The Olive Tree: Athena's
Gift to the Ancient City
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| Garden produce used in ancient Greek feast at UNC Asheville (photo by Kristina Webb) |
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| Cabbage rolls filled with barley and herbs (photo by John Armstrong) |
To travel in Greece with a dozen bright and shiny college
students and to engage them in learning about the foodways of this region is
both an honor and a pleasure. We study the culture, theater, medicine and food
ways of ancient Greece and experience the modern ones. Our journey begins with
4 days of classes on campus including spending time in the campuses ancient
garden and making a meal together using only ingredients available in the
mediterranean region in 500 to 300 BCE. A major theme throughout is the
importance of olive oil to Greek history, culture, cuisine and health (though I
am a bit skeptical about the last one).
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| View from the rooftop garden at the (aptly named) Acropolis View Hotel (photo by David Ammon) |
Our first meal in Athens was late in an evening in mid-June on
a rooftop that had a striking view of the Parthenon lit up on the Acropolis. It
was around the corner from our hotel, the Acropolis View that itself has a
lovely rooftop garden (but no restaurant). This was to be one of our shared group
meals…and the first one ever in Athens for a number of the students. I
suggested that we start with a round of meze (or shared small dishes) and they
agreed. The waitstaff brought water, fresh bread, and small dishes of olives
and we ordered grilled mushrooms dressed with balsamic creme, meltizana salata
(a smokey smashed eggplant spread with bits of pepper, onion and garlic with
olive olive and parsley), dolmades (rice and herb stuffed grape leaves) and a
baked or fried feta dish for the non-vegans. We eventually went on to mains (I
ordered a salad without cheese and more of the mushrooms) and the 14 of us
enjoyed a wide array of fresh delicious typical Greek dishes in the glow of the
Acropolis.
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| Grilled mushrooms with Balsamic Creme, Napflio |
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| Grilled Vegetables, Crete |
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| Salata Mista and Fried Zucchini Strips, Athens |
Meze, salads, and pasta are the most regularly available dishes
in Athens that are or can be made vegan. Vegan meze choices in addition to the
above include fried zucchini, fried eggplant topped with marinara sauce,
mushrooms cooked with garlic, grilled vegetables, boiled greens, or boiled
mixed vegetables, fried potatoes, fava bean spread, gemista (peppers and
tomatoes stuffed with rice and herbs). Salads range from very simple such as
grated cabbage and lettuce or cucumber and tomato to complex and delicious like
the one Sophie and I had in Napflio at our bus driver's Uncle’s restaurant Φέρεἰπείν
(Pher’ eipein or “come, speak”). The salad was named after the owner's wife,
Angeliki and was a delicious assortment of lettuces, grated cabbage, corn,
grated carrot, cherry tomato, and sun-dried tomatoes with a lemony oil and vinegar dressing. We forgot to
ask for it without parmesan, but I was able to work around it. We rounded out our meal with delicious fresh fried potatoes sprinkled with herbs and grilled
mushrooms topped with balsamic cream and olive oil.
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| Fresh Fried potatoes with Herb |
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| Angeliki's Salad |
Reliably, one can find either spaghetti with marinara sauce or
pasta with oil and garlic. One eve in Tolon, I ordered the plain pasta and
baked eggplant topped with tomato sauce (no cheese) and ate the two dishes
together. Many cafe style places offer vegetarian pizza that can be prepared
without cheese. And some souvlaki shops offer vegetarian pita which is
literally souvlaki pita without the meat--fried potatoes, onions, tomatoes,
sometimes peppers and lettuce, tzazkiki (or ketchup or mustard or spicy cheese
spread) in a toasted thick round of flat bread. These are the equivalent of
fast food and are quite filling for about $2.50. On some occasions I have succeeded in getting
grilled or fried vegetables added to the mix or I have ordered it with a salad
and combined them myself.
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| Vegan Breakfast at the Acropolis View |
Traveling in Greece with students, we generally stay in hotels
that provide breakfast. The breakfast buffet is usually some variation on
bread, cereal, fresh fruit, yogurt, honey, hard boiled egg and sliced cheese
and meat in addition to tea, coffee and milk. Some places also include
tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, olives, fresh juice, jams, and tea cakes or
pastries.Whenever
I visit Athens, I always try to have at least one meal at a lovely restaurant
called Avocado (I’ll tell you more in a later post). Not only is everything on
the menu vegetarian (and most is vegan), but they also are right next door to a
international health food grocery store. For the last 4 years running, I have
purchased vegan staples like almond or soya milk, avocados, baked tofu or soy
yogurt at this lovely shop. These few items can be used to turn a pretty boring
vegan breakfast into a treat.
On the day I wrote this I had finished my last half of avocado
on bread served at the hotel breakfast and added almond milk to my hot black
tea. The father of the proprietor of the hotel we stayed at in Tolon has a
citrus fruit orchard so the orange juice is deliciously fresh and the
marmalades are made from fruit from his farm. Together with my avocado, these
made for a very yummy breakfast. And I added the baked tofu I had been carrying
around for a few days to my fast food "Mamas" salad at Goody's (a
Greek fast-food restaurant at a highway rest stop). Without the cheese, it was
rusks (hard pieces of bread made from barley flour), chopped tomatoes, chopped
olives, capers, olive oil and vinegar. It was actually quite filling and
delicious.
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| Fruit in Open Market, Thessaloniki |
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| Vegetables and Beans in Open Market, Thessaloniki |
All this to explain that it is decidedly possible and usually
quite delicious and nutritious to enjoy an entirely plant-based eating style
when traveling in Greece. If I was strict about avoiding added oils (olive oil
is in and on most dishes) it would make it more difficult when one is limited
to eating out for most meals. However, if you have cooking facilities where you
are staying you are golden. Food is fresh, generally local, and often
sustainably grown even if not certified “biologico” (organic).
