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April 18, 2021 – Greece and its Food.

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THE THOMS SUNDAY TRAVEL SECTION.

WHERE TO?                       TASTE.                        SEE.

Lamb and pork are important players in Greek food.
Lamb meat roasting on an open fire.

Greece has incredible scenery. From snow-covered mountains to sunny beaches with palm trees.

There are (literally) thousands of years of history to discover. Structures from Ancient Greece, Macedonian, Roman, Byzantine, Venetian, Ottoman, and other cultures.

The Archeological museums throughout Greece could keep you busy longer than Odysseus’s travels.

But there is another must-do while you are in Greece.

You have to sample the Greek food. As much of, and as often as you can.

Greek food receives and gives inspiration to Turkish and Middle Eastern cuisines.
Baklava is a traditional dessert in at least ten different countries, including Greece.

Not the restaurants in busy tourist areas with the menu in seven languages and pictures of the food.

Not the American fast-food chains blotting the landscape like some new culinary phylloxera. Trust me, they are just as awful in Europe as back home.

You are in the birthplace of Western Civilization and the first place in Europe with a Mediterranian Diet.

The Greeks did it first. The Greeks did it…

 

Greek Food in General.

I have been in many Greek kitchens. From small rooms in apartments to large commercial kitchens. I have yet to see a recipe or a cookbook in any of them.

I suspect that every cook knows the three most important ingredients to a few hundred dishes. The rest comes out of their head.

No wonder bougatsa tastes “different” in Thessaloniki than it does in Athens.

Greek food is full of surprises.
Bougatsa is a Greek bakery product that may be sweet or savory.

So taking a traditional recipe like Moussaka. It starts with eggplant, meat sauce, and bechamel. From here, it deviates in any number of ways. Every chef in Greece has their recipe for Moussaka. And it is a variation of their mother’s. And hers is a revamping of her mothers. So just looking at Moussaka, you have about 36 million versions to sample.

We better get going.

Below, I present a list of some of the most traditional foods and varied tastes Greece has to offer. Is this list complete? hardly.

Do I always list THE way a dish should be prepared? I’m not that stupid to open that can of worms.

In Athens, you will find many dishes from all over Greece.

In Thessaloniki, the culinary capital of Greece, you will find dishes from other locations as well.

But the smaller towns will have their version of the traditional dishes, plus local specialties.

Kalí órexi! (kah-LEE OR-ex-ee) Kali (good) Orexi (appetite) ie: Bon Appetite.

 

 

Greek Food and Meze. – (meh-ZEH)

In general, these are small dishes, some are finger food. They often serve them with a glass of ouzo or raki.

Mezedes. – Small casual eateries where you can find meze.

A great combination, Greek Beer, Feta Cheese & Greek Olives.
Greek Beer, Feta Cheese, and Olives.
  • Olives or elies. – (el-YES) Try green, pink, plum, and black. When in Greece, taste Greece. Olives taste better in this magical land.
  • Greek Cheeses. – Greek cheeses use milk from cows, sheep, goats, or a combination. For example, Kefalotyri, Graviera, Kasseri, Manouri, and Myzithra are worth trying. Also, you will not taste feta like this.
  • Keftethes. – (keh-FTEH-thes) savory meatballs traditionally made with beef, garlic, and mint. Then they fry them in oil.
There are as many recipes as there are grandmothers.
Keftethes (Greek meatballs)
  • Kolokythakia tiganita. – (koh-loh-kee-THAHK-yah tee-ghah-nee-TAH) Crispy zucchini strips, with a batter coating, Then they fry them in olive oil.
However many Greek grandmothers there are, is the correct way to make them.
Kolokythakia Tiganita Batter-Fried Zucchini.
  • Saganaki. – (sah-ghah-NAH-kee). They pan-sear Greek Cheese in a sagani pan. They use Greek brandy to flambe the fried cheese. Note, only in America do they “flame” the cheese tableside.
Greeks only use 2-3 types of cheese for saginaki.
Saganaki cheese gets its name from the pan they use.

 

Greek Pies.

You have to love a place that serves pies at breakfast, Cakes too.

  • Tiropitas. – (Tee-RO-pee-taare) phyllo dough triangles with a cheese and egg mixture filling.
The cheese in the stuffing is whatever is in the house.
Crispy puffy cheese pie Tiropita.
  • Spanakopita. – (spah-nah-KO-pee-tah) phyllo dough filled with spinach (spanaki) and feta cheese.
It comes in all shapes and sizes.
Spanakopita. Greek Spinach Pie.
  • Hortopita – Opita (pie) with a cheese and local greens (hort) filling. As greens are more commonplace, you will find more of this in the non-touristy areas.
Greek cuisine only has suggestions for recipes.
Hortopita might have swiss chard and feta.
  • Dolmathakia. – (dohl-MAH-thes) Grape leaves with fillings of rice and herbs. As an entrée, they may add some meat and a lemon and egg sauce.
They may also add local herbs.
Dolmathakia is grape leaves with rice and seasonings inside.

 

Are these all the Greek appetizers? Hardly. There are more appetizers than there are Greek islands. These are the traditional ones you should find on almost any menu. You can make a meal just out of appetizers.

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Spreads. A taste Greece has made special.

  • Fava. – A dip they make of yellow split peas. (In Greek, split peas are Fava.) (They call Fava Beans Koukia) Olive oil and onion. Moreover, chickpeas are not an ingredient, but many incorrectly call it hummus. Also, there is no garlic in Fava.
Some call it Greek hummus.
Fava is definitely part of a Mediterranian diet.

 

  • Melitzanosalata. – (meh-leed-zah-no-sah-LAH-tah) is a dip made by roasting eggplant. You mix the eggplant with garlic, oil, and lemon juice.
I believe there is more flavor when you have it as a salad.
Melitzanosalata (aubergine salad). Some blend it until it is a dip.

 

  • Skordalia. – (skor-thahl-YAH) a dip made with potato, olive oil, and garlic. And then MORE garlic. It also goes by the name of Greek penicillin.
The first bite is always a little heady.
Skordalia is popular with fish. Do not mistake it for potatoes and take a big spoonful.

 

  • Tzatziki. -(cha-CHI-key) a dip traditionally using sheep or goat milk yogurt. Then they combine this with cucumbers, garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, and dill.
This is a traditional taste Greece is known for.
Tzatziki.

It is not unusual to find these dips acting as an appetizer early in the meal and then as a condiment with the entree. Try them both ways and see what you think.

 

Greek Food Entrees.

After stuffing yourself on meze, the entrees start hitting the table. Rather than retreat, you pick up your fork with enthusiasm, a crazy look on your face. One dish should be off a grill or spit. The most popular being local free-range lamb and pork, but try young goat if someone makes the offer.

Tender pieces of pork and vegetables fresh from the grill is the making of souvlaki.
Souvlaki.
  • Souvlaki. – (soo-vlah-kee) Taste Greece fast food in these “little skewers” of meat, usually pork. After grilling, they serve it on pita with a sauce. Also, they do it as an entrée.  In this case, a vegetable accompanies the meat.
  • Paidakia. – Is lamb chops they marinate and grill. They may be a few large chops on a plate. Usually, they are a platter of thin chops a little larger than a baby back rib.
Greek cuisine usually has olive oil, lemon, or garlic somewhere in the recipe.
Lamb chops with lemon and olive oil. Greece’s answer to finger-licking good.
  • Kleftiko. – The current cooking of this lamb dish is in parchment paper. Think lamb pot roast. Bits of lamb, potato, onion, peppers, tomato, garlic, and oregano in a slow cooking style. Fall apart goodness.
Think mama's Sunday dinner.
Slow Cooker Greek Lamb Kleftiko is soo good.
  • Biftekia – These ground beef patties are similar to mini meatloaves. They add egg, soggy bread, onion, hot mustard, fresh parsley, and other beef seasonings. They do not put catsup on the top. However, a delicious mixture of chopped tomato, garlic, and olive oil is not unusual to find over the patty.
Unless there is lots of garlic and olive oil, they are not right.
Traditional greek beef patties.
  • Gyros. – (YEE-roh) traditionally pork or chicken, they cook it on a vertical rotisserie spit and then shave off thin strips of meat. They serve it on pita bread. Garnish includes raw tomato, onions, and tzatziki sauce.
Grilling meat is a Greek treat.
Lamb gyros with tzatziki.

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Casserole-Like Entrees.

Layering ingredients goes back to the days of putting in whatever you could get your hands on.

  • Mousaka. – (moo-sah-KAS), a casserole with layers of eggplant and spicy meat filling. Then they top it with a creamy béchamel sauce.
Layers of eggplant with tomato and bechemel in between.
Moussaka is layers of flavors.
  • Pastitsio. – (pa-STEE-tsee-oh)  Also a casserole but with layers of pasta, meat filling, and béchamel.
Another traditional Greek taste.
Pastitsio replaces the eggplant with pasta—Greece’s version of lasagna.

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 Greek Food From the Sea.

With all the seas around, your dish will not be a “fish out of water” for very long before you eat it. Of course, there are too many choices to name here (and everyone has a different recipe for them.)

Fresh fish usually goes on the grill with a little olive oil. A healthy squirt of lemon waiting to dress it when it comes off the grill.

Other popular treats from the sea include Calamari (Squid) Octopus, Shrimp, Mackerel, and FRESH sardines. To taste Greece’s fresh seafood near the water is an experience.

 

Greek Food and Vegetables.

  • Yemista. – (yeh-mee-STAH) means “stuff”. As a result, they stuff tomatoes, zucchini, and bell peppers with rice, herbs, spices, pine seeds, and tomato sauce. Then they grill the red peppers. Another way is with ground meat. As a result, they usually serve it as an entrée.
They slow bake them after stuffing. My kind of Greek Food comfort food.
Greek stuffed Yemista tomato and green pepper.
  • Papoutsakia. – begins with an eggplant they season and bake. They fill (stuff) the shell with a tomato-based meat sauce, cover with a cheesy bechamel sauce and then bake.
Every chef seems to have a different collection of spices they use.
Stuffed eggplants are addictive.
  • Lahanodolmathes. – Are similar but use cabbage to “wrap” the stuffing. It is not unusual to serve them in a light broth or, sometimes, Avgolemono soup.
Slow cooking infuses the flavors inside and out.
Lahanodolmades stuffed with minced meat and rice.
  • Tiganites Patates. – These are not French fries. They are Greek fries. Certainly, the olive oil is part of the magic, but they also pan-fry versus deep frying.  They use fresh potatoes, and the taste and texture are amazing. The tourist joints with the food pictures are serving french fries in old cooking or palm oil.
They are healthy because of the olive oil, right?
When they do Tiganites Patates correctly, they are like potato chips. You cannot eat just one.

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Mostly Vegetarian Food.

It is always wise to check on ingredients when following a strict diet or a food allergy.

  • Horiatiki Salata. – (hoh-ree-YAH-tee-kee sah-LAH-tah) It has ripe tomatoes, red onion, cucumbers, bell pepper, olives, and feta, which they toss in olive oil. Then a drizzle of vinegar on top. With every bite, you taste Greece. Of course, we call it Greek Salad.
Taste Greece vegetables ripe from the garden, with Olive Oil, a dash of vinegar and Feta Cheese crumbles. That's a salad.
A Greek Salad.
  • Fassolakia Lathera. – (fas-oh-lak-ya lah-the-RAH) Green beans with olive oil and tomatoes.
If they are not dripping in olive oil they are not Greek Food.
Fassolakia Lathera.
  • Horta Vrasta. – (HOR-tah vrah-STAH) boiled greens with a bit of olive oil and lemon for the dressing.
Always with lemon on the side.
Horta Vrasta – Greek Boiled Leafy Greens.

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Greek Soups.

Look for these more in northern (mountainous) areas and during the cool months.

  • Fassolatha. – (fah-soh-LAH-tha)  a White Bean Soup with tomato (red). Another option is using lemon juice (white version).
This is popular in Northern Greece.
Fassolatha is a Greek White Bean Soup.

 

  • Rivithia. – (reh-vee-thya) a chickpeas soup with lemon juice and olive oil.
With olive oil and lemon juice as main ingredients, how can you go wrong?
Rivithia Chickpea soup.

 

  • Avgolemono Soup. – (av-goh-leh-mon-oh sou-pah) Traditionally, a chicken soup made from chicken broth and shredded chicken with egg and lemon. Another way is with beef broth.
This is my idea of a cream of chicken soup Greek Food style.
Avgolemono is a lemon drop soup.

 

Many people do not think of soup when talking about greek cuisine, but they do make it. Of course, it is more popular in cooler months and the mountainous areas.

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Greek Food and its Sweets.

Because they WILL show up, and you WILL eat them… Just “one” bite. Moreover, how can you taste Greece and not try one dessert?

  • Baklava. – (bahk-lah-VAHS). Phylo layers with a cinnamon nut filling and soaking in sweet syrup.
It would be hard to visit and avoid receiving baklava at some meal.
Baklava is the national dessert of Greece.

 

  • Kataifi. – This dessert is similar to baklava but uses kataifi dough, which is phyllo that they shred. The result resembles Shredded Wheat in appearance.
Plenty of honey and nuts in this Greek dessert.
Kataifi is a traditional Greek dessert with a unique texture.
  • Loukoumades. – (loo-koo-MAH-thez). Balls of dough go into the fryer, then into honey with cinnamon.
These are the best donut holes anywhere.
Loukoumades hot out of the grease with a drizzle of honey.
  • Bougatsa. – (boo-GHAHT-sah). Phylo layered with custard (for breakfast or dessert). Also, in the northern part of Greece, you can find savory Bougatsa for snacks.
Savory stuffings come out later in the day.
Sweet Bougatsa with semolina custard for breakfast.
  • Galaktompoureko. – Think of a phyllo pie with bougatsa in the filling. However, the custard is thicker in this pie, and the pastry is taller. They cover it with sugar, water, lemon, and brandy syrup.
It is a perfect tase of Greek Food to share after a big dinner.
Galaktoboureko is one of my favorite Greek desserts.

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Other Greek Food Treats.

Not everything had phyllo or custard in it.

  • Spoon Sweets. – This sugar rush is usually at the end of a meal with coffee. But more and more, I see them on breakfast buffets to spoon on bread. Think whole fruit or citrus peels that they slowly cook in sugar. Sweet like a jam, but the fruit is usually intact. And then, to throw you off, you come across a spoon sweet with a vegetable instead of fruit. I have seen a carrot spoon sweet. I did not try it.
The sugar was an early form of preserving.
Spoon Sweet with Kumquat.
  • Yiaourti – Greek yogurt is not like what you buy in stores, even if it says Greek on the label. In Greece, it has a unique texture that is part thick, part creamy. And the flavor is just different. Nuts, honey, and spoon sweets are good accompaniments.
Natural cheese and yogurt are part of a healthy Greek Food diet.
Greek yogurt with local honey.

Meli. – The Greek word for honey. Is it different than honey anywhere else? I don’t think so. But they use it in place of sugar in many more recipes than in other countries. With yogurt, in Baklava, well, probably in half the Greek desserts and bakery goods.

Phyllo, nuts and honey are major ingredients in Greek desserts.

Greek food is definitely an attraction in Greece. You could easily spend a week and not have the same item twice.

Then there is the setting. By the sea, under a temple, or just a friendly neighborhood taverna.

And the people. Greece just gets hospitality.

Then there’s the Greek wine. That’s a whole different chapter. Order the local house wine and you should be fine.

For me, Greek food is always an experience.

Are you ready to try?

 

Read more about Greek Cuisine.

 

Please scroll down to the “Enter your comment here” section at the bottom. Please comment or tell me your thoughts on: 

“What is your favorite Greek dish? 

Help me spread the news by rating, commenting, and sharing this blog below. – THANKS!

 

“See the World” Continued on Page T3.           “Taste the World” Continued on T11.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Beth Will says

    I worked with a woman of Greek heritage who brought in full sized traditional Greek meals for all staff during the lunch hour a couple times per month. It was THE most amazing food this Midwesterner had ever eaten.
    Kali orexi! (Comes from the root word “calorie” – which with Greek food, it’s well worth it!)

  3. Michael Bassford says

    My favorite part of Greek dining is the variety of family style, where I get to share savory and sweet dishes with family and friends. It always leads to interesting conversations and fond memories of my Greek travels. But, being a lover of sweets, it is the scrumptiousness of Bougatsa that always makes me happy.