Greece - Korina Miller [53]
Don’t insist on paying if you are invited out – it insults your host.
Don’t refuse a coffee or drink – it’s a gesture of hospitality and goodwill.
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HABITS & CUSTOMS
Hospitality is a key element of Greek culture, from the customary glass of water served on arrival to the complimentary fruit at the end of the meal. Meals are commonly laid out in the middle of the table and shared, making it a more social dining experience (it also means meals can be stretched to accommodate extra and unexpected guests, as is often the case). Greeks generally order way too much food and notoriously over-cater at home, preferring to give it away or even throw it out than not have enough.
Breakfast is commonly a cigarette and a cup of coffee, and maybe a koulouri or tyropita eaten on the run, though you’ll find Western-style breakfasts in tourist areas.
While changes in working hours are affecting traditional meal patterns, lunch is still usually the big meal of the day and does not start until after 2pm. Cafes do a roaring postsiesta afternoon trade. Most Greeks wouldn’t think of eating dinner before sunset, which coincides with shop closing hours, so restaurants often don’t fill up until after 10pm.
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Culinaria Greece, edited by Marianthi Milona, is a fine weighty tome exploring Greek cuisine, with recipes, history, and useful guide to Greek products and wine, and plenty of photos.
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Dining is a drawn-out ritual, so go easy on the mezedhes, because there will usually be much more to come. The pace of service can be slow by Western standards, but the staff is not in a rush to get you out of there either. The table is not generally cleared until you ask for the bill, which was traditionally (and in many places still is) brought out with complimentary fruit or sweets and in some cases a shot of liquor.
It’s impolite to start drinking before everyone’s glass is full and they’ve done the customary toast, ‘Ya mas’. Greeks generally don’t drink coffee after a meal and many old-style tavernas don’t offer it.
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EATING WITH KIDS
Greeks love children and tavernas are very family-friendly, where it seems no one is too fussed if children play between the tables. You might find a children’s menu in some tourist areas but kids mostly eat what their parents eat. For more information on travelling with children, Click here.
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For comprehensive articles about Greek products and cuisine, including a glossy magazine with recipes that you can download, check out www.kerasma.gr.
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COOKING COURSES
Several well-known cooking writers and chefs run cooking courses, mostly during spring and autumn.
Aglaia Kremezi and her friends open their kitchens and gardens on the island of Kea for six-day hands-on cooking workshops (www.keartisanal.com).
Award-winning Greek-American food writer Diane Kochilas runs week-long courses at her Glorious Greek Kitchen Cooking School (www.dianekochilas.com) course on her ancestral island Ikaria in July and August, as well as cooking classes and culinary tours around Athens.
Crete’s Culinary Sanctuaries (www.cookingincrete.com), run by Greek American chef and food writer Nikki Rose, combines cooking classes, farm tours, hiking and cultural excursions.
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DRINKS
Wine
Krasi (wine) predates the written record in Greece, with the wine god Dionysos tramping the vintage before the Bronze Age. By the time of Greek Independence in 1821, however, there was barely a wine industry, with most wine made for personal consumption. It wasn’t until the 1960s that Greeks began producing wine commercially – and the infamous retsina (resinated wine) became Greece’s best known wine export.
But in the past 20 years, Greek wine has been revolutionised by a new generation of progressive, internationally trained winemakers. Apart from foreign wine varieties being produced, age-old indigenous Greek varietals are being revived and are