The Glorious Foods of Greece: Traditional Recipes from the Islands, Cities, and Villages

I am a professional chef of Greek decent and have lived in Greece for more than half of my life. I have traveled throuout the country and have tried several of the dishes that appear in this book but until now was not able to succesfully duplicate them. I was quite excited when I came across this collection and give the author five stars for her tremendous effort of bringing them together unadulterated. This book is exactly what it claims to be, if not more than it claims to be and most definately deserves a five star rating. As a few other reviewers have mentioned it is not a collection of Americanized versions of Mousaka and Pastitsio, but a comprehensive collection of recipes borrowed from kitchens across the country which may or may not appeal to all palates. Many of these dishes you will not find outside it's reigion of origin let alone at Kostas opa on Main Street USA. It is worth mentioning that the author has traveled accross Greece collecting these recipes, many of which have not been published before. Having said all of this if you are looking for a recipe for Mousaka, run a search on Google and you will get 100s of results but if you wish to experiment and test your pallate try this book. It is truly authentic!

Diane Kochilas stands in the first rank of food writers specializing in Mediterranean cuisine, along with Mediterranean generalists Paula Wolfert, Nancy Harmon Jenkins, Claudia Roden, Clifford Wright, and Joyce Goldstein; Spanish specialist Penelope Casas; Italian specialists Marcella Hazan, Giuliano Bugialli, and Lydia Bastianich; and fellow Greek specialist Agliaia Kremezi. This is Ms. Kochilas' third book on Greek food and I apologize to the author if I slight the first two in my praise of this volume, as I have not yet read or reviewed them.Considering food writing as a whole, not just the Mediterranean, this is easily one of the best essays of a country's cuisine I have seen. The only volume which I have read and reviewed which may be better is Diana Kennedy's `From My Mexican Kitchen', although the two books take a different route to excellence.The very first impression is the design of the cover, typeface, and book layout that sets the stage for the feeling that this is an important book. It has the kind of restrained design I typically attribute to cookbooks published by Knopf, but which other publishers have done well. The next impression is that Ms. Kochilas has done everything that I missed from Ms. Kremezi's recent book `The Foods of the Greek Islands'. While the latter volume did a good job on recipes, it did not dedicate itself to informing it's readers in a clear, lucid manner on what it was which distinguished the cuisines of the Greek Islands from one another, from the mainland, and from the Mediterranean in general. Ms. Kochilas does this with skill and insight. The first sign of this serious analysis of her subject is the superior map of Greece with the various island groups identified and icons representing major food product sources placed on the map. This is an easy attention to detail. The next aspect is the organization of the book into the various geographic regions. These are The Peloponnesos, The Ionian Islands, Roumeli, Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia and Thrace, The Islands of the Northeastern Aegean, The Cyclades, The Dodecanese, Crete, and Athens. As Ms. Kremezi mentions in her book but does not detail with any analytical understanding, there are significant differences between, for example, the relatively poor Dodecanese and the agriculturally rich islands of the northeastern Aegean such as Lesbos.Ms. Kochilas has artfully combined the analytical insight and presentation of Nancy Harmon Jenkins with the deft personal warmth of Paula Wolfert in discussing her sources of specific recipes. The only adverse effect of Ms. Kochilas' approach is that the book may not fit some readers' expectations to find a volume with the approach of Julia Child, which is heavy on culinary wisdom and recipe and light on exposition. Ms. Kochilas addresses this concern when she says that this volume may not cover many of the architypical Greek dishes, as she has already presented them in one of her two earlier volumes. When references to clas

I have been trying recipes out of this book off an on for about a year now, and I highly recommend this book to those interested in Greek and/or mediterranean cuisine. I would like to caution those who are new to Greek cooking.....this book does not feature common dishes you will find in Greek restaurants or dishes which are stereotypical of Greek cuisine, such as souvlaki, spanakotiropita, mousaka, etc.... You can find plenty of other cookbooks which have those recipes. This book is differently modern, in that it uses traditional Greek cooking methods with some untraditional ingredients to create some really great dishes. For example, a couple of nights ago, I tried a new recipe out of the book that is a stew dish of butternut squash, rice, tomato, onions, and of course, olive oil. It was fantastic! What impresses me is this dish mirrors a very traditional and basic Greek recipe of a chicken and rice dish that I have been making for years. Another recipe I just had to try was tossing cooked pasta with yogurt, carmalized onion, and grated cheese. Delicious! And a great alternative to red sauce pasta dishes. Try the recipe for stewed fava beens with onions and cumin, in the Crete section. It was very good. Again, this book is not for the novice. If you love Greek or east mediterranean cooking, and you want to step up to the next level, you will really enjoy this cook book, as I have.

I've got a lot of cookbooks, and this is the best. Great reading, great recipes, and I like the way its broken down by region, highlighting the differences in Greece food (like is accepted practice for discussions on Italian food).

This is a very exciting book, and I highly recommend it. Instead of the same old standard Greek recipes that you get in every other Greek cookbook, Ms. Kochilas has found interesting, traditional recipes, based on the way people really eat in Greece. This is a break-though book, and shows that Greek food can be more than a stereotype. The Italians broke out of their spaghetti and red sauce food ghetto years ago, it is well past time for the Greeks to do the same. I am astounded by the cricism given this book by other reviewers, particularly when it seems to be based on the author's failure to live up to some people's stereotypes of what Greek food ought to be. But oh, the recipes she includes are grand. For example, grape leaves with winter squash stuffing or grape leaves with eggplant stuffing -- both are fabulous and welcome breaks from the classic (and wonderful) grape leaves stuffed with meat or rice. Don't get me wrong, I love traditional (stereotypical Greek food). But it is so refreshing to see in print the wonderful variety that makes up Greek cuisine. I only wish I were a better writer so that I could give this book the full credit it deserves. It is well worth the price.