Christmas breads from Mani Greek Christmas breads, known as Christopsoma (Christ’s breads) appear to have their origin in the ancient Greek festive breads and bloodless sacrifices that were given to the gods to earn their favor. They are made the…
My favorite melopita (apple pie)…
…is actually a tart, very popular in urban areas of Chania (Crete) during the 1980’s. It was never called a tart, though. At that time there have been two major waves of foreign influence in Greek food: the French and…
In olden times people used to make special breads, at New Year, for the animals as well as for the family
In Mani, such bread is known as “tongue”, and is a crisp but very fragile fried dough in the shape of animal’s tongue, made of a thin batter. When the tongues are eaten by the family, they are dipped into…
GREEK CHRISTMAS IN MAGNA GRECIA, 1945
In December of 1945, four months after the end of the 2nd World war, a New Zealand military ship called Mataroa (“Woman with large eyes” in Maori) sailed from Piraeus to Taranto, carrying more than 150 young Greeks. From there…
VASILOPITA, THE NEW YEAR’S PIE
Throughout Greece, breads and pies with a coin inside, have been established as a custom on the first day of the year, in the memory of the following event: In the 4th century, Cappadokia, a Byzantine province in Minor Asia, suffered…