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LETS DISCOVER GREECE……LETS DISCOVER GREECE……

Introduction• Greece, a republic is located in the southern

Balkan peninsula of southeastern Europe.

• It is considered as the birth place of western culture & cradle of democracy.

• Greece is the symbol of freedom, art, & democracy in the conscience of the civilized world.

• It reached its peak in terms of economic & political terms around 2500 years ago.

• In Greece, magnificent ruins stands as monuments to the nations glorious past.

INTRODUCTIOINTRODUCTIONN

•Area: 131.957 sq km •Capital: Athens•Currency:Euro•Sight seeing place:Acropolis,parthenon.•Population: 10.9 million •Language: Greek •Religious affiliations:97.6% Greek orthodox,1.3%Muslims, 0.4%roman catholic•Tourist:10.3 million.

• Location:Mediterranean state at high tip of Balkan peninsula, in south eastern Europe.

• Coastline:13676km

• Climate: temperate Mediterranean with hot , dry summers & mild winter.spring is hot autumn long & warm.

Festivals……..• Oxi day:

Celebrated on 28th October by military with parade down the main boulevards of Athens.

• Tinos:

Celebrated on 15th august,where thousands of pilgrims make there way to homage in a large celebrated gathering called “Assumption of virgin”.

• Easter holy week:

Glorifies the resurrcetion of Jesus Christ & considered “Feast of Feast”

• Name days

• It has a admirable Mediterranean character.

• Due to the supremacy of Athens, Greek cooks were able to draw on a rich abundance of ingredients.

• Greek cusine does not solely consists of mousaka, souvlaki & horitiki salata.

• Greek cusine can be an extremely satisfying culinary adventure for both meat-eaters & vegetarians.

Evolution of Greek cuisineEvolution of Greek cuisine

• Greek food is simple, colorful & packed with robust flavors.

• Although many dishes show influence from Greece past, particularly Arab, they have a distinguish style of their own.

• Greek cuisine is based on simple things, fresh products, and not too many spices.

• The Greek dinner table will always have lots of small plates of food, several salads, tasty bread & cheese’s, fresh fish or nicely done meat.

GREEK CUISINE-ON A PLATEGREEK CUISINE-ON A PLATE

Sweet & sour together? No way!• Greeks likes to have a definite taste, like

Mediterranean's they do not like to mix different taste.

• Sweet & sour sauces together would not be a Greek invention.

• They do not prepare sweet salad dressings, or add nuts & raisins to any salads.

• Lot of olive oil will be poured over a salad in order to enhance the flavors.

Sweet & sour together? No waySweet & sour together? No way!!

• Unlike Britain's, Greek people will buy what is currently available in the “laiki” & decide the menus accordingly.

• You wont have “gemistes piperies” in early spring or “spanakorizo” in summer.

• Some dishes are prepared & eaten on special occasions like……..

• ‘koliva’ at funerals,‘ koufeta’ at weddings, ‘tahinopites’ when fasting & ‘vasilopita’ on new years eve.

““Seasonality” –a special characteristicSeasonality” –a special characteristic

POPULAR INGREDIENTS

• Agourelaio

• Cheese

• Rigani

• Olives (kalamata)

• Honey

• Caviar

Agourelaio

• In Greece it is regarded as being the prime extra olive oil.

• It literary means unripe oil & is also sometimes known as protolado or first oil.

• Its aroma is reminiscent of a freshly cutgrass and it delivers a peppery kick in the mouth.

AgourelaioAgourelaio

CAVIAR• By using the term caviar we mean the fish roe or

eggs.

• Basically two types of caviar are available in Greece:

• Black, which comes from sturgeon roe, which is the finest .

• Red, better known in Greece as tarama, which is produced from eggs of various fish, is usually eaten raw or as a dip.

• It is also possible to make patties from tarama.

CAVIARCAVIAR

• Batzos.

• Manouri cheese

• ‘kefalotiri’

• ‘haloumi’

• ‘feta’

Batzos. Batzos.

Manouri cheese Manouri cheese

‘‘kefalotiri’kefalotiri’

‘ ‘haloumi’haloumi’

‘ ‘feta’feta’

Sampling of Greek soups• Avgolemono soup: Egg-lemon soup.

• Soupa nisiotiki: Island soup.

• Fakkes: Lentil soup.

• Fasolatha:Navy bean soup.

• Trahana:Sour dough soup.

• Kakavai.

• Dolmathes:Stuffed grape leaves.

• Gigantes:Lima beans.

• Humus.

• Sykotokia ladorigani:Pan fried liver.

• Spanokopita:Spinach pie.

• Taramosalata:Fish roe.

• The hilly barren landscape of Greece does not provide favorable condition for breeding cattle .

• Although Greece produce meat on ‘short way’ it makes imaginative uses of it in recipes which makes a small amount of meat go a ‘long way’.

• Red and grey mullet are very popular and turbot, bas, sea brem, sword fish and halibut are also widely used.

MEATS & FISH……MEATS & FISH……

Some meat preparations

• chicken okra.

• chicken manestra

• exohiko.

• lamb fricassee.

• kapama

Some seafood Some seafood preparations:preparations:

Grilled snapperGrilled snapper

grilled octopusgrilled octopus

u-peel em shrimpu-peel em shrimp

spetsiotaspetsiota

“MOUSSAKA”

• “MOUSSAKA” is the shepherd’s pie of Greece.

• The succulent combination of fried aubergines, delicately spiced minced lamb and rich cheese sauce is irresistible.

• It is always popular at informal parties and can be prepared earlier in the day for final cooking and browning in the oven.

• Sheep and goats are traditionally the main dairy animals in Greece.

• Guinea fowl, partridge and quail all appear in many traditional dishes made from poultry.

• Milk is not consumed much as a drink mainly because of uneven climate & had to be made in to a longer lasting product such as cheese or yogurt.

• Traditionally, butter is not used much in Greek cooking as olive oil is flavored for cooking.

IT’S DAIRYIT’S DAIRY

• Ice cream is called “paghoto” in Greek .

• “Paghoto hyma” on the menu means ice cream sold by balls.

• The favorite ice cream place in Greece is “Dodoni”.

• They are much better than ‘Haagen-Dazs’

Sweet temptations

• Patisseries like ‘Zakharoplastia’ offer an abundance of creamy temptations & heavenly fruit delights.

• All Greeks cakes are victims of a hopeless passion for sugar

• Greece can offer traditional cakes served in old fashioned coffee houses to Belgium and French pastries in bright .

• You can also bye rice pudding ,galaktoboureko, kadefi as a sweet.

Some sweet temptations so you say yummy!

• Rizogalo.

• Pasta SokoLatina.

• Baklava.

• Halwa.

• Moustanevria.

• Tsoureki.

Metaxa…..

• Metaxa is distinguished as the most famous Greek spirit worldwide.

• When we are talking about Metaxa we refer to this unique spirit and not to a brandy product.

• Metaxa is a Greek spirit invented by Spyros Metaxas in 1888 in Attica region

• The product has been marketed very well all around the world and became famous creating a very large number of dedicated lovers.

• Adjectives like "The Nectar of the Gods", "The Blessed Spirit" accompanied Metaxa from its birth, till this very day!

• Greece's National drink

• Creation of ouzo is made from a precise combination of pressed grapes and herbs and berries

• Usually served as an aperitif, but is also used in some mixed drinks and cocktails.

Wines………….

• Wine has been an important part of Greek culture for over 4000 years as the numerous archeological discoveries throughout Greece indicate.

• The ancient Greeks knew well the nutritional value of wine, as it became an inseparable part of their daily regimen.

• In recent years, the Greek wine industry has undergone tremendous improvements with serious investments in modern wine making technology.

When it comes to wines –its ‘unique’

• Greek wine are unique because there are more than 300 indigenous grape varieties grown.

• Many of the world’s best wine critics agree that the distinct flavors come from these native grape varieties.

• Many well-known international grape varieties are also used in Greek wine making .

• This extensive variety of grapes together helps in the production of high quality wines.

• BOUTARIS• CARRAS• KTIMA MERCOURI• KOURTAKIS

Conclusion……• At the end of this presentation I can say that my &

your outlook on greece has definitely widened.

• Greece & its sun kissed islands offer a tentalizing cuisine that is fresh & fragnant, served with warmth & vitality.

• The greek zest for the good life & love of simple, well-seasoned food is reflected at the table.

• The cooking of greece can be defined on the lines of plain simple honest food on the low end to the giddy heights of luxury.

Conclusion