Greek Customs + Preparation of Food
The many greek customs and beliefs are in their choices of beverages and the vegetarian side of food.
Drinks/Beverages
The Greeks have very strong beliefs relating to beverages and there is a specific way of preparing their many herbal infusions. Herbal infusions play a great role in Greek folk tales too. The traditional morning drink is a cup of warm mint infused with hot water, however there are many different infusions that greeks use regularly.
Diosmos-Spearmint – Diosmos-Spearmint is the Greek mint tea. To prepare it you bubbleone teaspoon of crumbled and dried mint for every cup of water. This is then left for 1-2 minutes before the leaves are strained out. This is a very precise art because if you leave the leaves in the water for any longer that the designated time the tea becomes bitter.
Hamomili-Camomile – Greeks believe that this infusion soothes the stomach, calms the nerves, and use it as a cleanser for eye infections. It is prepared much the same way as the mint tea by boiling one teaspoon per cup then straining.
Vanilia – this drink is unique to Greece alone and is a great treat for children. Unlike the tea this is served as a cold, refreshing drink. It is made by dipping a spoonful of either vanilla or sweet-almond sugar paste into a tall glass of ice cold water. The water causes the paste to soften and this perfumes and flavours the water.
Vegetarian Dishes
There are also many beliefs associated with vegetarian dishes of Greece. It was the famous greek philosopher Pythagoras that first prohibited the eating of all meat products. It was his belief that humans and animals were supposed to be one with each other. He proclaimed that a diet should be stabilised on raw fruit and vegetables as well as berries, grains, herbs and the most pure water.
Today, however, vegitarianism is not very common, as greece is the largest consumer of red meat . Fasting still is a common thing on the religious side of the greeks. Many still participate in the 40-day fasts before christmas and Easter and the 15-day fast before August 15th and its bann of meats of Fridays and Wednesdays continue throughout the rest of the year.
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