The Greek Kitchen
Arriving from the first time in Athens the second important
thing you probably do after visiting the Acropolis it will be a
taste of the Greek kitchen. The plethora of restaurants in Athens
give to the visitor the chance to taste flavours from almost every
area of Greece. But many tourist that arriving in Greece have
already some knowledge about the
Greek food and kitchen because of
the numerous restaurants that have been made by Greeks of the
Diaspora all over the world. It is true that almost in every port
around the world you will find a Greek restaurant or a Greek tavern,
the kitchen probably changes according the local taste, but still
the main dishes have the Greek flavour.
One thing you must get use in Greece is the Olive oil, almost in any
food Greeks love to add lots of oil. There is no Greek Salad without
olive oil ,onions, Greek tomatoes and feta and there is no Greek
souvlaki without tsatsiki and tsatsiki without olive oil! Well
this is probably one reason why the Greeks have one of the highest
life expectancy in Europe. The Greek kitchen somehow is unique to
its kind. The Greeks use a lot of veggies and spices in their food
but the spices are mild. There is a harmony in the use of pepper and
salt so do not expect chilli hot food in Greece except some special
local dishes that use green peppers like Spetsofai. Most of the
typical red sauces have cloves and cinnamon and when in a Greek
house Greek spaghetti ala Bolognese is cooking the house
smells like Christmas cookies, because of the cloves and cinnamon,
but the end result is really tasteful.
The same combination is on the famous Stifado (meat with onions in
red sauce)
Apart from the most well known internationally Greek
specialities like the souvlaki or the moussaka, the knowledge of the
Greek kitchen is a real adventure. Almost every area and every
island in Greece has its own specialities and its own way to cook
the food, so if you eat moussaka in Corfu probably will taste
differed if you try it in the Dodecanese islands. Or there is no
equivalent to the bugatsa pie that you can eat in Thessaloniki or
the traditional Souvlaki on stick that you can eat in Arachova.
Every place its famous for its kitchen and sweets. Syros is famous
for its Loukoumia (sugar delights) and Andros for its Amygdalota
(almond based sweets) .Cretan kitchen has a lot of specialities but
most well known all over Greece are the crisps from Crete
(paximadia). The same occurs for the Greek wines like the wines of
Santorini , the wines of Crete, the wines of Samos or the
Retsina from Mesogeia of Attica.
The typical Greek kitchen might not have the fast food like
other countries like hamburgers in the USA, pizza in Italy,
bratwurst in Germany or sausage rolls
in the UK, but it has the Tytopita (Greek cheese pie) and the Koulouri
(the Greek crispy croissant topped with sesame) .Tyropita and
koulouri is what every Greek over 50 remembers from his school
years, those two where the quick snacks that feed generations of
Greeks. Souvlaki, though many refer to it as the Greek hamburger,
back in the 50's was a luxury item, available on Sunday walks and
cinema outing and still its war with tyropita and koulouri is
somehow equal.
The Greeks love fish a lot. Greece is a nautical country and
fishing is one of the main agricultural professions, therefore fish
specialities are among the popular dishes of Greece. The fish in
Greece is cooked, fried grilled or boiled as the bouillabaisse. Most
common to the Greek household is the fried fish though grilled is
recommended in most restaurants. Fishes in Greece are divided in 3
classes A, B, C and according the class so is the price per kilo. So
if you order a sea bream or a sword fish its a B class while a
lobster is A class and a Mackerel or a whitebait is C class. Check
this excellent site about Greek food recipes
because it contains easy to cook Greek traditional specialities.
ATHENS
AND PIRAEUS RESTAURANTS
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