Greek cuisine
What is Greek cuisine? Greek dishes are dishes based on cheese, vegetables, olives and seafood, to which spices, lemon juice and olive oil are used..
National cuisine of Greece
Greek cooking was influenced by Turkish, Slavic, Italian and Arabian culinary schools, as a result of which it became an independent landmark of the country..
National dishes are prepared using meat (lamb), cheese and seafood; lentil soup is popular from the first courses - “fake”, and, for example, in Crete vegetables are in high esteem - they are stuffed here, fried, steamed, baked (worth trying “briam” - Greek vegetable stew), as well as fish (usually baked over an open fire).
Main dishes of Greek cuisine:
- “stifado” (stew with onions and oranges);
- “patudo” (lamb stuffed with cheese and liver);
- “pastizio” (pasta casserole with meat filling);
- “path-glika” (pie stuffed with walnuts);
- “melizana psiti” (baked dish with tomatoes, eggplant and cheese).
Where to taste the national cuisine?
For inexpensive and tasty dishes, it is advisable to go to a tavern (there, for example, they serve “moussaka” - layered potatoes, minced meat and eggplant with sauce “bechamel”) or a psistarya tavern (here they serve meat fried on a spit or charcoal, for example, “paidakya” –Lamb ribs).
In Athens, national cuisine can be tasted in “Acropolis View” (the atmosphere of this restaurant is imbued with the spirit of Ancient Athens, where you should order the dish of the day from the chef); in Thessaloniki - in a tavern “1901” (it is recommended to order mussels here, “moussaka”, beef and lamb with sauce); in Halkidiki (Hanioti) - in a restaurant “Arhontico” (here you should enjoy feta cheese baked in herbs, as well as “souvlaki” - kebabs from different types of meat on skewers); to Corfu (Paleokastritsa) - in “Nereids Restaurant” (it is recommended to try fish and seafood prepared in different ways, as well as lamb with baked potatoes).
Cooking classes in Greece
On the island of Ikaria, you will be taught how to cook healthy and simple Greek dishes (Chef Diana Cochias) in the form of pancakes with honey and cinnamon; shrimp in a creamy sauce; Soufiko (Greek version of ratatouille); tsadiki with garlic-cucumber-yoghurt sauce (training will take place at a 100-year-old villa). And before cooking, you will be invited to visit food suppliers - Diamanto Plaka cheese dairy, Kollia bakery, Nicos distillery.
Not sure when to come to Greece? Of course, during the festival of the Aeginian pistachios (September), the festival of chestnuts (Arna, Peloponnese, October), festivals “Thessaloniki Food Festival” (Thessaloniki, January) and “Agro Quality Festival” (Athens, April-May).
