One of the peculiarities of modern Greece is the vast difference between the countryside and the cities. The country seems as though it is moving directly from the Bronze Age to the 21st century.
In rural areas age old agricultural practices and modern technology coexist. Supermarkets, shiny new cars and houses equipped with very modern conveniences are as much a part of village life as the goat farmer who prefers to live without electricity or running water, shunning convenience in favour of tradition, making his cheeses in a huge cauldron over burning embers as his ancestors did before him.
The peculiar coexistence of the old and new is not unique to the Greek countryside. Roughly 40 per cent of the urban population was born in rural areas and have brought with them to the cities the traditions of their villages and their ancestors. Greece is the only country in Europe, which gives its civil servants paid leave each November to return to their villages for the olive harvest. City dwellers maintain close ties with their birthplaces, spending weekends, vacations, Christmas and Easter in their villages.
Without doubt, one of the highlights of the frequent of these trips back is the simple food there.

Greeks are nostalgic about the delicious meals of the countryside and the foods their mothers and grandmothers used to prepare. Many still get packages of old world food from their native villages even when overseas for years.
Often Greek families settled in the U S A, Canada, Germany and Australia receive from relatives olive oil, feta cheese, preserved olives, honey and white beans. They cherish the foods of their birthplace and never loose that affection. Some even return to their villages after 30 – 40 years of residence in these countries.
The country cookery evolved here not because of abundance but out of paucity.
Every day the cook managed to invent new dishes from the same humble ingredients. Wild greens gleaned from the fields might be boiled for salad or sautéed with onions and garlic to supplement homemade pasta.
They might be added to porridge to stretch a meal; mixed into batter and fried into patties, or for the Sunday meal, added to meat or poultry and finished with avgolemono, the popular egg-and-lemon sauce. Greens are also the base for many savoury pies.
Until recently the Greek diet was basically vegetarian, because of economic circumstances. Land is scarce and it has always been to pasture large herds. Meat has always been rare and expensive.
Greeks living in coastal regions and on Aegean islands the sea was and still is the ultimate source of protein. But it must be fresh and simply prepared emphasising the natural taste of the fish.
While vegetables and grains make up the backbone of Greek cuisine, the basic food has always been and still is bread, which Greeks continue to consume in huge quantities. This is the case in other Middle Eastern countries, i.e Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt and Israel.
For a long time North Americans considered Greek cuisine to consist of little side dishes such as moussaka, spinach and feta pie, souvlaki, white beans cooked in olive oil, grape leaves stuffed with rice or a mixture of ground lamb and other ingredients and baklava, all of which quite popular in most Mediterranean countries.
The strength of Greek cuisine lies in recipes handed down from mother to daughter. If chefs start improving, and they have, presentation and avoid excessive use of olive oil traditional Greek dishes can delight the palate as much as any Italian, French and Spanish dish.
Greek food is based on fresh, seasonal ingredients.
Homemakers shop daily, sometimes twice and invent new recipes according to the availability of ingredients, and not the other way around.

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Quickly! Bring me a beaker of wine so that I may wet my brain and say something clever. Aristophanes

Geography provides dramatic settings in this old country seeped in history from Hesiod to Aristophanes.
Although the sophistication of Greeks of antiquity did not invent wine, they reached unprecedented levels of sophistication and quality winemaking once Egyptians taught them how to grow grapes and make wine.
Greece’s agrarian past is still vibrant and dominates the traditional ways of production and business.
In antiquity, the Mediterranean Sea from east to west was the hubbub of commercial activity, and since Greek traders travelled extensively, they introduces vitiviniculture to Romans, who in turn spread the technology throughout continental Europe and England.
Greeks called southern Italy, land of wine, (Enotria) as “terroir” was most suitable for vitiviniculture.
Greece’s “terroir” is suitable for grape growing. Agriculturally poor and well drained soil, with dry and hot summers blessed with adequate precipitation are perfect. Yields are kept low and grapes are handpicked to ensure consistent quality of the vintage.

Most of the indigenous grape varieties (there are approximately 200) have loose bunches that allow dry air to circulate around berries and prevent mould and other diseases from occurring. Greek grape farmers need very little to no chemical treatment in their vineyards.
According to archaeologists Greece has been producing and consuming wine for millennia. Over centuries, indigenous grapes have adopted to the terroir and yield acceptable, often very high quality fruit. Vintage quality is mostly constant due to even climate patterns.
For red wines, winemakers prefer – agiorgitiko, xinomavro, mandelaria, kotsifali, mavrotragano, vertzami, mavrodaphne, and limnio.
Many modern, European or American trained winemakers also use cabernet sauvignon, syrah, mourvedre, grenache, and tempranillo for varietal wines, or for blending.
For white wines, the following varieties are popular: assyrtiko, athiri, lagorthi, malagousia, savatiano, aidani, debina, muscat, vilana, moshofilero, roditis, and robola. Chardonnay, sauvignon blanc and others are also planted for experimental purposes, and occasionally turn up in blends or even as varietal wines.
Retsina, a resinated white wine with a particular aroma, has been revolutionized, and now may be lavender-scented and appealing, at least to some. Old-style retsina could appeal to some, but revolt others. Many wine lovers referred to retsina politely as an “acquired taste”.
Ever since Greece joined the European Union in 1981, significant amounts of research funds helped in the study of indigenous grape varieties and characteristics in an attempt to establish the best “terroir” for different varieties.
Laws have been put into effect to control quality and designations.
Region boundaries were formalized and vineyards classified.

The main grape growing regions of Greece are:
Ionian Islands (Kefalonia)
Peloponnesus (Patras, Nemea)
Macedonia (Naussa, Goumenissa)
Main Aegean Islands (Crete, Lesbos, Samos, Santorini and others)
Central Greece (Thessaly, Attic,and others)
In the last few decades, Greek wine quality improved mostly due to young, ambitious, well-educated and savvy winemakers who understand that only quality can succeed in today’s world markets. The general elevation of living standards in the country also helped a great deal for consumers to seek fine wines and to pay for quality.
The old established wineries of Achaia Claus, Tsantali, Kourtakis and others have invested significant amounts of capital in modern equipment and barrels.
New boutique wineries commissioned architects to come up with spectacular designs to attract visitors and have them sample their wines. Greece is a major tourism destination for thousands of Scandinavians, Dutch, Belgians, and Germans, just to name a few sources.
Greek wines are exported to all major markets including Germany, the United Kingdom, the U.S.A, Scandinavia, and Canada. In all these countries there are thousands of Greek-owned and operated restaurants that actively promote Greek wines and foods.
The following wineries are well respected and produce consistently fine wines.
Canava Argyrou (Santorini), Alpha Estate (Macedonia), Gaia Wines (Pelopponesus), Domaine Gerovassiliou (Epanomi), Ktima Kyr-Yianni (Naossa), Strofilia, Oenoforos, Mercouri, Parparoussis, Mantina Winery, Antonopoulos, Katogi Averoff, Domaine Konstantin Lazaridi, Tselepos Estate, Sigalas, Domaine Matsa, Ktima Voyatzis.

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