World Media on Greece: Food & Wine - 2007 Archive
In Rustic Tavernas, a Classic Cuisine Gets Its Due (New York Times, 18.11.2007)
According to Henry Shukman, Crete is full of surprises, and when you order a copper carafe of local wine at the Old Phoenix Hotel on the south coast, near the town of Loutro, it’s possible the wine that comes out is the color of deep crimson, or bright pink, or yellowish brown, and more often than not tastes of blackberry juice mixed with a little vinegar. Read more...
A foolproof anti-cancer diet... with just one or two drawbacks (The Times, 06.12.2007)
What seems to be the key is a diet that alternates between olive oil and nonolive oil days, and plenty of plant proteins,” sais Haris Aidonopoulos, a urologist at the University of Thessaloniki. "It’s not only what we call the Mediterranean diet, but also eating the old-fashioned way." Read more... |
If you want to avoid cancer, live like a monk. That is the inescapable conclusion from research into one of the world’s most renowned monastic communities. The austere regime of the 1,500 monks on Mount Athos, in northern Greece, begins with an hour’s pre-dawn prayers and is designed to protect their souls. Their low-stress existence and simple diet (no meat, occasional fish, home-grown vegetables and fruit) may, however, also protect them from more worldly troubles.
Mastic Fantastic (New York Times, 11.11.2007)
 As Ioanna Kakissis reports, the aromatic resin from the mastiha, or lentisk, tree on the Greek island of Chios has flavored potions, sweets and cosmetics in the eastern Mediterranean for thousands of years. In more recent times, entrepreneurs have been transforming the fresh burst-of-sweet, hint-of-bitter sap known in Greece as mastiha into a boutique brand for these healthy-chic times. The mastihashops, run by Mediterra, an outgrowth of the Chios Gum Mastic Growers Association, use mastiha in almost everything: chewing gum, coffee, candy, pasta, ouzo and shampoo. There are 11 mastihashops in Greece, 1 in Cyprus and 2 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. A store will open in New York next month, and there are plans to expand in Europe and Asia. Read more... |
Greece: The Sleeping Beauty of Cuisine (The Times, 6.10.2007)
Food historians argue that Crete created Mediterranean cuisine and after his visit in Crete, Ramsay believes them. Ramsay visited the Toplou Monastery, where the monks produce their own organic oil, honey and wine. As Ramsay says: "The monastery, its monks and its organic olive oil and honey epitomise what I love about Greek produce. The country is full of small, unique growers and farmers whose produce is organic and of the highest quality". Read more... |
As Gordon Ramsay notes in his Times article, when we talk about Mediterranean food and produce, we tend to think of Italy, and yet some of the best products come from Greece, the sleeping beauty of cuisine.Ramsay went to Crete to attend the annual Kerasma International Conference, which promotes Greek food around the world.
Blue sky wines (The Age, 24.09.2007)
In her comprehensive article about Greek wines, Jane Faulkner argues that indigenous Greek varieties are exciting to to taste because there's nothing like them in Australia, or anywhere else in the world's wine regions. She points out that while Greece has enjoyed a rich cultural and historical connection to the grapevine over thousands of years, it is only in the past 10 years that her local wines have been taken seriously on the world stage.
The article includes a wine guide that presents the most famous Greek varieties, such as whites Assyrtiko, Roditis, Moschofilero, Savatiano and reds Agiorgitiko and Xinomavro and also suggests a list of wine labels for tasting. Read the entire article here.
