Recent Episodes

 

Dwight Furrow, the author of American Foodie: Taste, Art, and the Cultural Revolution, talks about the philosophy of food. We discuss everything the impact of everything from automobile to Alice Waters to the Slow Food movement have shaped the way Americans think about food.
 
 
 
 

 

Inbal Baum, the Founder of Delicious Israel, joins us to talk about where foodies should eat when they travel to her country.

• Shakshouka is a popular dish in Israel
• Israeli Breakfast is a distinct and important meal
• The modern cherry tomato has roots in Israel
• Tel Aviv and Jerusalem top the list of cities you should visit
• Beach season runs from April to October
• Rosh Hashana is a great time to visit Israel
• When you visit Tel Aviv, go to the Carmel Market, the Levinsky Market
• Try the date syrup, Silan

 

 

Food for Thought

• Q: After pita bread, what is the most common food used to “wipe” humus?
• A: Raw onion.

 
 

Out of the Frying Pan

• Favorite Spot for Outdoor Dining: Milgo & Milbar
• Favorite Place to Buy Spices: Cafe Arma in Levinsky Market
• Herbs to Try: Za’atar and Hawaij (in Yemenite Coffee)
• Favorite Winery: Sphera
• Favorite Place for Dessert: The Malabia
• Favorite Food Experience for Kids: Max Brenner
• Chef to Watch: Eyal Shani
• Dish to Try at Different Places: Shakshouka and sabich

Bennet Jacobstein, author of The Joy of Ballpark Food: From Hot Dogs to Haute Cuisine, talks to us about what foodies can find at different baseball stadiums around the country.

• Hot dogs and sausages are not the same thing.
• The quality of ballpark food was elevated in the 90s as new stadiums were built and food television shows took off.
• Stadiums have highlighted regional foods.
• Gordon Biersch‘s founder Dan Gordon introduced garlic fries at Candlestick Park in 1994.
• The song “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” was written in 1908.
• The Yankees replaced Cracker Jacks at one point, but brought it back after a public outcry.
• 

  San Francisco Giant Gordon Biersch Garlic Fries

  Veggie Happy spearheaded the movement to get veggie dogs sold at ballpark stadiums.

• Andrew Zimmern has a stand in the Minnesota ballpark.
• Rocky Mountain Oysters are bull testicles.
• “The Big Six” are the food companies that service the major ballparks.
• As you go from ballpark to ballpark, try the hot dogs at each to see how they’re done differently.
• Proceeds from Bennett’s book go to Second Harvest Food Bank.

 

Food for Thought

• Q: In what year were Cracker Jacks first served at a baseball game?
• A: 1896 in Atlantic City.

 

Out of the Frying Pan

Here’s what Bennet recommends you try at each ballpark:

• Yankees Stadium in New York City: Chicken and Waffles.
• Fenway Park in Boston: Lobster Roll and a cuban sandwich.
• Wrigley Field in Chicago: Chicago-style hot dog with Vienna beef.
• Turner Field in Atlanta: Boiled peanuts.
• Marlins Park in Miami: Cuban dishes.
• Safeco Field in Seattle: The Ivar’s hot dog (with fish) and cream cheese hot dog.
• Nationals Park in Washington D.C.: A cauliflower hot dog and presidential cupcakes.
• 

  Chicago White Sox Chicago-Style Hot Dog

  Busch Stadium in St. Louis: The BBQ.

• Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles: Tommy Lasorda Spumoni ice cream.
• AT&T Park in San Francisco: Crab salad, lamb sausages, and Gordon Biersch garlic fries.

Try a Food Tour

Our walking food tour combines tasty food tasting, food history, politics, and culture.
It begins with a light breakfast and unforgettable Cretan beverage. Since Arabs, Jews, Venetians, Ottomans, Greeks from Asia Minor, and immigrants have passed through Chania, adding their flavors to the local cuisine, we will follow their trail. We will experience a multi-sensory food event and delectable delicacies from one-of-a-kind specialty food shops while enjoying the opportunity to better understand the culinary history of the city and how the locals eat.

Our walk ends with a dive into the distant past. We will visit the archaeological museum of Chania to view selected cooking vessels and to experience them more in depth as one would taste exquisite old wine. We will then visit either a ceramic workshop, where we will have a chance to enjoy a short lesson in ancient cooking or a local taverna and we will be treated to home-baked bread, made according to ancient baking method- and other fine delicacies of historic Cretan gastronomy.

More in this Country

This is the first of a three-part series on Greek cuisine by Christopher Bakken, author of Honey, Olives, Octopus: Adventures at the Greek Table.
 

Mesimeriano

In Greece, the most important meal of the day—and usually the most exciting—is the mid-day meal, the mesimeriano.   While it’s possible to translate mesimeriano as “lunch,” that doesn’t begin to get at the concept.  Americans usually treat “lunch” as the sober and utilitarian half hour with which they break up their work-day.  The Greek mesimeriano, on the other hand, rarely begins before two in the afternoon and often lasts for many, many hours. Mezedes, the appetizer-sized plates of Greece, are ordered in abundance and shared around the table.  This occasion for drinking and dining is treated as a ritualized occasion for pleasure, sustained conversation, relaxation and, if the mood strikes, singing.  What follows the mesimeriano is usually not a return to work, but a long, satisfying snooze somewhere in the shade or by the sea.  Most Greek businesses re-open from six to nine at night, once everyone re-emerges from the siesta and returns to waking life.
 
The menu of the mesimeriano depends, in part, on the beverage of choice.  Beer and wine are fine choices (though wine-drinking always feels like a nighttime sport to me), but afternoons in Greece are more typically lit with the brightness of spirits distilled from the grape—ouzo, tsipouro, and raki–as well as the salty, spicy, and fortifying dishes specifically designed to be consumed along with them.
 
I just returned from seven weeks of travel in Greece and I enjoyed the mesimeriano almost every day.  Some were easier to recover from than others: a few mesimeriana didn’t end until it was time to begin thinking about dinner.  Although every mesimeriano felt like an event to be remembered, I’ve limited myself to describing just three of these meals, as an excuse to recommend the restaurants where they happened.
 

RELATED: Sample Christopher Bakken’s Book on Greek Cuisine

 
 

My first Mesimeriano, Heraklion, Crete:  Mezedadiko Peninta/Peninta

Odos 1866, ap. 20.  Heraklion.  Tel: (011 30) 2810 286220
 
Greece’s national drink, ouzo (and also tsipouro—see below), is spiked with anise, is typically diluted with water and ice, and is meant to be sipped.  Ouzo is sweet and fiery and one goes to a place called an ouzeri to sip ouzo and share mezedes.On Crete, however, you drink raki.  Like ouzo, raki is distilled from the by-products of wine making, but this grappa-like rocket-fuel has no anise (confusingly, if you order raki in Turkey, you get something much closer to ouzo).  On Crete, it is poured from chilled carafes into tiny shot glasses and is meant to be downed in one gulp.  The best raki is smooth and clean as glass: the quintessence of the grape.  Since it is lower in alcohol than ouzo, it’s not unreasonable to throw back a dozen or more shots over the course of a meal.
 
The day I wandered into Peninta/Peninta (i.e. “50/50”), I had no intentions of touching the stuff. I’d just arrived on the island that morning, having taken the overnight ship from Piraeus to Crete. My legs were still rubbery from the crossing and my head swam a little, so drinking didn’t seem like a great idea. But I was hungry, which is how I wound up in Heraklion’s central market.
 
As with most Greek cities, some of the best meals are found right in the marketplace, where vegetables, fish, and meat are being peddled just steps from your table. While I was disappointed to see that the Heraklion market had been invaded by tourist shops (all of them selling the same, mass-produced Chinese garbage), I was stunned by the quality of my lunch at Peninta/Peninta.
 
I sat against the restaurant’s back wall, where I found a table bathed in sunshine.   Within moments—before I’d had a chance to order a more sensible beverage—one of the waiters arrived at my table with a “tablecloth” square of butcher paper, a frozen carafe of raki, a thimble-sized glass, and a bowl of tiny Cretan olives.  Seconds later he returned with a small bag of bread.  No, he brought me a small bag of perfect bread—some pieces brown, some white, and some flecked with barley.  All had been made with a wild yeast starter and hailed from the nearby “Touli” bakery, which has kept Heraklion in excellent bread since 1865.  Helpless before these opening salvos of hospitality, I filled my glass with raki and tilted it back, my face to the sun.
 
I don’t really remember ordering about a half hour later, but I ordered perfectly, assembling the essential elements of the Cretan diet before me: grain, greens, fish, and olive oil.  The best organic olive oil in Greece comes from Crete and a bottle of it was there on the table.  It was golden and scratchy and had been pressed from green fruit: perfect with the bread.
 

RELATED: The Top 5 Dishes Travelers Should Eat in Crete

 

To accompany raki, you want something salty, so I ordered a plate of gavros marinatos, fresh anchovy filets lightly salted and marinated in vinegar, sweet onions, tomatoes, and parsley.  For my salad, I got lucky.  Cretans are excellent foragers and they eat a hundred kinds of horta, or wild greens.  But the season for each green is short, since the summer heat demolishes most of the delicate mountain greens.  But they still had stamnagathi on the menu and I was quick to order a plate.  Stamnagathi is a kind of spiny chickory with dark green, crunchy, serrated leaves.  The greens had been trimmed of their root ends and were tossed in lots of that scratchy oil and some coarse sea salt.  A lemon wedge woke them up and I inhaled the whole plate before the sun could wilt even one leaf.
 
When I finished my first carafe of raki and the waiter replaced it, I considered ordering more food.  The menu at Peninta/Peninta offered many other temptations: snails sautéed with rosemary and vinegar; apaki–a smoked pork loin famous in Crete; local sausages lit with garlic; and a nice selection of cheeses.  But I’d eaten right and there was always the possibility of dinner.  When I left the restaurant an hour later my lips were glistening with oil, my land-legs had returned, and my brains were effervescent.

 

This is the first of a three-part series.
 

This is the second of a three-part series on Greek cuisine by Christopher Bakken, author of Honey, Olives, Octopus: Adventures at the Greek Table. View part 1 here.
 

Volos, Greece: Tsipouradiko Dionysis

Argonoton 3, Volos, Greece.  Tel: (011 30) 24210 22205
 
The drive from Athens to Thessaloniki takes one through the heart of Thessaly—the bread-basket of Greece, with its wide and fertile plains.  Thanks to the superhighway now connecting Greece’s two largest cities, you can complete the whole journey in around six hours, though I heartily recommend breaking the trip in half with a stop in Volos, a lovely port city with an underappreciated culinary reputation.  Very appealing, busy restaurants line the harbor front.
 
My favorite of these is the always impeccable Tsipouradiko Dionysis, where you can dine just feet away from the water and watch the sailboats and fishing caiques bob up and down in their narrow slips.  Poetically, the restaurant is located on “Argonoton,” or Argounat Street.  Indeed, once upon a time, Jason and his men, the Argonauts, sailed from ancient Volos in search of the Golden Fleece.
 
Since 1956, Tsipouradiko Dionysis has specialized in the ritual of the “tsipouro meze” as it is practiced in Volos.  Tsipouro is the home-made ouzo of Thessaly and northern Greece.  It is somewhat higher in alcohol than Cretan raki and is usually made with anise and other botanicals.  In Volos, your tsipouro arrives in tiny bottles (each holds a single shot) and your mesimeriano is not over until your table is littered with them.  The tradition in Volos is to order nothing but tsipouro.  A meze (singular) automatically arrives to accompany each miniature bottle you order and the mezedes (plural) become more complicated, satisfying and delicious the more bottles you order.
 

RELATED: Top Five Dishes Travelers Should Eat in Crete

 

It was a pity that I arrived at Dionysis alone when I ate there in June, because I would have liked to try everything on their menu.  I was fed beautifully nevertheless.  Alongside my first tiny bottle of tsipouro came a plate of pickled vegetables (peppers, carrots, and cauliflower) and a smear of their patatasalata (potato salad): bright yellow potatoes mashed with carrot, lemon, and parsley.  With the second bottle arrived a plate of lightly grilled pleurotus (oyster) mushrooms, drizzled with good oil.  Then, a salad of boiled beets and their greens tossed with garlic and oil.
 
I should have stopped there, since it’s easy to make a completely satisfying vegetarian meal out of mezes.  But when a plate of grilled octopus passed by en route to another table I decided to order a third little tsipouro. The octopus leg that came with it had been boiled until very, very tender and then kissed with some fire and sliced on the bias before it received a splash of simple red vinegar and parsley.  Octopus and tsipouro are made for one another: the anise in the spirit is a perfect foil for the wisps of smoke and char and the rich marine flesh.
 
By that point, my culinary enthusiasm was obvious and I struck up a conversation with the waiter about the kinds of fish being pulled into the Volos harbor that week.  When he mentioned that they’d just received a lovely bunch of koutsoumoura from off the Pelion Peninsula, I swooned.  Koutsoumoura are the smaller cousins of barbounia, or red mullet, and I am obsessed with both fish in the summertime.  Both fish turn bright red when they are fried and their flesh is as sweet as lobster.
 

RELATED: Sample Christopher Bakken’s Book on Greek Cuisine

 
By that point I had asked for the bill, expecting the restaurant would offer me a parting gift of fresh fruit or a little something sweet.  Instead, the waiter returned with one more little bottle of tsipouro (“our gift,” he said with a wink) and a few perfectly crisp koutsoumoura on a plate.  I doused them with lemon and ate every bite of that dessert, from head to tail.
 

 
This is part two of three. View part 1 here.

Greece in general and Crete in particular are very much a food culture. Our lives greatest moments, whether good or bad, whether joyful or with sorrow, are very much linked or accompanied with food. The otherwise typical question: “what did you eat today?” is not one with dialogical curiosity, but rather one that aims in sharing an important event of the day. The answer that follows is not given with a simple verbal answer, but rather with a series of non-verbal cues such as the rubbing of your belly, the shake of the hand as an exclamation mark, or even the sour expression of the face in order to underline the pleasure, or disappointment that came along with its consumption.
 
Greek people see food as a partner, as medicine, as indicator of knowledge, prosperity or even ability and talent. Every mother is chef with a specialty and a group of friends always knows whose mother cooks what the best. Among the several regional cuisines of Greece, there has been a lot of conversation recently about Cretan cuisine, its health benefits, rich and vivid flavors and simplicity of execution.
 
But not many visitors are aware though that Crete is a culinary heaven for vegetarians. Culinary traditions and typical Cretan flavors are developed around mountain flavors. Despite the fact that Crete is an island, historical and cultural events, have affected the development of local flavors in simple, mountainous, seasonal flavors with the presence of meat kept to the minimal. Besides animals were mostly used for work, or their by products such as milk, wool and so on.
 
Thus meat consumption was a three times a month (mostly Sundays) event. So in case you are Taste Trekking on the island here is a list of suggestions that will catch you by surprise for their simplicity yet richness of flavors. An important note to keep in mind is that these types of dishes are not served in special Vegetarian restaurants. They are available depending on the season almost in every restaurant you will be Taste-Trekking.
 

1. Golden Thistle With Artichokes (Askolibri me Agginares)

The Latin name for Golden Thistle is Scolymus Hispanicus and it is a very important nutritious source of organic acids, metals and vitamins. In Crete it is a very popular dish as it combines together with artichokes. Cleaned from its thorns it is simply put for boil with the artichokes.
 
It is served together with the addition of extra virgin olive oil, lemon and salt. For those vegetarians eating eggs, its preparation with the addition of an egg lemon sauce (avgolemono) will make it simply divine. In either case this is a flavorful, saucy, rich dish oozing health and nature!
 

2. Stamnagathi with Feta and Tomatoes

Chicorium Spinosum is the scientific name, but Stamnagathi is how you will find it in Crete. This very interesting wild green grows on hills which are not far from the sea and as the Latin name might imply it is some sort (but not really) of chicory. Some argue it is a great product against liver or kidney problems. All we say with certainty is that if you boil it a little, and then throw it on a hot pan with the addition of tomatoes (or cherry tomatoes), feta cheese and olive oil the result is simply phenomenal.
 
Stamnagathi has a natural slight bitter flavor so the addition of tomatoes and feta balance it out. You will often find it simply boiled or even raw in salads. Regardless do not hesitate to try it. Nowadays it is available in almost every restaurant or similar culinary corner of the island.
 

3. Chickpeas- Revithia

It is undeniable that this particular type of pulse is popular on other parts of the world. However in Crete it is prepared in several different ways which will definitely will not disappoint neither vegans nor vegetarians. Chickpeas have been eaten in Crete for millennia.
 
Even today, on summer months, you can find people selling semi-dried branches with the chickpeas still attached on them. You only need to cut and eat them. But if you are not up for the all natural tasting then surely you will appreciate the flavors that come as chickpeas combine with a lemon and flour sauce either oven baked, or, casserole.
 
If you are afraid the flour might feel a little heavy then go for the tomato sauce. Regardless of what you pick a good revithada will definitely make you content and pay off as a delicious alternative of protein source.
 

4. Stuffed Tomatoes (Gemista)

Tomatoes during summer are on their peak. They are juicy and flavorful with great aroma. Stuffing tomatoes with different vegetables and rice is a common practice in Greece. In Crete however they use to stuff them with barley. This alteration gives a more intense and rich flavor which brings the characteristics of each vegetable added in the mix in a nice balance.
 
Zucchinis, onions, egg plants, carrots, but also, peppermint, dill and parsley combine with barley to elevate flavors and bring summer on your plate. Eaten as both cold and warm dish the ideal companion is a scoop of Greek yogurt. Important to note is that you can find Gemista with other vegetables also such as eggplant, zucchinis and red or green peppers.
 

5. Broad Beans Pure (Koukofava)

Broad beans, or Koykia as known in Greece belongs to the family of pulses and it is a product prepared in various different ways. Most common and amongst the favorite ways of preparing koukia in Crete is boiled then mashed, served with onion, parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper. This dish is called koukofava and it is served on the island for centuries.
 
Simplicity of cooking meets purity of products in a dish that every flavor is clear and straight forward. Bear in mind that in Crete it is not advised to combine this product with any type of cheese. It is believed there is some connection with the lack of enzyme (G-6-PD) responsible for the processing certain carbohydrates into energy. If you know you are good to go then do not miss the chance to try this recipe. Simple food, simple executions, incredible flavors.
 

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About Georgios Maltezakis

Georgios Maltezakis works as a Sales and Operations Manager for Cretan Paths Alternative Tourism. He is also specializing on culinary tourism programs. He has publications in colaboration with proufound academics on food matters, such as Ken Albala, as well as, culinary tourism specialists like Erik Wolf. Finally he is one of the Ambassadors of the World Food Travel Association in Greece.