Greece - Korina Miller [52]
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MADE IN GREECE
Feta cheese was the first Greek product to gain the same protected status as Parma ham and champagne, but several other local products are also being recognised as officially Greek, including ouzo, tsipouro (distilled spirit similar to ouzo) and Greece’s other popular spirit, tsikoudia (Click here).
One of the more obscure Greek products is mastic, the aromatic resin from the mastic trees that grow almost exclusively on the island of Chios. Most people associate it with chewing gum, liqueur, or the sticky white fondant sweet served in a glass of water, but it is also used to flavour pastries and other foods, and its medicinal benefits are promoted through mastic-based natural skin products and pharmaceuticals.
Greece is also one of the biggest producers of organic red saffron – Krokos kozanis is grown in villages around the northern town of Kozani – one of the few areas in the world suitable for cultivation of high-quality saffron.
Another local delicacy is avgotaraho (botargo), a distinctive fish roe (usually grey mullet) from Messolongi on the west coast, which is preserved in beeswax.
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VEGETARIANS & VEGANS
A legacy of lean times and the Orthodox faith’s fasting traditions mean vegetables feature prominently in the Greek kitchen, making it easier and tastier to go vegetarian in Greece.
Ladhera are the mainstay of religious fasts. Look for popular vegetarian dishes, such fasolakia yiahni (green bean stew), bamies (stuffed okra) and briam (oven-baked vegetable casserole). Artichokes and aubergines are also widely used, while vine-leaf or cabbage dolmadhes and anthoi (stuffed zucchini flowers) are a staple. Beans and pulses are widely used, and you will often find dishes such as yigantes on the menu. Of the wild greens, vlita (amaranth) are the sweetest, but other common varieties include wild radish, dandelion, stinging nettle and sorrel.
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FEASTS & CELEBRATIONS
Religious rituals and cultural celebrations inevitably involve a feast, or have their special treats. Every morsel is laced with symbolism, from Christmas biscuits to the spit-roast lamb for Easter. Even the 40-day Lenten fast has its culinary attractions, with special dishes that have no meat or dairy products (or oil if you go strictly by the book).
Red-dyed boiled eggs are an integral part of Easter festivities, both for cracking and decorating the tsoureki (a brioche-style bread flavoured with mastic) and mahlepi (mahaleb cherry kernels). The Resurrection Mass on Saturday night is followed by a supper that includes mayiritsa (offal soup), while on Easter Sunday you will see lambs cooking on spits all over the countryside.
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The healthy Mediterranean diet has become a victim of changing lifestyles and the rise of fast-food/junk-food culture, with Greeks recording the highest obesity rates in the EU.
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Christmas is a more low-key celebration, with pork the traditional dish for Christmas Day. A golden-glazed cake called vasilopita (with a coin inside) is cut at midnight on New Year’s Eve, giving good fortune to whoever gets the lucky piece.
Lenten sweets include halva, both the Macedonian-style version made from tahini (sold in blocks in delis) and the semolina dessert often served in tavernas after a meal.
In agricultural areas many harvest festivals are dedicated to local produce, from the Aubergine Festival (Click here) in Leonidio in the Peloponnese (which has a distinctive long purple local variety) to Aegina’s Fistiki Fest, celebrating the island’s excellent pistachio industry.
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DOS & DON’TS
Do ask what the local speciality is in each region.
Do look in the pots in the kitchen to select your meal.
Do select