Every culture has its own unique cuisine, and it dates back to the very beginning of that country. For Greece, it dates back 4000 years and is a part of the history and culture of the country. Many of the ancient Greek foods are still present in the culture today; such as olive oil, white wine, wheat, and meat. I will be comparing the food in Greece today to how it was in the past, and how the food of a place can change within a culture. I will take you with me on a day’s worth of food in Athens, Greece.
At the start of the day we all have breakfast, traditionally, the Greeks had barley bread dipped in wine for breakfast, also served with figs or olives. Today a Greek breakfast usually consists of a pastry, such as the pastries pictured above, which can be sweet or savory, This is an example of how an old culinary custom can change within a culture through time.
Now it’s time for lunch. A gyro is currently common greek street food, it is made with some type of meat, tomatoes, onions, and a yogurt sauce wrapped with a piece of pita. The meat is grilled on a rotating skewer, cooked slow and long, which shows evidence of it from the Mycenaean Greek and Minoan periods. Gyros have also grown popular in other countries, which shows how one countries cuisine can influence another.
Many Greeks have coffee late in the afternoon. For many people, coffee is a necessity. The Greeks love their coffee, and have had their unique coffee since 1957. The frappe (pictured above) is a common coffee drink in Greece that is made from Nescafé, water, and sugar and has a thick layer of foam on top.
Now it’s time for dinner, or a pre dinner since most Greeks don’t eat dinner until nine at night. Pasta is considered to be a traditional Italian dish, with the first known record of it in 1154 in Sicily. But not many people know that in Greek mythology, it is believed that the god Hephaestus invented a device that made strings of dough. This was the earliest reference to a pasta maker.
At about nine or ten at night it is time for dinner. This is considered a more traditional Greek dinner, it consists of a Greek salad, yogurt sauce, dolma, spanakopita, gigantes Plaki, and bread. One of the foods in this meal that has been around since ancient Greece is dolma, which is grape vine wrapped rice. In Ancient Greece is was called fyllas. This shows how some of the first food eaten can still be a common meal in today’s society.
It is now about 2am, and to finish the day, a cup of gelato is the way to go. Gelato started in Italy but has since grown all over the world and is now a popular Greek dessert. Now the day is over and the day was spent eating amazing food in an amazing place.
Your entry was presented in a way where someone with no pre-exposure to Greek cuisine could become well informed about in this topic by the end of your narrative. However, there were a few grammatical errors within the caption of the first picture with regard to commas in lieu of periods that prevent the narrative from reaching it’s full potential. All in all, well done visual narrative.
I liked that you told the story by going through a typical day. Also, I liked the history that was incorporated into the narrative. If a few more dishes had been shown for dinner, I think that would have shown the variety in the culture. Great job!
Your story is short and to the point. I like how it references food in history as not a lot of people think about the origins of where a food comes from. The 3 meal order plus dessert was a good way to organize (only way really) and it showcased Greek cuisine quite well.
This post could have easily been just pictures of food but you did a good job of including the history of the food where you could which really makes the narrative enjoyable to read. I learned something about my favorite coffee drink!