Greek Gastronomy

Gastronomy is, of course, a Greek word. Ironically, the history of the cuisine evinces a decided lack of gastronomical Greek dishes, save for the periods of antiquity, the Byzantine era, and from the last years of the 20th centure, when Greek cuisine and Greek gastronomyexperienced a radical transformation. 

Until very recently, Greek cuisine was home-based. Restaurants fell into several categories: grill houses, fish and seafood places, certain specialty eateries (tripe houses, soup places, souvlaki joints, etc.) and the ever-popular family-run neighborhood taverna, where traditional Greek cuisine was and is the mainstay. In the late 1980s and 1990s, a generation of young, urban Greeks returned from study and life abroad, where they had acquired a more international and sophisticated palate, which translated into demand for cosmopolitan cuisine. In those early decades, a new generation of chefs also emerged who saw their profession as a career and not a choice of last resort; the open market of the EU brought a deluge of new food products to the Greek supermarket, inspiring chefs to experiment. In the 1990s, contemporary Greek cuisine was characterized by an “anything-goes” spirit. Fusion –and much confusion– was the word of the day in Greek gastronomy.
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