Study Abroad Trip in Greece: Part 1

The Olive Tree: Athena's Gift to the Ancient City

Garden produce used in ancient
Greek feast at UNC Asheville
(photo by Kristina Webb)

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).

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.

Grilled mushrooms with
Balsamic Creme, Napflio

Grilled Vegetables, Crete

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. 

Fresh Fried potatoes with Herb

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.

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.

Fruit in Open Market,
Thessaloniki

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).