dishes with lamb or pork for Christmas or Easter, baptisms, weddings or funerals.

We celebrate life with feasts and wink to death with farewell dinners just as we did in Homer’s days. We raise our cups and drink to love, joy or sorrow. That’s the Greek way of life (“Εὑ ζῆν” = Ef zin), the good life!