It is probably true to say that eating in museum or gallery cafés is, on the whole, a disappointment. At best, it can be glorified canteen food and at worst, it can be really bad canteen food. Things have improved in recent years, but it is hard to produce fresh, interesting food on that kind…
Seeking Perfection – Keftédes
It is probably impossible to find a tavérna in Greece that doesn’t have a serving of keftédes on the menu. Variations of these tasty, little balls are common across the Balkans, the Middle East and parts of Asia. Wether it’s called a kofta in India, küfte in Azerbaijan or köfte in Turkey, the result is…
Hoping that Spring has sprung at last – Artichokes with Peas
By the middle of February I am always eager to see those first glimmers of spring; the little fronds of green showing through the soil, the sudden surprise of snowdrops in flower and the sunny burst of daffodils in the shops. I know it’s probably a little early in the year, but coming across the…
Double Dips and Feasts and Festivals
One of the many bonuses of having two cultural backgrounds, is that you have the chance to have ‘double dips’ when it comes to celebrations. So, in our house at Christmas, we have mince pies and melomakárona, and when it comes to stuffing the seasonal fowl, sage and onion gives way to the traditional rice…
The Everyman Dish as Fusion Food – Fasoláda and Co
Every country has a foodstuff that is so popular that it becomes something close to a national dish. I suppose in Britain, or England at least, it would be fish and chips – although I have heard that Chicken Tikka Masala is gaining in the popularity stakes. America has the hamburger, Italy has pasta, Turkey,…
A Greek Isle in London – ‘Isle of Olive’
Time was, that trying to cook Greek food in Britain was a bit of a challenge. Obviously a lot of vegetables were available at greengrocers and supermarkets but things like fresh dill were almost impossible to find and flat-leaf parsley, believe it or not, was positively exotic.Tracking down feta, filo pastry and the more unusual…
Another year, another post. Meatballs in kimonos aka Dolmadákia
So that’s it, Christmas is over. You’ve cooked yourself stupid with baking and roasting. You’ve made the vasilópita, melomakárona and kourabiédes, you’ve cooked Christmas dinner, made the celebratory meal for New Year’s Eve and then, after ALL that, you have to start again! This time, on the first day of the New Year, I wanted…
Athenian Christmas – Melomakárona and a mystery ingredient
It seems that this year is ending, much as it started. We are in Athens again; mainly the weather has been more than kind to us with balmy days and mainly blue skies – and, of course, with that almost cobalt colour that you only seem to get in the Aegean. There…
A Spoonful of Sugar – Preserving Goodness Spoon Sweets
There was a time, probably not so common now, that ‘visits’ (επισκέψεις) to a Greek home followed a series of conventions that, in some ways, were almost rituals. The visitors would be entertained in the ‘salóni’ – a room a bit like the British ‘front room’ -a place that the family rarely set foot…
Greek Food Myths No. 1 There’s no such thing as hummus!
As a sort of ‘Reality Check’, I feel I’m duty-bound to de-bunk some ‘Greek food myths’ and the first one is hummus – it’s one that really drives me nuts! THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS HUMMUS. OK, I can hear you all running to your fridges and checking that your pot of hummus is…
kouzina 