Greek Recipes

A rustic Greek vegetarian dish from the Peloponnesus There was once a City Mouse who went to visit his cousin in the Country. The Country Mouse was a simple fellow but he loved his relative from the Big City and did his best to make him feel at home; all he could offer him were some beans and bread crumbs, and he generously spread these before him. The City Mouse snickered at the poor country food, and said: "Cousin, I cannot understand how you are satisfied with such simple food as this… Of course one really should not expect too much seeing as you live way out here in the Country, but why don’t you come back with me to the city for a while and let me show you how to really eat? A week in town with me and you will wonder how you could ever have been content with country living." And so, the two mice set off for the Big City and arrived at the City Mouse's residence late in the evening. "You look like you could use some refreshments after our trip," the Cit...

Aunt Jemima or Uncle Socrates? Click to Enlarge Image. What did the ancient Greeks eat? This question has been asked for centuries and it has spawned numerous scholarly, specialist, and dilettante studies on the matter. There have also been countless attempts at re-creating ancient Greek recipes and the Internet is full of such investigations. However, we need not look too hard to discover one ancient Greek food which is still around today; indeed it is a staple of numerous modern European and North American cuisines. In Canada and the United States we know them as pancakes or flapjacks , in France they are called crêpes , and the Scots and Irish know them as drop-scones or griddlecakes ; in Australia and New Zealand they are referred to as pikelets , and in Russia they are blini . The Greeks call them tiganites (Gk. τηγανίτες , pronounced as “tee-gha-NEE-tehs”) which is from the ancient Greek taginites ( ταγηνίτης ) and they have been a popular breakfast food in Greece sinc...