One of the most diverse cuisines in the world is definitely the Balkan cuisine. It is a mixture of all countries’ cuisines that are placed in this area. Greek cuisine is one of the members of this much mingled cuisine. Mainly, Greek cuisine is Mediterranean cuisine having some same characteristic with Italian and Turkish cuisines. Moreover Greek cuisine offers an extremely rich and varied collection of foods and beverages, and here are several meals that are famous and traditional all over the country.
With certainty we could say that the secret ingredients in all Greek meals are definitely olives and olive oil which are also the keys of Mediterranean cuisine. These two products are often used in many Greek dishes. In Greece there is no yard without olive tree and these trees are all over the country. Also, we could find many kinds of olives such as Kalamata, Black, Green, Naphlion and many more.
First, we must mention gyro. It is pure Greek traditional meal, and the name means "turns around, to rotate" which is obviously taken from the preparing method of gyro. The standing huge pile of thin slices of pork, beef and other meet slowly rotates in front of electric bars or coals; hence the heat slowly melts the fat, which leaks to the bottom of the meat pile, and meat becomes crispy and brown. This is the way how the mouth-watering meat for gyro is made. When the meat is ready, the chef cuts very thin slices of the meat pile, and puts them into pita bread, which is the core of the Mediterranean food. |
Gyro could be served with tomatoes, onion, different salads, chips and yoghourt depending of the costumers’ wish. Moreover, this meal has become a fast food, so as the time passes gyro is spreading all over the world. Maybe, this is the most popular Greek meal.
Furthermore, souvlaki is another famous traditional Greek meal. It is made of small slices of meat and vegetables that are grilled on a skewer, a thin wooden or metal stick used to hold pieces of food. Souvlaki is served with pita bread garnished with sauces and fried potatoes.
What is more about Greek cuisine is the fact that this cuisine has many different dips used with pita bread as sandwiches. Tsatziki is one of the most well-known dip, and it is made of strained yoghurt mixed with garlic, cucumbers and olive oil. Another dip is melitzana - made of strained yoghurt and eggplants. The dips are served cold. It is interesting that all Greek dips could be used as a sauce for gyros and souvlaki, and as a accompaniments of many Greek meals.
Another Greek meal that is famous around the world is the Greek salad. In Greece this salad is known as “horiatiki” which means country salad. It is made of tomatoes, cucumber, feta cheese, onion and olives, dressed with olive oil. This salad is similar to Shopska Salad. All salads are consumed with ouzo, an anise-flavoured drink, or tsipouro, a strong "pomace" brandy. (Pomace is the hard leftovers of grapes or other fruit after squeezing them for juice) Moreover, Greece is a land with a vast variety of cheeses, different in taste and produced in different areas of the country. Here are several famous Greek cheeses: feta, misithra, kasseri, kefalotyri and graviera.
To conclude, despite the fact that Greek cuisine is a very diverse cuisine, it is simple, but elegant, with different flavours from subtle to strong, with textures from smooth to crunchy. Also, this cuisine is very healthy because it belongs to the Mediterranean cuisine.
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