The unique tastes of Greece guarantee that you are in for many culinary surprises during your stay in the country. Contrary to common belief, you will discover that Greek cuisine is not only moussaka, souvlaki and choriatiki salata, but has a wide variety of dishes that can meet the culinary demands of both meat-eaters and vegetarians in an extremely satisfying way.

Things could not be different, anyway, in the country that gave birth to symposiums and the Epicurean philosophers. It was, in fact, Archestratos who, in 330 B.C., wrote the first cookbook in History, and reminded us that cuisine is a sign of civilisation.

Greece has a culinary tradition of approximately 4,000 years. Nevertheless, like most national cuisines, Greek cuisine has both influenced others and embraced ideas from its eastern and western neighbours.

Traditional Greek cuisine
Greek wines
Greek products

Traditional Greek cuisine

What distinguishes traditional Greek cuisine is a combination of the following factors: unique ingredients, the Greek philosophy regarding eating and sharing meals, as well as the country itself and the atmosphere in general.

The basic ingredients: Greek cuisine has four secrets: fresh ingredients of good quality, proper use of herbs and spices, the famous Greek olive oil and its basic simplicity. Greek olive oil deserves a special mention. Present in almost all Greek dishes, and in most of them in abundant quantities, it is of excellent quality and very good for health. Then there are the vegetables and herbs. Due to the mild Greek climate, greenhouse cultivation of vegetables is not widespread. Therefore, most vegetables are grown outdoors and are very tasty and full of aroma. You will be delighted with the taste of Greek tomatoes, lettuces, carrots, onions, parsley and garlic, not to mention the rich flavour and aroma of fresh fruit: grapes, apricots, peaches, cherries, melons, watermelons, to name but a few. The herbs collected by most Greeks on the mountains and in the countryside are renowned for their taste, scent and healing properties. When eating one of the many different Greek dishes, the aroma of oregano, thyme, spearmint or rosemary will inebriate you. Do not forget also to try the Greek cheeses and particularly feta. As lambs and goats in Greece are free-grazing and pastures are very rich in herbs, meats have a unique taste not to be found anywhere else in the world. Seafood from the Mediterranean Sea is far more tasty than that from the oceans. In the Aegean and the Ionian Seas, the waters are crystal clear and abound with fish. Charbroiled fresh fish is considered a treat.

The Greek philosophy: The time of day when the Greeks gather around a table to enjoy a meal, or some appetizers (mezedes) with ouzo, is a time held in reverence by all the inhabitants of this country. For the Greeks, sharing a meal with friends, either at home, at a restaurant or a taverna, is a deeply rooted social affair. The Greek word symposium, a word as ancient as the country itself, if translated literally, means drinking with company. The atmosphere in typically Greek restaurants and tavernas is very relaxed, informal and unpretentious. Food preparation, on the other hand, has its own sacred rules. Good amateur cooks are held in great esteem in their social circles. A good housewife, in Greece, means a good cook. And a good cook can spend days preparing a meal for his or her friends.

The atmosphere: Try having a glass of ouzo or wine, accompanied by barbecued octopus or any other Greek dish, while sitting beneath the shadow of a tree, at a small tavern by the sea, on one of the Aegean islands. Then, when you go back home, try repeating that experience by preparing the same dish and serving the same drink. No matter where you decide to have it, you will soon discover that it does not taste the same. Do not try again. There is nothing wrong with the delicacy of your palate or your cooking skills. The Greek meal experience, namely the combination of what you eat and where you eat it, cannot be repeated, exported or duplicated. It is something you can only find, taste and enjoy in Greece, like the blue of the Aegean Sea.

Greek Wines

Apart from giving birth to Dionysus, patron god of wine, Greece is the birthplace of the first VQPRD wines in history. They were the wines of the islands of Chios and Thassos, renowned in the entire ancient world. Due to various historic and social reasons, as well as natural disasters, the art of wine-making was neglected from the middle of the nineteenth century until the early sixties. It was then that the ancient traditions of wine-making started being rediscovered and today one can find many excellent Greek wines produced all over the country. When tasting Greek wine, bear in mind that it is a product of a distinctive environment and of grape varieties unknown to western wine lovers. The wines of Greece are divided into 4 distinct categories: 1) the Controlled Appellations of Origin, 2) the Appellations of Origin of Superior Quality, 3) local wines and 4) table wines.

The Controlled Appellations of Origin is a category that contains only liqueur wines, such as the Mavrodaphne of Kefaloniá and Patrás, the Muscat wines of Patras, Limnos, Kefalonia, Rhodes and the Doux of Samos.

The Appellations of Origin of Superior Quality category contains many of the best wines of Greece. There are 20 areas so far that have the right to Appellation of Origin. In northern Greece, there are the Appellations of Zitsa, Amynteo, Gouménissa and Náoussa, in Chalkidiki the Appellation of Playies Melitona, in Thessaly Anchialos and Rapsani, near Athens Kantza, in the Peloponnese the appellations of Patras, Mantinia and Nemea, on the Ionian islands the Robola of Kefalonia, on the islands of Paros, Limnos, Rhodes and Santorini, and finally on Crete there are the appellations of Acharnes, Peza, Sitia and Daphnes. The above categories of Appellations have a blue and a red banderole respectively, affixed over the mouth of each bottle.

Finally, the other two categories of local and table wines hide many pleasant and intoxicating surprises for the wine lover.

Greek Products

OLIVE OIL

Olive oil plays a unique role in Greek dietary habits, being the basis of all recipes of traditional cuisine. Greek olive oil enjoys worldwide distinction for its purity and exceptional taste. You will find it everywhere in glass bottles and cans under the designations virgin and extra virgin olive oil.

HONEY

Greek honey is famous over the world for its good quality, aroma and outstanding taste. It owes its wide diversity in taste and aroma to the rich Greek flora which comprises a large number of wild flowers.Honey in Greece is mainly flower-honey from the nectar of fruit and citrus trees (lemon, orange, bigarade trees), thyme honey, with incomparable aroma, and pine honey from conifer trees.

MASTIC

A product unique in the world, as it is grown exclusively on the Aegean island of Chios. It is produced from the resin of mastic trees (Pistacia lentiscus) and can be consumed untreated without having undergone any chemical or industrial processing. The father of medicine, Hippocrates, underlined the multiple therapeutic properties of mastic, especially for stomach complaints; properties which are accepted and proven by modern medicine.

OUZO

The world famous Greek aperitif. It is produced from distilled alcohol, water and aromatic ingredients (the prevailing one being aniseed). It is drunk straight or with the addition of water or ice and is the perfect accompaniment for appetizers (mezedes).

CHEESES

FETA	A semi-soft, crumbly, well-salted white cheese made from goat or sheep milk. Used in pies, added to salads and served with meals.
KASSERI	Creamy in colour, with a mild flavour similar to Cheddar. Usually served on its own or with bread.
KEFALOTYRI	A hard and very salty cheese similar to Parmesan, used mainly for grating and serving with pasta.
GRAVIERA	Like Gruyere, it is served with meals or used for grating and serving with pasta.
MANOURI	An unsalted soft white cheese served on its own or used in savoury or sweet pies, just like Mizithra.
MIZITHRA	An unsalted soft cheese made from ewes' milk. Served on its own or used in sweet or savoury pies (a substitute for this is fresh cottage cheese).

COFFEE

"Varis Ghlykos"	Strong and sweet
"Metrios"	Medium strong with little sugar
"Sketos"	Without sugar
"Ghlykis Vrastos"	Sweet and boiled

To make Greek coffee, use a very small coffeecup and measure into the pot as many cupfuls of water as you wish to serve. Add a teaspoon of sugar for each cup of water and put to boil. Then add a heaped teaspoon of ground Greek coffee for each cup of water. Let the coffee boil to the brim of the pot and serve immediately. The coffee is served pouring a little at a time into each cup, so that the froth is equally divided.