Exploring the Culinary Wonders of Greece: A Gastronomic Journey

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Greek food is amazing. My mom and I spent two weeks exploring the Culinary Wonders of Greece. A gastronomic journey and a archaeological one combined!

Other than the not so great restaurant in my hometown, aptly name Greek Town, I don’t think I ever had good Greek food. Greece being on the Mediterranean is part of what we consider the Mediterranean diet, but having lived in Spain, I can say that there is great variability between their respective foods. My Spanish friends might not like me for saying this, but as a whole, Greek food seems to be a lot healthier and tastier. This, of course, could be a biased opinion because I am now a vegetarian and when I was living in Spain I wasn’t, but my mom would back up my claim. 

Olive Oil 

Call me ignorant, or blame-it on Italy’s dominance in the market, but I didn’t know Greece made olive oil. I knew they had olives, the purple ones always come in a Greek salad, but no one ever talks about their olive oil. At least, not in any of the circles I’m a part of. Bertoli’s or Filippo Berio’s extra virgin olive oil beckons to me in the supermarket every time I need some. But no more! Now on my countertop, they have to share the space with Gaea and Marmaro, an extra virgin olive oil from Greece. I’m renouncing the monopoly Italian olive oil has had on my life. I just hope my grandma can forgive me. Greece had some fantastic olive oil, the best I’ve ever had. At some restaurants they have an olive oil tasting menu where they bring out the bottle, showcase it to you like they would with wine, tell you its history and then pour some on a plate so that you can dip it with bread. This ranged anywhere from 2 euro to 7 euro. The 7 euro dipping would be about a 45-60 euro bottle of olive oil. In the airport, we tried a $100 dollar bottle of olive oil that contained gold flakes, but it was not any better than some of the 2 euro dippings we tried. In Rhodes, we did an olive oil tasting/tour. We booked the tour through freetours like a day before and we weren’t sure it was going to happen because it was low season. She later told us she accepted it because why not, but was wondering why two people would be in Rhodes and thought that perhaps we were investors. Hopefully, we didn’t disappoint her.

Pastries and Desserts 

How anyone can stay thin in Greece is a mystery. The wide diversity of pastries and desserts influenced by Greeces conquerors throughout the centuries makes you want to try a different one each time you see one. In Athens, guys in carts sell a variety of baked goods, like giant donuts for a euro. Every city is filled with gelato places and bakeries/cafes. Baklava, for examples, is a desert I have always associated with Greece, but may have originated in Turkey with the Ottoman Empire. It’s a delicate topic, with many countries claiming their Baklava as the origin and was even brought to court to the EU by Turkey. Regardless of where it comes from, I’m sure it’s equally delicious from each country and their identity they share with it. For my mom and I, we had to try as many baklavas that our stomachs had room for. The most memorable, was a baklava ice cream at the restaurant Stou Mamma in Athens. Another dessert that created controversy, but in my own life, was the Greek cheese cake I had. It was the best cheese cake I have ever eaten. As a half-Italian from New York, you can imagine my struggle. I thought cheesecake was Italian. Italian, or New York, were the two types of cheesecakes I knew. Who ever heard of Greek cheesecake? But, the Greeks are the ones who invented it. It dates back to over 2,000 years ago to the 5th century BC, on the island of Samos. Peskesi in Heraklion is the restaurant where we ate it. They serve classical regional dishes and the cheesecake was exactly this. The base was crumbled rusk biscuit; the filling was Cretan cheese (we were told goat cheese), topped with candied walnuts and Cretan honey. The Cretan cheese interior was impossibly light and airy, my first bite was a revelation, like how the food critic in Ratatouille felt as his was thrust back into his past, except for me, it wasn’t the past I was going to, but to the future.Toward a new beginning of what a cheesecake is to me. 

Crete

While the food throughout Greece was fantastic, the island of Crete had the highest quality of food. They have an abundance of different olive oils and a thyme honey that is considered one of the best in the world. It’s also where we had the cheesecake. I would go back to Crete just for the opportunity to have that cheesecake again. According to TripAdvisor, Greece was ranked as one of the best destinations in the world and Crete was named the second best destination in the world and Europe for food. I’d say it defintely deserves that honor. 

Other than the cheesecake, one of the more memorable dishes was on the island of Rhodes. We had just finished the olive oil tour and wandered into the nearby village for lunch. We stopped at one of two places opened. It is a dish called Bouyourdi, and it is oven baked feta cheese topped with tomato, peppers and herbs. It was the first time in 13 days that we had seen feta in a different form other than crumbled, wedge, or fried. I didn’t know it existed this way. We were told by the chef to eat it within five minutes. I think we finished it in one. 

When I told him how delicious it was, he said, “I know.”

Some final thoughts: the bread was amazing and the tzatziki. Almost every restaurant made their own.