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The table setting : plate “piato”, cup “flitsani ”, spoon “kutali', knife “makheri ”, fork “pirouni”, glass “poteri”.
The reason I have included this page is because the most important part of the day is to find the right tavern for a leisurely lunch in the country. Greek food is delicious. The best way to sample it is through ordering a variety of starters “mezzedakia” a selection of dishes, which are placed on the table and shared by all. There is no better way to exemplify Greek life – relaxed in every aspect.

I could not begin to include them all, but here is an idea of some of them: Tzatziki (yogurt and garlic dip), keftedes (small walnut sized morsels made with meat), teropitakia (feta cheese pies), taramosalata (cod roe dip), melitzanosalata (aubergine dip), dolmades (stuffed vine leaves). There is of course the famous Greek salad (tomatoes, cucumbers, olives, feta cheese, drowned in olive oil and sprinkled with oregano) delicious eaten with freshly baked bread.
The famous Greek salad: tomatoes with cucumbers, green peppers and onions. Sprinkle on the oregano and salt, and dress the salad with olive oil.
Greeks eat loads of vegetables, they are abundant and inexpensive. They are also served on the “mezze” table as fried peppers, courgettes and Aubergines. Many are casseroled into delicious oily dishes of peas, onions and tomatoes or artichokes served in a delicious lemony sauce. Freshly cut salads are eaten with every meal and you can choose to your hearts desire.
Moussaka is probably the best- known Greek dish. Aubergines, minced meat cooked in herbs and spices covered in béchamel. Best served with a crisp salad and crusty bread – not to be missed !
Cheese (tiri): Most Greek cheeses are made from sheep’s milk or goat’s milk. Among them are Agrafa (a sheep’s milk cheese reminiscent of Gruyere), manure, kopaniste, (a highly spiced sheep’s or goat’s milk cheese), misythra (a milk curd cheese) and anari (a goat’s milk cheese).
Yogurt (yaourti), made from sheep's or goat’s milk is also commonly found. Miscellaneous : Bread– psomi, butter– voutiro, salt – alati, pepper – piperi, sugar – Zachary, milk – gala…
Soups (soupes): Greek soups are usually very substantial , and are often made with eggs and lemon juice. Fasolada is a popular thick bean soup. Others include pepper soup, with the addition of vegetables and meat and bouillon. Kakavia is a fish soup, made of various kinds of fish and seafood with onions, garlic and olive oil. There are also other excellent fish soups (psarosoupes).

Spaghetti with prawns and muscles ( photo on left) - Kalamarakia Tiganita ( photo on right -Fried Squid) Fried Tope with Garlic Sauce ( Galeos Tiganitos me Skordalia) Fried Whitebait ( Marides Tiganites)

For the fish lovers, there are plenty of taverns along the eastern or western coast of Attica. Modern Athenians love fish, just like ancient Athenians did. Which ever direction you choose getting out of the city you will eventually reach the sea. There is a ritual Greeks follow whenever they go to a fish tavern. The most knowledgeable person at the table, goes to the restaurant kitchen to choose the fish. The restaurant owner, or the head-waiter, opens one fridge drawer after another, digs into crushed ice, takes out smaller or larger fish and shows them to the costumer. "The best fish is the freshest one" every fisherman will tell you, and by "fresh fish" they mean that which has been out of the water for no more than a day or two. Maybe this, more than anything else, makes for the incredible taste of even the most humble, inexpensive fish of the Aegean. The chosen fish is weighed in front of the customer before it is scaled and gutted. The cooking is simple: the fish is grilled over the charcoal fire, fried in olive oil or made into Kakavia, the simple fish soup of the islands.

Fish (psari) and seafood is also abundant on the menus: Kalamaria (squid), octopus, prawns, cattle fish, mussel, lobster. The commonest species of fish served include: sea bream (sinagrida, tsipoura, lithrini), plaice (glossa) cod (bakaliaros), red mullet (barbouni) and tuna (tonos).

Some choose to go to a hasapotaverna (a butcher's tavern) to eat charcoal grilled meat, mainly tiny succulent lamb or kid.  In a hasapotaverna the meat is sold to the customers by weight, and while it is being grilled, the hungry Athenians devour all sorts of meze and salads in those vast restaurants that are usually packed during the weekends. Meat (kreas): The favorite kind of meat is lamb ( arne ) usually roasted or grilled. Souvlakia and doner kebab (meat grilled on the spit) are also popular. Kokkoretsi (lamb entrails roasted on the spit) are a popular dish in country areas and tavernas. Pork and beef is also served.

TIME TO EAT

Enjoying meals together is an important part of Greek life. They would do so every day if it were possible, but every day commitments, particularly in the big cities, mean that there obviously has to be a compromise. On special occasions, however, there is no getting away from it : in the whole  family, if not the entire village, sits down  around the table. This is true of private celebrations, such as weddings, baptisms or funerals and is likewise the case on "official" religious holidays. The communal meal takes on special meaning, however, when it has been preceded by a long period of fasting and privation, as in the run-up to Easter. Not only is the occasion of having a meal together cause for celebration, but also the very fact of being able to eat normally again is reason to celebrate in itself. The tables groan under the weight of food and the talking and eating go on for hours.

ANCIENT TASTES Even without tomatoes, potatoes, corn, peppers, lemons mandarins and oranges the Ancient Greeks had a very rich kitchen. Today in Crete they keep up with the Minoan traditions such as snails and wild goat in honey. Tradition says that the Greeks are more fish such as mackerel, sardine, whitebait and eel than meat. Athenians rich and poor, had a weakness for shellfish. In great demand was fish paste from Ellisponto and Efxino Ponto and lake Kopais. The people got used to eating sardines from Faliro and barley bread so every time prices increased the poor got worried. Vegetables, pulses and cereal were widely eaten by fans of Pythagoras and Platon amongst others, who were non flesh eaters.

Appearing on the table were cucumber, artichokes, courgettes, broad beans, onions, cabbage mushrooms beetroot, leeks, carrot, celery, beans, lentils, nettles and wheat and barley bread. An every day diet included different kinds of meat such as hare, wild pig, rabbit venison, wild goat, birds and even domestic animals. They were baked, roasted, cooked on the spit and boiled with a variety of spices. Small birds were stuffed with spices as is still done to this day in Mani. Cheese and milk was always on the table but in cities it was a rarity. Wine was a necessity as was honey as sugar was then unknown.
Tradition says lamb on the spit began in ancient Greece where it was cooked at big celebrations. The word '' ovelias'' comes from the ancient word '' ovelos'' meaning spit. Ancient Greek religious festivals, in honor of Hermes, sacrificed a ram. Homer describes in the Iliad in detail how Achilles with the help of a friend skewered the animal. Another tradition is that of festive bread. For each celebration a bread is  baked using special ingredients and way of baking.

The diet of the Mycenaean's (1600-1075 BC)

The exhibition about  of the Mycenaeans includes organic remains, which were found at the excavations, cooking pots and vessels as well as tools which were used in their dietary habits. The organic remains are animal bones, sea-shells, cereals, figs, almonds and crystals of wine. Analysis for the exhibition of " Minoans and Mycenaeans flavors of their time" has traced in vases and mainly in cooking pots olive oil, wine meat , lentils, honey and other materials.

The diet at Mycenae was the so-called today" Mediterranean Diet" with a great consumption of cereals and pulses. Oil and wine were widely used and known because supply with calories and energy the hard working people of the time. These products are exhibited in antiquities to the Levant inside stirrup jars. A lot of vegetables and fruit are consumed fresh or dry. The animals give their wool, milk and dairy products, while they are alive and their meat, when they are slaughtered. They were sheep. goats, wild hunt and poultry. The meat is eaten scarcely, only during rituals or festivals. Fish and marine foods are widely eaten. The cooking pots which were burned found from the use, were placed directly on the fire, or on bases, or they are tripod vessels. They are found everywhere, in the houses, the sanctuaries, the workshops, even in the chamber tombs.

The food is served in open vessels and the liquids, wine and other, in kylikes, cups of different shapes which copy metallic vessels. Many herbs are mentioned in Linear B tablets that used to give flavor to the food. Among the ones that have been interpreted are crocus, celery, cardamom, mint and fennel.

Enjoying meals together is an important part of Greek life. They would do so every day if it were possible, but every day commitments, particularly in the big cities, mean that there obviously has to be a compromise. On special occasions, however, there is no getting away from it : in the whole  family, if not the entire village, sits down  around the table. This is true of private celebrations, such as weddings, baptisms or funerals and is likewise the case on "official" religious holidays. The communal meal takes on special meaning, however, when it has been preceded by a long period of fasting and privation, as in the run-up to Easter. Not only is the occasion of having a meal together cause for celebration, but also the very fact of being able to eat normally again is reason to celebrate in itself. The tables groan under the weight of food and the talking and eating go on for hours.