World Media on Greece - Food and Wine in 2008
Greek wines look to regain mythical status (Reuters / International Herald Tribune, 18.09.2008)
The Greek government has a trheefold strategy to nurture the industry. Firstly, it is paying farmers to uproot old and diseased vines, second, it is subsidising the husbandry of the remaining vines and finally, it is promoting exports of Greek wines through marketing campaigns. Germany remains the most important destination for Greek exports, but new markets are gaining ground such as Britain, the United States and Russia, with its growing middle-class. Read more... |
Daniel Flynn visits Kefalonia and reports on the revival of Greek viticulture: Many consumers, when they imagine Greek wine, think retsina, but a new generation of winemakers are using unique local grape varieties to put the country's vintages back on the map.
Greek monastic food gets cookbook treatment (The Salt Lake Tribune/AP, 15.08.08)
Published in April, ''Cooking on Mount Athos'' (so far available only in Greek) offers 126 unpretentious, tasty recipes. ''It's a clean diet that people once ate across the eastern Mediterranean. It's the same way meals were prepared 100 years ago, or 50 years ago,'' Epifanios says. Read more… |
A cookbook written by Father Epifanios Milopotaminos, the cook on the secluded Mount Athos sanctuary gives us a rare glimpse into life in this community of some 1,500 monks in 20 monasteries that strictly limits outside access, including barring women.
Wines of the Times: Crisp, Refreshing and Greek (New York Times, 06.08.2008)
"Greece offers a subtly different take on familiar Mediterranian-style wines, with unfamiliar, indigenous grapes grown nowhere else. From the windswept volcanic island of Santorini in the Aegean Sea comes the assyrtiko grape (pictured left), from the Peloponnesus comes the pink-skinned moschofilero grape, which produces highly floral wines that can often have a rosy tinge to them. And there are so many others, like the ancient athiri, the light, citrus-imbued roditis and the textured savatiano." Read more... |
Eric Asimov, in this winetasting report on Greek wines, notes that much has changed and improved during the last four years:
Greece is the word in white wines for summer (Los Angeles Times, 09.07.2008)
"For years, Greek wines were rarely seen here beyond the walls of Greek restaurants, but Greece has modernized its winemaking, improved its viticulture and devoted itself to the many indigenous varieties that have been cultivated for thousands of years. These varieties, made from ancient grape varieties, with lyrical names like Assyrtiko, Malagousia, Agiorghitiko and Xinomavro, are finally gaining recognition for being at once exotic and world class. After years of spotty distribution, they've finally made their way to California retail shelves. Crisp, exotic, herbal and thirst-quenching, they're ideal for your summer table. None shows better resilience than Assyrtiko, the crystalline white grape that somehow thrives on the scorching wind-swept hillsides of Santorini." Read more...
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In his article, Patrick Comiskey presents distinctive wines from Greece that are now for the first time widely available in the U.S. 
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Mediterranean diet 'cuts cancer' (BBC, 02.07.07)
Researchers from Harvard University persuaded thousands of Greek people of various ages to record their food intake over an eight-year-period. The biggest effect they found - a 9% reduction in risk - was achieved simply by eating more "unsaturated" fats such as olive oil. But just two changes - eating less red meat, and more peas, beans and lentils, cut the risk of cancer by 12%. The other study suggesting that food had the power to prevent cancer came from the Institute of Food Research in Norwich. Scientists compared the effects of adding 400 grams of broccoli or peas a week to the diet of men at high risk of prostate cancer - and in the case of broccoli found differences in the activity of genes in the prostate which other studies have linked to cancer. Read more… |
Adopting just a couple of elements of the Mediterranean diet could cut the risk of cancer by 12%, say scientists.
In celebration of Orthodox Easter, a Greek feast (The Boston Globe, 23.04.2008)
"I used to tell my children, 'You're so lucky you're Greek,' " says Novicki, cutting squares of spinach pie. Being Greek means cherished traditions, family dinners, and, come Easter, a feast to mark the joyous day. Read more.... See also: |
Bette Novicki, a Greek through and through, prepares a feast that will be served on Sunday to her children, grandchildren, and friends, for the celebration of Orthodox Easter. In the dining room, where the feast is set out, a sideboard holds a bowl of the traditional red-dyed eggs and on the table there's a decorative Easter bread also studded with eggs.
The Good Oil (The Sunday Morning Herald, 20.04.2008)
Her first stop is Kalamata, in the southern Peloponnese, home of the famous kalamata olive, where she tastes handfuls of these plump, black fruits. Her pilgrimage ends in Sparta, a stunning region covered with olive groves, known not only for its brave Spartan soldiers but, more recently, for its Museum of the Olive and Greek Olive Oil Read more... |
Kate Armstrong goes on an odyssey to the heart of Greek culinary history: Armstrong heads for the Peloponnese, "this exquisite region that features fertile valleys, sun-kissed beaches, lush forests, magnificent mountain ranges, ancient sites, and thousands of olive groves and trees cover the region. "
Greek Yoghurt Revival (The New York Times Magazine, 13.04.2008)
Santopietro says that when she started cooking with it, she discovered that Greek yoghurt is an unparalleled substitute for milk, cream or butter — with more body than sour cream and less richness than crιme fraξche". Santopietro also writes about Greek yoghurt in The Moment daily blog, where she concludes her article wondering "How had we missed out on this product for more than 50 years?" |
Jill Santopietro, New York Times Magazine’s food associate, who tests recipes and styles food for the magazine,
New seminars in Crete offer immersion into Mediterranean Diet Studies (Theopenpress.com, 8.04.2008)
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Crete’s Culinary Sanctuaries (
Greek Revival: back-to-the-land movement takes root οn Crete (New York Times T Magazine, Spring 2008)
The greater challenge of agritourism is finding a way to incorporate visitors into daily life without intruding: Integration and interaction, not just between tourists and nature but also between visitors and locals, is a goal of agritourism here, according to Yiannis Papadakis, who runs the Enagron inn in the foothills of Mount Psiloritis." Read more... |
Eleni N. Cage reports on a back-to-the-land movement among the younger generations, who are returning to their villages in Crete to develop agritourism ventures: "Crete’s agritourism boom isn’t only about nostalgia and individuals coming home; big business such as Boutari (
On Cabernet, Stavroto, Limnio and Batiki: The wine routes of northern Greece (Wein-Plus, 10.03.2008)
"Wine roads of northern Greece" does not restrict membership to wine estate, but sees itself as a comprehensive guide and adviser for all who wish to experience the exceptionally diverse regions of northern Greece at first hand. According to the article, all of the member operations the writer visited fulfilled his high expectations of exploring Greek wine varieties (such as Agiorgitiko, Xynomavro, Negoska, Athiri, Krassato, Stavroto) and local wineries. Read the entire story... |
In order to investigate indigenous grape varieties of northern Greece, Karl Bajano follows the trajectory proposed by the "
