While the main ingredients of Greek cooking are basic and few – olive oil, honey, yoghurt, fresh fruits and vegetables, lamb and fish – the manner in which they are prepared seems to have an endless variety and taste. There is also an additional delight, pretty much unique to Greece, of being invited into the kitchen to view the offerings and make your selection. There is as well a wonderful benefit that the Greek diet provides, whether you eat meat or are vegan: it is arguably the healthiest diet on the planet as well as user-friendly to those who want to eat well while not having to worry about putting on weight.

Greece is famous for :

Olive

The ancient Greeks ate the ripe black olives and believed they were good for one's health, perserved in vinegar and seasoned with fennel as they still are today. For someone to say that they don't like olives is like saying they don't like candy because once they ate one that had orange rinds in it and they have an aversion to orange rinds, like me. There are just too many varieties and too many different flavors of olives for there not to be one that you will like. Green olives are unripe. Black olives are ripe.

Between these two main classifications there are all sorts of olives which are usually named after the areas they come from. The most well-known are the Kalamata olives which come from the area around the town of Kalamata in Messenia in the southern Peloponessos. When you order a Greek salad in the USA, that one olive sitting on the tiny pile of crumbled feta is most likely from Kalamata. They are just as popular in Greece where everyone has their favorite olives.

Olive oil

Greek olive oil is simply the best. In fact it is so good that the Italians bought it in great quantities and slapped their labels on it and exporeted it to America. Now this practice is coming to an end and Greek Olive oil, particularly extra-virgin, is in great demand and you can find it in many supermarkets and gourmet shops though usually at very high prices.

This does not mean that there are not other countries making good olive oil. I have had Lebanese Olive oil that was delicious too. But overall the Greeks make the best olive oil. That may be because it has been in use since the days of the ancient Minoans and Myceneans and the Greeks consume more olive oil per person than any country in the world.

Ouzo

Ouzo drinking is an art. Or maybe it's a way of life. Whatever it is, the island of Lesvos is known for it's ouzo. Most cafe owners in Greece will admit that the best ouzo comes from Lesvos, also known as Mytilini,  and they probably carry one of the more popular commercial brands like Mini or Plomari. But it's not the ouzo, it's who you drink it with that really makes the experience.

The history of ouzo is somewhat murky, but some claim it may date back in one form or another to ancient times. Its precursor is tsipouro (known by some Easterners as raki), a drink distilled throughout the Byzantine Empire and continued throughout Ottoman times. Traditionally, Tsipouro is said to have been the pet product of a group of 14th century monks living in a monastery on holy Mount Athos. One version of it is flavored with Anise. It is this version that eventually came to be called Ouzo.

Modern ouzo distillation largely took off in the 19th century following Greek independence, with much production centered on the island of Lesbos, which claims to be the originator of the drink and remains a major producer. When absinthe fell into disfavour in the early 20th century ouzo is one of the products whose popularity may have gained..

Souvlaki

Souvlakis are the hamburgers of Greece.