UNIVERSITATEA DE TIINE AGRICOLE I MEDICIN VETERINAR

ION IONESCU DE LA BRAD

SPECIALIZAREA: MANAGEMENT N ALIMENTAIE PUBLIC I
AGROTURISM

GREEK CUISINE

Profesor ndrumtor:

Student:

Lect. Dr. Olga Pnzaru

Boboc Irina Luciana

Constandache Viorica Florentina

2014

Greek cuisine is a Mediterranean cuisine. Contemporary Greek cookery makes wide use
of olive oil, vegetables and herbs, grains and bread, wine, fish, and various meats,
including lamb, poultry, rabbit and pork.
Also important are olives, cheese, eggplant (aubergine), zucchini (courgette), and yogurt.
Greek desserts are characterized by the dominant use of nuts and honey.
Some dishes use filo pastry.
Mezs 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.
Greek cuisine has a long tradition and its flavors change with the season and its
geography.
Greek cookery, historically a forerunner of Western cuisine, spread its culinary influence
- via ancient Rome - throughout Europe and beyond.
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.
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.
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.
The Byzantine cuisine was similar to the classical cuisine including however new
ingredients that were not available before, like caviar, nutmeg and lemons, basil, 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.Byzantine cuisine
benefited from Constantinoples position as a global hub of the spice trade.

Greek olive oil

Dried oregano for culinary use.

The most characteristic and ancient element of Greek cuisine is olive oil, which is 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. 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.
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 home cooking at affordable prices to both locals and tourists.
Recently, fast food has become more widespread, with local chains such as Goody's springing
up, though most McDonald's have closed.[10] Locals still largely eat on 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.

Kalamata olives

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
ros wine flavored with pine resin) and pasteli (candy bar with sesame seeds baked with honey);
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.

Regional
cuisine:
"Dakos",
traditional Cretan salad (left) and
"Tsigaridia", traditional dish of
Cephalonia (right).

Distinct from the main stream regional cuisines are:

Cuisine of the Aegean islands (including Kykladitiki, from Kyklades)

Cuisine of the Ionian islands

Ipirotiki (Epirotic cuisine)

Kritiki (Cretan cuisine)

Kypriaki (Cypriot cuisine)
Macedonitiki (Macedonian cuisine)
Mikrasiatiki, from the Greek refugees of Asia Minor, including Politiki, from the tradition of
the Greeks of Istanbul (Constantinople)
Pontiaki, found anywhere there are Pontians (Greek immigrants from the Black Sea region)

Breads

Lagana, type of bread.

Daktyla

Eliopsomo, bread with olives

Paximadi, Cretan bread
Karydopsomo, bread with walnuts
Lagana
Pita
Stafidopsomo, bread with raisin

Appetizers and Salads

Classic Greek salad

Simple meze of feta cheese andolives

Saganaki

Spanakopita with cubed feta

Kolokythoanthoi are often served with a

dollop of Greek yogurt on the side.

Botargo (Avgotaraho)

Meze or orektiko is served in restaurants called mezedopolea, served to

complement drinks, and in similar establishments known as tsipourdika or ouzer (a type
of caf that serves drinks such as ouzo or tsipouro).
A tavrna (tavern) or estiatrio (restaurant) also offers a meze as an orektik (appetiser).
Many restaurants offer their house pikila (variety) a platter with a smorgasbord of various
mezedes that can be served immediately to customers looking for a quick or light meal.

Soups

Fasolada.

Vegetarian main dishes

Boiled wild greens.

Traditional vegetable market.

Meat and seafood dishes

Octopuses are often sun-dried before grilling.

Spetsofai

Moussaka.

Swordfish dish.

Pita with Gyros.

Pastitsio

Desserts and sweets

Melomakarona.

Diples made on an iron mould dipped in batter and

cooked in cooking oil.

Cheeses

Feta cheese.

Mizithra

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.
Manyartisanal, 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:

Anthotyros
Feta

Formaela
Graviera

Halloumi

Kasseri

Kefalograviera

Kefalotyri

Kopanisti Mykonou
Myzithra

Manouri
Metsovone
San Michali

Non-alcoholic beverages
There is a variety of non alcoholic beverages that are drunk in Greece even to this day.
Portokalada (orangeade) and Lemonada (lemonade), since 1971, these beverages were
served everywhere, in homes, cafes, tavernas and restaurants. They were made with fresh
strained orange juice or lemon juice either mixed with carbonated water or flat mineral water and
you added sugar to taste.
There were also bottled local versions. In 1989 on the island of Rhodes there were 2
companies that made & bottled their own portokalada & lemonada using local oranges, lemons
and water. These beverages are still standards today, as of 2014, the difference being that most of
the small local companies sold their businesses to the big companies like Fanta etc., thus, greatly
changing the quality.
Visinada (cherryade) is made from dark cherry syrup (which was originally homemade)
mixed with cold water.

Coffee

Frapp coffee
The traditional coffeehouses in Greece are called kafenia, and they offer coffee,
refreshments, alcoholic beverages and snacks or meze. In recent years, especially in the large
urban centres, kafenia are gradually being replaced by modern "cafeterias".
Preferred
types
of
coffee
are,
among
others, Greek
or
Turkish
coffee, frapp (a Greek foam-covered iced coffee drink), and iced cappuccino and espresso Iced
coffee-based drinks, such asfreddoccino or freddito, are also popular in the summer.

Tea and herbal teas

Chamomile- (chamomile tea)

Mint tea- right out of the garden
Faskomilo- (sage tea) tea made from dried or fresh sage
Tsai vounou- tea from steeped mountain sage. To this day the Greeks still like to drink a tea
made from steeping dried or fresh mountain sage
Sideritis

Alcoholic beverages
Wine

Assyrtiko grapes

A Nemea wine made from 100%Agiorgitiko

The origins of wine-making in Greece go back 6,500 years and evidence suggesting wine
production confirm that Greece is home to the oldest known grape wine remnants discovered in
the world and the worlds earliest evidence of crushed grapes.
The spread of Greek civilization and their worship of Dionysus, the god of wine, spread
Dionysian cults throughout the Mediterranean areas during the period of 1600 BC to the year 1.
Greece's viticultural history goes back to prehistoric times, and wine production was thriving
until the 11th century.
After World War II, Greek winemakers imported and cultivated foreign grape varieties,
especially French ones, in order to support local production.
In 1960s, retsina, a dry white wine with lumps of resin, was probably the most wellknown Greek wine abroad. In recent years, local varieties are rediscovered and often blended
with foreign ones.
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.

Beer

Advertisement of Fix (beer) from the late 19th century.

Archaeological and archaeochemical finds suggest that the Minoans fermented barley and
other substances, and consumed some form of beer.
The beer tradition of the Minoans was discontinued by the Mycenaeans; beverages from
fermented cereals may have remained only in Crete during their rule.
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.
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.
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.
Other
traditional
Greek
alcoholic
beverages
include
the aniseflavored 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), kitron, a
citrus flavoured liquor from Naxos 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 Samosor 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.