The beloved souvlaki has been around since ancient times. Archaeologists have found skewers dating back to the Bronze Age, and recent research looks at the functioning of early grills. In particular, “souvlaki trays” have been discovered dating all the way back to Mycenaean culture.
Therans and Mycenaean cultures were known for their luxurious lifestyles, ornate and colorful clothes, exquisite art, and sea trade with other cultures, such as Egypt. People developed these cultures on the islands of Crete and Santorini.
The oldest souvlaki skewers found seem to be those discovered by archaeologists on Santorini dating back as far as 2000 BC. There are traces of the popularity of souvlaki on Santorini and Crete through the Bronze Age, and both Theran and Mycenean cultures made use of this method of cooking.
Ancient Greek texts such as the Iliad and the Odyssey describe a spit (Greek: ὀβελός) being used to roast meat, but the exact functioning of the souvlaki trays was unknown until recently. The works of great poets and writers describe the same obeliskos being popular. Sophocles, Aristophanes, Xenophon, and Aristoteles all mention or describe the popular dish in their works.
It seems that ancient Mycenaeans did not have a large variety of foods available to them. Despite this, they developed various types of cooking methods, fostering innovation. Part of that innovation was souvlaki trays, as was cooking in jars, among other techniques. At the time and for most of ancient history, cooking was mostly done on hearths with few ingredients. The portable and lightweight souvlaki trays changed this for Mycenaeans around 1400 to 1050 B.C.
Academics suggest that an important historical force behind these contraptions was status. While the Myceneans had incredibly rich art and fashion, their diet lacked diversity, though a marker of status was drinking wine. On the other hand, one can imagine poorer Mycenaeans drank beer.
As they were skilled sailors, Therans on Santorini island had begun brewing beer in the II millennium B.C., possibly learning the skill from Egypt or the Near East, where beer had been brewed since the III and IV millennium B.C. Accounts of the 5th and 4th centuries B.C. tell of an Athenian bias against beer. It was considered a drink of barbarians, Egyptians, or even women. Beer brewing was never seen as valuable.
By the Classical period, this all changed. Wine had become readily available to all, pushing elites in later Greek societies to seek other ways to distinguish themselves — for instance, through the use of specific gadgets and kitchen appliances, echoing earlier innovations like the Mycenaean souvlaki trays.
The souvlaki trays found in Gla, Pylos, and Crete added something to the age-old tradition. Similar to modern-day outdoor grills, they were designed to be portable and good for travel or entertainment. Meat cuts seem to have been similar to the ones popular for souvlaki today, made from either lamb, pork, or mutton, and the meal was accompanied by bread made of various cereals.
The clay trays had placeholders for the skewers and, until recently, how they actually functioned was unknown. Researchers at Dartmouth College have recreated the trays using original ancient pottery techniques, tools, and ingredients. They realized the trays were not meant to be put on a hearth as originally thought. Rather, embers were placed in the tray and the skewers were grilled. They were practical, portable, and delicious!
Il solido sistema agricolo moderno è vecchio, non moderno, è fragile, non solido. È questa la trave che la guerra in Iran e la conseguente chiusura dello stretto di Hormuz ci serve nel piatto. Il modello di produzione agricola vigente è dipendente dal fossile: poiché dallo stretto di Hormuz passa un quarto del petrolio mondiale, ma soprattutto un terzo del commercio marittimo di fertilizzanti e dei componenti necessari per produrli (ammoniaca, urea, zolfo). Questo porta molti agricoltori a temere sulle prossime semine. Secondo le Nazioni Unite, a rischio fame 45 milioni di persone in più nel mondo, se la situazione non si sblocca rapidamente. Tra l’altro una criticità simile legata ai fertilizzanti si era presentata già nel 2022, dopo l’aggressione russa all’Ucraina, essendo quest’ultima un esportatore di fertilizzanti azotati. Ma i cicli stagionali agricoli mal si adattano alle variabili imprevedibili come quelle belliche, geopolitiche e speculative; pertanto, il danno è già effettivo e serviranno mesi prima che quei due milioni di tonnellate di fertilizzanti bloccati nel Golfo possano raggiungere i paesi di destino. Nell’UE il prezzo dei fertilizzanti azotati è cresciuto del 60% rispetto al 2024, e solo in Italia ogni anno se ne usano 300 mila tonnellate. Se la media europea di fertilizzanti inorganici si attesta tra 70 e 72 kg per ettaro, in Italia i dati mostrano un uso tra 110 e 130 kg per ettaro, nonostante si stimi che gli agricoltori applichino circa 67 kg di azoto in più rispetto alle capacità di assorbimento del terreno.
Tutto questo evidenzia come quel modello agricolo e alimentare stia lavorando contro e non con la natura: gli ecosistemi agricoli sono concepiti come luoghi artificiali in cui il vivente si deve adeguare alle esigenze del mercato globale. Paradossalmente, ma prevedibilmente i colossi dell’agrobusiness propongono come soluzione gli stessi strumenti che hanno in larga parte portato al collasso e alla fragilità attuale: più dipendenza tecnologica, più input energetici, nuove generazioni di Ogm e sementi brevettate. E le misure tampone proposte dall’Europa – sospendere i dazi sui fertilizzanti, elargire fondi agli agricoltori, promuovere stoccaggi strategici, fertilizzanti alternativi – non tendono a quel necessario e urgente cambio paradigmatico che i tempi ci impongono. Dobbiamo compiere delle rotture rispetto alla dipendenza di un sistema globalizzato inevitabilmente verticale, concentrato nelle mani di pochissimi e potentissimi attori. Se crediamo davvero in un cibo buono pulito e giusto come reale diritto di tutte e tutti, se crediamo nella sovranità alimentare, allora appare urgente valorizzare i sistemi locali del cibo che restituiscono centralità a contadini e biodiversità nella cornice di un approccio agroecologico. L’agroecologia non è solo una soluzione “tecnica”: non si tratta infatti solo di un insieme di pratiche agronomiche, si tratta di una prospettiva politica.
L’agroecologia, infatti, è un approccio “dal basso”: permette un governo dei territori da parte delle comunità locali, da dignità al sapere diffuso e orizzontale dei popoli, consente la rigenerazione del tessuto sociale lacerato e intende le risorse naturali come beni comuni da custodire, rigenerare e condividere. L’agroecologia applica principi ecologici alla gestione di sistemi agricoli e si basa su alcuni fondamentali: riciclo dei nutrienti (quindi non avremo più bisogno di comprare fertilizzanti chimici), rotazione delle sostanze organiche, conservazione dell’acqua e della fertilità del suolo ed equilibrio microbiologico. L’agroecologia concepisce i campi coltivati come ecosistemi nei quali si verificano relazioni naturali sinergiche tra colture, alberi e animali. Lavora con e non contro la natura. Secondo un’analisi della Agroecology Coalition, i governi globalmente spendono ogni anno più di 600 miliardi di dollari in sussidi agricoli, di cui quasi 400 miliardi sostengono quello stesso modello intensivo che devasta clima e biodiversità. La stessa analisi stima che la transizione globale verso sistemi agroecologici richiederebbe tra i 250 e i 430 miliardi di dollari l’anno: quindi meno di quanto già si spende per tenere in piedi l’agricoltura imperniata sul fossile. L’agroecologia, dunque, rappresenta una rottura: rimette i semi nelle mani dei contadini superando la logica dei brevetti; accorcia le filiere a tutela del reddito degli agricoltori; promuove la sovranità alimentare rendendo i popoli responsabili e indipendenti perché il cibo non sia sommesso alle crisi belliche ma alle reti di solidarietà tra comunità. Il modello agroecologico non è solo un’alternativa teorica, si tratta di un paradigma produttivo già sperimentato e applicato positivamente in molti territori: in attesa che la politica si attivi mettendo la transizione agroecologica al centro dell’agenda politica, le comunità stanno già costruendo e dando vita ad un modello di sviluppo realmente sostenibile che ha a cuore il presente e il futuro del vivente tutto.
L'articolo La trave nel piatto – Hormuz, l’altro ostaggio si chiama agricoltura proviene da Il Fatto Quotidiano.
Mastic or mastiha from the Greek island of Chios is getting traction on social media as the basic ingredient for summer cocktails.
Many bartenders and amateur connoisseurs are uploading videos of how to use the “white gold” of Chios to make flavorful and refreshing cocktails ideal for the summer.
Until recently, Greece’s mastiha liqueur hasn’t been as popular as other aperitifs. Thanks to new brands’ premiumization of the category and further education on its benefits, however, mastiha is starting to gain a cult following.
Here is a take on a cocktail called “Cleopatra”:
@drinkkleos KLEOS Mastiha Spirit’s signature cocktail (The Kleo-Patra) is your Greek vacation in a glass
This cocktail is super crushable and absolutely refreshing. PLUS there’s only 110 cal. and 4g of sugar in the full cocktail
Yia Mas
#earnyourkleos #mastiha #kleostakemeaway #chios #mykonos #mixology #mixologist #mixologytiktok #athens #travelgreece #skinnycocktails #lowcal #lowsugar #cocktailrecipes #superfood #luxury #luxlife #cocktailtok #garnishgame #greeksummer #summercocktail
According to the following video by Nikki’s Modern Mediterranean, apart from one ounce of mastiha, you will need the following ingredients to make a summer cocktail: One ounce of peach vodka, peach nectar juice, grenadine, ice, and orange and cherry for garnish.
Another version is the rum, mastiha, and coffee cocktail:
Until recently, mastiha was actually considered a peasant spirit or liqueur often sipped after meals in Greece. This reputation is partly due to how it was made and the fact it wasn’t highly consumed outside of Greece.
@jackiesfooddiary Have you tried Mastiha?! Officially my summer cocktail #mastiha #chios #liqueur #cocktail #cocktailrecipes #greek #drinkideas #summercocktails
Now, with society’s growing interest in niche global spirits, mastiha spirit has come into the spotlight, and it’s becoming more common on menus at high-end Greek beach clubs as well as restaurants and global cocktail bars from New York to Los Angeles.
Here is yet another version of mixing mastiha with liquor:
@kforkalliopi @Cello Liqueur & I made this delicious Mastiha cocktail using their Melon Liqueur
(you’ll have to excuse the banter, I gave him a headache for an hour
) #cocktail #drink #mixologist #cocktails #italy #italian #greek #greekgirl #fyp #foryoupage #liqueur
Mastiha, often referred to as the “Tears of Chios” or the “White Gold of Greece,” is a product made exclusively on the Greek island of Chios. Since antiquity, this sticky resin, which seeps from the bark of mastic trees, has been harvested not only for its flavor but its therapeutic value.
Although the mastic tree, also called “lentisk,” is native to many areas in the Mediterranean, its bark only “bleeds” mastic on the island of Chios, making it a truly unique and nearly miraculous product.
Mastic is used as flavoring in many sweets and drinks, most famously in Mastiha, a digestive liquor from Chios. The mastic “tears,” or small bits of hardened tree sap, can also be chewed like gum, a practice dating back thousands of years. Its healing properties include prevention and treatment of stomach pains and gastric disorders as well as rejuvenation of the skin.
Its rarity has made mastic highly sought-after throughout history. Even to this day, mastic is considered a precious commodity not to be wasted. The European Union has designated it a “protected designation of origin” product, confirming that only Chios may produce authentic mastic.
The oldest Greek company is chocolate maker Pavlidis, which started off as the first confectionery shop in Athens more than 180 years ago.
It was 1840 when Spyridon Pavlidis, the son of a successful manufacturer of munitions used in the Greek War of Independence, established a printing house at the corner of Aiolou and Vissis streets in downtown Athens. It was where he published the works of intellectuals who opposed the autocratic regime of King Otto. He also printed a volume of the History of the Greek Nation.
However, Pavlidis was not satisfied with his business. He was an ambitious man and was not content running a printing house. Thus, he passed the printing business on to another member of his family while he himself moved on to new adventures.
His plan to establish a confectionery in 1841 was pioneering at the time. In the same space as his printing house, he opened the Pavlidis Confectionery, the first such business in Greece. Hence, it is the oldest Greek company.
The little sweets shop was the foundation of the largest chocolate company in Greece. This was the same year that the first Greek bank, the National Bank of Greece, was established.
The Pavlidis Confectionery soon became the talk of the town, offering Athenians sweets such as baklava, loukoumia, and koufeta. It became the meeting point not only for residents of the newly established capital but also for foreigners, mainly military and diplomatic personnel.
Following the success of his confectionery, Pavlidis decided to travel to Europe for innovative ideas and confection production machinery. He spent several months in Paris, Vienna, Rome, Amsterdam, and Madrid, among other cities. Coming from Greece, which had gained its independence only a few years ago, he was impressed by the technological advancements and innovations in the field of production he saw in Europe.
It was in Europe that he discovered a product unknown to the Greeks of the time. This was chocolate. He was so impressed by the dark brown confection that he rushed to buy the proper supplies and take his newly acquired knowledge of chocolate and confection making back to Athens.
In 1852, conditions were ripe for the introduction of the new, irresistible confection, chocolate, to his Athenian customers, who embraced it warmly right from the very beginning. Pavlidis had brought with him a manual coffee grinder and a good supply of chocolate to offer the new confection as a hot beverage.
Convinced of its nutritious qualities, Pavlidis also promoted chocolate for its medicinal qualities, calling it “health chocolate” (Greek: σοκολάτα υγείας). To this day, dark chocolate in Greece is referred to as “health chocolate” regardless of the manufacturer.
Seeking ways to upgrade the quality of his chocolate and make it more widely accessible, Pavlidis began making chocolate bars of great quality. International awards were won, and these were added to the famous blue wrapping still in use today.
The “health chocolate” was loved by Greeks, and in 1865, the dark delicacy won gold in an international chocolate fair in Paris. Eighteen more awards, featured on the blue wrapping of the chocolate bars, followed in European confectionery competitions.
Without resting on his laurels, Pavlidis sent employees abroad to introduce them to the world of chocolate. Their mission was to return with innovative ideas. In 1867, he chose to participate in the Paris World Affair, the largest exhibition in Europe. It is said that it cost him more than 21,000 francs to participate, but his effort was rewarded, as his “health chocolate” won two bronze awards.
The next innovation came in 1871, when, in an effort to renew the manufacturing machinery, he introduced the first steam-powered chocolate production machine. As his descendant, Dimitrios Pavlidis, described: “The event was considered grand and the Athenians gathered forming endless queues in front of the workshop to admire or…be frightened by the steam engine.”
Indeed, the steam-powered chocolate production machine was a technological wonder of the time. It completely changed the making of the famous health chocolate and the oldest Greek company defined a new era in the country’s industry.
The next landmark year for the Pavlidis family was 1876, when production moved to the Piraeus Street factory to cover the great demand for the now world-famous chocolate. The renovated factory remains in the same spot today.
The year 1876 is noteworthy. The Pavlidis chocolate factory was established and began its operations in the Piraeus Street factory, where it continues to stand to this day. The aroma of chocolate looms over Piraeus Street when the machines are running.
Two years later, Dimitrios Pavlidis succeeded his father and founder Spyridon Pavlidis until the family business passed on to Alexandros Pavlidis in 1895.
In the new century, the oldest Greek company grew further, and the factory produced mass quantities of “health chocolate.” Dimitrios Pavlidis renovated and modernized the Pavlidis chocolate factory on Piraeus Street, making it a model industrial unit of the time.
The premature death of Alexandros Pavlidis at the age of 54 was a great loss for the company, as he was a notable figure in the corporate world.
During the German occupation (1941-1944) the factory was commandeered by the German army to produce jams and pharmaceuticals.
Following the war, the last member of the family to take over the management of the business was Dimitrios A. Pavlidis. He constructed the building on Aiolou Street immediately after the occupation, as the factory remained closed for quite some time due to lack of raw materials.
His wife, Eleni Pavlidis, took over the management of the business. As a dynamic woman with a flair for business, she made the company a limited liability one. Eleni was then succeeded by her son Dimitrios.
Dimitrios Pavlidis proceeded to expand the factory premises on Piraeus Street and create a new unit at Oinophyta, Viotia. He updated factory machinery and concentrated on expanding the company so as to also export products.
When Dimitris Pavlidis passed away in 1986, the presidency of the company was successively held by Aspasia A. Pavlidis and Georgios X. Pavlidis. In 1988, the oldest company in Greece and the most historic Greek sweets industry passed on to the hands of the Swiss group Jacobs Suchard, one of the largest multinational confectionery, chocolate, and coffee groups in the world market.
In 1991, Pavlidis was acquired by food giant Kraft. The new owner renovated the Piraeus Street factory, which was completed in 2000 in its current state as a chocolate museum.
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Greece offers vegetarians a large variety of highly nutritional, delicious dishes to choose from. Using fresh ingredients, prepared with age-old recipes, Greek cuisine is full of delightful surprises for which your taste buds will be thankful.
Greek cuisine is based on fresh seasonal vegetables and fruit, grains, legumes, and greens—the perfect combination for vegetarians and vegans.
Across Greece, you will find a large variety of wholesome and flavorful but meat-free dishes for your palate to savor. It goes to show that Greek food is not just comprised of souvlaki, moussaka, or roasted lamb on a spit.
Vegetarianism as a practice, the idea of nonviolence to animals, has its roots in Ancient Greece as well as Ancient Indian civilizations. Ancient Greek historian Plutarch could be considered the first outspoken vegetarian in the West, as he believed that it was “immoral” to eat animal flesh.
In his book Morals, Plutarch devoted an entire chapter on meat-eating. Therein, he wrote that since man has access to so many fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts, the fact that he is forcing himself to eat bloody animal flesh while “trying to cover the taste of blood with thousands of spices” is inconceivable.
Choriatiki is quite a popular Greek salad made with freshly cut thick wedges of tomatoes, cucumber and onion slices, feta cheese, flavorful olives, virgin olive oil, and crushed, dried oregano leaves. It’s the perfect starter that will whet your appetite for the main course.
Dakos salad is a Cretan salad, which contains round, water-dampened barley rusk topped with chopped fresh tomatoes, crumbled feta or myzithra cheese, olive slices, capers, and a sprinkle of dried oregano A useful tip is to allow the juices to soak the rusk for a few minutes.
It is highly recommended that one try the following tempting mezedes (appetizers or side dishes): fried or grilled vegetables or cheese, including such delicacies as fried tomato balls, green vegetable patties, and saganaki cheese (fried feta or hard yellow cheese). Sliced zucchini can be boiled or fried, while zucchini is also used to make delicious patties (mixed with herbs and/or cheese). The sweet-tasting fried slices of eggplant and the rice and herb-stuffed zucchini blossoms are two must-try dishes, mostly served in the summer and autumn.
Accompany your vegetarian appetizers with some great-tasting dips:
Legumes & pulses
Pulses have been an essential part of the Greek diet since antiquity. Yellow split peas, gigantes (large dried white runner beans), broad beans, lentils, black-eyed peas, and chickpeas all hold an important place in the Greek cuisine and are an essential part of the Mediterranean Diet. Pulses are cooked in hot nourishing soups in the winter. Tey are also great in salads mixed with herbs and vegetables in the summer.
Northern Greece yields top quality pulses, as the soil is rich in potassium, an element that makes them more flavorful and contributes to shorter boiling times. Among these are beans from the Lake Prespes area, lentils from Voio, Kozani, yellow split peas from Feneos, Korinthia, and Santorini, lentils from Eglouvi, Lefkada, and chickpeas from Larisa or Grevena. These are all well-known, top quality produce on account of each area’s favorable microclimate.
Ladera (meaning cooked with olive oil)
Olive oil has always been a product precious to Greeks, one that has been considered sacred since ancient times. Ladera dishes are colorful and flavorful. Vegetables are cooked either fresh or dried in the pot at low to medium temperatures so as to best retain their shape and flavor.
Below are some tasty Greek vegetarian dishes for you to try:
Pies, the vegetarian way in Greece
Pies hold a special place in the country’s cuisine, as they are among the oldest, simplest, and most delicious dishes one can find in Greece. There are so many variations of ”pites,” as they are known in Greek, that it may be nearly impossible to determine precisely how many different kinds of Greek pies there are out there.
Pies are very popular among Greeks, and they come in all sorts of variations: savory, sweet, dressed with phyllo sheet or flaky pastry (called “sfoliata”), round, triangular or coil-shaped with either few ingredients or more elaborate ones. Age-old household management rules point towards the optimum use of seasonal produce, resulting in a large variety of tasty creations. Pies can be served as a main or side dish or as a healthy and tasty snack during the day.
Pie filling variations depend only on the maker’s imagination and the local bounty of nature. Practically everything can be included in a pie: cheese, greens, pasta, rice, trachanas, and vegetables, among other things. Greek ingenuity has led to a large number of pie creations, including cheese pie, spinach pie, leek pie, nettle pie, mushroom pie, onion pie, cabbage pie, potato pie, pasta pie, pumpkin pie, and many more.
Greek Pasta
You can find Greek pasta in many a shape and size. Some types contain milk and eggs. They can be a simple yet very tasty mixture of durum wheat or semolina, water, and salt.
The pasta-making tradition is kept alive mostly by women living in the countryside who usually prepare the pasta and allow it to dry out in the sun during the summer. They also participate in regional cooperatives, producing and selling a large variety of artisan pasta.
Such regional co-ops exist all over Greece on the mainland and islands alike. In these co-ops, you will find popular Greek pasta such as:
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