Staffs of life
Other wheat-based products include kritiko paximadi, trachanas and yofkades. Kritiko paximadi are dried bread rusks made of rye, barley or wheat and are a traditional food of Crete. Trachanas is a rough, sour pasta traditionally made all over Greece in July and August. The dough is made with goat milk, salt and coarsely-ground wheat or semolina. It is partially dried, rubbed through a sieve and then dried some more, after which it is used for soups and other hardy dishes.

Yofkades are the soft, fresh noodles made in the Greek wheat-growing region of Thrace. From Chios Island comes also Herisia Macaronia, a hand-made whole wheat pasta which is worked around a stick. When cut, each piece is left with a hole in the middle. But probably the most ubiquitous Greek pasta is orzo, a small, pellet-like product made from Durum wheat.

Macaronia, or pasta, is frequently served with meat in Greece. Though Greece does have some indigenous cattle – one type is called Katerini – it is not known for its quality beef. Far better are its lambs and goats, whose taste benefits from the diverse flora they consume. For meat there is also horiatika loukanika, or peasant sausage. This sausage varies in its construction and taste from region to region, but it is typically made with lamb and pork, oranges, allspice, cracked pepper, and salt.

From the wine-dark sea
Of course, when one thinks of Greece, one thinks of islands and islands are more about fish than meat. While many of the fish species found in Greece are also found elsewhere in the Mediterranean and in more distant seas, those that thrive in the waters around the rocky coasts of Greece seem, to me, to have a particular flavor. Maybe it has to do with the quality of the water. Thus barbouni (red mullet) never tastes right to me when eaten anywhere but Greece. Likewise octopus and sea urchin: there is no greater pleasure than gathering sea urchin during a refreshing swim and then sitting, legs over the side of a boat, with a lemon in one hand and a knife in the other, dousing then scooping up their delicate insides.

Of course fresh fish – from anywhere – is hard to get. Luckily Greece produces plenty of more less perishable fish products. Avgotaraho is one of these. Known also in France and Italy as boutarque/bottarga, many chefs are already familiar with this delicacy made from the dried roe of either tuna, or in the case of Greece, mullet. Greek avgotaraho, which many connoisseurs believe to be the best, is salted and massaged by hand for several weeks, then pressed and sun dried for up to two months and then wrapped in beeswax.

Another fish product is tarama, the salted roe of grey mullet or cod. In Greece, this product is most often used to make taramosalata, a salad comprising this roe, potatoes or dried bread, lemon and a large quantity of olive oil. Also unusual is lakerda, salted slices of Atlantic bonito which is served in both Greece and Turkey. There are also several regional specialties, such as the dried, salted sardines of Mytilini, the sun-dried and then grilled chunks of chub mackerel called gouna (fur – it’s a joke) in Paros, and the herring roe salad from Syros. Last but not least is helli, or eel. Often smoked, it is so popular in the Peloponnese that a small city is named after it. All of these make ideal mezes (small plates) to go with an early-evening ouzo.

Drinking it up
This brings us to the drinks of Greece. I mentioned ouzo and here I must say that there is ouzo and then there is Ouzo. Ouzo is an anise-flavored spirit similar to absinthe, but without the wormwood. It is made from pressed grapes or raisins, to which anise or star anise is added as well as other herbs and berries such as coriander, cloves, liquorice, wintergreen, fennel, hazelnut, cinnamon, lime blossom, etc. The alcohol and flavorings are distilled in – traditionally – copper stills, cooled, stored for a few months, and then diluted, usually to around 40% ABV.

The best ouzo is made of 100% distilled alcohol from grapes or raisins. The iffy ouzo is one that contains some percentage of grape-based alcohol, the rest being grain alcohol. How can you tell the difference? Either by careful scrutiny of the label prior to imbibing or, alternately, by the presence or absence of a screaming morning-after headache.

While the origins of ouzo are murky, it is generally believed that it is a liquid descendant of another Greek drink which was widely consumed in ages past – possibly in some form during ancient times and definitely during the Byzantine era. This is an extremely potent spirit called tsipouro also known in Crete as tsikoudia and in other areas as raki. Produced from the must residue of a wine press, it was first created in its modern form during the 14th century by a group of industrious, waste-not, want-not monks in the male-only monastery region of Mount Athos. Tsipouro is little known outside of Greece, though it is gaining adherents, especially among wine drinkers. Interesting, and somewhat rarer, versions of this drink are made from figs, peaches or other fruits that are distilled after fermentation.