History of Greek Food

 
Ηeraklion

Cretan cheese and yogurt are made with the milk of goat or/ and sheep. Cow milk is never used in their production.
 
 

Jeladhia, a jelly made with the head and the feet of the pig used to be a popular New Year’s dish although today can be found all year round.  Cretans are also fond of rabbit.
 
 

Apaki, a smoked delicacy since [...]

…. your own stakovoutyro, the famous sun-kissed butter from Chania (Crete).
It is not difficult if you have access to fresh milk from a goat. A mixture of fresh goat and sheep milk is also fine.
Then you have to skim the fat cream layer that forms on top of the milk and refrigerate it.
Once a sufficient [...]

 This place has stolen my heart.

Karanou is the village where my father was born and lived until his twelfth birthday, and where my sister and I spent a part of our childhood’s and teenagehood’s summers….  
When we were free spirits playing in the olive groves….. 
…. finding paths  in the oak forest and sharing secrets with [...]

On 26th of July, there was the religious feast (panygyri) of Aghia Paraskevi, the patron Saint of the eyes, in the village Karano (Crete). As usual, panygiri started in the morning with a church service and  ended just before noon. 

A common meal with enjoyable food followed the Liturgy: free range chicken cooked with olive oil, lemon juice and flavored with [...]

The postcard butcher of 1960s proudly displays the tongue and the brain of an ox head.
Brain…
Animal’s brain was considered a delicacy by most ancient Greeks and Romans. Aristotle wrote about it and Galen refers to its dietary qualities. Brain was an important ingredient of rodonia lopas, (rose casserole) that had been prepared by a fictional Roman [...]

Purslane (Portulaca oleracea, gr. glistrida, antrakla, adrahni) is a plant with fleshly leaves, growing wild all over Greece and also cultivated for use in horiatiki salad or eaten by its own with olive oil and vinegar.
Archaeobotanical researches have retrieved purslane seeds from a protogeometric layer in Kastanas and the Samian Heraion (7th century BC). Ancient [...]