Cuisine

Greek

Ελληνική κουζίνα

Olive oil is the cooking fat, not a finishing drizzle added for photographs. Lemon and oregano season grilled meat and fish without a marinade that hides the protein. Moussaka is layered eggplant, a cinnamon-scented meat sauce and a flour-thickened béchamel, baked until the top browns. Gigantes plaki are giant beans baked in tomato and herbs until the sauce goes jammy. Souvlaki is meat on a skewer, grilled and stuffed into pita with tomato, onion and a yoghurt sauce. Gyros is stacked, spit-roasted meat carved thin. Vegetables are allowed to taste of themselves.

Olive and grain agriculture is old; tomato and potato are not. Byzantine and Ottoman-period pies, yoghurts and stuffed vegetables sit beside older oil-and-herb cooking. Spanakopita and tzatziki are widely travelled; they are still Greek home food, not a tourist kit. Island fish grills and mainland meat pots do not share one menu. Moussaka as a béchamel-topped bake is a relatively modern restaurant standard, not an ancient layered relic. The cooking overlaps Turkish and Levantine tables — yoghurt, eggplant, grilled lamb — without being a copy of either.

Oregano, wild herbs, lemon and sheep or goat dairy do more than chilli does. Pies are a phyllo craft. Salads are a course, not a side of lettuce. Horiatiki is tomato, cucumber, onion, olive and a slab of feta. Yoghurt sauces should be thick enough to cling. Souvlaki wants char and a squeeze of lemon, not a sweet glaze. Greek food is Eastern Mediterranean oil cooking.