Culturally speaking is Greece more European or Middle Eastern?
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Greek cuisine and music have Byzantine origins. Some of the culinary delicacies found in today's Near Eastern cultures(Arabic, Turkish etc..) have Byzantine roots, which in turn go back to Roman and possibly Ancient Greek times.
"Many scholars state that Byzantine koptoplakous and plakountas tetyromenous are the ancestors of modern 'baklava and tiropita' (börek)(cheese-pie) respectively. Both variants descended from the ancient Roman Placenta cake."
Of course, the ancient Hellenistic empire that became the Eastern Roman empire that lasted until 1470.
Greece is Eastern Med in cultural influences, north, south and eastern sides of the Med. However "looks" towards Europe, and especially Britain.
There's no such a thing as "eastern med" and if there's, it would include countries like Syria turkey Lebanon Egypt etc with which i don't think we are really related. We hardly are related to Israelis
We are partially "west med" European like iberia Italy and Malta, and partially southeast European. If you disagree with anything above, you can tell us the reason
Also ,why do you think we look towards Britain? That may applies for Cyprus, but i can't see how it applies for Greece.
Maybe it's my impression, but i see the pattern of "Europe= Germanics, Baltics and French" being repeated once again
Greek food certainly has much in common with Turkish, Lebanese etc cuisines. Many of the surviving Thessaloniki jews and Jewish communities that lived elsewhere in Greece before WWII are now Israelis so I'd say there is a strong link there also.
Greek food certainly has much in common with Turkish, Lebanese etc cuisines. Many of the surviving Thessaloniki jews and Jewish communities that lived elsewhere in Greece before WWII are now Israelis so I'd say there is a strong link there also.
What exactly do our food has in common with the above? And how is "European food" defined? Because 90% of homemade dishes that you will eat in Greece exist in all southern European countries. Streetfood is a different case
I am abviously not asking about food of Greek communities in Egypt, turkey Syria etc which were settled in Greece 100-50 years ago, for which there's a detailed answer in post 36:
Are you seriously saying that the food in Turkish cities just across the water has absolutely nothing in common with Greek cuisine and is so different that it has nothing more on common with Greek food than Japanese food or Indian food or Brazilian food?
I think it is pretty obvious that there are big similarities between cuisines and even individual products/dishes in countries all around the Mediterranean, and even more so around the Eastern Mediterranean.
It would be very strange indeed if those countries so close to each other with such shared history did not share a lot in terms of the products and dishes they eat.
Are you seriously saying that the food in Turkish cities just across the water has absolutely nothing in common with Greek cuisine and is so different that it has nothing more on common with Greek food than Japanese food or Indian food or Brazilian food?
I think it is pretty obvious that there are big similarities between cuisines and even individual products/dishes in countries all around the Mediterranean, and even more so around the Eastern Mediterranean.
It would be very strange indeed if those countries so close to each other with such shared history did not share a lot in terms of the products and dishes they eat.
First of all i didn't "respond", as you can see i rather asked
When i think of near eastern food, i think of dishes like falafel, lachmatzun and several kinds of kebab. All of them as far as i know do not exist in homemade Greek cuisine
Talking about homemade Greek cuisine, as you can understand i am a Greek myself, therefore there's nothing to "suppose" about it, i know every single detail about every group living here and its cuisine.
And no, i don't think that our cuisine has nothing in common with near eastern, or that it has more in common with Japanese or Brazilian. Of course it has things in common with near eastern
What i know is that homemade Greek cuisine is closer to western mediterranean than to eastern mediterranean, meanwhile streetfood, was directly introduced to Greece in 1930s by Greek communities from the near east that returned to Greece, and it's pure near eastern. Do you want examples or you think you already know everything better than a native?
What exactly do our food has in common with the above? And how is "European food" defined? Because 90% of homemade dishes that you will eat in Greece exist in all southern European countries. Streetfood is a different case
I am abviously not asking about food of Greek communities in Egypt, turkey Syria etc which were settled in Greece 100-50 years ago, for which there's a detailed answer in post 36:
Giannis, I was interested in the native noodle dishes of Fourni, my wife's home island. I asked her mother and she said growing up they had dried orzo noodles(minestra) and dried spaghetti. Both were used like rice, a side dish with some homemade cheese and tomato when available.
My MIL's mother (now in her 90s and still living on the island) did once make fresh egg noodles though. Flour, eggs, oil. She would dry the noodles, then add them to dishes, like soups and stews over about a week before making a new batch. She said the noodles were good.
Greece is mostly mediterranean Europe. Sure it is not Czech Republic, but if you consider it middle eastern, then you might as well say that Belarus is Central Asia.
What do you mean by the last part?
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