Today, you go to the store and buy a little container of olives. You can get them in all different shapes sizes colors, and more. You can buy them with pimentos in them or not. Many wonder how this food became such an important part of Greek culture and large part of their diet.

Ancient Greeks used olives as there main source of fat instead of meat from animal because they thought it was an unhealthy way of getting fat, since the barbarians (non Greeks) ate that way. In actuality, the barbarians ate meat and their products such as milk and cheese because they were nomadic and had no way of growing an olive tree or preparing olives if they saw any.

Preserving olives was possible because there was salt everywhere! Since Ancient Greece was a huge island basically, salt was easily accessible and allowed them to preserve olives with ease.

To preserve their olives, first ancient Greeks would gather them while they where not ripe. They left them in eater that they changed every 12 hours with water that contains wood ash and then again cleared the water. It might have taken a week. To decrease the time sometimes they would cut them with a knife. They, oil would come forth from the olives but this was just used to help preserve them. They were then kept in wine, vinegar, and salty water.

Olive oil was created to help preserve the olives. Olive oil was a great source of the Ancient people’s diet because it was their main source of fat. You might think that fish was a main source of their diet, but these things were very expensive so common people mainly just had olive oil. It is not as it is today where people eat a large variety of food no matter who they are. Ancient Greece was a very socially unequal place.

If you ever dip bread in olive oil, you are carrying out the actions of an aristocratic meal. In ancient times, common Greeks mostly ate porridge and not bread for carbohydrates. Bread was a lot of work to make and was not a common food among them.

Today, olives are eaten by anyone who has a few bucks and can walk or drive to a store. Not so in the days of past. Still, ancient Greeks still figured they could turn tiny strange spherical objects on a tree into a delicious and nutritious food for all of the Mediterranean.

Unbelievable Garden Tabouli

Ingredients (use vegan versions):

1 cup dry bulgur
juice from 4 lemons
2 large cloves garlic, finely minced
1 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon cumin
1 cup fresh packed mint leaves (Fresh is important), minced
freshly ground sea salt
1 large cucumber, seeded and finely chopped
1 large vine-ripe tomato, seeded and finely chopped
1 bunch of fresh parsley, stems removed, finely minced
3 or 4 scallions, thinly sliced
1 cup crumbled vegan feta cheese (optional) (see http://veganfeastkitchen.blogspot.com/2006/04/new-improved-quick-tofu-feta.html for recipe)

Directions:

Add bulgur to 1 cup of boiling water, and boil for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and let sit for 30 minutes.

After bulgur is soft but chewy, pour into bowl.

Add lemon juice, garlic, olive oil, cumin, mint leaves, and sea salt.

In a separate LARGE bowl (this will be your serving bowl so be sure and choose one that is large enough), combine cucumber, tomato, parsley, and scallions. Toss well.

Add bulgur mixture to vegetables. Toss well.

Add vegan feta cheese and toss well.

Serve immediately, or refrigerate for 1 hour to blend flavors and then serve chilled.

Serves: 4-6

Preparation time: 30-40 minutes

Food, for the Greeks, had all sorts of religious and philosophical meaning. The ancient Greeks, never ate meat unless it had been sacrificed to a god, or had been hunted in the wild. They believed that it was wrong to kill and eat a tame, domesticated animal without sacrificing it to the gods. Even with vegetables, many Greeks believed that particular foods were cleaner or dirtier, or that certain gods liked certain foods better than others. The Pythagoreans, for example, would not eat beans. But even if you were not a Pythagorean, the Greeks tended to think of the god Dionysos whenever they drank wine (which was often), and to think of Demeter and Persephone whenever they ate bread.

The Greeks ate mainly the Mediterranean triad, wheat (or barley or millet), wine, and olive oil. They also grew vegetables, especially legumes (lentils, beans, peas, chickpeas). Possibly they ate more fish than most other Mediterranean people. Also, because of their feelings about sacrificing meat, they may have eaten meat less than other people did.

Mavrodaphne, meaning black laurel, is mainly found in the Peloponnesean regions of Achaia and Ilia as well as the Ionian Islands. It is blended with the Korinthiaki grape to produce a delicious fortified dessert wine known as Mavrodaphne. It also yields very good results when blended with Refosco, Agiorghitico and Cabernet Sauvignon grapes.

The Mandelaria grape, rich in color, is also known as Amorgiano. It is mainly cultivated on the islands of Rhodes and Crete. Mandelaria participates in various Appellations of Origin usually with other grapes such as Monemvassia in Paros, Kotsifali in Crete or as a single variety on the island of Rhodes, producing distinctive red wines.

The predominant grape variety in Macedonia is a native red called Xinomavro, (meaning “acid-black”). The wines made from Xinomavro are known for their superb aging potential and their rich tannic character. Their complex aromas combine such red fruits as gooseberry with hints of olives, spices and dried tomatoes.

One of the most noble of the Greek red grapes, Agiorghitiko (meaning St.George’s) is grown mainly in the AOC region Nemea in the Peloponnese. It produces wines that stand out for their deep red color and remarkable aromatic complexity. Agiorghitiko’s soft tannins, in combination with its balanced acidity lead to the production of many different styles of wine, ranging from fresh aromatic reds to extraordinary aged reds. It also produces pleasant aromatic rosé wines.

An aromatic grape which leads to the production of excellent dessert wines and interesting dry whites. Fresh or aged, natural or fortified the dessert Muscat wines are ready to please even the most difficult wine enthuthiast. It is cultivated in many regions of Greece but is known to produce the best results and AOC wines in Samos, Patra and Rio of Patra. It also yields a small production of AOC Rhodes and Cephalonia wines.

A very interesting Mediterranean grape producing pleasant light wines with fruit and honey aromas. This grape is now found mainly on the island of Cephalonia where it usually blends well with the local Robola giving well structured wines.