For example, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and bananas didn't arrive in Greece until after the discovery of the Americas in the 15th century, because that's where those foods originated. Also, lemons, oranges, eggplant, and rice arrived later.
Important fruits were figs, raisins, and pomegranates. In Athenaeus' Deipnosophistae, he describes a dessert made of figs and broad beans. Dried figs were also eaten as an appetizer or when drinking wine.
The main foods the Ancient Greeks ate were bread, made from wheat, and porridge, made from barley. They used lots of olive oil to cook and add flavor to dishes. They also ate a range of vegetables, including chickpeas, olives, onions, garlic, and cabbage.
Interesting Facts About Food and Cooking in Ancient Greece
The Greeks didn't drink milk and considered it barbaric. They used milk to make cheese. Athletes often ate a special diet that consisted mostly of meat. You had to rich to be an athlete on this type of diet.
In 2021, bananas production for Greece was 5,170 tonnes. Though Greece bananas production fluctuated substantially in recent years, it tended to increase through 1972 - 2021 period ending at 5,170 tonnes in 2021.
India is both the largest producer and consumer of bananas worldwide.
The various rules of the Greek Orthodox Church have shaped people's eating habits. Even non-religious Greeks abstain from foods deriving from animals –meat, dairy products and eggs— during the numerous Lenten days that precede Easter, Christmas and other religious occasions.
Pythagoras's aversion to beans, though, always got a lot of attention, even from ancient writers. According to Pliny, Pythagoreans believed that fava beans could contain the souls of the dead, since they were flesh-like.
The Ancient Greeks grew olives, grapes, figs and wheat and kept goats, for milk and cheese. They ate lots of bread, beans and olives. In the Summer months there were plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables to eat and in the winter they ate dried fruit and food they had stored like apples and lentils.
Breakfast (“akratisma”) was usually a very simple affair of barley bread, similar to today's paximadi rusks, dipped in wine, and a side dish of figs or olives. Various sorts of pancake (“tiganites”) were also available, made with wheat flour, olive oil, honey, and curdled milk.
At dinner, the Ancient Greeks would eat: eggs (from quail and hens), fish, legumes, olives, cheeses, breads, figs, and any vegetables they could grow and were in season. Such as: arugula, asparagus, cabbage, carrots, and cucumbers.
The 12 gods may have drunk Nectar, however ordinary Ancient Greeks drank water, wine, milk and fruit juice. Chilled fruit juices along with milk and honey were drunk during the reign of Alexander the Great (4th century BC).
In Greek mythology, an apple sparked the chain of events leading to the Trojan war. During a wedding reception, Elis (the goddess of discord) tossed a golden apple into the crowd, disgruntled for not being invited. Three goddesses - Hera, Athena and Aphrodite - fought over the apple.
The Greeks are said to have considered drinking milk as a barbaric act: monsters in their mythological stories drink milk as well as eat men. While milk was prescribed in exceptional circumstances as medicine, people never consumed it every day. Nobody ate butter, though Ancient Greeks did add it to cheese.
Chocolate and sugar didn't exist. Oranges, lemons, tomatoes, potatoes and rice had not been discovered. Salt was available, but pepper and other spices were not. When we think of the modern Mediterranean, delicious and vibrant food is one of the first things that come to mind.
Older Greek cooks still make a fuss when making rice pilafs for a traditional Sunday family meal, pressing it into molds and presenting it with fanfare. It wasn't until after the 1950s that rice would become an every day food, as basic as wheat, in the Greek kitchen.
The first contact of the Greeks with coffee dates back to the years when Greece was part of the Ottoman Empire. As in other parts of the Ottoman Empire, in Greece, the traditional brewing of coffee in the kettle (what we know today as "Greek coffee") spread as early as the 19th century, perhaps even earlier.
Greek Culture and the Art of Hospitality
Coffee is always at the heart of hospitality, no matter the culture. But in Greece, boiled coffee is the mark of a thoughtful and considerate host. Guests feel welcomed because their coffee has been painstakingly prepared.
Gestures: The hand gesture that signals 'Okay' (by putting one's forefinger and thumb together to make a circle) is an obscenity in Greece. It is also severely insulting to hold up your open palm, fingers spread, at someone's face. This is called the 'moútza'.
Greek Etiquette Tips. Expect to eat a lot in Greece! Not only will you be expected to eat everything off your plate, but you should also compliment the chef by asking for seconds – even if you're stuffed!
This made sense when the first formal Greek state was formed, and the country was primarily agriculturally based. Families worked from dawn to dusk and had no choice but to enjoy their evening meals late into the night. Perhaps, however, it's the fact that leisurely meals are woven into the fabric of Greek society.
Ouzo. Ouzo is considered the national drink of Greece. In technical terms, it is either produced by partial distillation or the admixture of plain alcohol with aromatic herbs.
Since Ambrosia means “food of the gods,” we were particularly pleased to read that the origins date back to ancient Greece, where the apple was an emblem of love and sexual desire. The Greek god of wine and the harvest, Dionysus, offered apples to win the goddess of love and fertility, Aphrodite's, love.