Greece

- is a country in southeastern Europe with thousands of islands throughout the Aegean

and Ionian seas. Influential in ancient times,
- is often called the cradle of Western civilization. Athens, its capital, retains landmarks
including the 5th-century B.C. Acropolis citadel with the Parthenon temple.
- is also known for its beaches, from the black sands of Santorini to the party resorts of
Mykonos.

Festivals in Greece
1. Panigyria
- August for Greeks, apart from a month of relaxation, also means a month for
socialization and celebration. Almost every city, town or village across the country, on
the mainland and on islands, celebrates every August by organizing traditional festivities,
called “panigyria” in Greek.
- The majority of these feasts is linked to religion and is traditionally held in honour of the
patron saint. In earlier times, when local societies were more conservative, these feasts
were a unique opportunity for relaxation following the hard summer harvest work,
socialization and entertainment, not to mention even for finding a husband or wife!
- The peak of celebrations comes right in the very heart of summer, on August 15, when
the Dormition of Virgin Mary is observed. This day is not a day of mourning for her loss,
but a day of joy for the union of the mother with her beloved son, the blossoming of
nature, the end of summer, the unification of families and the return to the homeland.
- Unique customs and traditions revive that day across the country, with “panigyria” being
at their peak with all-night celebrations, folk dances, good food and wine.
2. Orthodox Easter
- Easter is by far the biggest event of the year, celebrated everywhere with candlelit street
processions, midnight fireworks and spit-roasted lamb. Some islands are renowned for
their unique Easter festivities.
- Easter week, or Holy Week, is marked by different events each day. It all begins on the
Saturday of Lazarus (one week before Easter Sunday) with children going door-to-door
singing the hymn of ‘Lazaros’ and collecting money and eggs. The festive spirit continues
throughout the week, and villages, towns and cities come to life as locals decorate their
churches and epitaphs, hold daily services, fast and follow specific customs.
3. Apokreas (Carnival season)
- Some say that Carnival the world over has its roots in Greece’s ancient worship of wild,
wonderful Dionysus, the god of winemaking, fertility and theatre. Today, Greece’s
Carnival season is related to the Greek Orthodox religion, and kicks off three weeks prior
 to the fasting of Lent (from mid-January to late February or early March). A host of
smaller events leads up to the wild weekend of Carnival – known in Greece as Apokreas
– which is resplendent with costume parades, colourful floats, feasting and traditional
dancing. At Apokreas even small villages eat, drink and don (sometimes off-colour)
costumes and parade in the streets. The celebrations end with Clean Monday (Kathara
Deftera), the first day of Lent, which sees families go on picnics and fly kites.
4. Hellenic Festival
- Imagine the open, dark Greek summer sky overhead and the marble tiers of an ancient
Greek theatre filled with a rapt audience watching art in the making. The most
prominent Greek summer festival, the Hellenic Festival features a top line-up of local
and international music, dance and drama. And, wonderfully, many of the marquee
events are staged at one of the world’s prime historic venues: the ancient Odeon of
Herodes Atticus in Athens, with the floodlit Acropolis as a backdrop.
5. Navy Week
- Celebrating Greece’s long relationship with the sea, fishing villages and ports throughout
the country host historical re-enactments and parties in late June. Navy Week
in Crete honours the island’s maritime tradition with music, dancing, swimming and
sailing; celebrations are especially big in Soudha, near Hania. In Hydra, the Miaoulia
festival celebrates local naval hero Admiral Miaoulis and the Hydriot contribution to the
War of Independence. It culminates in a spectacular sound-and-light show with the
burning of a boat which represents a Turkish warship, and fireworks over Hydra harbour.
In Lesvos (Mytilini), Molyvos and Kaloni see lively celebrations as well.
6. August Moon Festival
- Considered the brightest and most beautiful moon of the year, the August moon inspires
towns across Greece to host special nighttime events and parties. In Athens, stunning
historical venues such as the Acropolis or Roman Agora open for free moonlit
performances of theatre and dance. Each year the program changes, so check locally
when you arrive.

Recipes

1. Taramasalata
- A mainstay of any Greek meal are classic dips such as tzatziki (yogurt, cucumber and
garlic),melitzanosalata (aubergine), and fava (creamy split pea purée). But the
delectable taramasalata (fish roe dip) is a must. This creamy blend of pink or white fish
roe with either a potato or bread base is best with a drizzle of virgin olive oil or a
squeeze of lemon.

2. Olives & olive oil

 - Greeks have been cultivating olives for millennia. some even say that Athena gave an
olive tree to the city of Athens, thus winning its favour. Greek meals are accompanied by
local olives, some cured in a hearty sea salt brine, others like wrinkly throubes, eaten
uncured from the tree. Similarly, olive oil, the elixir of Greece, is used liberally in cooking
and salads, and drizzled over most dips and dishes.
3. Dolmades
- Each region in Greece, in fact, each household, has its variation on the classic grape leaf-
wrapped rice parcel. Eaten as a finger food, some stuffed vine leaves incorporate
mincemeat with the long-grain rice, others, simply a heady combination of thyme, dill,
fennel, oregano or pine nuts.
4. Moussaka
- Variations on moussaka are found throughout the Mediterranean and Balkans, but the
iconic Greek baked dish is based on layering: sautéed aubergine, minced meat fried
pureed tomato, onion, garlic and spices like cinnamon and allspice, a bit of potato, and
then a final fluffy topping of cheese and béchamel sauce.

5. Grilled meat
- Greeks are master of charcoal-grilled and spit-roasted meats. Souvlaki is still Greece’s
favourite fast food, both the gyros and skewered meat versions wrapped in pitta bread,
with tomato, onion and lashings of tzatziki. At the taverna, local free-range lamb and
pork dominate, though kid goat is also a favourite.

6. Fresh fish
- Settle down at a seaside taverna and eat as locals have since ancient times. Fish and
calamari fresh from the Mediterranean and Aegean Seas are incredibly tasty and cooked
with minimum fuss – grilled whole and drizzled with ladholemono (a lemon and oil
dressing). Flavoursome smaller fish such as barbounia (red mullet)
and maridha(whitebait) are ideal lightly fried.

7. Courgette balls (kolokythokeftedes)

- Sometimes in the form of a patty, sometimes in a lightly fried ball, make sure to try these
starters any chance you get. The body of the fritter is usually made of grated or pureed
courgette blended with dill, mint, or other top-secret spice combinations. Paired with
tzatziki, for its cooling freshness, you just can’t lose.
8. Octopus
 - Along harbours, octopus hung out to dry like washing is one of the iconic images of
Greece. Grilled or marinated, it makes a fine meze (appetiser), or as an entree stew it in
wine sauce and serve it with pasta.

9. Feta & cheeses

- When in Greece, be sure to sample the vast array of fresh cheeses. Ask behind market
counters for feta kept in big barrels, creamy and delicious (nothing like the one in plastic
tubs in markets outside of Greece). Or, sample graviera, a hard golden-white cheese,
perfect eaten cubed, or fried as saganaki. At bakeries you’ll findtyropita (cheese pie), at
tavernas, salads like Cretan dakos, which is topped with a crumbling of mizithra, a soft,
white cheese.

10. Honey & baklava

- Greeks love their sweets, often based on olive oil and honey combinations, with flaky filo
pastry. The classic baklava is a start, layering honey, filo and ground nuts. Or
try galaktoboureko, a sinful custard-filled pastry. Simply, pour a lovely dollop of local
thyme honey over fresh Greek yogurt.

Dining Etiquette and Customs

- Dining etiquette for drinking. Wine is drunk at lunch and dinner, but if you are drinking
ouzo, be sure to take small sips. The more you drink, the more you will be offered to
drink. If you don't want to drink more, leave your glass more than half full.
- Do not begin eating until your host invites you to.
- Greeks do not switch knives and forks. The knife remains in the right hand and the fork
remains in the left. When you're finished with your meal, cross your knife and fork on
your plate, with the knife underneath the fork and the tines of the fork facing down
- If you place your napkin up on the table or on the plate, most Greeks will also take this
to mean that you are finished.
- The fork and spoon above your plate are usually for dessert. If you're unsure of which
utensil to use, always start from the outside and work your way in, course by course.
- Bread is usually served without butter and there usually is no bread plate.
- When not holding utensils, your hands are expected to be visible above the table. Rest
your wrists on top of the table.
- Pass all dishes to your left.
- If there is gravy or sauce, you can generally use your bread to soak some of it up.
- Guests can sometimes feel free to eat from or taste the food on each other's plates.
- The most honored positions are in the middle of the table, at each side, with the most
important guest seated immediately to the right of the host (women to the right of the
 host. and men to the right of the hostess). If there is a hosting couple, one will be seated
at each side of the table. More traditional hosts might seat men next to men and women
next to women or segregate them completely.
- The oldest or most honored guest is served first.
- In informal restaurants, you may be required to share a table. Wait staff may be
summoned by making eye contact.
- Depending upon how well developed your relationship is with your Greek colleagues, it
is generally not the time to make business decisions. Take your cue from your Greek
associates.
- You will be told where to sit, and there you should remain. Allow the more senior
members of your party to enter rooms ahead of you. Do not presume to seat yourself, as
the seating arrangement may be predetermined.
- Usually the one who does the inviting pays the bill, although the guest is expected to
make an effort to pay. Sometimes other circumstances determine the payee (such as
rank).
- A 10 percent tip is usually sufficient for restaurants. Restaurants usually have the 10
percent tip already included on the bill.
- Food should be tasted before salt and pepper are added. Applying garnishes before
food is tasted is viewed as an insult to the cook.
- All food should be served and everyone seated before food is eaten by anyone, with the
host taking the first bite. If a host instructs guests 'not to wait' this rule is vetoed.
- When eating soup, you should hold your spoon in your right hand and tip the bowl
delicately forward, scooping the soup in movements away from yourself. The soup spoon
should never be put into the mouth, and soup should be sipped from the side of the
spoon, not the end.
- It is impolite to reach over someone to pick up food or other items. Diners should
always ask for items to be passed along the table to them. Diners who are passing items
along the table should not eat it on the way.
- A knife should never enter the mouth or be licked.
- Food should always be chewed with your mouth closed and talking with food in your
mouth is seen as very rude.
Eating times
- Lunch is generally eaten at about 2.00pm and dinner no earlier than 9.00pm. This is why
if you walk around looking for a restaurant patronised by the "locals" as a sign of quality,
it is very likely to be deserted before 9.00pm.
- It is not unusual to arrive at a restaurant at midnight, especially in summer.

Ordering and eating

 - For Greeks, a meal is a social occasion and accordingly, food is ordered for the "table",
not for the individuals. You order a bit of everything, spread it around the table, or more
often cover the table with different dishes and everybody picks at everything. If or when
more food is needed, more is ordered.
- There is also quite an element of status involved in the ordering and it is not uncommon
for Greeks to order far too much, either to show off their status or show their generosity.
This unfortunately leads to a fair amount of food being wasted.
- You should be aware that in Greece, the ‘OK’ signal of making an ‘O’ shape with your
thumb and forefinger is actually a vulgar gesture. The alternative and acceptable way of
gesturing ‘OK’ is by making a fist and pointing your thumb to the sky.
- It is also vital that you distinguish the different movements that signify ‘yes and ‘no’, as
they differ slightly from the usual nodding and shaking of the head. ‘Yes’ is signalled by a
slight nod of the head downwards, and ‘no’ is signalled by a small bob of the head
upwards.

Cooking Implements
1. Mortar and Pestle
2. Wooden Spoons
3. Olive Oil Can
4. Spice Grater
5. Cheese Grater
6. Pepper Grinder
7. Whisks
8. Straight Wood Rolling Pin
9. Honey Dipper
10. Coffee pot (briki)
11. Pastry brush
12. Metal baking pans and tins
13. Large saucepans
14. Steel souvlaki skewers
15. Rotisserie or spit roaster
16. Herb Cutter

Cooking Methods
- Greek cooking methods are usually fairly simple and straightforward. Many recipes and
accompanying methods have been handed down through the generations, with little
adaptation. Further, often the name of the dish incorporates the method of preparation
and/or the cooking vessel.
- Many heating implements were available for baking, stewing, boiling, frying, roasting,
and grilling all types of foods. Although large clay or brick ovens were used for baking,
smaller and more portable heating devices predominated, especially for home use.
- Meat could be cooked on an eschara, or brazier, which held coals in the bottom and had
curved ledges for resting the spits on which meat was cooked. The identification and use
of eschara are known from Greek comedy; the flames in the braziers were fanned to
increase the heat for cooking. Meat could also be cooked on terracotta grills, which were
remarkably similar to their modern counterparts; grills were also ideal for preparing fish
- The secret with Greek dishes are they are kept simple, and they rely on a few good
quality, fresh ingredients.

- Clay Oven Method

o many of the larger dishes, such as the roasted chicken and green beans that they had on
special that day, were slow cooking in the clay oven, which was being heated by wooden
logs.
o These ovens are ultra traditional and have been used in Greece for hundreds of years.
Sometimes, there will only be one or two of these ovens in the entire village, and people
take turns using them throughout the day to bake bread and make other dishes.
- Clay Pot Cooking
o Greeks often use clay pots to cook some of their specialty dishes. In some areas
of Greece, foods such as lamb and vegetables are packed into a clay pot with
spices and sealed away in a clay oven for several hours as it gently slow cooks.
o Other methods require burying a small, sealed clay pot underneath hot coals
directly into the ground. Modern cooks often get similar results by using clay or
ceramic cookware and slow roasted dishes in their modern ovens. However,
wherever you can find a clay oven, chances are pretty good that the people often
use clay pots to cook.
- Spit
o Another common Greek method for cooking foods is to do so on a spit, which
involves piercing foods, usually meat such as goat or lamb, with a large pole and
rotating it over a fire.
- Although Greece has diverse geography and climate, many cooking methods are
universal across different regions, such as:

1. Ladi is Greek olive oil and Ladthera

o refers to dishes prepared with lots of olive oil such as tomatoes stuffed with rice,
sautéed okra and giant butter beans (also known as gigantes) stewed with
tomato.
2. Stiskara or tis oras
o means at the hour and denotes food such as chicken souvlaki, lamb chops,
butterflied sardines and bifeteki, a minced beef patty, cooked on the charcoal grill
at the last minute.
3. Stoforno
o literally means in the oven. Dishes such as lamb with lemon potatoes, beef in
tomato sauce and lamb cooked in a clay pot are all prepared using this method.
4. Tiganita
o refers to food that is shallow friend in olive oil. The Greeks love fried meatballs,
potatoes, sardines and pumpkin balls. A popular entrée is fried eggplant or
zucchini slices.
5. Psito
o means roasted and this is how the Greeks like their pork, wild boar and lamb.
6. Ograten
o meaning a dish covered with béchamel sauce and cheese, is the most famous
Greek dish of all, moussaka, a layered dish of beef and eggplant topped with
béchamel sauce and cheese.
7. Avgolemono
o is the light and delicious egg and lemon sauce, known to adorn spring artichokes
and peas as well as add flavour to pork fricasseeand fish soup.
8. Yachnee
o is a hearty tomato based stew often served with tiny pasta shapes.
9. Vrasto
o means boiled and usually applies to wild greens picked during the rainy season.
10. Stifado
o indicates the addition of tiny pearl onions and cinnamon to a dish, the most
famous being slow cooked beef or rabbit.
11. Kokkonisto
o means red and this is always a tomato based oven baked dish, usually with beef
or chicken.
12. Plaki
o meaning flat or spread out, usually refers to fish arranged flat in a baking dish
and baked in the oven.
13. Saganaki
o refers to the skillet or heavy cast iron frying pan used in the cooking process. A
very popular meze Greek cheese, such as Kefalotiri or Keflograviera, dusted with
flour and fried in olive oil in this style of vessel is also referred to as Saganaki.
Greek cooking requires repeated use of the same kind of tools while cooking a
variety of dishes. Hence it is essential to have a durable set of tools in a Greek
kitchen. Here is a guide for reference, which encapsulates the Greek kitchen
essentials, for those who wish to set up a kitchen in Greek style.
14. Avgolemono

o egg and lemon are whisked together and then added to stock to create
an avgolemono sauce or soup. Most commonly used with chicken and fish meals.

15. Lathorigano

o cooking with olive oil and oregano. This term can be added to a meal for more emphasis
on the style of cooking, as olive oil and oregano are used abundantly in Greek cooking.

16. Lemonato

o the method of cooking predominantly with lemons. When a meal uses lemons as the
main flavouring such as roast chicken or lamb, which would use lemon rind and juice.

17. Marinato

o marinating the meat or fish prior to cooking.

18. Psito

o the method of roasting meat, chicken or fish in the oven. This term is added to lamb,
chicken etc to refer to the baking style. It can refer these days to other general methods
of cooking meat.

19. Kokkinisto

o means reddened - method of cooking meat, together with plenty of tomatoes, which
are simmered for a length of time to create a red sauce. The meat is cooked in this
sauce, which turns it a reddish colour, which refers to the name and makes this dish
easily recognised.

20. Krasato

o method of adding wine during cooking to create a sauce and to add flavour to the meal.

21. Stifatho

o a stew of meat or rabbit, with pearl onions, red wine and tomatoes, such as beef
stifado.

22. Souvla

o means skewer - the method of cooking meat or fish on skewers over charcoal bbq or
grill. Can be small individual skewers or the large one that Souvlaki is made from with
the meat cooked on a souvla.
 23. Plaki

o means flat or spread out, method of cooking fish in a sauce with garlic, parsley and
tomatoes in a pan.

24. Spetsiotico

o The method of baking fish with garlic, parsley and sometimes wine, topped with bread
crumbs. This recipe originated on the island of Spetses.

25. Yachni

o the method of stewing food with potatoes, tomatoes and onions.

26. Yemista

o meat, fish or vegetables stuffed prior to cooking. Stuffed peppers and tomatoes as well
as stuffed squid stuffed squid are the most popular recipes using this method.

27. Yuvetsi

o is the method of cooking meat or seafood, with kritharaki (orzo, risoni) and tomatoes in
the oven in a "Yuvetsi" (clay or earthenware pot). You can use modern earthenware
glazed dishes found in many homeware shops to get the same flavour.

Cooking Ingredients
Olive oil

- is the first ingredient we think of with Greek cooking, especially if you have been to Greece and
had a plate of food swimming in the oil!

- They use it in everything, including desserts in place of butter! They will also drizzle it over the
cooked food,appetizers, salads and over toasted bread.

Salt, pepper and oregano

- are used a lot for seasoning, to flavour food or to marinate.

- The seasoning enhanced the flavour of the lamb without detracting from it. This is the most
popular method of marinating.
- Greeks will use a scattering of a few herbs, mostly oregano and parsley and less others such
as rosemary, basil, dill, sage, and thyme sparingly.
Lemons and garlic
- are used abundantly, to flavour meat, fish and vegetables whilst cooking, in sauces and
dressings.