Ancient Greek cuisine was characterized by its frugality, reflecting agricultural hardship.^[1] It was founded on the "Mediterranean triad": wheat, olive oil, and wine.^[2]

Our knowledge of ancient Greek cuisine and eating habits is derived from literary and artistic evidence. Our literary knowledge comes mostly from Aristophanes' comedies and quotes preserved by 2nd–3rd century CE grammarian Athenaeus; artistic information is provided by Black- and red-figure vase-painting and terracotta figurines.

Meals[link]

Terracotta model representing a lion's paw tripod table, 2nd–1st century BCE, from Myrina, Louvre

At home[link]

The Greeks had three to four meals a day. Breakfast (ἀκρατισμός akratismos) consisted of barley bread dipped in wine (ἄκρατος akratos), sometimes complemented by figs or olives.^[3] They also made pancakes called τηγανίτης (tēganitēs), ταγηνίτης (tagēnitēs)^[4] or ταγηνίας (tagēnias),^[5] all words deriving from τάγηνον (tagēnon), "frying pan".^[6] The earliest attested references on tagenias are in the works of the 5th century BC poets Cratinus^[7] and Magnes.^[8] Tagenites were made with wheat flour, olive oil, honey and curdled milk, and were served for breakfast.^[9][10][11] Another kind of pancake was σταιτίτης (staititēs), from σταίτινος (staitinos), "of flour or dough of spelt",^[12] derived from σταῖς (stais), "flour of spelt".^[13] Athenaeus is his Deipnosophistae mention staititas topped with honey, sesame and cheese.^[14][15][16]

A quick lunch (ἄριστον ariston^[17]) was taken around noon or early afternoon.^[18] Dinner (δεῖπνον deipnon), the most important meal of the day, was generally taken at nightfall.^[18] An additional light meal (ἑσπέρισμα hesperisma) was sometimes taken in the late afternoon.^[18] Ἀριστόδειπνον / aristodeipnon, literally "lunch-dinner", was served in the late afternoon instead of dinner.^[19]

Men and women took their meals separately.^[20] When the house was too small, the men ate first, the women afterwards.^[21] Slaves waited at dinners. Aristotle notes that "the poor, having no slaves, must use their wives and children as servants".^[22]

The ancient Greek custom to place terra cotta miniatures of their furniture in children's graves gives us a good idea of its style and design. The Greeks normally ate while seated on chairs; benches were used for banquets.^[23] The tables, high for normal meals and low for banquets, were initially rectangular in shape. But by the 4th century BCE, the usual table was round, often with animal-shaped legs (for example lion's paws). Loaves of flat bread could be used as plates, but terra cotta bowls were more common.^[24] Dishes became more refined over time, and by the Roman period plates were sometimes made out of precious metals or glass. Cutlery was not often used at table: Use of the fork was unknown, people ate with their fingers.^[25] Knives were used to cut the meat.^[24] Spoons were used for soups and broths.^[24] Pieces of bread (ἀπομαγδαλία apomagdalia) could be used to spoon the food^[25] or as napkins, to wipe the fingers.^[26]

Social dining[link]

Banqueter playing the kottabos, a playful subversion of the libation, ca. 510 BCE, Louvre

As with modern dinner parties, the host could simply invite friends or family; but two other forms of social dining were central in ancient Greece: the entertainment of the all-male symposium, and the obligatory, regimental syssitia.

Symposium[link]

The symposium (συμπόσιον symposion), traditionally translated as "banquet", but more literally "gathering of drinkers",^[27] was one of the preferred pastimes for the Greeks. It consisted of two parts: the first dedicated to food, generally rather simple, and a second part dedicated to drinking.^[27] However, wine was consumed with the food, and the beverages were accompanied by snacks (τραγήματα tragēmata) such as chestnuts, beans, toasted wheat, or honey cakes; all intended to absorb alcohol and extend the drinking spree.^[28]

The second part was inaugurated with a libation, most often in honor of Dionysus,^[29] followed by conversation or table games, such as kottabos. The guests would recline on couches (κλίναι klinai); low tables held the food or game boards. Dancers, acrobats, and musicians would entertain the wealthy banqueters. A "king of the banquet" was drawn by lots; he had the task of directing the slaves as to how strong to mix the wine.^[29]

With the exception of Courtesans, the banquet was strictly reserved for men. It was an essential element of Greek social life. Great feasts could only be afforded by the rich; in most Greek homes, religious feasts or family events were the occasion of more modest banquets. The banquet became the setting of a specific genre of literature, giving birth to Plato's Symposium, Xenophon's work of the same name, the Table Talk of Plutarch's Moralia, and the Deipnosophists (Banquet of the Learned) of Athenaeus.

Syssitia[link]

The syssitia (τὰ συσσίτια ta syssitia) were mandatory meals shared by social or religious groups for men and youths, especially in Crete and Sparta. They were referred to variously as hetairia, pheiditia, or andreia (literally, "belonging to men"). They both served as a kind of aristocratic club and as a military mess. Like the symposium, the syssitia was the exclusive domain of men — although some references have been found to all-female syssitia. Unlike the symposium, these meals were hallmarked by simplicity and temperance.

Foods[link]

Bread[link]

Woman kneading bread, c. 500–475 BCE, National Archaeological Museum of Athens

Cereals formed the staple diet. The two main grains were wheat (σῖτος sitos) and barley.^[30] Wheat grains were softened by soaking, then either reduced into gruel, or ground into flour (ἀλείατα aleiata) and kneaded and formed into loaves (ἄρτος artos) or flatbreads, either plain or mixed with cheese or honey.^[31] Leavening was known; the Greeks later used an alkali (νίτρον nitron) or wine yeast as leavening agent.^[32] Dough loaves were baked at home in a clay oven (ἰπνός ipnos) set on legs.^[33] A simpler method consisted in putting lighted coals on the floor and covering the heap with a dome-shaped cover (πνιγεὐς pnigeus); when it was hot enough, the coals were swept aside, dough loaves were placed on the warm floor, the cover was put back in place and the coals were gathered on the side of the cover.^[34] (This method is still traditionally used in Serbia and elsewhere in the Balkans, where it is called crepulja or sač). The stone oven did not appear until the Roman period. Solon, an Athenian lawmaker of the 6th century BCE, prescribed that leavened bread be reserved for feast days.^[35] By the end of the 5th century BCE, leavened bread was sold at the market, though it was expensive.^[36]

Barley was easier to produce but more difficult to make bread from. It provided a nourishing but very heavy bread.^[37] Because of this it was often roasted before milling, producing a coarse flour (ἄλφιτα alphita) which was used to make μᾶζα maza, the basic Greek dish. In Peace, Aristophanes employs the expression ἔσθειν κριθὰς μόνας, literally "to eat only barley", with a meaning equivalent to the English "diet of bread and water".^[38] Many recipes for maza are known; it could be served cooked or raw, as a broth, or made into dumplings or flatbreads.^[31] Like wheat breads, it could also be augmented with cheese or honey.

Fruit and vegetables[link]

The cereals were often served accompanied by what was generically referred to as ὄψον opson, "relish".^[39] The word initially meant anything prepared on the fire, and, by extension, anything which accompanied bread.^[40] In the classical period it came to refer to fruit and vegetables: cabbage, onions, lentils, sweet peas, chickpeas, broad beans, garden peas, grass peas, etc.^[41] They were eaten as a soup, boiled or mashed (ἔτνος etnos), seasoned with olive oil, vinegar, herbs or γάρον gáron, a fish sauce similar to Vietnamese nước mắm. According to Aristophanes,^[42] mashed beans were a favourite dish of Heracles, always represented as a glutton in comedies. Poor families ate oak acorns (βάλανοι balanoi).^[43] Raw or preserved olives were a common appetizer.^[44]

In the cities, fresh vegetables were expensive: the poorer city dwellers had to make do with dried vegetables. Lentil soup (φακῆ phakē) was the workman's typical dish.^[45] Cheese, garlic and onions were the soldier's traditional fare.^[46] In Peace, the smell of onions typically represents soldiers; the chorus, celebrating the end of war, sings Oh! joy, joy! no more helmet, no more cheese nor onions!^[47] Bitter vetch was considered a famine food.^[48]

Fruits, fresh or dried, and nuts, were eaten as dessert. Important fruits were figs, raisins and pomegranates. Dried figs were also eaten as an appetizer or when drinking wine. In the latter case, they were often accompanied by grilled chestnuts, chick peas, and beechnuts.

Fish and Meat[link]

Sacrifice; principal source of meat for city dwellers — here a boar; tondo of an Attic kylix by the Epidromos Painter, c. 510–500 BCE, Louvre

The consumption of fish and meat varied in accordance with the wealth and location of the household; in the country, hunting (primarily trapping) allowed for consumption of birds and hares. Peasants also had farmyards to provide them with chickens and geese. Slightly wealthier landowners could raise goats, pigs, or sheep. In the city, meat was expensive except for pork. In Aristophanes' day a piglet cost three drachmas,^[49] which was three days wages for a public servant. Sausages were common both for the poor and the rich.^[50]

In the 8th century BCE Hesiod describes the ideal country feast in Works and Days:

Meat is much less prominent in texts of the 5th century BCE onwards than in the earliest poetry, but this may be a matter of genre rather than real evidence of changes in farming and food customs. The eating of fresh meat was accompanied by a religious ritual in which the gods' share (fat and bones) was burnt while the human share (meat) was grilled and distributed to the participants; there was however a lively trade in cooked and salted meats, which demanded no ritual.

Spartans primarily ate pork stew, the "black broth (μέλας ζωμός melas zōmos). According to Plutarch, it was "so much valued that the elderly men fed only upon that, leaving what flesh there was to the younger".^[52] It was famous amongst the Greeks. "Naturally Spartans are the bravest men in the world", joked a Sybarite, "anyone in his senses would rather die ten thousand times than take his share of such a sorry diet".^[53] It was made with pork, salt, vinegar and blood.^[24] The dish was served with maza, figs and cheese sometimes supplemented with game and fish.^[54] The 2nd–3rd century author Aelian, claims that Spartan cooks were prohibited from cooking anything other than meat.^[55]

In the Greek islands and on the coast, fresh fish and seafood (squid, octopus, and shellfish) were common. They were eaten locally but more often transported inland. Sardines and anchovies were regular fare for the citizens of Athens. They were sometimes sold fresh, but more frequently salted. A stele of the late 3rd century BCE from the small Boeotian city of Akraiphia, on Lake Copais, provides us with a list of fish prices. The cheapest was skaren (probably parrotfish) whereas Atlantic bluefin tuna was three times as expensive.^[56] Common salt water fish were yellowfin tuna, red mullet, ray, swordfish or sturgeon, a delicacy which was eaten salted. Lake Copais itself was famous in all Greece for its eels, celebrated by the hero of The Acharnians. Other fresh water fish were pike-fish, carp and the less appreciated catfish.

Eggs and dairy products[link]

Greeks bred quails and hens, partly for their eggs. Some authors also praise pheasant eggs and Egyptian Goose eggs,^[57] which were presumably rather rare. Eggs were cooked soft- or hard-boiled as hors d'œuvre or dessert. Whites, yolks and whole eggs were also used as ingredients in the preparation of dishes.^[58]

Country dwellers drank milk (γάλα gala), but it was seldom used in cooking. Butter (βούτυρον bouturon) was known but seldom used either: Greeks saw it as a culinary trait of the Thracians of the northern Aegean coast, whom the Middle Comic poet Anaxandrides dubbed "butter eaters".^[59] Yet Greeks enjoyed other dairy products. Πυριατή Pyriatē, was a kind of thick milk, commonly mistaken as yogurt.^[60] Most of all, goat's and ewe's cheese (τυρός) tyros) was a staple food. Fresh and hard cheese were sold in different shops; the former cost about two thirds of the latter's price.^[61] Cheese was eaten alone or with honey or vegetables. It was also used as an ingredient in the preparation of many dishes, including fish dishes. The only extant recipe by the Sicilian cook Mithaecus runs: "Tainia: gut, discard the head, rinse and fillet; add cheese and olive oil".^[62] However, the addition of cheese seems to have been a controversial matter; Archestratus warns his readers that Syracusan cooks spoil good fish by adding cheese.

Drink[link]

Attic Rhyton, c. 460–450 BCE, National Archaeological Museum of Athens

The most widespread drink was water. Fetching water was a daily task for women. Though wells were common, spring water was preferred: it was recognized as nutritious because it caused plants and trees to grow,^[63] and also as a desirable beverage.^[64] Pindar called spring water "as agreeable as honey".^[65] The Greeks would describe water as robust,^[66] heavy^[67] or light,^[68] dry,^[69] acidic,^[70] pungent,^[71] wine-like,^[72] etc. One of the comic poet Antiphanes's characters claimed that he could recognize Attic water by taste alone.^[73] Athenaeus states that a number of philosophers had a reputation for drinking nothing but water, a habit combined with a vegetarian diet (cf. below).^[74] Milk, usually goats' milk, was not consumed. It was considered barbaric.

The usual drinking vessel was the skyphos, made out of wood, terra cotta, or metal. Critias^[75] also mentions the kothon, a Spartan goblet which had the military advantage of hiding the colour of the water from view and trapping mud in its edge. They also used vessel called a kylix (a shallow footed bowl), and for banquets the kantharos (a deep cup with handles) or the rhyton, a drinking horn often moulded into the form of a human or animal head.

Wine[link]

Banqueter reaches into a krater with an oenochoe to replenish his kylix with wine, c. 490–480 BCE, Louvre

The Greeks are thought to have made red as well as rosé and white wines. As at the present time, many qualities of production were to be found, from common table wine to vintage qualities. The best wines, in general opinion, came from Thásos, Lesbos and Chios.^[76] Cretan wine came to prominence later. A secondary wine made from water and pomace (the residue from squeezed grapes), mixed with lees, was made by country people for their own use. The Greeks sometimes sweetened their wine with honey and made medicinal wines by adding thyme, pennyroyal and other herbs. By the first century, if not before, they were familiar with wine flavoured with pine resin (modern retsina).^[77] Aelian also mentions a wine mixed with perfume.^[78] Cooked wine was known,^[79] as well as a sweet wine from Thásos, similar to port wine.

Wine was generally cut with water. The drinking of akraton or "unmixed wine", though known to be practised by northern barbarians, was thought likely to lead to madness and death.^[80] Wine was mixed in a krater, from which the slaves would fill the drinker's kylix with an oinochoe (jugs). Wine was also used as a generic medication, being taken to have medicinal virtue. Aelian mentions that the wine from Heraia in Arcadia rendered men foolish but women fertile; conversely, Achaean wine was thought to induce abortion.^[81] Outside of these therapeutic uses, Greek society did not approve of women drinking wine; according to Aelian, a Massalian law prohibited this and restricted women to drinking water.^[82] Sparta was the only city where women routinely drank wine.

Wine reserved for local use was kept in skins. That destined for sale was poured into πίθοι pithoi, (large terra cotta jugs). From here they were decanted into amphoras sealed with pitch for retail sale.^[83] Vintage wines carried stamps from the producers and/or city magistrates who guaranteed their origin. This is one of the first instances of indicating the geographical or qualitative provenance of a product, and is the basis of the modern appellations d'origine contrôlées certification.

Kykeon[link]

Hecamede preparing kykeon for Nestor, kylix by the Brygos Painter, ca. 490 BC, Louvre

The Greeks also drank kykeon (κυκεών, from κυκάω kykaō, "to shake, to mix"), which was both a beverage and a meal. It was a barley gruel, to which water and herbs were added. In the Iliad, the beverage also contained grated goat cheese.^[84] In the Odyssey, Circe adds honey and a magic potion to it.^[85] In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, the goddess refuses red wine but accepts a kykeon made of water, flour, and pennyroyal.^[86] Used as a ritual beverage in the Eleusinian Mysteries, it was also a popular beverage, especially in the countryside: Theophrastus, in his Characters, describes a boorish peasant as having drunk much kykeon and inconveniencing the Assembly with his bad breath.^[87] It also had a reputation as a good digestive, and as such, in Peace, Hermes recommends it to the main character who has eaten too much dried fruit.^[88]

Food preparation[link]

Food played an important part in the Greek mode of thought. Classicist John Wilkins notes that "in the Odyssey for example, good men are distinguished from bad and Greeks from foreigners partly in terms of how and what they ate. Herodotus identified people partly in terms of food and eating".^[89]

Up to the 3rd century BCE, the frugality imposed by the physical and climatic conditions of the country was held as virtuous. The Greeks did not ignore the pleasures of eating, but valued simplicity. The rural writer Hesiod, as cited above, spoke of his "flesh of a heifer fed in the woods, that has never calved, and of firstling kids" as being the perfect closing to a day. Nonetheless, Chrysippus is quoted as saying that the best meal was a free one.^[90]

Culinary and gastronomical research was rejected as a sign of oriental flabbiness: the Persian Empire was considered decadent due to their luxurious taste, which manifested itself in their cuisine.^[91] The Greek authors took pleasure in describing the table of the Achaemenid Great King and his court: Herodotus,^[92] Clearchus of Soli,^[93] Strabo^[94] and Ctesias^[95] were unanimous in their descriptions.

Fresh fish, one of the favourite dishes of the Greeks, platter with red figures, c. 350–325 BCE, Louvre

In contrast, Greeks as a whole stressed the austerity of their own diet. Plutarch tells how the king of Pontus, eager to try the Spartan "black gruel", bought a Laconian cook; "but had no sooner tasted it than he found it extremely bad, which the cook observing, told him, "Sir, to make this broth relish, you should have bathed yourself first in the river Evrotas".^[96]". According to Polyaenus,^[97] on discovering the dining hall of the Persian royal palace, Alexander the Great mocked their taste and blamed it for their defeat. Pausanias, on discovering the dining habits of the Persian commander Mardonius, equally ridiculed the Persians, "who having so much, came to rob the Greeks of their miserable living".^[98]

In consequence of this cult of frugality, and the diminished regard for cuisine it inspired, the kitchen long remained the domain of women, free or enslaved. In the classical period, however, culinary specialists began to enter the written record. Both Aelian^[99] and Athenaeus mention the thousand cooks who accompanied Smindyride of Sybaris on his voyage to Athens at the time of Cleisthenes, if only disapprovingly. Plato in Gorgias, mentions "Thearion the cook, Mithaecus the author of a treatise on Sicilian cooking, and Sarambos the wine merchant; three eminent connoisseurs of cake, kitchen and wine."^[100] Some chefs also wrote treatises on cuisine.

Over time, more and more Greeks presented themselves as gourmets. From the Hellenistic to the Roman period, the Greeks — at least the rich — no longer appeared to be any more austere than others. The cultivated guests of the feast hosted by Athenaeus in the 2nd or 3rd century devoted a large part of their conversation to wine and gastronomy. They discussed the merits of various wines, vegetables, and meats, mentioning renowned dishes (stuffed cuttlefish, red tuna belly, prawns, lettuce watered with mead) and great cooks such as Soterides, chef to king Nicomedes I of Bithynia (who reigned from the 279 to 250 BCE). When his master was inland, he pined for anchovies; Soterides simulated them from carefully carved turnips, oiled, salted and sprinkled with poppy seeds.^[101] Suidas (an encyclopaedia from the Byzantine period) mistakenly attributes this exploit to the celebrated Roman gourmet Apicius (1st century BCE) —^[102] which may be taken as evidence that the Greeks had reached the same level as the Romans.

Specific diets[link]

Vegetarianism[link]

Triptolemus received wheat sheaves from Demeter and blessings from Persephone, 5th century BCE relief, National Archaeological Museum of Athens

Orphicism and Pythagoreanism, two common ancient Greek religions, suggested a different way of life, based on a concept of purity and thus purification (κάθαρσις katharsis) — a form of asceticism in the original sense: ἄσκησις askēsis initially signifies a ritual, then a specific way of life. Vegetarianism was a central element of Orphicism and of several variants of Pythagoreanism.

Empedocles (5th century BCE) justified vegetarianism by a belief in the transmigration of souls: who could guarantee that an animal about to be slaughtered did not house the soul of a human being? However, it can be observed that Empedocles also included plants in this transmigration, thus the same logic should have applied to eating them.^[103] Vegetarianism was also a consequence of a dislike for killing: "For Orpheus taught us rights and to refrain from killing".^[104]

The information from Pythagoras (6th century BCE) is more difficult to define. The Comedic authors such as Aristophon and Alexis described Pythagoreans as strictly vegetarian, with some of them living on bread and water alone. Other traditions contented themselves with prohibiting the consumption of certain vegetables, such as the broad bean,^[105] or of sacred animals such as the white cock or selected animal parts.

It follows that vegetarianism and the idea of ascetic purity were closely associated, and often accompanied by sexual abstinence. In On the eating of flesh, Plutarch (1st–2nd century) elaborated on the barbarism of blood-spilling; inverting the usual terms of debate, he asked the meat-eater to justify his choice.^[106]

The Neoplatonic Porphyrius (3rd century) associates in On Abstinence vegetarianism with the Cretan mystery cults, and gives a census of past vegetarians, starting with the semi-mythical Epimenides. For him, the origin of vegetarianism was Demeter's gift of wheat to Triptolemus so that he could teach agriculture to humanity. His three commandments were: "Honour your parents", "Honour the gods with fruit", and ‘Spare the animals".^[107]

Athlete diets[link]

Aelian claims that the first athlete to submit to a formal diet was Ikkos of Tarentum, a victor in the Olympic pentathlon (perhaps in 444 BC).^[108] However, Olympic wrestling champion (62nd through 66th Olympiads) Milo of Croton was already said to eat twenty pounds of meat and twenty pounds of bread and to drink eight quarts of wine each day.^[109] Before his time, athletes were said to practise ξηροφαγία xērophagía (from ξηρός xēros, "dry"), a diet based on dry foods such as dried figs, fresh cheese and bread.^[110] Pythagoras (either the philosopher or a gymnastics master of the same name) was the first to direct athletes to eat meat.^[111]

Trainers later enforced some standard diet rules: to be an Olympic victor, "you have to eat according to regulations, keep away from desserts (…); you must not drink cold water nor can you have a drink of wine whenever you want".^[112] It seems this diet was primarily based on meat, for Galen (ca. 180 AD) accused athletes of his day of "always gorging themselved on flesh and blood".^[113] Pausanias also refers to a "meat diet".^[114]

Notes[link]

See also[link]

Greek cuisine

References[link]

• Briant, P. Histoire de l'Empire perse de Cyrus à Alexandre. Paris: Fayard, 1996. ISBN 2-213-59667-0, translated in English as From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Winona Lake, Ind.: Eisenbrauns, 2002 ISBN 1-57506-031-0
• Dalby, A. Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece. London: Routledge, 1996. ISBN 0-415-15657-2
• Dodds, E.R. "The Greek Shamans and the Origins of Puritanism ", The Greek and the Irrational (Sather Classical Lectures). Berkeley: University of California Press, 1962 (1st edn 1959).
• Flacelière R. La Vie quotidienne en Grèce au temps de Périclès. Paris: Hachette, 1988 (1st edn. 1959) ISBN 2-01-005966-2, translated in English as Daily Life in Greece at the Time of Pericles. London: Phoenix Press, 2002 ISBN 1-84212-507-9
• Flint-Hamilton, K.B. "Legumes in Ancient Greece and Rome: Food, Medicine, or Poison?", Hesperia, Vol.68, No.3 (Jul.–Sep., 1999), pp. 371–385.
• (French) Migeotte, L., L'Économie des cités grecques. Paris: Ellipses, 2002 ISBN 2-7298-0849-3
• Sparkes, B.A. "The Greek Kitchen", The Journal of Hellenic Studies, Vol.82, 1962 (1962), pp. 121–137.
• Wilkins, J., Harvey, D. and Dobson, M. Food in Antiquity. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1995. ISBN 0-85989-418-5

Further reading[link]

External links[link]

• (French) "Végétarisme, au commencement…" (French language article on origin of vegetarianism)
• A Taste of the Ancient World (University of Michigan)

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v t e

Classic Greek salad.

Traditional Greek taverna, integral part of Greek culture and cuisine.

Greek cuisine (Greek: ελληνική κουζίνα) is a Mediterranean cuisine,^[1] sharing characteristics with the cuisines of Italy, the Balkans, Turkey, and the Levant. Contemporary Greek cookery makes wide use of olive oil, vegetables and herbs, grains and bread, wine, fish, and various meats, including poultry, rabbit and pork. Also important are olives, cheese, eggplant (aubergine), courgette, and yogurt. Greek desserts are characterized by the dominant use of nuts and honey. Some dishes use filo pastry.

Mezés (μεζές) is a collective name for a variety of small dishes, typically served with wines or anise-flavored liqueurs as ouzo or homemade tsipouro. Orektika is the formal name for appetizers and is often used as a reference to eating a first course of a cuisine other than Greek cuisine. Dips are served with bread loaf or pita bread. In some regions, dried bread (paximadhi) is softened in water.

History[link]

Fresh fish, one of the favourite dishes of the Greeks; platter with red figures, c.350–325 BC, Louvre.

Greek cuisine has a long tradition and its flavours change with the season and its geography.^[2] Greek cookery, historically a forerunner of Western cuisine, spread its culinary influence - via ancient Rome - throughout Europe and beyond.^[3] It has influences from the different people's cuisine the Greeks have interacted with over the centuries, as evidenced by several types of sweets and cooked foods.

It was Archestratos in 320 B.C. who wrote the first cookbook in history. Greece has a culinary tradition of some 4,000 years.^[4] Ancient Greek cuisine was characterized by its frugality and was founded on the "Mediterranean triad": wheat, olive oil, and wine, with meat being rarely eaten and fish being more common.^[5] This trend in Greek diet continued in Roman and Ottoman times and changed only fairly recently when technological progress has made meat more available. Wine and olive oil have always been a central part of it and the spread of grapes and olive trees in the Mediterranean and further afield is correlated with Greek colonization.^[6][7]

The Byzantine cuisine was similar to the classical cuisine including however new ingredients that were not available before, like caviar, nutmeg and lemons, with fish continuing to be an integral part of the diet. Culinary advice was influenced by the theory of humors, first put forth by the ancient Greek doctor Claudius Aelius Galenus.^[8] Byzantine cuisine benefited from Constantinople’s position as a global hub of the spice trade.^[9]

Overview[link]

Dried oregano for culinary use.

The most characteristic and ancient element of Greek cuisine is olive oil, which is frequently used in most dishes. It is produced from the olive trees prominent throughout the region, and adds to the distinctive taste of Greek food. The basic grain in Greece is wheat, though barley is also grown. Important vegetables include tomato, aubergine (eggplant), potato, green beans, okra, green peppers, and onions. Honey in Greece is mainly honey from the nectar of fruit trees and citrus trees: lemon, orange, bigarade (bitter orange) trees, thyme honey, and pine honey from conifer trees. Mastic (aromatic, ivory coloured resin) is grown on the Aegean island of Chios.

Greek cuisine uses some flavorings more often than other Mediterranean cuisines do, namely: oregano, mint, garlic, onion, dill and bay laurel leaves. Other common herbs and spices include basil, thyme and fennel seed. Persillade is also used as a garnish on some dishes. Many Greek recipes, especially in the northern parts of the country, use "sweet" spices in combination with meat, for example cinnamon and cloves in stews.

Olives in olive oil.

The climate and terrain has tended to favour the breeding of goats and sheep over cattle, and thus beef dishes are uncommon. Fish dishes are common in coastal regions and on the islands. A great variety of cheese types are used in Greek cuisine, including Feta, Kasseri, Kefalotyri, Graviera, Anthotyros, Manouri, Metsovone and Mizithra.

Too much refinement is generally considered to be against the hearty spirit of the Greek cuisine, though recent trends among Greek culinary circles tend to favour a somewhat more refined approach.

Dining out is common in Greece, and has been for quite some time. The Taverna and Estiatorio are widespread, serving traditional Greek home cooking at affordable prices to both locals and tourists. Recently, fast-food has also become more popular in Greece and Europe, with local chains such as Goody's^[who?] springing up^{[citation needed][original research?]}, but the McDonald's have mainly closed down.^{[citation needed][original research?]} Although fast food is gaining popularity and many major fast-food chains have opened all over Greece, the Greek people still rely primarily on the rich and extensive repertoire of Greek cuisine. In addition, some traditional Greek foods, especially souvlaki, gyros, pita such as tyropita and spanakopita (respectively, cheese and spinach pie) are often served in fast food style.

Origins[link]

Thyme, one of the most traditional Greek herbs, was mentioned in the Odyssey.

Greece has an ancient culinary tradition dating back several millennia, and over the centuries Greek cuisine has evolved and absorbed numerous influences and influenced many cuisines itself.

Some dishes can be traced back to ancient Greece: lentil soup, fasolada, retsina (white or rosé wine flavored with pine resin) and pasteli (candy bar with sesame seeds baked with honey);^[10] some to the Hellenistic and Roman periods: loukaniko (dried pork sausage); and Byzantium: feta cheese, avgotaraho (cured fish roe) and paximadi (traditional hard bread baked from corn, barley and rye). There are also many ancient and Byzantine dishes which are no longer consumed: porridge as the main staple, fish sauce, and salt water mixed into wine.

Many dishes are part of the larger tradition of Ottoman cuisine and their names reveal Arabic, Persian or Turkish roots: moussaka, tzatziki, yuvarlakia, keftethes, boureki, and so on. Many dishes' names probably entered the Greek vocabulary during Ottoman times, or earlier in contact with the Persians and the Arabs. Some dishes may be pre-Ottoman, only taking Turkish names later; Ash and Dalby, for example, speculate that grape-leaf dolmathes were made by the early Byzantine period.^[11][12]

Regions[link]

Dakos, traditional Cretan salad.

Distinct from the main stream regional cuisines are:

• Kritiki (Cretan cuisine)
• Kypriaki (Cypriot cuisine)
• Ionian islands
• Ipeirotiki
• Macedonitiki (Macedonian cuisine)
• Politiki, from the tradition of the Greeks of Istanbul
• Pontiaki, found anywhere there are Pontians (Greek immigrants from the Black Sea region, from the 1924 exchange of populations)
• Mikrasiatiki, from the Greek refugees of the 1922 population exchange.

Typical dishes[link]

Greek cuisine is very diverse and although there are many common characteristics amongst the culinary traditions of different regions within the country, there are also many differences, making it difficult to present a full list of representative dishes. For example, the vegetarian dish " Chaniotiko Boureki" (oven baked slices of potatoes with zucchini, myzithra cheese and mint) is a typical dish in western Crete, in the region of Chania. A family in Chania may consume this dish 1-2 times per week in the summer season. However, it is not cooked in any other region of Greece. Many food items are wrapped in Filo pastry, either in bite-size triangles or in large sheets: kotopita (chicken), spanakotyropita (spinach and cheese), chortopita (greens), kreatopita (meat pie, using minced meat), etc.

The list will present some of the most representative Greek dishes that can be found throughout the country and the most famous of the local ones:

Appetizers[link]

Spanakopita with cubed feta.

Simple meze of feta cheese and olives: characteristic Greek flavours.

An example of pikilía (variety) platter.

Kolokythoanthoi are often served with a dollop of Greek yogurt on the side.

Meze (appetizer; plural mezedes) is served in restaurants called mezedopoleía, served to complement drinks, and in similar establishments known as tsipourádika or ouzerí (a type of café that serves drinks such as ouzo or tsipouro). A tavérna (tavern) or estiatório (restaurant) also offers a meze as an orektikó (appetiser). Many restaurants offer their house pikilía (variety) a platter with a smorgasbord of various mezedes that can be served immediately to customers looking for a quick or light meal. Hosts commonly serve mezedes to their guests at informal or impromptu get-togethers as they are easy to prepare on short notice. Krasomezédhes (literally "wine-meze") are mezedes that go well with wine; ouzomezédhes are mezedes that go with ouzo.

• Deep-fried vegetables "tiganita" (courgettes, aubergines, peppers, zucchini, or mushrooms).
• Dakos, a Cretan salad consisting of a slice of soaked dried bread or barley rusk (paximadi) topped with chopped tomatoes and crumbled feta or mizithra cheese.
• Dolmadakia (from Turkish dolma): grapevine leaves stuffed with rice and vegetables; meat is also often included.
• Fava: purée of yellow split peas or beans; sometimes made of fava beans (called κουκιές in Greek).
• Garides: shrimp.
• Gavros: european anchovy.
• Greek salad: the so-called Greek salad is known in Greece as village/country salad (horiatiki) and is essentially a tomato salad with cucumber, red onion, feta cheese, and kalamata olives, dressed with olive oil. In Cyprus it contains also cracked wheat (bulgur), spring onions instead of red onions, and lemon juice.
• Horta: wild or cultivated greens, steamed or blanched and made into salad, simply dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. They can be eaten as a light meal with potatoes (especially during Lent, in lieu of fish or meat).
• Kalamarakia: squid.
• Kolokythakia: zucchini.
• Kolokythoanthoi: zucchini flowers stuffed with rice or cheese and herbs.
• Koukies: fava beans.
• Lachanosalata: cabbage salad. Very finely shredded cabbage with salt, olive oil, lemon juice/vinegar dressing.
• Kroketes: croquettes.
• Marides tiganites: deep-fried whitebait, usually served with lemon wedges.
• Melitzanes, eggplants.
• Melitzanosalata: eggplant (aubergine) salad; looks like potato salad.
• Pantzarosalata: beetroot salad with olive oil and vinegar.
• Patatosalata: potato salad with olive oil, finely sliced onions, mayonnaise, lemon juice or vinegar.
• Saganaki: fried yellow cheese, usually graviera cheese; the word "saganaki" means a small cooking pan, is used to say "fried" and can be applied to many other foods.
• Skordalia: thick garlic and potato puree, usually accompanies deep fried fish/cod (bakaliaro me skordo, i.e. fried battered cod with garlic dip, a very popular dish).
• Spanakopita: spinach, feta cheese (sometimes in combination with ricotta cheese), onions or scallions, egg and seasoning wrapped in phyllo pastry in a form of a pie.
• Taramosalata (from Turkish tarama, roe): fish roe mixed with boiled potatoes or moistened breadcrumbs, olive oil and lemon juice.
• Tzatziki (from Turkish cacık) , Iran Persian: ماست و خیار: yogurt with cucumber and garlic puree, used as a dip. Served with warm pita bread.
• Tyropita: a white-cream cheese (usually mizithra) pie with phyllo pastry.

Soups[link]

Fasolada.

• Bourou-bourou, a vegetable and pasta soup from the island of Corfu.
• Fakes, a lentil soup, usually served with vinegar and olive oil.
• Fasolada, a bean soup defined in many cookery books as the traditional Greek dish, sometimes even called "the "national food of the Greeks".^[13] It is made of beans, tomatoes, carrot, celery and a generous amount of olive oil usually served with a variety of salty side dishes.
• Kotosoupa (chicken soup), usually thickened with avgolemono.
• Magiritsa, the traditional Easter soup made with lamb offal, thickened with avgolemono.
• Patsas, a tripe soup, often served for breakfast.
• Psarosoupa 'fish soup' can be made with a variety of fish, and several kinds of vegetables (carrots, parsley, celery, potatoes, onion), several varieties include the classic kakavia which is drizzled with olive oil.
• Revithia, a chickpea soup.
• Trahana soup, made from a dried grain-dairy substance.

Vegetarian main dishes[link]

Traditional vegetable market in Athens.

Very popular during fasting periods, such as the Great Lent:

• Aginares a la Polita: artichokes with olive oil.
• Arakas me aginares: oven-baked fresh peas with artichokes.
• Bamies: okra with tomato sauce (sometimes with potatoes or during non-fasting times with chicken/lamb).
• Briám: an oven-baked ratatouille of summer vegetables based on sliced potatoes and zucchini in olive oil. Usually includes eggplant, tomatoes, onions, and ample aromatic herbs and seasonings.
• Domatokeftedes: tomato fritters with mint, fried in olive oil and typically served with fava (split-pea paste). Mainly a Cycladic island dish.
• Fasolakia: fresh green beans stewed with potatoes, zucchini and tomato sauce.
• Gemista, baked stuffed vegetables. Usually tomatoes, peppers, or other vegetables hollowed out and baked with a rice-and-herb filling or minced meat.
• Gigandes plaki: baked beans with tomato sauce and various herbs.^[14] Often made spicy with various peppers.
• Horta (greens), already mentioned in the appetizers section, are quite often consumed as a light main meal, with boiled potatoes and bread.
• Kinteata, dish made from boiled young nettles.
• Lachanodolmades: cabbage rolls, stuffed with rice and sometimes meat, spiced with various herbs and served with avgolemono sauce or simmered in a light tomato broth.
• Lachanorizo, cabbage with rice.
• Prassorizo, leeks with rice.
• Spanakorizo, spinach and rice stew cooked in lemon and olive-oil sauce.

Meat and seafood dishes[link]

Moussaka.

Pita with Gyros.

Pastitsio, an example of culinary influence from Italy (Venetian cuisine).

• Apáki: a famous Cretan specialty; lean pork marinated in vinegar, then smoked with aromatic herbs and shrubs, and packed in salt.
• Astakos: lobster.
• Astakomacaronada: spaghetti with lobster.
• Chtapodi sti schara: grilled octopus in vinegar, oil and oregano. Accompanied by ouzo.
• Giouvetsi: lamb or veal baked in a clay pot with kritharaki (orzo) and tomatoes.
• Gyros: meat roasted on a vertically turning spit and served with sauce (often tzatziki) and garnishes (tomato, onions) on pita bread; a popular fast food.
• Hilopites pasta with chicken: savory chicken is mixed with "Hilopites" or cut up tile-shaped pasta in a spiced tomato sauce.^[15]
• Kleftiko: literally meaning "in the style of the Klephts", this is lamb slow-baked on the bone, first marinated in garlic and lemon juice, originally cooked in a pit oven. It is said that the Klephts, bandits of the countryside who did not have flocks of their own, would steal lambs or goats and cook the meat in a sealed pit to avoid the smoke being seen.
• Keftedakia, fried meatballs.
• Macaronada: classic spaghetti.
• Moussaka (from Arabic مسقعة‎ musaqqa'): an oven-baked layer dish: ground meat and eggplant casserole, topped with a savory custard which is then browned in the oven. There are other variations besides eggplant, such as zucchini or rice, but the eggplant version, melitzánes moussaká is by far the most popular. The papoutsákia ("little shoes") variant is essentially the same dish, with the meat and custard layered inside hollowed, sauteéd eggplants.
• Mydia: mussels.
• Oven-baked lamb with potatoes (Αρνί στο φούρνο με πατάτες). One of the most common "Sunday" dishes. There are many variations with additional ingredients.
• Paidakia: grilled lamb chops with lemon, oregano, salt and pepper.
• Pastitsio: an oven-baked layer dish: Bechamel sauce top, then pasta in the middle and ground meat cooked with tomato sauce at the bottom.
• Pork with celery (hirino me selino/hirino selinato).
• Soutzoukakia Smyrneika (Smyrna meatballs): long shaped meatballs with cumin, cinnamon and garlic and boiled in tomato sauce with whole olives. Often served with rice or mashed potatoes.
• Souvlaki: (lit: 'skewer') grilled pork small pieces or gyros, tomatoes, onions and tzatziki as sauce all wrapped with pita considered as fast food.
• Spetsofai: a stew of country sausage, green mild peppers, onions and wine. Originates from Pelion.
• Stifado: rabbit or hare stew with pearl onions, vinegar, red wine and cinnamon. Beef can be substituted for game.
• Xiphias: swordfish.
• Yiouvarlakia: meatballs soup with egg-lemon sauce.

Quick meals[link]

Meals using easily available (usually seasonal) and inexpensive ingredients, with little preparation involved.

• Strapatsada: eggs scrambled in olive oil and fresh tomato puree, seasoned with salt, pepper and oregano. Often includes feta cheese.

Desserts and sweets[link]

Kourabiedes.

Yogurt with honey.

• Amygdalotá or pastéli exist in many varieties throughout Greece and Cyprus, and are especially popular in the islands. They consist of powdered blanched almonds, confectioner's sugar and rose water, molded in various shapes and sizes. They are snow-white and are considered wedding and baptismal desserts.
• Finikia, cookie topped with chopped nuts.
• Baklava, phyllo pastry layers filled with nuts and drenched in honey.
• Diples, a Christmas and wedding delicacy, made of paper-thin, sheet-like dough which is cut in large squares and dipped in a swirling fashion in a pot of hot olive oil for a few seconds. As the dough fries, it stiffens into a helical tube; it is then removed immediately and sprinkled with honey and crushed walnuts.^[16]
• Galaktoboureko, custard baked between layers of phyllo, and then soaked with lemon-scented honey syrup. The name derives from the Greek "gala"(γάλα), meaning milk, and from the Turkish börek, meaning filled, thus meaning "filled with milk."
• Halva, a nougat of sesame with almonds or cacao.
• Karydopita, a cake of crushed walnuts, soaked or not in syrup.
• Koulourakia, butter or olive-oil cookies.
• Kourabiedes, Christmas cookies made by kneading flour, butter and crushed roasted almonds, then generously dusted with powdered sugar.
• Loukoumades, similar to small crusty donuts, loukoumades are essentially fried balls of dough drenched in honey and sprinkled with cinnamon, typically serves with sesame seed.
• Loukoumi is a confection made from starch and sugar, essentially similar to the Turkish delight. A variation from Serres is called Akanés. Loukoúmia are flavored with various fruit flavors, with rose water considered the most prized.
• Melomakarona, "honey macaroons", Christmas cookies soaked with a syrup of diluted honey (méli in Greek) and then sprinkled with crushed walnuts.
• Milopita, apple pie with cinnamon and powdered sugar.
• Moustalevria, a flour and grape must flan.
• Moustokouloura, cookies of flour kneaded with fresh grape juice (must) instead of water.
• Rizogalo ("rice-milk") is rice pudding.
• Spoon sweets (γλυκά του κουταλιού) of various fruits, ripe or unripe, or green unripe nuts. Spoon sweets are essentially marmalade except that the fruit are boiled whole or in large chunks covered in the fruit's made syrup.
• Tsoureki, a traditional Christmas and Easter sweet bread also known as 'Lambropsomo' (Easter bread), flavored with "mahlepi", the intensely aromatic extract of the stone of the St. Lucie Cherry.
• Vasilopita, Saint Basil's cake or King's cake, traditional only for New Year's Day. Vasilopites are baked with a coin inside, and whoever gets the coin in their slice are considered blessed with good luck for the whole year.
• Yogurt with honey or spoon sweet syrup.

Cheese[link]

Feta cheese.

There is a wide variety of cheeses made in various regions across Greece. The vast majority of them remain unknown outside the Greek borders due to the lack of knowledge and the highly localized distinctive features. Many artisanal, hand made cheeses, both common varieties and local specialties, are produced by small family farms throughout Greece and offer distinct flavors atypical of the mass produced varieties found commercially in Greece and abroad. A good list of some of the varieties of cheese produced and consumed in Greece can be found here. These are some of the more popular throughout Greece:

Drinks[link]

Alcoholic beverages[link]

Wine[link]

Greece's viticultural history goes back to prehistoric times,^i[›] and wine production was thriving until the 11th century.^[17] Viticulture significantly regressed under Ottoman rule, and, although Turkish and Western travellers reported rich vineyards in certain areas (e.g. Macedonia), production did not revive until mid-20th century.^[18] After World War II, Greek winemakers imported and cultivated foreign grape varieties, especially French ones, in order to support local production.^[19] In 1960s, retsina, a dry white wine with lumps of resin, was probably the most well-known Greek wine abroad. In recent years, local varieties are rediscovered and often blended with foreign ones.^[20] In early 1980s, a system of appellations, modelled on the respective French one, was implemented to assure consumers the origins of their wine purchases. Today, there are 28 appellations (Appellations of Origin of Superior Quality and Controlled Appellation of Origin) throughout the country, from Macedonia to Crete.^[21]

Beer[link]

Two traditional Greek alcoholic beverages: tentura (left) and metaxa (right).

Archaeological and archaeochemical finds suggest that the Minoans fermented barley and other substances, and consumed some form of beer.^[22] The beer tradition of the Minoans was discontinued by the Mycenaeans; beverages from fermented cereals may have remained only in Crete during their rule.^[23] In Archaic and Classical Greece, beer is mentioned as a foreign beverage, while, when Alexander the Great conquered in 332 BC Egypt, a civilization with a long brewing tradition, the Greeks continued to disdain beer seeing it as the drink of their rivals.^[24] In Modern Greece, a limited number of brands — owned by breweries from northern Europe in most cases (e.g. Heineken or Amstel) — dominated for many years the local market, while a stringent Bavarian-influenced beer purity law was in force.^[25] Gradually, the provisions of this law loosened, and, since the late 1990s, new local brands emerged (in 1997 Mythos made a breakthrough) or re-emerged (e.g. Fix Hellas), reviving competition. In recent years, in parallel with the large breweries, local microbreweries operate throughout Greece.^[26]

Other[link]

Other traditional Greek alcoholic beverages include the anise-flavored ouzo, tsipouro (whose Cretan variation is called tsikoudia), and local liquors, such as mastika (not to be confused with the homonymous anise-flavored Bulgarian drink) and tentura, a cinnamon flavored liquor from Patras. Another famous Greek spirit is metaxa, a blend of brandy and Greek wines (savatiano and muscat from Samos or other islands). Local dessert and fortified wines include muscats (with the Muscat of Samos being the most well-known), mavrodafni, produced from a black grape indigenous to the Achaea region in Northern Peloponnese, and Vin Santo of Santorini, a variation of the Italian Vin Santo.^[27]

Coffee[link]

The traditional coffeehouses in Greece are called kafenia, and they offer coffee, refreshments, alcoholic beverages and snacks or meze. However, in recent years coffee culture evolves and, especially in the large urban centres, kafenia are gradually repaced by modern "cafeterias". Preferred types of coffee by the consumers are, among others, the Greek coffee (a variation of the Turkish coffee), frappé (a Greek foam-covered iced coffee drink), and the freddo versions of capuccino and espresso, which vary from the Italian original.^[28] Iced coffee-based drinks, such as freddoccino or freddito, are also popular, especially during the summer period.

See also[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Greek cuisine

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of Cookbook:Cuisine of Greece

• List of Greek dishes
• Greek food products
• Cuisine of Cyprus
• Greek Macedonian cuisine
• Cuisine of the Mediterranean
• Cretan cuisine

Notes[link]

Citations[link]

References[link]

• Andrew Dalby, Siren Feasts: A History of Food and Gastronomy in Greece, London, 1996. ISBN 0-415-11620-1.
• Halevy, Alon Y. (2011). The Infinite Emotion of Coffee. Macchiatone Communications. ISBN 0-9847715-1-4. 
• Karayanis, Dean; Karayanis, Catherine (2008). Regional Greek Cooking. Hippocrene Books. ISBN 0-7818-1146-5. 
• Kousoulas, Kostas (2001). "Naousa and its Wines" (in Greek). Niaousta 94: 32–35. http://medusa.libver.gr/bitstream/123456789/3629/3/niaousta94-008naousa_krasia.pdf. Retrieved 26 December 2011. 
• Nelson, Max (2005). The Barbarian's Beverage. Routledge. ISBN 1-134-38672-9. 
• Oliver, Garrett, ed. (2012). The Oxford Companion to Beer. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-536713-8. 
• Unwin, Tim (1996). Wine and the Vine. Routledge. ISBN 0-203-01326-3. 
• Walton, Stuart; Glover, Brian (2011). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Wine, Beer & Spirits. London: Hermes House.