The+Flavors+Of+Greece

=**//The Flavors of Greece //**=


//by Devon//

Vivacious music pulses as you open the door to a Greek restaurant; and warm hellos greet you with loud “Opa’s!”Composed of bold yet delicate flavors, Greek food is known for its feel good dishes and the warm happy people eating it.For the Greek’s main meals they use common ingredients such as Honey, Feta and Olives.Holiday foods include obscure food traditions like baking bread and fasting for a week.The Greek diet is popular, not just in Greece but all around the world. Modern Greek food has an abundance of choices and color and flavors.

The first thing you always see on the menu is the appetizer, a simple course with neutral flavors to start off your night and set the mood.In American “Greek” restaurants an accustomed appetizer is the “Greek Salad” which is basically a skimpy salad with a bed of lettuce, olives, feta, and a drizzle of olive oil. However, in Greece this dish is Horiatiki Salad, which is a bed of lettuce piled with a square of feta, kalamata olives,tomato slices, peppers, onions and true Greek olive oil (Barrett). This dish is often served only in the summer months because Greeks eat a very seasonal diet. During the winter months, a dish called Horta is served, this is a special kind of green which is slight bitter, due to boiling,served with a drizzle of olive oil and lemon (Barrett). Meze is a dished served before your meal to clean your palate and say welcome. Often it is as simple as some feta stored in a special brine to keep moist, or some seasonal fruit such as dates, figs, grapes,plumbs, melons or pears (Lukins). Some other popular appetizers are Saganaki which is a flaming fried cheese, as well as fried squid,meatballs with kalamata olives, and avgo lemono, and egg lemon soup (Kowalski). So next time you sit down to a “Greek Salad”,know that it is not truly a Greek Salad and consider ordering something a little more Greek. Dinner is the main attraction, and what most people look forward at the end of the day. In Greece, the main meal occurs during the middle of the day (Kowalski). Greeks are very compassionate, big hearted people, who love to cook, and eat and work very hard when cooking their meals and it shows in each of their dishes (Barrett).The actual dinner meal occurs mid day, and consists of big hearty dishes (Barrett). Common ingredients in Greek cooking are olives, feta, lamb, oregano, honey, and a variety of tomatoes and yogurts (Barrett). Fish is a popular main course because of Greece's close relation with the Mediterranean Sea (Kowalski). Fish dishes will always be served with a slice of lemon, to freshen up the flavors in the dish (Barrett). In addition to fish, Greeks often eat sheep because sheep flourish on the mountaintops surrounding Greece(Kowalski). Some traditional family meals are dinner casseroles called Moussaka; which is made out of meat, eggplant, potatoes, tomatoes, and custard and Pastitsio; which is baked meat in a macaroni sauce similar to lasagna (Kowalski). For a more casual meal, gyro’s,which are similar to a Souvlaki is served (Kowalski). Souvlaki is popular dish featuring meat wrapped in pita with some Tzatziki sauce (Barrett). Tzatziki sauce is made up of thinly sliced cucumbers and a yogurt base (Barrett). There is a major difference between the ‘Souvlaki’ and the ‘Souvlaki Sandwich’ (Barrett). If you walk into a restaurant and order a souvlaki, thinking you will receive a piece of meat wrapped in pita, you are wrong. You will recieve a platter of seasonal vegetables, several pitas, and some skewers of meat (Barrett). The souvlaki sandwich is usually a lunch meal, or a snack because of its size (Barrett). So instead of going to McDonalds and getting a hamburger, you would walk down to your local souvlaki shop and get a fresh souvlaki (Barrett). Because Greeks eat a very seasonal diet, vegetables and fruits are very popular. During the summer months, domates are verycommon. Domates are tomatoes stuffed with feta (Behnke). These are just a few popular dishes that appear throughout Greece. The end and the beginning are always the most favored meals in the day. Breakfast starts off your day, to get you in the right mood, and [|Dessert] concludes your day in a way like none other. Greeks with their simple, yet complex diet have a wide variety of Breakfast dishes and Desserts, both using very similar ingredients. A common “starter” to the day is creamy Greek yogurt, with honey, and thyme, a very simple but refreshing dish (Petusevsky). Everybody has their version of Starbucks in the morning, and for Greeks, that means very strong coffee (Petusevsky). In addition to yogurt, a thick crusty slice of bread is often enjoyed with a hunk of feta placed on it (Petusevsky).Then we reach dessert, full of honey dipped cookies, nut cakes, and puddings. Out of all deserts the most special and famous is Baklava, a crispy triangle made of phyllo dough layered with nuts and honey (Barrett). On Sifnos, a Greek island, they make a honey pie for dessert which is called melopitta (Webb). On the island of Syros, a traditional dessert called Loukoumia is made. Loukoumia are squares of a gummy bear like substance, coated in sugar (Barrett). A popular treat in Athens are Loukomades, which are deep fried dough similar to malasadas, in a Honey coating (Barrett). Loukomades are often sold by street venders as a breakfast treat or a dessert (Barrett). Often times, restaurants will treat diners to a complimentary dessert of seasonal fruit, nuts and honey (Barrett). Whether it is dessert or breakfast, you know it will set you in the right mood.

The things that make Greek food, Greek food, are a combination of simple yet bold flavors that have a party in your mouth. They are the spices, herbs, sauces, and drinks of Greek cuisine. Tatziki is served with almost every dish in Greek food. It is a yogurt base with thinly slices of cucumber with several herbs and spices (Barrett). Honey, is in almost every Greek dessert and is used as a sweetener instead of using sugar (Barrett). Olives are present in almost every Greek dish as well (Barrett). If olives were not in Greek dishes, the food would not be the same. Mezedes, which are a version of an appetizer in Greece, are served at almost every restaurant (Barrett). Mezedes, or Meze, are served with Ouzo a licorice tasting alcoholic beverage that is very common in Greece (Barrett). Most Greeks gradually sip [|Ouzo] while eating their Meze (Barrett). Because the main meal of the day is in the middle of the day or when Lunch would normally be, Meze is a replacement for dinner (Barrett). Fish Meze is very popular around the coast of Greece, whereas up by the mountainsides you are more likely to get a lamb or cheese Meze (Barrett). Without these substitutions, Greek food would be plain boring and pointless.

There is nothing like the holidays, hanging up the Christmas tree, drinking eggnog by the fire, and opening the green and red wrapped presents that wait under the Christmas tree. In Greece, there are many traditions around the holidays, whether it is Christmas, New Years or Easter. Once the Holiday spirit is in the air, Greeks immediately start cooking. A popular holiday tradition is making a special cake. Inside the cake, Greeks bake a silver coin. If you get this special silver coin in your slice while eating the cake, it is said to have good luck for the upcoming year (Cornell). Another popular dessert around Christmas time is Karabiethes, which are classic butter cookies, Greek style (Cornell). In order to symbolize the spices brought to Christ’s birth by the three wise men, Karabiethes are topped with whole cloves (Cornell). In Greece, the people are very religious and often fast during the holidays. It is a very strict time period in which you are not allowed to eat meat, eggs, fish, or dairy; basically, a vegan diet (Sinaiko Webb). During Easter, special eggs are died red on Holy Thursday or Holy Saturday to remind the people of Christ’s blood (Sinaiko Webb). It is said that if the eggs are dyed on Holy Friday, it is bad luck (Sinaiko Webb). After the church service on Saturday night, families go home and crack eggs against each others’ egg for luck (Sinaiko Webb). Also, because the people have been fasting for the week, they make a traditional Easter soup out of lamb innards called Mayesitsa (Sinaiko Webb). Also, an Easter bread called Tsoureki or Lambropsoma is made on Holy Friday, this is the only day Greeks make this bread. The bread is later taken to the church to be blessed (Sinaiko Webb). These are just a few traditions Greeks have during the holiday season.

Greek food is a wide variety of flavors show cased in one simple dish. Kerasma, is a Greek word that refers to the sharing of experiences with other people through food and drink (Petusevsky). Kerasma reflects majorly in Greek food appearing in not only the food but the people who created it. While researching Greek food, I discovered how hard Greeks word to make their food taste amazing, to me this is what Kerasma really is.

__**//WORKS CITED//** Barrett, Matt. “Greek Food: What to eat in Athens and How to Order it”.__ Athens Survival Guide__.10, December. 2009 < []>

Behnke, Alison.__ Vegetarian Cooking Around the World. __Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2002.

Cornell, Karia.__ Holiday Cooking Around the World__. Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2002.

Engfer, Lee.__ Desserts Around the World__.Minneapolis: Lerner Publications, 2004.

Huber, Lia "The Summer that changed my Diet." //Prevention// 59.8 (2007): 172. //MAS Ultra - School Edition//. EBSCO. Web. 3 Dec. 2009.

Kowalski, Kathiann M. "SAVOR THE FOODS OF GREECE." //Faces: People, Places, and Cultures// Sept. 2000: 31. //Student Resource Center - Bronze//. Web. 3 Dec. 2009. .

Lukins, Sheila.__ All Around The World Cookbook__. New York: Workman Publishing Company, 1994.

Sinaiko Webb, Lois.__ Holidays of the World Cookbook for Students__. Phoenix: The Oryx Press, 1995.

Petusevsky, Steve.__ "In Crete, experiencing authentic taste of Greece."__ //Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, FL)// 05 July 2007: //Newspaper Source//. EBSCO. Web. 3 Dec. 2009.