Taverna: The Best of Casual Mediterranean Cooking

This is a lovely book on a very Aegean tradition of eating, drinking, and having a good time. The only thing I would remind the readers is that even though there are many, many lokantas in Turkey serving this kind of fare, some of them will be called tavernas. I think if there is alcohol and some music then it'll probably called a taverna. This is especially an Istanbul tradition. You get yourself parked across from the blue Bosphorus with lights shimmering off the beautiful strait and let the plates start rolling while taking a sip from your RAKI and enjoying the view and company of your friends. It's a priceless experience. Let's also not forget the real taverna tradition. That is RAKI for the Turks, or the lion's milk. This is strong stuff, 45-50% alcohol and it is meant to be consumed with a lot of small plated delicious foods like in this book, AND company, and friends. Turkey is known as a "muslim" country so people assume there is no drinking. Both wrong. It is a secular, democratic country where the NATIONAL drink is the strong raki. They have always had RAKI which is similar to the Greek ouzo. In fact in Crete (now a Greek Island) where there used to be large Turkish communities before the sad population exchanges even to this day they use raki in making their phyllo dough. My only warning to gourmet friends from all over the world who have not had Raki is to either add water (2 to 1) or everytime you take a sip, you follow it with a sip of ice water. And DON'T forget to nibble on your Taverna food because otherwise you'll get drunk very very fast with a terrible hangover.Please enjoy.. And here is to all the good Turks, Greeks, Spaniards who enjoy this similar tradition... Peace to all.

The next time I entertain, I will definitely utilize the recipes in this book to adorn my table. I love mediterranean food for its flavor as well as the health benefits of its ingredients. This book has much to offer to entertain mediterranean style with a mezze par excellence.

This book is a must in any domestic kitchen. It is easy to follow with beautiful, full colour photos for each dish. And the recipes are fool proof! Your dinner guests will be impressed each and every time!

Break out the checkered table cloth and the ouzo. These recipes will put you in a sailor dancing, plate throwing mood. Not only Greek, but Portuguese and Turkish dishes are represented. The ones I tried were easy to follow and delicious, although they took some time to prepare. There is a nice introduction to the different taverna cuisines in the beginning, including basic recipes for some dips and munchies. My only complaint is that there are only 128 pages.