Greek Food
Cookbooks

Greek Food is suddenly very popular and there are now dozens of Greek Cookbooks available. These are some of my favorites.

The Foods of the Greek Islands

Written by award winning cook Aglaia Kremezi is more than a Greek cookbook. The author has put together recipes from all the islands that she has spent years collecting from the women, fishermen and bakers and has included enough information on the cooking ands culture of the individual islands to make this book interesting and pleasurable reading too. The book also contains recipes from the famous Molyvos Restaurant, one of the finest Greek Restaurants in New York City if not the world which hired Agalaia as a consultant to the menu.

The Foods of Greece by Aglaia Kremezi

This book was first published in hardcover in 1993 and is not just a book to cook from but a book to read as well. It transports the reader to the Greek Islands and the Mainland with award winning recipes and captivating photos. Aglaia blends history, mythology, religion and folklore to provide a facinating backdrop that explains not only the 'how' but the 'where', 'why' and 'when'. If you want to have only one book on Greek cooking for your collection this one is it. The book won the Julia Child's Award for the Best First Cookbook from the International Institute of Culinary Professionals.

Join Aglaia Kremezi and friends on a culinary experience on the island of Kea at www.greektravel.com/greekislands/kea/keartisanal

Against The Grain: 150 Good Carb Mediterranean Recipes by Diane Kochilas

"Several years ago, after jump-starting my own desire to shed the pounds I put on during pregnancy, I went on the Atkins Diet. I began to realize that I actually felt great, so much less bloated and so energized, by eating a diet high in protein but low in carbohydrates.

To accommodate my own palate and body temperament, I curbed some of the fat that is egregious on Atkins, albeit the cheeses of the Mediterranean, especially those of Italy, France, Spain, and Greece, are a constant source of both inspiration and temptation. I simply began to rethink the foods I have always loved to cook, dishes rooted in Mediterranean traditions that are based on fresh, seasonal vegetables, chicken and other poultry, some red meat, and lots of fish and seafood.

The Mediterranean always offers a great selection of innovative, fresh, nutritious ideas for every meal. Against the Grain is filled with satisfying, good-for-you recipes inspired by the best Mediterranean traditions. Whether you’re trying to lose weight or simply improve your eating habits, sticking to a good carb diet is a great idea. The Mediterranean diet isn’t all bread, pasta and white rice. There is plenty of other delicious food to satisfy the soul and slim down the silhouette! That’s what this book is all about. Against the Grain was selected by the New York Times as on of the 100 best cookbooks of 2005."  You can order this book through Greece In Print by using this form

MEZE: Small Plates to Savor and Share from Around the Mediterranean by Diane Kochilas

Make every meal a party, and nobody knows how to throw a party better than the Greeks! Meze is a spirited journey across Greece and the Mediterranean, exploring these simple and simply irresistible dishes. You’ll find robust dips, tangy, skewered meats and juicy meatballs, delicious seafood dishes from crisp mussels to ouzo-flavored shrimp, savory pies and a recipe for the best fried potatoes in the world, Greek fried potatoes, in olive oil, of course. The writing is warm and inviting and the recipes clear and easy to follow. Sharing and conviviality are basic to the meze concept. With this book, you’ll be able to make Mediterranean hospitality and vitality part of every meal. You can order this book through Greece In Print by using this form

Mediterranean Grilling by Diane Kochilas

From the meshwi and ground meat kofte of the Middle East to the great kebabs of Turkey to the Bisteka alla Florentina of Italy to France’s grillades and famed Chateaubriand, grilled delicacies are part of every culture of the Mediterranean. The flavors of grilled foods throughout the Mediterranean are often intense and highly aromatic; marinades and spice rubs include everything from yogurt to citrus fruits to the myriad herbs growing under the Mediterranean sun.

Offshore Grilling takes a look at both traditional and contemporary Mediterranean grilled dishes and offers them up with ease and speed for the American cook. You can order this book through Greece In Print by using this form

The Food and Wine of Greece  by Diane Kochilas

This tantalizing collection of recipes covers all aspects of Greek cuisine and pays tribute to the history and tradition, the folklore and culture that surround each dish. Each chapter—from olives and bread, to appetizers, stews and savory pies, fish, poultry, meat, eggs, grains, vegetables, and sweets—is filled with details on the ancient, religious, amd folkloric origins of various dishes.

The Food and Wine of Greece is a celebration of a cuisine and a people whose love of good food extends from their passion for garden and farm freshness, to their pride in the cook’s art of preparation, both simple and complex, to their love of entertaining and sharing of bread, wine, food and friendship. You can order this book through Greece In Print by using this form

Culinaria Greece: Greek Specialties by Marianthi Milona with photos by Werner Staplefeldt. This book is something special. It is a combination food-travel-guide and cook-book too big to take anywhere with you but one you can sit happily traveling through Greece, learning about what they eat where and why, how they make it and when. It is the best resource on Greek food around.
In my opinion every Greek-American household should have a copy of this book as well as anyone who is interested in Greek food. Before I bought this book I thought that my Greek Food page was complete. Buying it and reading it made me realize I have a lot more to do. This book is an inspiration. I found mine at Barnes and Noble in the discounted section for about $25. It is worth at least twice that.

Diet Of The Gods: A Divine Plan to Attain Health Through Greek Vegetarian Cooking by Cindy Econopouly is a self published cookbook with dozens of recipes for those who wany to eat Greek and eat healthy at the same time. People often wonder how much there is to eat in the Greek diet for vegetarians, since we normally associate Greek food with souvlakia, mousaka and roast lamb, but the heavy on meat Greek diet is a relatively new phenomenon. Greece's agricultural roots have given Cindy plenty to work with in the way of salads, mezedes, and main dishes and she has added a couple veggie versions of classic meat dishes like mousaka, pastitsio and even souvlakia. But this is more than just recipes. Cindy writes about her philosophy of eating a Greek vegetarian diet that has enabled her to lose weight and keep it off and stay healthy. For more information on this book e-mail Cindy at cindyeconopouly@yahoo.com

Cookbook of the Jews of Greece is a collection of recipes collected by my highschool history teacher Nikos Stavrolakis. His book comprises representative recipes from the Romaniot and the Sephardim Jewish communities of Greece. It is divided according to holidays and rites of passage, and the recipes are preceded by material that focuses on the unique character of each community and their traditional customs. Nikos Stavrolakis is not only a great cook but has written a number of books on Jewish History, is the founder of the Jewish Museum of Athens, the Jewish Synogogue in Chania, Crete and his a renown artist in Greece.

You can order this book through Greece In Print by using this form

Andy Harris has been the editor for some of the best food magazines in the USA and his native Australia but what many people did not know is that he and his brother Terry (as in the famous photographer) were brought up in Greece and still travel there every year or so. Andy's cookbook, called modernGREEK is exactly what it says, a fusion of traditional Greek recipes and Neo-Greek cuisine, the kind of food you find in upscale Greek restaurants in Manhattan rather than Astoria. But wait a second. The cool thing is that when I have needed a traditional recipe and gone through all my cookbooks, it often turns out that his is the one I use. Andy is now running Jamie Oliver's magazine and probably there is a Jamie Greek cookbook in the works, but until that comes out anyone with an interest in Greek food and Jamie Oliver style cooking should snatch up any copies of modernGREEK they find because it is not certain that there will be a Jamie Oliver Greek cookbook.

Diana Farr Louis is an American food/travel writer and long-time resident of Greece. She has published several articles and two books on Greek cooking – namely Prospero’s Kitchen, Mediterranean Cooking of the Ionian Islands from Corfu to Kythera, and Feasting and Fasting in Crete. She has been contributing travel pieces for the weekly Athens News since 1997 and has written two excellent travel books, Athens and Beyond: 30 Day Trips & Weekends and Travels In Northern Greece, both highly recommended reading for those whose traveling in Greece goes beyond Mykonos and Santorini. Feasting and Fasting in Crete includes recipes and anecdotes, history and tradition about the island and is an essential ingredient in any Greek or Grecophile Kitchen.

The Greek Taverna Cookbook: Recipes from Kefalonia
"A colourful celebration of Greek taverna life"

Real Greek recipes, straight from the taverna kitchens of the island of Kefalonia. Recreate the flavours of Greece in your own home with forty traditional family recipes. 24 chefs share their culinary secrets for creating familiar Greek dishes as well as Kefalonian specialities. More than just a cookbook, this is an artistic celebration of Greek taverna life. It is full of local info and insights into Greek culture. Classic taverna recipes have been carefully selected and personally tested for the home. Cook, artist and grecophile, Gill's evocative watercolour sketches capture the colour, light and atmosphere of ‘Captain Corelli’s Island’. The measurements are British. For information on ordering contact Gill at gill@artistswindow.com  or use the Amazon Search widget at the bottom of the page.

The Grecian Plate Cookbook is a collection of recipes compiled by the women of St Barabara's Church in Durham, NC, National Winner of the Prestigious R.T. French Company Tastemaker Cookbook Award and March 1988 CookBook of the Month from Good Housekeeping Magazine. Now in it's 9th Printing this book does not have the fancy color photos of many of the glossy cookbooks available but in terms of recipes which were collected from the mothers and grandmothers of just about everyone in this small Greek church it is probably the most honest and traditionally Greek cookbook you will find anywhere.

• Traditional Recipes for the contemporary cook.
• Nearly 300 time-tested recipes from appetizers to desserts
• Step-by-step instructions and many easy to follow illustrations
• Special Chapter features 'trim' versions of traditional recipes
• Hardcover-Spiral-bound to lay flat, 254 pages
• Introductions to the chapters provide insight into the origins of recipes and how they fit into daily life in Greece

available by sending $21 to:
Ms. Erie Cocolas
1298 Wildwood Drive
Chapel Hill NC 27514
E-mail: ajpe@unc.edu
or use the Amazon Search widget at the bottom of the page.

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