Summer holidays are upon us, I recently combined a city break to Athens with a relaxing beach holiday to the island of Aegina. As always food played a major role in the trip, I always try to ‘eat like a local’ and come back inspired by new culinary ideas.
Aegina is one of the Saronic Islands, an archipelago very close to Athen’s port of Piraeus, it took only half an hour by ferry to reach. It is small but mountainous with countless coves and beaches, it’s famous for pistachio orchards which produce a variety unique to Aegina, they have a red tinge to them and a delicious rich and slightly sweet flavour.
Close to Aegina is the island of Crete which is home to the original ‘Mediterranean Diet’ still considered to be the healthiest style of eating with a wealth of evidence to support it (Samieri et al., 2013). I had high hopes for the food on this trip and was not disappointed, here is a summary of what inspired me.
Breakfast: at it’s most simple – yogurt with walnuts which was amazingly tasty and surprisingly kept hunger at bay all morning. I loved the Athens version of Avocado and eggs; the addition of rye bread and seeds sprinkled on top of the avocado not only upped the nutrient content but also the taste.
Drinks: It was too hot for hot drinks, so iced coffee was welcomed along with a sprinkling of cinnamon. Another nice option was lemon and ginger iced tea with a big bunch of mint, flavoursome and refreshing.
Dips: Classic Tzatziki was everywhere (creamy yogurt, shredded cucumber and garlic are the main constituents), it is a great starter as light and tasty with the added bonus of starting your meal with a dose of probiotics to enhance digestion (Gómez-Gallego et al., 2018). Another interesting dip was made with fava beans, served here with a topping of caramelized onions, fibre rich and delicious.
Salads: The classic Greek salad is unbeatable in my opinion, the combination of crisp cucumber and onion, the tastiest tomatoes, olives topped with a big slab of creamy, salty feta is something I could eat every day…..and did. Vegetables were commonly used as an aperitif like in other European countries, I particularly liked this combination of julienned vegetables, sundried tomatoes and nuts sprinkled with olive oil and capers, simple and delicious.
Main meals: Lots of fresh fish grilled simply with lemon, seafood combined with pasta such as spaghetti and orzo and grilled meat skewers, seasoned well, cooked over charcoal and served with lemon to drizzle over, a plate of salad and yogurt dip. Fresh, simply cooked, good quality ingredients are often all it takes to produce a fantastic meal that ticks all the boxes.
Dessert: Greek menus weren’t big on dessert, we were most often given ice cold watermelon at the end of the meal and on one occasion a couple of mini-ice lollies, all on the house and much appreciated. Sometimes all you need at the end of a meal is a small amount of sweetness and if that’s in the form of a piece of luscious fruit then so much the better, a perfect end to a meal.
The take home messages from my Greek food experience was to incorporate more yogurt in a variety of sweet and savoury dishes, use garlic and balanced seasoning to enhance simple dishes such as dips, vegetables and grilled meat and fish, a dash of lemon, crushed nuts and copious amount of good quality olive oil all enhance flavour and without knowing it you are enjoying the healthiest food on the planet!
References
Gómez-Gallego, C., Gueimonde, M., & Salminen, S. (2018). The role of yogurt in food-based dietary guidelines. Nutr Rev, 76(Suppl 1), 29-39. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuy059
Samieri, C., Sun, Q., Townsend, M. K., Chiuve, S. E., Okereke, O. I., Willett, W. C.,…Grodstein, F. (2013). The association between dietary patterns at midlife and health in aging: an observational study. Ann Intern Med, 159(9), 584-591. https://doi.org/10.7326/0003-4819-159-9-201311050-00004
MLT Nutrition 