FoodGreek! Home - Greek Food, Recipes and Cooking - Your Guide to the Cuisine of Greece and the Greek Islands
Pronunication of Common Foods | Types of Eateries in Greece | Seasonal Foods and Feasts | Common Herbs and Seasonings
Seasonal Food - Traditional Meals and Dishes for Festivities, Celebrations and given Times of Year - Various times of the year will see the same dishes being served up in households across the whole of the country. The most noted of these are related to the church calendar although some are related simply to the availability, or abundance, of certain foodstuffs at a given time of the year.
NEW YEAR - The year opens on the 1st January with the Feast of Agios Vasilios. New Year is an important time in the Greek calendar and, after the traditional Greek church ceremony, gifts are exchanged and families and friends enjoy a convivial meal and social get together. The highlight of the meal is the Vasilopitta (Vasilios Pie or New Year's Pie) made with flour, milk, sugar, lemon, butter and assorted nuts which is served up sliced. Much as with an English Christmas pudding a coin is hidden in the pie and the recipient of the slice containing it is deemed to be blessed with good luck for the forthcoming twelve months.
APOKRIES - This is the three weeks of celebrations or Carnival preceding Lent and is punctuated by parties, family feasts and general merriment before the increasingly austere 40 days that make up Lent. Whilst there is no particular set meal or type of food served up during Apokries the food is generally rich and indulgent with plenty of rich food, sweets and cakes accompanying the party. Visitors will see signs up around Greek towns and villages during this period for parties, often depicting people in masks, and fancy dress is the norm at such events.
CLEAN MONDAY - This is the Monday preceding Ash Wednesday or the start of Lent and will float around the calendar as with the whole of pre Easter markers. It is punctuated by (weather permitting) open air barbecues and picnics across the whole of Greece and at the time the skies are traditionally filled with kites being flown by old and young alike.
LENT - As Easter nears the dietary constraints for the more devout adherents to the Orthodox faith become increasingly strict and by the week preceding the Easter weekend many foodstuffs are forsaken altogether. Meat, wine and even oil become off limits giving way to simple, austere food based on pasta, bread, vegetables and other basic foods.
EASTER WEEKEND - Following midnight mass on Easter Saturday families traditionally head home for a bowl of offal soup marking the end of the preceding dietary restrictions. The offal comes from the lamb that on a spit roast will form the central part of the family meals that occur the following day on Easter Sunday. Large gatherings are punctuated by music, dance, food and drink during the afternoon and into the night as the smell of spit roast lamb lingers on the air. Easter Sunday is arguably the most important meal in the Greek calendar
MAY DAY - The 1st of May marks another public holiday in Greece, with families heading into the countryside to enjoy open air picnics. Flowers are gathered and turned into wreaths or bouquets which are kept and then burnt on the 24th June, the Feast of St John the Baptist.
ASSUMPTION DAY - The 15th August witnesses a mass movement of people in Greece to celebrate the Assumption with family gatherings centred around a reunion meal
GENESIS TIS PANAGIAS - The Virgin's Birthday is celebrated on the 8th September with religious ceremony and the family feast.
OXI DAY - 28th October. Translated as 'No!' Day this marks the refusal by Metaxas to allow passage through Greece to Mussolini's troops in the Second World War. It is marked with services of remembrance, miltary and civil ceremonies and naturally, feasting.
CHRISTMAS DAY - Although Easter is by far more important in the Orthodox calendar, Greeks do celebrate Christmas Day with church services and family gatherings