Greek cuisine is the cuisine of Greece and the Greek diaspora. In common with many other cuisines of the Mediterranean, it is founded on the triad of wheat, olive oil, and wine. It uses vegetables, olive oil, grains, fish, and meat, including pork, poultry, veal and beef, lamb, rabbit, and goat. Other important ingredients include pasta, cheeses, lemon juice, herbs, olives and olive oil, and yogurt. Bread made of wheat is ubiquitous; other grains, notably barley, are also used, especially for paximathia. Common dessert ingredients include nuts, honey, fruits, sesame, and filo pastries. It continues traditions from Ancient Greek and Byzantine cuisine, while incorporating Turkish, Balkan, and Italian influences.
Greek "giouvetsi"
Greek chicken souvlaki merida
A Greek salad from Thessaloniki
Traditional Greek kleftiko, consisting of lamb marinated with lemon juice, potatoes and spices and cooked slowly in a sealed container.
Mediterranean cuisine is the food and methods of preparation used by the people of the Mediterranean Basin. The idea of a Mediterranean cuisine originates with the cookery writer Elizabeth David's book, A Book of Mediterranean Food (1950) and was amplified by other writers working in English.
Bread, wine, and fruit: The Lunch by Diego Velázquez, c. 1617
"Those blessed lands of sun and sea and olive trees": a landscape in Rhodes, in the Eastern Mediterranean
Olive (Olea europaea)
Wheat (Triticum)
