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Scenes from a panighiri
October 23, is the feast of St. Jacob. The images below are from a small feast (panighiri) for the name day of Jacob- who is the son of the owner of the olive grove- and his patron saint. This...
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POMEGRANATES
The poem:THE MAD POMEGRANATE TREEIn these all-white courtyards where the south wind blowsWhistling through vaulted arcades, tell me, is it the mad pomegranate treeThat leaps in the light, scattering...
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A forgotten flavour
"Cabbage should be cut up with a very sharp iron knife, then washed and drained. A sufficient quantity of coriander and rue should be cut up together with cabbage; then sprinkle with oxymeli and grate...
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CHRISTMAS BREAD
Christmas breads from ManiGreek Christmas breads, known as Christopsoma (Christ's breads) appear to have their origin in the ancient Greek festive breads and bloodless sacrifices that were given to...
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New Year's Stuffed Foods
In the Greek world, wrapped and stuffed foods are prominent features at Christmas meals and New Year's banquets. In pastoral and agricultural societies stuffed foods link human and agricultural...
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No famine during the harsh winter of 763-4?
Extreme cold and extensive snowfall is rather unusual in the eastern Mediterranean apart of the mountain regions. However the winter of 763-4 AD was so terrible that Byzantine sources referred...
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The foot of the crow
In December 2012, Ι came across a medium population of kournopodi (ancient Greek coronopus, Oenanthe pimpilloides, Corky-fruited water-dropwort) and few plants of ahatzikes (Shepherd's needle...
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Food for the dead (3)
Tsiknopempti, the Thursday of the second week of Greek Carnival (Apokries), is surrounded with the smells and smokes of grilled meat and burning fat. Since it is believed that the souls of the dead...
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Carnival
Oh yes, this restaurant bill is a handmade carnival costume which took its inspiration from an original bill of 1982. hors-d'œuvres beef, grilled potatoes, mushrooms antipasti coke, gazoza, biral,...
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Dietary rules for Holy Saturday in the Byzantine Monastic Foundation...
According to the "Byzantine Monastic Foundation Documents: A Complete Translation of the Surviving Founders’ Typika and Testaments"(1), "In Stoudios [A30], the monks begin the vesper service at the...
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Ancient bread- baking method
My new baby, patiently waiting for me.My baby is a replica of a5th century pnigeus, a portable earthenware oven. Its name comes from the verb πνίγω, to choke, strangle. Hippo, a presocratic Greek...
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It is a man's job
Ahhh pilafi, that most wonderful of Cretan foods! But if you have to cook it in really large amounts, which would require physical strength, then you need a man.... Of course, it helps to have a good...
View ArticleRecording food culture of Amari Valley, Crete
A few years ago, I gave an interview about food culture of Amari Valley (Crete).Since we are two weeks before the 2nd Symposium of Greek Gastronomy, which will be held in Amari, you might be interested...
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Sun dried tomato paste- My precious.
Sun dried tomato on a slice of bread..... or how a poor man's food can turn to a delicious and provocative appetizer. All I- and you- need are: sun dried tomato paste (I make it every year), homemade...
View ArticleLead poisoning in the ancient world
..Lead is one of the seven metals known in ancient times. It has been mined and used by man since at least the 4th millennium BC. But, it is very toxic. When the body is exposed to lead, it can act as...
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Ensuring abundance of food~ Polysporia
November sowning seeds. Manuscript, 1346, Vatopedi monasteryReligious rituals and symbolic practices in which food is used to secure the future harvest are still important in Greece. Their parallels...
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O kourabiedes!!
Grandma, may I have a kourabiedaki? (kourabiedaki is the diminutive of kourabies) This was my pre Christmas refrain as a child. A kourabiedaki, as if the diminutive word could make the kourabies look...
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Christmas with the Emperor
The Byzantine celebration of Christmas attracted the attention of the Arab Harun ibn Yahya, who had been captured by the Byzantines in 911/12. Leo VI, the Wise, had already introduced an innovation...
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Ancient Eros
Alexis, dwelling on the aphrodisiac properties of bulbs, says: "Pinnas, crayfish, bulbs, snails, buccina, eggs, extremities, and all that. FIf anyone in love with a girl shall find any drugs more...
View ArticleMagic rain and the wish for water
Rituals of Magical - Rain Making in Modern and Ancient Greece: A Comparative Approachand From Modern Greek Carnivals to the Masks of Dionysos and other Divinities in Ancient Greece are two very...
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