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In Greece and Cyprus, there are two Sundays in the Easter season when all households cook codfish.

The first is for the religious feast of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary celebrated on 25th March annualy [also a National Day for Greece, commemorating the Independence Day and the Greek struggle for liberation against the Ottoman empire, started on 25th March 1821] and the second is Palm Sunday, which for this year is celebrated on 20th April, according to the Orthodox Church.

On these days, every household cooks the salted favourite. The pieces of cod are dipped into a batter of flour and water, and deep fried, then served with a garlic spread.

To make the spread, wet white bread, then combine it with lots of garlic, olive oil and lemon juice and blend till creamy.

Sounds delicious, so why not try it? Of course, the excess salt would have to be soaked from the fish overnight.

Not known for its refinement or sophistication, Cyprus cuisine is based on the use of fresh, wholesome ingredients. Its flagship is, of course, the meze, which does show subtle differences to those available elsewhere in the region.

When the British arrived in Cyprus in 1878, they expected to find people with a spark of the Turkish fire and a touch of Grecian taste. They were greatly disappointed as Cypriots were neither oriental nor occidental. “Except in name, they are neither Turks nor Greeks; neither are they an amalgam of these two races. Who then are the Cypriots?” asked one perplexed British official in 1879.

Who are the Cypriots really, with a series of conquerors having left their marks behind? Enriched and diversified by the Assyrians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, Byzantine, Lusignan, Venetian, Ottoman and British, Cypriots have a rather unique disposition. The same can be said about Cyprus cuisine. It is an amalgamation of diverse tastes and textures. Cyprus meze reflects food influenced by the full range of different cultures, civilisations and traditions that have occupied the island. Some may argue that it is more closely related to that of Greece. It is true that in recent years, many dishes have been added which predispose the palate to Greek origins - dishes like tirokafteri, saganaki or kolokithokeftedes (spicy cheese, baked feta and courgette balls).

The origins of meze can be traced to the pre-Islamic wine culture of Persia, where the original meze were sweets to counteract the bitter taste of young wine. Among the very few rare early cookbooks, kebabs and stew-like meat are mentioned in one cookbook written in Baghdad in1226. Nowadays, meze is a type of hors d’oeuvre, an appetiser accompanying drinks.

Cyprus cuisine shares much with the other cuisines of the Eastern Mediterranean. For the Arabs, a mazza table can be the entire dinner. In Greece, mezedes or meze platters are almost a kind of institution where diners are encouraged to linger over their meals, and the same applies here. There is an especially strong family resemblance between Greek and Turkish recipes, and it is in no way clear in which direction the influence was strongest. While the Greek cuisine is older, it was also heavily influenced by Persian and Phoenician sources, so it is easy to believe that the central role of lamb, yoghurt, sesame, citrus, flatbreads, and very thin pastries all came from some common central Asian source. Also, meze platters are very similar in concept to the Spanish tapas.

Cyprus’ position at the crossroads of Europe, Africa, and the Middle East has added colourful dimensions that make it different and appetising. Emphasising fresh local ingredients, regional herbs and spices, and in recent years the use of olive oil in cooking, the Cypriot palate is quintessentially Mediterranean in character.

According to Niki Paraskeva, owner of Erinia Tavern, “a meze consists of as many as 30 small plates of food, from savoury dips and vegetables to a wide range of hot, mainly meat, dishes. The restaurant opened in 1934 and the same wholesome, traditional food has been served ever since with very slight variations. “I use the same recipes that my late mother passed on, and I make everything from scratch. I never serve anything that comes ready made in a tub.”

Much more than hors d’oeuvres, the meze often comprises the heart of a meal itself. Some of the dishes you can expect to be served when you ask for a Cyprus meze vary from place to place. Traditionally the appetisers are taramosalata, fish roe blended into a creamy pink dip of pureed potatoes with parsley, lemon juice and finely chopped onion; talatouri, mint and cucumber flavoured yogurt with crushed garlic; tahini, sesame seed paste with lemon juice, garlic and olive oil; horiatiki salata with tomatoes, lettuce, peppers, onion slices, feta cheese, green olives with a dressing made of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and local herbs.

Some common vegetable preparations are boiled potatoes in olive oil and parsley, pickled cauliflower and beets, fried courgette with scrambled egg, fried tomato puree with scrambled egg, kolokasi (a sweet potato-like root vegetable) and wild asparagus with egg when in season.

Other popular choices are koupepia, grape leaves stuffed with minced meat and rice; anthous, rice stuffed pumpkin flowers, when in season, halloumi, a delicious soft cheese, (usually grilled) made from sheep milk and spiced with fresh mint; home-made raviolis and kritharaki, orzo in tomato sauce.

The meat dishes will include loukanika, coriander-seasoned sausages, soaked in red wine and smoked; sheftalia, grilled pork sausage, pork or chicken kebabs, afelia, pork marinated in wine and coriander served with burgoul and stifado, beef or rabbit stew casseroled with wine vinegar, onions and spices. Some places may serve ofto kleftiko, chunks of lamb cooked in a sealed clay oven and seasoned with bay leaves and the traditional souvla, chunks of pork, lamb or chicken cooked on skewers.

A traditional sweet treat is a variety of fruit preserves or fried sweet anari bourekia, a kind of ricotta cheese filling in thin pastry.

Cyprus cuisine is not considered one of the world’s most refined and elegant styles of cooking, nor does it involve sophisticated techniques. There is nothing refined about cooking ofto kleftiko or souvla. Good quality produce and the use of wholesome ingredients which are in season are, however, all important in the local cooking.

Here are two Cypriot traditional recipes > 

Pork Afelia [Serves 4]

1kg pork pieces
1 glass red wine, extra for the marinade
3-4 tbsp coriander, crushed
½ glass vegetable oil

* Marinade pork pieces overnight, in enough red wine to cover the meat and 2 tbsp coriander.
* Add oil in a saucepan and heat up. Fry pork pieces on high heat for a few minutes, turning once or twice. Season well, add the rest of the coriander and stir. Pour in the wine and stir for a few minutes adding some water if needed. Lower the heat to medium and cook until the juices have reduced and the meat is tender.
* Serve with pourgouri (burgoul).

Pourgouri [Serves 6]

½ glass vegetable oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 fide - fine noodle nests, crushed
2 glasses burgoul
4 glasses water
Salt

* Fry onion in the oil until tender and brown. Add the crushed noodle nests and stir. Add the burgoul and stir more. Pour in the water and season well. Cook on low heat for 15 minutes or until almost all liquid is absorbed. Remove from the heat and place a clean towel over it.

Art lovers and others have started meeting at friendly new or refurbished bars in the capital that help attract people to exhibitions

The cafe in the basement of the National Archaeological Museum has in the past had its fair share of controversy, with exorbitant prices and rude staff. Now it has been refurbished and has come into its own. Visitors can enjoy a coffee or juice in the small, friendly, walled cafe in the garden of the Numismatic Museum. The west wing of the Byzantine Museum is soon to have a cafe-restaurant.

Museum cafes are becoming popular meeting places. A few years ago the very idea would have struck some as sacrilege, but museum visitors today welcome it as satisfying a basic need. It would be going too far to say that the lack of cafes kept people away from Museums, but it certainly is one way of attracting them, especially in Greece. With the lowest rate of visits to historical monuments in Europe, Greeks are second to last on the list of visits to Museums and galleries, only ahead of the Bulgarians.

There is nothing new about that. In recent years, directors of large Museums all over the world have turned to new methods of attracting the public, including temporary exhibitions, concerts by small music groups, lectures, and revamped stores selling useful, affordable items. And of course places for people to relax. Museum cafes were refurbished, and new habits were encouraged, such as an evening at the Benaki Musuem, and in carefully chosen spaces, such as the atrium of the Cycladic Museum.

Not all the visitors are part of the regular museum-visiting crowd, but they do get to know the Museum in their own way. Greek state Museums are adopting the same approach. A typical example is the cafe and veranda of the new Acropolis Museum on Dionysiou Aeropagitou Street, which stirred up much discussion, as if a Museum visitor should be ashamed of wanting to enjoy some refreshment in such a location.

Luckily, many Greek organizations are moving away from the concept of Museum as mausoleum. It’s a slow process, of course, as many state-run museums don’t even have a canteen where you can get a glass of water.

Familiarity with the place creates a new public. Frequent visits to the cafe of a Museum might bring new visitors to the exhibitions. It is worth asking why, in a country where Museums are constantly being built, the public is so unwilling to visit them.

Athens’s most recent acquisition of this type is the outdoor cafe of the Numismatic Museum on Panepistimiou Street. Just five minutes’ walk from Syntagma metro station, in the garden of the Museum behind the gilt railings is a small, modern, friendly glass-walled cafe. When it rains there isn’t much space inside for tables. Most people stay long enough for a quick coffee or a break from shopping, but afterward some of them do go up to the second floor of the Iliou Mansion to visit the collection, which opened recently. The 30-seat cafe opens 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, and 10 a.m - 6 p.m. at weekends. It offers coffee, sodas, sandwiches and pastries.

“I’d like it to be a garden in the center of Athens. It would be good for Athenians to enjoy it and at the same time it could motivate them to get acquainted with the Museum,” said Director Despina Evgenidou. Being outside the Museum, it need not be tied to Museum hours, as long as security measures were taken.

The cafe in the National Archaeological Museum has in the past attracted its share of controversy, from overpricing to rude employees. The most recent was when Greece’s foremost Museum was sending visitors to another cafe since their own was closed.

“We have had problems from time to time with the people running the cafe,” admitted Director Nikos Kaltsas. He links the reopening of the basement cafe with the revamping of the shop, which is doing good business. “Our cafe can’t have an independent exit from the Museum. So it can’t operate at different hours.”

The newly refurbished cafe offers the usual fare with a few unusual items such as mastic from Chios and sahlep. The tables in the atrium offer an excellent view and a respite before visiting the rest of the museum.

In another corner of Athens, at the Byzantine Museum, work is under way on the cafe-restaurant in the west wing, as you enter from Vasilissis Sofias Avenue. It is part of a large park that will stretch to Aristotle’s Lyceum on Rigillis Street, which will have outdoor exhibitions, a small theater and special walks.

“Work on the interior of the cafe will be finished by December, and tenders will be invited in early 2008. It should be in operation by spring. The project is in two stages. At first the cafe will operate indoors and in a covered arcade that seats 100 people. In the second stage, which includes the refurbishment of the main building, the aim is to increase capacity to 250 seats,” said the Museum’s Director Dimitris Constantios. He believes that people want a place where they can gain knowledge, which is also pleasant to be in, has an identity, and is not an oppressive environment. “Museum cafes should be meeting places, but ones that have some connection with the identity of the Museum.”

Flexible, independent, friendly cafes are gaining popularity. The restaurant of the Benaki Museum on Koumbari Street stays open late on Thursdays, offering a view of Athens at night. The cafe at the Benaki annex on Pireos Street is next to the shop, and one complements the other. Floor-to-ceiling windows let in natural light by day and the lights of the avenue by night. It stays open till 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.

The French chef has innovative dishes on the menu at the Cycladic Art Museum, which is open till 5 p.m., as is the tasteful cafe at the Fryssiras Museum in Plaka.

There are 165 Museums and collections in 52 prefectures of Greece. Some are reporting an increase in visitor numbers, especially since 2004, when many of them were renovated, while others are just surviving. Unfortunately there are still shortcomings, even in places that were smartened up for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. The Marathon Museum, for instance, is an interesting destination for a weekend trip, with a walk in the nearby Middle Helladic cemetery and the Early Helladic cemetery at Tsepi on the same route. But if you want a coffee or even water, you’d better take them with you.

That, and the lack of sales outlets, places to rest and the often off-putting behavior of staff, who often behave rudely, all need serious attention from the Culture Ministry. Are these the things that put people off? Falling attendance at Museums is a global phenomenon, “because Museums are still not attractive,” explained Constantios, “A good exhibition or cafe is not enough. It’s everything that a Museum has to offer.”

Islanders use age-old methods to grow and harvest the crop > Mules and donkeys thresh the crop of fava, preparing it for winnowing, by the same methods that have been in use for some 3,500 years

The more you learn about split peas, known as “fava” in Greek, and the way they are produced, the more fascinating they are, especially when you find out that the same methods have been in use for 3,500 years. The earliest record of the word fava comes from a tragedy by Aeschylus (6th-5th century BC). Later, Dioscurides, the famed doctor of antiquity, linked the word with the food we know.

The inhabitants of Santorini and Schinousa both claim that their split peas are the best and most flavorful. The Rural Cooperative of Thera and the Agricultural University of Athens have applied to the European Commission to have fava recognized as a Protected Designation of Origin. The people of Schinousa insist that their variety is sweeter.

The harvest always takes place early, when the ground is still moist, to protect the crop. In the fall, the farmers plow the fields in a traditional style, though some now use tractors. Christos Nomikos is one of the few who use the wooden plow mentioned by Hesiod. Seed is sown in December. On Santorini, many still sow on December 21, the feast day of Saint Eleousa. Fava grows easily in soil that is dry, sandy and normally infertile. The seeds sprout in about 20 days, depending on the south wind, which brings the rain.

As in the past, the crop is planted every second year. As horticulturalist Markos Kafrousos explained: “Crop rotation stops the land from becoming depleted. It also deters insects and bacteria.” The plant flowers in April and the pea starts to form. This is the most crucial phase, when rain is essential.

Two or three people can thresh and winnow a harvest of five tons. When the weather is right and the wind has taken away the straw, leaving the split peas, the harvest begins. The fava is threshed on stone mills identical to those used in antiquity. The workers do not talk, but concentrate on getting the job done in favorable weather conditions. It is like a ritual.

Mimika Kringa, a scholar of prehistoric archaeology, tells us about samples of fava found in vases in the West House at Akrotiri, and the conversation turns to dietary habits down the ages. There is a lovely chapel dedicated to St Epifanios in Akrotiri. On May 13, the saint’s name day, locals cook fava and share it out at the feast, served with sardines.

The island’s chefs have conferred gourmet status on fava. “Such a humble and neutral ingredient is bound to intrigue any cook,” said well-known Santorini chef Nikos Pouliasis. His collegue Giorgos Hadziyiannakis is delighted every time he creates a new dish, even desserts, using fava. Their efforts have paid off. On Santorini the demand for fava now exceeds supply. Similarly on Schinousa, Evdokia Despotidou and Dimitris Papadakis take a creative approach to cooking fava.

Fresh herbs and spices used in cooking are being studied for their anti-microbial and anti-inflammatory effects and disease-fighting antioxidant content.

Some are more potent than others, with cloves packing the most antioxidant activity followed by oregano and cinnamon. Besides providing a host of health-protective plant nutrients, albeit in small quantities, culinary herbs and spices add salt-free and calorie-free flavor and fragrance to foods.

The ancient Greek physician Hippocrates wrote about the healing power of herbs, and today the dietary guidelines for modern Greece make recommendations about the health benefits of herbs with the statement “oregano, basil, thyme and other herbs grown in Greece are good sources of antioxidant compounds.”

The frappe turns instant coffee into a drink worth lingering over.

  The frappe, a foamy cold coffee drink, is an easy-to-make beverage that’s wildly popular in Greece.

It started by accident in 1957: A representative from the Nestlé food company couldn’t find any boiling water to make his coffee at an international trade fair in Thessaloniki, northern Greece. So he used cold. And thus was born the frappe, the foamy, caffeine-packed drink that became an icon of Greek pop culture.

Fifty years on, while Americans guzzle innumerable fancy chilly copycats, Greeks remain loyal to their simple cool coffee, imbibing everywhere from the beaches to Athens’ numerous upscale cafes. In fact, the frappe has become its own industry. Supermarkets carry hand-held electric foam beaters, while roadside kiosks keep frappe kits in their fridges. Tips are traded on the merits of thick froth, straw placement, and the best time to drop the ice into the mix.

“Frappe looks so thick, but it glides through the straw so easily,” said Daniel Young, an American food critic who teamed with his wife, Vivian Constantinopoulos, to write a coffee-table book on the subject. It may drink smooth, but it has a kick. Young says many frappes have four times the caffeine as an espresso. And it is fueled by something considered the dregs of the beverage world in many countries, instant coffee.

Frappe is a simple beverage. A spoonful of instant coffee is combined with water, sugar and sometimes milk, then shaken vigorously in a cocktail mixer. When to add the ice, during or after shaking, is hotly debated. The resulting dark drink has a foamy head so large it resembles a half-pint of Guinness more than a coffee.

How the freeze-dried coffee drink became a national craze is hard to say, but supporters insist that it matches Greeks’ erratic lifestyle: laid-back Mediterranean with bursts of energy thrown in.

Young and Constantinopoulos, whose book is titled “Frappe Nation” (Editions Potamos, 2006, $42.95), believe Greeks’ relationship with the drink is rooted in their centuries-old thirst for public dialogue and social interaction. “It doesn’t have to do with quality or quantity, but it is more about the way people sit and enjoy,” said Constantinopoulos, who says the average person takes 93 minutes to drink a frappe.

In fact, coffee shop owners price their products accordingly, charging customers likely to keep their tables for a couple of hours as much as $7.50 for a coffee. Much of frappe’s appeal lies in its longevity. Even as the ice melts, the foam, which contains coffee granules, mixes with the ice, and the drink replenishes itself.

“If you time it perfectly, it will stay consistent throughout,” Young said. “Greeks turned it into something that is supposed to be instantaneous and made it a three-hour ordeal.” “To Greeks, there is no such thing as instant coffee,” Constantinopoulos said.

How to make a Greek Frappe >

Ingredients >
1 tablespoon instant coffee
1 tablespoon hot water
1/2 cups cold water
2 tablespoons milk
1 to 2 tablespoons sugar
3 ice cubes

Method >
In a blender or cocktail shaker, dissolve coffee in hot water. Add remaining ingredients and blend or shake until very frothy. Pour into cold glass and serve immediately. Yields 1 to 2 servings, about 1 1/2 cups.

Every school pupil has had to wrap their mind around Pythagoras’ theorem, but many don’t know that the Greek philosopher also led one of the earliest vegetarian movements, outside the continent.

In the Roman poet Ovid’s work Metamorphoses, he quotes Pythagoras as saying >

“Human beings, stop desecrating your bodies with impious foodstuffs. There are crops, there are apples weighing down the branches and ripening grapes on the vines; there are flavoursome herbs and those that can be rendered mild and gentle over the flames and you do not lack flowing milk, or honey fragrant from the flowering thyme. The earth, prodigal of its wealth, supplies you with gentle sustenance and offers you food without, killing or shedding blood.”

Pythagoras’ elite circle of followers were allowed no possessions and had to maintain a vegetarian diet, too much to ask of the modern meat-eater.

But today vegetarianism is biting back and the revolution is gaining pace worldwide. Science has begun to bolster what vegetarians have been saying for decades, that a vegetarian diet is healthier than eating meat.

Last year a Nutrition Reviews found a vegetarian diet to be highly effective for weight loss. The review stated that vegetarians tend to be slimmer than meat-eaters and experience lower rates of heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and other life-threatening conditions linked to overweight and obesity.