Honey, Olives, Octopus

Adventures at the Greek Table

Christopher Bakken

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN:
  9780520275096
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520954465
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Art
• Subtopic: Culinary Arts

Combining the best of memoir, travel literature, and food writing, Christopher Bakken delves into one of the most underappreciated cuisines in Europe in this rollicking celebration of the Greek table. He explores the traditions and history behind eight elements of Greek cuisine—olives, bread, fish, cheese, beans, wine, meat, and honey—and journeys through the country searching for the best examples of each. He picks olives on Thasos, bakes bread on Crete, eats thyme honey from Kythira with one of Greece's greatest poets, and learns why Naxos is the best place for cheese in the Cyclades. Working with local cooks and artisans, he offers an intimate look at traditional village life, while honoring the conversations, friendships, and leisurely ceremonies of dining around which Hellenic culture has revolved for thousands of years. A hymn to slow food and to seasonal and sustainable cuisine, Honey, Olives, Octopus is a lyrical celebration of Greece, where such concepts have always been a simple part of living and eating well.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Subvention
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Illustrations
• Acknowledgments
• Prologue
• 1. Olives: The Throumbes of Thasos
• 2. Bread: The Prozymi of Kyria Konstandina
• 3. Fish: Tailing Barbounia
• 4. Cheese: The Stinky Cheeses of Naxos
• 5. Meat: Goats in the Ghost Towns of Chios
• 6. Beans: Chasing Chickpeas at Plati Yialós
• 7. Wine: Another Carafe at Prionia
• 8. Honey: The Thyme Honey of Aphrodite
• Epilogue: At the Still in the Hills
• Sources
• Index