tomato sauce accompanied by bread and cheese. In the summer, typical dishes include green beans, peas, and okra cooked in olive oil with fresh tomatoes. In the winter, vegetables such as cauliflower, spinach, and leek are cooked with olive oil and “reddened” with tomato paste (as tomatoes are typically not available). Salads may also complement a meal even when the main dish is vegetable-based. In the summer, the typical salad consists of tomatoes and cucumbers with olive oil and a sprinkle of dry oregano. In the winter, the salad consists of either shredded cabbage and carrots or romaine lettuce. These olive oil- based dishes are called lathera, which comes from the Greek word for oil (lathi), and are very popular, especially in the summer.


Legumes are a large part of the diet, prepared in olive oil often with tomato or lemon. Common


legumes consumed are lentils and broad beans (gigantes). These are consumed with cheese, mainly feta, and olives. Vegetables are also consumed in the form of popular savory pies, called pites, made with phyllo, a homemade dough, and vegetable filling. Phyllo can be very thin, like the popular ones that are sold frozen in super markets, but homemade phyllo is usually one thick layer. The most popular pites are spinach pies known as spanakopita. Others include wild greens pie, zucchini pie, leek pie, and mushroom pie. There is almost always a vegan recipe that does not contain cheese. Pites are often consumed as a midmorning snack and are sold everywhere because they are very easy to eat while on foot; they are also served as a side dish.


Vegetables are also served as patties. Since meat was previously a rarity, in lieu of meatballs Greeks


would use vegetables to create a substitute patty. These patties consist of vegetables, sometimes an egg, and a bit of flour fried in olive oil. Common vegetable patties include tomato patties and zucchini patties.


A unique aspect of the Greek diet, which is also an important factor in its nutritional value, is the high


consumption of wild greens and roots (19). This is especially true on the island of Crete. Greeks consume edible wild greens (horta) such as dandelion, mustard greens, nettle, and many others. In Crete, for instance, there are over 150 varieties of horta that have been recorded. The greens are boiled and then served with olive oil and lemon. Sometimes they are accompanied with feta cheese and bread to make a full meal. They are a rich source of antioxidants and omega-3 fatty acids.


The main sources of dairy are cheese and yogurt, usually made from sheep’s and goat’s milk. Greece


has the highest consumption of cheese per person in the world. Cheese (usually feta cheese, a sheep’s milk semi-soft cheese) plays an important role in the traditional Greek diet and is available at every meal, particularly as an accompaniment to the main course vegetable dishes. Cheese is also served as main source of protein in the meal.


Bread is also present at every meal. It is important to note that 50 to 60 years ago the typical bread


was not white bread, as white flour was too expensive. Dried bread in the form of rusks (baked bread that is sliced and baked again) was very common. These had a long shelf life, a way to salvage old bread. A popular type is barley rusk from Crete, which is made with whole grain barley flour.


In the past, meat was consumed only once a week or during holidays. This happened mainly because


animals were valuable for their milk, or in the case of chickens, for their eggs, so farmers would not consume them regularly. Another reason was that the Greek Orthodox religion required over 180 days of fasting yearly. For the most part, the fasting did not allow animal products (20). Urban Greek cuisine, however, includes more meat, as Greeks following this type of diet are more affluent and therefore able to afford meat more often. Typical meat dishes consumed on a weekly basis include beef or chicken cooked in tomato sauce (kokkinisto) served with rice, pasta, or potatoes. Roasted chicken along with potatoes is a typical Sunday dish, and ground beef or a combination of beef and pork is used in meatballs and in other dishes such as pastitsio, which is a lasagna-type dish, and moussaka, which is layered eggplant, ground beef, and potato in tomato sauce.


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