Greece, with a culinary tradition spanning 4,000 years, is the country which invented the symposium and which was home to the Epicurean philosophers.
It was here, where the first book on cooking was written in 330 BC by Archestratus, a reminder that a country’s cuisine is a measure of its civilization. Ancient Greeks were pioneers in the art of cookery; authentic Greek cuisine, unique and full of vitality, just like the people of the land, marries the taste and the aroma of the fresh products coming from the Greek land and the blue sea that surrounds it.
Greek cuisine is characterized by frugality, based on simple ingredients, crispy fresh vegetables, virgin olive oil, honey, succulent fruit, fresh fish and, naturally, exquisite wines made with grapes ripening under the magnificent Greek sun, for decades now gaining ground on the world’s vinicultural stage.
International studies have recognized the value of the Greek cuisine. Launched in the early 60’s by the World Health Organization, the Seven Countries Study set out to examine the eating patterns of people from seven different countries: Greece, Italy, Serbia, Holland, Finland, the USA and Japan. This long-running study which lasted for 30 years showed that people living in the Mediterranean countries, Greece in particular, had lower mortality rates compared to the rest of the participating countries.
The “secretes” to Health and Longevity were documented as the combination of a simple diet and regular physical activity, dubbed as the Mediterranean Diet.
The Mediterranean diet is not simply a Greek claim; it is a unanimous conclusion reached by the international scientific community which supports that the traditional dietary patterns of the people residing around the Mediterranean basin are healthier compared to western eating habits.
Greek traditional cuisine and Greek gastronomy, the wine-making tradition, the great variety of dishes that changes with season and geography, the culinary habits passed down from generation to generation constitute elements of the overall Greek culture and each region individually (Cretan diet, island cuisine, Macedonian cuisine etc).
Greece has the potential and must become a gastronomic destination.