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Title: The Glorious Foods of Greece: Traditional Recipes from Islands, Cities, and Villages by Diane Kochilas ISBN: 0-688-15457-3 Publisher: Morrow Cookbooks Pub. Date: 10 April, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $40.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.79 (14 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Delicious recipes, fascinating text. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!
Comment: This is a very exciting book, and I highly recommend it. Instead of the same old standard Greek recipes that you get in every other Greek cookbook, Ms. Kochilas has found interesting, traditional recipes, based on the way people really eat in Greece. This is a break-though book, and shows that Greek food can be more than a stereotype. The Italians broke out of their spaghetti and red sauce food ghetto years ago, it is well past time for the Greeks to do the same. I am astounded by the cricism given this book by other reviewers, particularly when it seems to be based on the author's failure to live up to some people's stereotypes of what Greek food ought to be. But oh, the recipes she includes are grand. For example, grape leaves with winter squash stuffing or grape leaves with eggplant stuffing -- both are fabulous and welcome breaks from the classic (and wonderful) grape leaves stuffed with meat or rice. Don't get me wrong, I love traditional (stereotypical Greek food). But it is so refreshing to see in print the wonderful variety that makes up Greek cuisine. I only wish I were a better writer so that I could give this book the full credit it deserves. It is well worth the price.
Rating: 5
Summary: More than just a cookbook
Comment: This is a cookbook original in both form and content. In form, the recipes are compiled by geographical region rather than by food category. In content, the book illustrates the provincial variations in Greek cooking related to differences in the local history, climate, and economy.
Each chapter begins by introducing the reader to a region. The Author describes the region's geography and climate, its history, its people, and how these factors have shaped local culinary traditions. Included at the end of each chapter, are a few selected recipes which are characteristic of the provincial cuisine.
The Author travelled to every corner of Greece collecting recipes from the local people region by region. The recipes come from people in all walks of life - restaurant cooks as well as housewives, rich as well as poor, the educated and the illiterate, the farmer and the city dweller.
This cookbook is not a re-hash of traditional dishes. I mean, does the world really need another published recipe for basic spanakopita? If that is what you are looking for, then this book may not be for you. Obviously, this Author's work is more than just a cookbook. It is well researched, creative, modern and traditional at the same time, and a tribute to the Motherland, her people and culture. As always, Kali Orexi.
Rating: 5
Summary: Major Contribution to Knowledge of World Food. Outstanding
Comment: Diane Kochilas stands in the first rank of food writers specializing in Mediterranean cuisine, along with Mediterranean generalists Paula Wolfert, Nancy Harmon Jenkins, Claudia Roden, Clifford Wright, and Joyce Goldstein; Spanish specialist Penelope Casas; Italian specialists Marcella Hazan, Giuliano Bugialli, and Lydia Bastianich; and fellow Greek specialist Agliaia Kremezi. This is Ms. Kochilas' third book on Greek food and I apologize to the author if I slight the first two in my praise of this volume, as I have not yet read or reviewed them.
Considering food writing as a whole, not just the Mediterranean, this is easily one of the best essays of a country's cuisine I have seen. The only volume which I have read and reviewed which may be better is Diana Kennedy's 'From My Mexican Kitchen', although the two books take a different route to excellence.
The very first impression is the design of the cover, typeface, and book layout that sets the stage for the feeling that this is an important book. It has the kind of restrained design I typically attribute to cookbooks published by Knopf, but which other publishers have done well. The next impression is that Ms. Kochilas has done everything that I missed from Ms. Kremezi's recent book 'The Foods of the Greek Islands'. While the latter volume did a good job on recipes, it did not dedicate itself to informing it's readers in a clear, lucid manner on what it was which distinguished the cuisines of the Greek Islands from one another, from the mainland, and from the Mediterranean in general. Ms. Kochilas does this with skill and insight. The first sign of this serious analysis of her subject is the superior map of Greece with the various island groups identified and icons representing major food product sources placed on the map. This is an easy attention to detail. The next aspect is the organization of the book into the various geographic regions. These are The Peloponnesos, The Ionian Islands, Roumeli, Epirus, Thessaly, Macedonia and Thrace, The Islands of the Northeastern Aegean, The Cyclades, The Dodecanese, Crete, and Athens. As Ms. Kremezi mentions in her book but does not detail with any analytical understanding, there are significant differences between, for example, the relatively poor Dodecanese and the agriculturally rich islands of the northeastern Aegean such as Lesbos.
Ms. Kochilas has artfully combined the analytical insight and presentation of Nancy Harmon Jenkins with the deft personal warmth of Paula Wolfert in discussing her sources of specific recipes. The only adverse effect of Ms. Kochilas' approach is that the book may not fit some readers' expectations to find a volume with the approach of Julia Child, which is heavy on culinary wisdom and recipe and light on exposition. Ms. Kochilas addresses this concern when she says that this volume may not cover many of the architypical Greek dishes, as she has already presented them in one of her two earlier volumes. When references to classics such as moussaka are appropriate, she even gives references to her earlier works if you are looking for that recipe. Another compliment to this book is Ms. Kochilas most recent book on Mezes that is lighter on the analytical approach and heavy on great recipes for these tasty bites.
The other side of the coin is that by not spending a lot of space on well-known classics, Ms. Kochilas and her editors have made space for more recipes on pastries and breads, one of my favorite topics. I have made several of the breads in the book and have found them uniformly excellent. One should also not get the impression from my comparison to Julia Child's works that this book is all exposition and no cooking. The opposite is true. The final chapter on the basics of Greek cooking gives great insights into some of the most important skills in the Greek kitchen. In keeping with a concentration on pastry and baking, this section opens with two different recipes for Phyllo. The first is a traditional homemade dough and the second is a recipe for the style of phyllo made in Macedonia. For the purists, there are even variations to the basic recipe given for the Ionian islands, Roumeli, Afrato, and Epirus.
One of the most interesting discoveries in this final chapter is the story of trahana. To my novice eye, it is a pasta with some similarities to couscous and some similarities to gnocchi. Ms. Kochilas greatly expands Paula Wolfert's brief discussions of the subject with several recipes in the geographical chapters to round out her fascinating summary discussion. I am especially grateful for the paragraph on grating tomatoes. Other books on Greek cuisine give brief descriptions, but Ms. Kochilas tells us enough to give us confidence that this improbable technique actually works.
I have only touched the surface of the great richness in this book. I can hope to whet your appetite for more by quoting from the chapter on Crete where the author
'had come to witness this yearly winter ritual (brewing raki, similar to grappa, from the residuals of the local wine grapes) as well as other things in Crete, from the island's mythic, heart-saving diet, exemplar of simplicity and variety, to its seemingly limitless flora - over half the twelve thousand indigenous plants in Europe are found on Minos's island. ... The island is at the crossroads of Europe, Africa and Asia, the real and mythic cradle of the Mediterranean'.
Exciting words for someone who thrilled to tales of Hercules, Theseus, and Achilles as a boy.
Highly recommended addition to any culinary library, especially for those interested in regional cuisines.
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Title: Meze : Small Plates to Savor and Share from the Mediterranean Table by Diane Kochilas ISBN: 0688175112 Publisher: Morrow Cookbooks Pub. Date: 03 June, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Foods of the Greek Islands: Cooking and Culture at the Crossroads of the Mediterranean by Aglaia Kremezi, Jim Botsacos ISBN: 0395982111 Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Company Pub. Date: 01 November, 2000 List Price(USD): $37.50 |
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Title: Greek Vegetarian: More Than 100 Recipes Inspired by the Traditional Dishes and Flavors of Greece by Diane Kochilas ISBN: 0312200765 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 07 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $17.95 |
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Title: The Complete Book of Greek Cooking by St. Paul's Greek Orthodox Church ISBN: 0060921293 Publisher: Quill Pub. Date: 05 June, 1991 List Price(USD): $21.95 |
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Title: The Foods of Greece by Aglaia Kremezi, Martin Brigdale ISBN: 1556709560 Publisher: Stuart, Tabori and Chang Pub. Date: 03 August, 1999 List Price(USD): $30.00 |
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