The Foods of Greece [antikvár]

PREFACE This book is by no means a complete account of the fall range of Greek cooldng. It is a personal selection and adaptation of recipes— some classic and some nearly forgotten—from the rich Greek culinary ttadition. This tradition, unfortunately, is disappearing rapidly in Greece, along with the last generation of women who were its guardians and who can find few interested young people willing to master and sustain it for fature generations. For many reasons, cooking in Greece has lost much of its original taste. Even women who still cook the traditional dishes they learned from their mothers and grandmothers believe these foods are not worthy to serve to special guests. They think souvlaki, pizza, hamburgers, moussa-kn, and a bad version of horiatiki salata (Greek salad) are the dishes most esteemed. So these are the ones visitors to Greece are most likely to find in the country's tavernas and restaurants. The irony is that just as the world has discovered the benefits of the Mediterranean diet—with its reliance on olive oil, vegetables, grains, and dried beans— we in Greece are running away from it, without even looldng back. The only hope lies in this sti'ong trend from abroad. Scientists and other influential people from all parts of the Western world are telling us we have reason to be proud of our culinary heritage. So, now some young Greek women have started asldng their mothers and grandmothers to talce their faded, handwritten ledgers out of dusty boxes stacked in the attic and to teach them the secrets of phyllo pastry or tm-hcma., to give them their versions of stuffed vegetables, and to explain the different qualities of the wild greens needed for the perfect hortopita (wild greens pie). This was the hope that guided me through the long and difficult research that led to this book. I loiow that I have not found all the recipes worth writing about, so my search continues.