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Greeks eat loads of
vegetables, they are abundant and
inexpensive. They are also served on
the mezze table
as fried peppers, courgettes and
aborigines. Many are casseroled into
delicious oily dishes of peas,
onions and tomatoes or artichokes
served in a delicious lemony sauce.
Freshly cut salads are eaten with
every meal and you can choose to
your hearts desire.
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The
famous Greek salad:
tomatoes with cucumbers, green
peppers and onions.
Sprinkle on the oregano and salt,
and dress the salad with olive oil. |
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Tzatziki (yogurt and garlic dip) |
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| Keftedes (small walnut sized
morsels made with meat) |
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| Teropitakia (feta cheese pies) |
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| Taramosalata
(cod roe dip) |
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| Melitzanosalata (aubergine dip) |
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| Dolmades
(stuffed vine
leaves). |
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Moussaka
is
probably the best- known Greek dish. Aubergines, minced meat cooked in
herbs and spices covered in
béchamel. Best served with a crisp
salad and crusty bread not to be
missed ! |
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Spaghetti
with prawns and muscles |
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Kalamarakia Tiganita
( Fried Squid)
Fried Tope
with Garlic Sauce ( Galeos Tiganitos
me Skordalia)
Fried
Whitebait ( Marides Tiganites) |
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"The best fish is the freshest one"
Fish
(psαri) and seafood
is also abundant on the menus:
Kalamαria (squid),
octopus, prawns,
cattle fish, mussel, lobster. The
commonest species of fish served
include: sea bream (sinagrida,
tsipoura,
lithrini), plaice (glossa)
cod (bakaliαros),
red mullet (barbouni)
and tuna (tonos). |
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Some
choose to go to a
hasapotaverna
(a butcher's tavern)
to eat charcoal grilled meat, mainly
tiny succulent lamb or kid. In a
hasapotaverna
the meat is sold to the customers by
weight, and while it is being
grilled, the hungry Athenians devour
all sorts of meze and salads in
those vast restaurants that are
usually packed during the weekends. Meat (kreas):
The
favorite kind of meat is lamb ( arne
) usually roasted or grilled.
Souvlakia
and doner kebab (meat grilled on the
spit) are also popular.
Kokkoretsi
(lamb entrails roasted on the spit)
are a popular dish in country areas
and tavernas. Pork
and beef is also served. |
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Cheese
(tiri): |
Most
Greek cheeses are made from sheeps
milk or goats milk. Among them are
Agrafa (a sheeps milk cheese
reminiscent of Gruyere),
manure, kopaniste,
(a highly spiced sheeps or goats
milk cheese), misythra
(a milk curd cheese) and anari (a
goats milk cheese) |
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Yogurt
(yaourti), |
made
from sheep's or goats milk is also
commonly found. |
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Miscellaneous : |
Bread
psomi, butter
voutiro, salt
alαti, pepper
piperi, sugar
Zachary, milk
gala |
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Soups (soupes): |
Greek
soups are usually very substantial ,
and are often made with eggs and
lemon juice.
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Fasolαda is a popular thick
bean soup. Others
include pepper soup, with the
addition of vegetables and meat and
bouillon.
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Kakavia is a fish soup,
made of various kinds of fish and
seafood with onions, garlic and
olive oil. There
are also other excellent fish soups
(psarosoupes).
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Drinks (potα)
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The commonest drink is wine (krasi,
inos), either white (αspro
krasi) or red (mαvro krasi). The
usual table wines are resinated to
improve their keeping qualities (retsina,
krasi retsinato) and have a
characteristic sharp taste, which
has to be got used to.
RETSINA. The Greeks and at first
the Romans too, stored wine in
earthenware vessels, as they did
almost all foodstuffs. However, the
material was porous, so when
amphorae were
Beer (bira):
The brewing of beer in Greece dates
from the region of King
Othon I a native of
Bavaria. Thanks to the good water of
Greece, the beers are excellent.
Spirits (pnevmatodi
pota):
The commonest type of spirit is
ouzo.
Ouzo is based on pure
alcohol from various sources. It
could, for instance, be a
distillation of molasses produced
during sugar manufacture. The
alcohol is diluted with water, then
the herbs are added. As well as the
obligatory anise, these can also
include fennel seeds, star aniseed,
coriander, cardamom and others. This
mixture is left to stand, so the
herbs can release their flavors into
the mixture of water and alcohol.
Raki is similar but
stronger. Greek brandy (konyak)
has a fruitier aroma than the French
variety but less character. |
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Coffee
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Coffee (Hellinikos
kafes)
comes
in different strengths and degrees
of sweetness. Ness cafe (Frappe)
with ice.
There
are numerous ways of preparing it
and sometimes it does not turn out
successfully. There are basically
three different ways of preparing
mocha coffee: sketos
(bitter), metrios
(medium-sweet), and glikos
(sweet). To make one cup of mocha
coffee, you need one teaspoonful of
very finely ground coffee beans. Add
sugar to taste, then a cup of water,
and slowly bring it all to a boil in
a special little longhand led pot,
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Tea (tsai) |
is
of different kinds. Mountain tea (tsai
tu vunou) an infusion herb
found on mountainsides. |
Acropolis.. The holy rock of Athens. The citable and the sanctuary of
