Greek cuisine facts for kids

Table of Greek food

Greek cuisine is the delicious food from Greece and for Greeks living all over the world. Like many other foods from the Mediterranean region, it relies on three main ingredients: wheat, olive oil, and wine. Greek cooking uses lots of fresh vegetables, olive oil, grains, fish, and different kinds of meat. These meats include pork, poultry (like chicken), veal, beef, lamb, rabbit, and goat.

Other important ingredients are pasta, many types of cheeses, fresh herbs, lemon juice, olives, and yogurt. Bread made from wheat is eaten everywhere. Other grains, especially barley, are also used, for example, in crunchy rusks called paximathia. For desserts, you'll find ingredients like nuts, honey, fruits, sesame, and thin filo pastries. Greek food has a long history, carrying on traditions from Ancient Greece and the Byzantine Empire. It also has tasty influences from Turkish, Middle Eastern, Balkan, and Italian cooking.

Discovering Greek Cuisine
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Discovering Greek Cuisine

Greek cuisine is a big part of the culture of Greece. We can see its history in ancient pictures and writings. This food style even influenced ancient Rome and then spread across Europe and beyond!

A Taste of History

Moussaka

Ancient Greek cooking was quite simple and focused on the "Mediterranean triad" of wheat, olive oil, and wine. Meat was not eaten very often, and fish was more common. This way of eating continued for a long time, especially in places like Cyprus. It only changed when new technologies made meat easier to get. Wine and olive oil have always been super important. The spread of grapevines and olive trees across the Mediterranean is linked to where the Greeks settled.

The ancient Spartans were known for their very simple meals. One famous Spartan dish was a "black soup." It was made from ingredients like pork, olive oil, and vinegar. This simple meal showed how differently the Spartans lived compared to other Greeks.

Byzantine cuisine was similar to ancient Greek food but added new ingredients. These included things like caviar, nutmeg, and basil. Lemons, which are now a big part of Greek cooking, were first used for medicine before becoming a food ingredient. Fish remained a key food for people living near the coast. Byzantine cooking also benefited from Constantinople being a major center for the spice trade.

Key Ingredients and Flavors

Gyros rolled in a pita

Souvlaki

The most special and oldest part of Greek cooking is olive oil. It's used in almost every dish! This oil comes from the many olive trees all over Greece and gives Greek food its unique taste. The olives themselves are also eaten a lot.

The main grain in Greece is wheat, but barley is also grown. Important vegetables include tomatoes, eggplant, potatoes, green beans, okra, bell peppers, and onions. Greek honey often comes from fruit trees like lemon and orange, or from thyme and pine trees. Mastic, a special aromatic plant resin, grows on the island of Chios.

Greek food uses some flavors more often than other Mediterranean cuisines. These include oregano, mint, garlic, onion, dill, cumin, and bay laurel leaves. Other common herbs are basil, thyme, and fennel seed. Parsley is also used to decorate dishes. Many Greek recipes, especially in northern Greece, mix "sweet" spices like cinnamon, allspice, and cloves with meat in stews.

Because of Greece's climate and land, it's easier to raise goats and sheep than cattle. This means beef dishes are not as common. Fish dishes are very popular in coastal areas and on the islands. Greek cuisine uses many different types of cheese, such as Feta, Kasseri, Kefalotyri, and Graviera.

Eating out is very common in Greece. Tavernas and estiatoria are everywhere. They serve tasty homemade food at good prices for both locals and visitors. Most Greeks enjoy traditional Greek meals.

Popular street foods include souvlaki, gyros, different kinds of pitas, and roasted corn. Fast food became popular in the 1970s. Some places, like Goody's, serve international foods like hamburgers. Others offer Greek favorites such as souvlaki, gyros, tiropita (cheese pie), and spanakopita (spinach pie).

Since 2013, the Greek Mediterranean diet has been recognized by UNESCO as an important part of the world's cultural heritage.

How Greek Dishes Developed

Many Greek dishes have very old roots. For example, lentil soup, fasolada (a bean soup), tiganites (pancakes), retsina (wine flavored with pine resin), and pasteli (sesame-honey bars) come from ancient Greece. Some dishes like loukaniko (dried pork sausage) date back to the Hellenistic and Roman times. From the Byzantine era, we have feta cheese, avgotaraho (cured fish roe), moustalevria (grape must pudding), and paximadi (hard bread).

Some dishes were inspired by Italian food and changed to suit Greek tastes. Examples include pastitsio (a baked pasta dish), pastitsada (a pasta stew), and stifado (a meat stew). Other Greek dishes came from Ottoman cuisine, which itself blended influences from Persia, the Levant, Arabia, Turkey, and Byzantium. These include meze (small plates), kadaifi (shredded pastry dessert), halva (sweet confection), and loukoumi (Turkish delight).

In the 20th century, French cuisine greatly influenced Greek cooking. This was largely thanks to chef Nikolaos Tselementes. He created the modern Greek pastitsio and the current Greek version of moussaka by adding a French-style topping to an existing eggplant dish.

Regional Flavors of Greece

Greece has many different regional cuisines, each with its own special dishes. For example:

The Aegean islands have unique flavors, including those from Kyklades and Rhodes.
The Ionian islands show a lot of Italian influence.
Cretan cuisine from the island of Crete is famous for its healthy and delicious food.
Macedonian cuisine from northern Greece has its own distinct taste.
Pontic Greek cuisine is found where Pontic Greeks (from the Black Sea region) live.

These regional differences make exploring Greek food an exciting adventure!

Popular Greek Dishes

Many home-cooked Greek meals are lathera. This means they are vegetable stews cooked with olive oil, herbs, and tomato sauce. Common vegetables in these dishes include green beans, peas, okra, cauliflower, and spinach.

Many foods are wrapped in thin filo pastry. These can be small triangles or large pies. Examples include spanakopita (spinach and cheese pie), hortopita (greens pie), and kolokythopita (zucchini pie). There are countless types of savory pies called pitas.

A typical Greek breakfast might include Greek coffee or frappé coffee, milk, fruit juice, bread, butter, honey, jam, fresh fruits, and koulouri (a sesame bread ring). You might also find Greek strained yogurt, bougatsa (a creamy pastry), tiropita (cheese pie), and spanakopita.

Delicious Appetizers

Horiatiki salad

Appetizers, also known as meze, are small dishes served before the main meal or with drinks.

Horiatiki salad: This "village salad" is a classic! It has fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, a big slice of feta cheese, and olives. It's dressed with oregano and olive oil.
Tzatziki: A creamy dip made from strained yogurt, cucumber, garlic, olive oil, and herbs like dill or mint. It's super refreshing!
Saganaki: A delicious fried cheese dish. It's often served sizzling hot with a squeeze of lemon.
Dolmades: These are grape leaves carefully stuffed with rice and sometimes ground meat. They are often served cold.
Skordalia: A strong garlic dip made from mashed potatoes, olive oil, vinegar, and raw garlic.

Hearty Main Courses

Moussaka

Greek main courses are often flavorful and filling, using fresh ingredients and traditional cooking methods.

Mousakas: A famous baked dish with layers of tender eggplant (or potatoes), seasoned ground lamb, and a thick, creamy béchamel sauce on top.
Souvlaki: Small pieces of meat (usually pork or chicken) grilled on a skewer. It's often served in a pita bread with tomato, onion, and tzatziki.
Gyros: Meat (pork or chicken) cooked on a vertical rotisserie, then sliced thin. It's usually served in a pita with tomato, onion, fried potatoes, and sauces like tzatziki.
Pastitsio: A baked pasta dish with layers of pasta, ground meat, and a creamy béchamel sauce. It's like a Greek lasagna!
Fasolada: Often called the "national food of the Greeks," this is a hearty soup made with dry white beans, olive oil, and vegetables.

Sweet Treats and Desserts

Baklava

Loukoumades

Greek desserts are often sweet and syrupy, perfect for a treat!

Baklava: A rich, sweet pastry made with layers of thin filo dough, chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey.
Melomakarona: Traditional Christmas cookies soaked in honey syrup and sprinkled with walnuts.
Loukoumades: Delicious fried dough balls, often drizzled with honey and sprinkled with cinnamon. They are a warm, sweet treat.
Galaktoboureko: A creamy custard pie baked in filo pastry and soaked in a sweet syrup.
Spoon sweets: Fruits or vegetables preserved in thick syrup, served in small spoonfuls with a glass of water. Common types include sour cherry, fig, or orange.
Strained yogurt with honey: A simple yet delicious dessert, often topped with walnuts.

Refreshing Greek Drinks

Greek coffee

Café frappé

Greece offers a variety of drinks, from traditional coffees to unique alcoholic beverages.

Greek coffee: A strong, thick coffee served in a small cup, often with the coffee grounds at the bottom.
Frappé coffee: A popular iced coffee drink, invented in Thessaloniki in 1957. It's made from instant coffee, water, and sugar, shaken to create a foam.
Ouzo: A traditional Greek alcoholic drink with a strong anise flavor. It turns cloudy when mixed with water.
Retsina: A unique white or rosé wine that has been flavored with pine resin since ancient times.
Mountain tea: A healthy herbal tea made from the Sideritis scardica plant, often enjoyed for its soothing properties.
Wine: Greece has a long history of winemaking with many local grape varieties.

Images for kids

Octopus plate
Pikilia (a variety of small meze foods)
Fried calamari (squid)
Skordalia, hummus, tomato, olives, roasted peppers, eggplant, and grilled pita bread
Olives
Loukaniko
Roasted stuffed Florina peppers
Horta salad
Marouli salad
Taramosalata
Paidakia (lamb chops)
Soutzoukakia smyrneika (Smyrna meatballs)
Giouvetsi
Bifteki burger stuffed with Greek feta cheese
Fasolakia (green beans)
Gigantes plaki (baked beans)
Traditional Greek kleftiko (lamb with potatoes and spices)
Shrimps
Spoon sweet sour cherry
Melitinia
Korne and babas
Melomakarona
Diples
Portokalopita