Serves two. A baaridah was a cold meat or vegetable dish served before the hot dishes. Following pre-Islamic Iranian tradition, when a baaridah was made with fowl, it was usually a sort of chopped cucumber salad garnished with the roast meat. Some recipes call for only the seeds of cucumbers, which makes for a luxurious, slippery texture. […]

Serves four as an appetizer. This giant canapé was the traditional first course at a banquet in pre-Islamic Iran or Abbasid Baghdad. The name comes from the Persian bazm, “banquet,” and awurd, “bringing.” The recipe given here is from the collection of the Caliph al-Ma’mun. It calls for the flesh of citron, a fruit with very little flesh—we […]

Bazmaawurd Baaridah Mulahwajah Tabaahaja Judhaab Keftedes Dolmades Avgolemono Sauce Yuvarelakia Chicken in Lemon Sauce Lucanian Sausages (Apicius) Esicia Omentata (Pine-nut Stuffed Meatballs) Avem (Olive-stuffed Birds) In Pullo Elizo Ius Crudum (Uncooked Sauce for Birds) Assaturatam (Honey Roasted Meat) Mishmishya (Meat Stew With Fruit) Barmakiyya (Spiced Chicken Pies) Buran (Meatballs in a Yogurt and Eggplant Dip) Zirbaya (Chicken in […]

Ingredients for 2 big Lachmatzoun: For the dough: 350gr of hard white flour 1 tsp of dry yeast 150 ml of warm water 1/2 tsp of sugar Few drops olive oil 1/2 tsp of salt For the filling: 225gr lamb mincemeat 1 big onion finely chopped 4 cloves garlic crushed with salt 1 tomato peeled […]

It appears that in classical times Greeks ate two meals a day, although in the pre-classical period daily meals amounted to three. Breakfast was usually called “αριστον” [ariston] and in the Byzantine period the participle “αριστευσας” [aristefsas] signified not only the student who had earned a mark above “very good” but also someone who had […]

The first references to the dietary habits of Ancient Greece are traced to the texts of classic tragedians and comedy writers; information on the subject is more richly provided in sources pertaining to the Hellenistic Age, the Roman Era and the Byzantine Period. The number of books and studies written in the course of these […]

Every autumn after grape harvest, various wine festivities begin throughout Greece. A few days later, in Thessaly, Epirus, Macedonia and on the island of Crete the “Celebration of Tsipouro” takes place. Tsipouro is a strong distilled spirit containing approximately 37 per cent alcohol per volume and is produced from the must-residue of the wine-press. The name tsipouro […]