MEETINGREECE
9
GREECE
long history, Mediterranean coastline and beaches.
In 2005, 6.088.287 tourists visited Athens. In 2008, 16.5 million
visited Greece. As a developed country highly dependent on
tourism, Greece offers a wide variety of tourist facilities that have
been greatly improved since 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
Greece has 20 ports, 26 international airports, 51 marinas, 752
thermo springs and great conference facilities. Conference
tourism, targeted at academic, business, or cultural markets is a
cornerstone of the Greek national tourism policy. In a recent
report in Meeting and Incentive Travel, Greece was ranked eighth
in the world in overnight stays for conferences. Figures from the
Tourism Satellite Accounting Research, conducted by WTTC
(
World Travel & Tourism Council) project a worldwide increase in
revenues in business travel to Greece from US $1,51 bn in 2001
to US $2,69 bn in 2011.
GRE E K D I E T & GA S T RONOMY
Greece is famous for its tasty and healthy cuisine. Visitors in
Greece can join during their holidays any of the village traditional
fiestas with great food, wine and live folk music, all over the
country. The delicious local cuisine is based on fresh ingredients
produced in the fertile soil such as the top quality virgin olive oil,
produced on Peloponnese and Crete, organic vegetables,
oranges, honey, cheese and herbs. A comparative study held
among several western countries found that Cretans presented
the lowest percentage of deaths by heart attack and cancer, as
well as the highest life rate compared to other samples. This was
largely attributed to the healthy Mediterranean diet followed by all
Cretan families. Contemporary Greek cookery makes wide use of
olive oil, vegetables and herbs, grains and bread, wine, fish, and
various meats, including lamb, goat, poultry, rabbit and pork.
Also important are olives, cheese, aubergine, courgette and
yogurt. Some dishes use filo pastry.
O l i v e s a n d O l i v e O i l
No other single product is more important to Greek cooking than
the olive. From this small fruit, olive oil is produced; the Elixir of
life, Gold Liquid and Gift from the Gods, are all terms that are
used by the Greeks to describe olive oil.
O r e k t i k a ( S t a r t e r s o r A p p e t i z e r s ) a n d S a l a d s
Rusk with tomato, feta cheese, olives, oregano and olive oil is a
typical starter all over the country.
Meze is a collective name for a variety of small dishes, typically
served with wines or anise-flavoured liqueurs as ouzo or
homemade tsikoudia and tsipouro. Tzatziki (dip) is made of
Greek yogurt, garlic, cucumber, olive oil and salt.
The famous Greek salad made with slices of tomato, cucumber,
green pepper, onion and feta cheese dressed with olive oil, salt
&
oregano.
Horta vrasta (boiled mountain greens) is also a typical Greek
dish served with olive oil, fresh squeezed lemon & salt. Horta can
comprise such things as black mustard leaves, dandelion or
beet greens, curly endive, sorrel, spinach, kale and collards a
medley of edible wild greens. The combination is mainly
dependant on the season.
C h e e s e
Greece is famous for its variety of delicious local cheeses, i.e.:
Feta: Made from sheep and goat’s milk and since 2005 has
been a protected designation of origin product in the EU.
Graviera: The standard hard cheese with many types and tastes
produced in many Greek regions.
Myzithra: Fresh cheese made of ewe’s milk and sometimes
made of goat’s milk (in which case it is called katsikisia) or mixed
milk. Hardens when matures and used as grated cheese.
Anthotyros: From the words anthos (flower) and tyros (cheese), it
is a very mild soft spring cheese made when the sheep pastures
are still full of flowers.
Kefalograviera: Hard sheep milk cheese with a salty flavor and
rich aroma, very similar to Kefalotyri. It is often used to make
Saganaki, when it is cut into triangular pieces, rolled in seasoned
flour and lightly fried.
Sw e e t s a n d D e s s e r t s
Healthy Mediterranean sweets and desserts use ingredients from
the local products. Fruit, nuts, eggs (not many), flour and olive oil
are the most common ones. Greek desserts are characterized by
the dominant use of nuts and honey. Spoon sweets (glyka tou
koutaliou) are popular, usually served with coffee and a glass of
cold water. Most are made of whole fruit, though some kinds are
made of pieces or purees. One typically Greek spoon sweet is
the snow-white and intensely aromatic vanilla, which is not made
of vanilla, but of mastic resin, for which the Aegean island of
Chios is famous. This is usually served as a spoonful of sweet on
a table spoon dropped into a tall glass of ice-cold water and
popularly called a vanilla submarine. Another typical plate to
finish you’re your meal is Greek yogurt with honey.
