Showing posts with label Cyprus. Show all posts

Thursday, July 8, 2021

I INTERNATIONAL: GREECE - Part 1 - Introduction

International food blog: INTERNATIONAL: GREECE - Part 1 - Introduction

INTERNATIONAL: GREECE - Part 1 - Introduction

The Greek language belongs to the Hellenic branch of the Indo-European language family, and is spoken by about 13 million people mainly in Greece and Cyprus, where it is an official language.

There are 14,000,000 to 17,000,000 Greeks in the word in 32 countries.

Greek Americans are Americans of full or partial Greek ancestry. Over 2.5 million Americans are of Greek descent. 350,000 people older than five spoke Greek at home in 2010. (citizenship and/or nationality question removed from the census after 2010)

Greek is also recognized as a minority language in parts of Italy (Grikos section in southern Italy including Apulia aka Puglia and Calabria) and in Albania, Armenia, Romania and Ukraine.

The Greek culture and cuisine has had a large impact on cuisines all over the world. A few examples below.

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Greek Easter Bread Tsoureki

Greek wedding candies or καραμέλες γάμο

or karaméles gámo

In Albania focaccia and pitta (pita, piti) breads are popular in the region with Greek and Arabic flatbread influences.

Gjethet e mbushur rrushit

(Albanian stuffed grape leaves)

similar to Greek dolmas (stuffed grape leaves).

Similarly, special pastries and dessert breads take on a Greek flavor with many being fried and dipped in honey like bakllava in Albania.

Called baklava in Greece.

In Armenia they serve phyllo dough pastries called byorek (բյորեկ) or borek (բորեկ), consists of dough, or phyllo dough, folded into triangles and stuffed with cheese, spinach or ground beef, and the filling is typically spiced. A popular combination is spinach, feta, cottage cheese (or pot cheese) and a splash of anise-flavoured liquor (such as raki)

which is similar to Greek bouréki, bourekáki, bougatsa, etc.

Armenian and Greek stuffed peppers or

κρέας γεμιστές πιπεριές or kréas gemistés piperiés

In Romania they also serve dolmas (Greek)

and call them sarmalute:

Also popular in Romania (rissoles) (meatballs)

and Greece (keftedes) (meatballs)

In the Ukraine they serve beet soup or borsch

and in Greece they serve beet soup or borscht

Another soup that the Ukraine serves

is sun or tomato soupd

and in Greece it is called σούπα or soúpa

In its modern form, the Greek language is the official language in two countries, Greece and Cyprus, a recognized minority language in seven other countries, and is one of the 24 official languages of the European Union. The language is spoken by at least 13 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora (the countries where Greeks moved and settled: (Russia, France, India, United States, Iran, Georgia, Azerbaijan, Argentina, Brazil, Lebanon, Syria, Ukraine, Poland, Canada, Austrailia, Turkey, Greece, Cyprus and Egypt).

Following is a brief summary of Greek foods:

SAUCES: Egg and lemon, white, tomato, olive oil and lemon, olive oil and vinegar, mayonnaise and garlic sauce.

SOUPS: Kakavia (fish soup) introduced to Marseille, France by Greek travelers (and the French renamed it bouillabaisse!) and avgolemono soupa (fish stock with lemon and eggs).

MAIN MEAT, POULTRY & FISH DISHES: Beef Stefatho (beef braised with onions & herbs), Chicken Oregano (baked chicken marinated in butter, lemon & oregano), Souvlakia ((lamb shish kebab), Fish Plaki (fished baked with tomatoes, onions & seasonings) and Souzoukaia (meatballs).

PIES AND PASTA DISHES: Tiropites (cheese pies), Spanakopita (spinach pie) and pastitsio (meat, macaroni & béchamel sauce).

RICE DISHES: Dolmathes (grape leaves) and rice pilaf.

VEGETABLE DISHES: Green beans with zucchini yahni (yahni is browned onions/tomatoes in olive oil), Moussaka (eggplant casserole) and Greek salad (lemon-oregano dressing served with vegetables, feta cheese and kalamata olives).

DESSERTS: Baklava (honey-nut pastry), Diples (honey ripples), Galatoboureko (custard & honey filo dough), Kataife (nuts, shredded dough, honey), Karithopeta (walnut cakes with honey), Kourambiethes (Greek butter cookies with powdered sugar), Loukomades (honey puffs with syrup, cinnamon, walnuts) and Pasta Flora (baked short cake with apricot filling).

DRINKS: Turkish coffee, tea, water, soft drinks, beer, Ouzo (anise flavored) , wine, Metaxa (brandy), Retsina (pine flavored) and Tsipouro (clear spicy hot liquid).

See following posts for recipes!

Friday, June 23, 2017

INTERNATIONAL: GREECE: Link to links for Greek Series Blogposts

LINKS TO EARLIER PARTS

LINK to Part 1 - Greek Series Intro

LINK to Part 2 - Grikos

LINK to Part 3 - Cyprus

LINK to Part 4 - Greek Islands

LINK to Part 4B- Ionian Islands and the Cyclydes.

LINK to Part 4C - Chios (Aegean)

LINK to Part 5 - Aegean Islands

LINK to Part 6 - The Cyclydes (Ionian)

LINK to Part 7 - The Ionian Islands.

LINK to Part 8 - The Dodecanese

LINK to Part 9 - Crete

LINK to Part 10 - Peloponnese

LINK to Part 11 - Macedonia and Thrace

LINK to Part 12 - Athens and Central Greece

Monday, April 24, 2017

INTERNATIONAL: GREECE: Part 6 - Continuing The Cylades with recipe links, PHOTOS and VIDEOS

Links to previous posts

PART 1. INTRO

PART 2. GRIKOS

PART 3. CYPRUS

PART 4. GREEK ISLANDS

PART 4 B. IONIAN AND CYCLADES ISLANDS

PART 5. NORTHEASTERN AEGEAN AND TURKISH ISLANDS

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LINK to information about the Cyclades

The Cyclades

Approximately 20 inhabited islands extend from the southern tip of the peninsula around Athens and dot the central part of the Aegean. These include Milos, Kea, Naxos, Andros, Myconos, and Santorini, as well as many uninhabited land masses. The mainstays of the cuisine—savory barley and wheat biscuits, simple cheeses, and cured pork—have remained more or less unchanged throughout the centuries. The drystone terraces on the steep hillsides were originally built in antiquity to expand the scarce cultivable land of the islands so that the people could plant barley, beans, and vegetables. Barley, which has been cultivated in the Mediterranean since the beginnings of civilization, was for centuries the staple for the island people.

Paximadia, the barley biscuits, were convenient food for sailors, who took them on long voyages. Today, city people as well as tourists love these versatile crunchy biscuits, which are crumbled and made into delicious salads with the flavorful island tomatoes and capers, drizzled with fruity olive oil and seasoned with fragrant oregano. Paximadia are also topped with ksyno, a slightly tangy fresh local cheese.

The wonderful artisanal cheeses of the Cyclades—produced mainly from goat's milk, with some sheep's or cow's milk—are seasonal and most fall out of the DOC system, as they are produced in little shacks that do not even remotely meet European Union standards for exportation. The numerous myzithra (the term is generic for all kinds of cheeses), fresh and soft, aged and hard, can be excellent, though they are inconsistent and in short supply. On the islands of Tinos and Naxos, there are cheese-producing cooperatives that make the local DOC graviera from a mixture of sheep's and cow's milk. In Syros, the San Michali graviera, produced only from cow's milk, is probably the best of its kind in Greece.

Pork plays a significant role in the diet of these islanders. The winter family feasts and customs surrounding the slaughtering of the pig have not changed for centuries. Some parts of the animal, such as chops, are roasted in the oven or over the hearth fire, or stewed with celery and winter greens and lemon, often as part of a festive Christmas meal, while most is cured and stored for use throughout the year. Louza or loza—exquisite cured pork that can be compared to the best jamón serrano of Spain—is made from the tenderloin, which is marinated in wine, then spiced and smoked. Pieces of cured pork are also added to vegetable stews, bean soups, and island omelets, which are made with seasonal produce such as fresh fava beans, artichokes, or simple wild greens gathered from the hills. Cycladic sausages, seasoned with intensely aromatic dried savory or oregano and occasionally with wild fennel and orange peel, are often dipped in wine before being smoked. Seafood is not plentiful in the Aegean, which may explain why it has never been one of the basic foods of the islanders.

Santorini Tomato Patties / Tomatokeftedes Santorinis

LINK to recipe