The Quilt Inn Country Cookbook

Aliske Webb

It’s All Greek To Me

One of our favorite quotes from the movie Zorba the Greek goes, “What I eat I

turn into work and good humor.” Whether it’s in song, dance or food, Greeks love to

share the joyful spirit. This would be called a joie de vivre but of course that’s an

entirely different language, so instead. that phrase having already been taken, it’s

called philoxenia.

A friend from the old neighborhood, where we lived before the Quilt Inn days,

came by to stay with us. George Spirodopolous brought Christina, his wife, and little

Georgio (who was at this time, five years older, a foot and a half taller and more

worried about girls since we had last seen him!) It wasn’t long before they had

commandeered the Inn kitchen, and several volunteers, to prepare some Greek

specialties for our lucky guests.

The emphasis of Greek food is simple preparation and wholesome ingredients

which make it perfect “country cooking” for The Quilt Inn. And, it is relatively unchanged

since Archestratus wrote the very first cookbook over 2000 years ago. Unfortunately,

it was not a best seller. Since every recipe had to be chiselled on pieces of slate,

(

“carved in stone” we refer to it today), the book not only took many decades to

complete but weighed more than the average Greek cupboard could hold. Can you

imagine checking it out of the Romus Librarius? “Two days overdue, eh, Spiros? Get

your hernia fixed—you have a date with the lions!”)

Two things we discovered about Greek food from George and his family. First,

much of the food is prepared with olive oil, which in today’s health conscious eating is

very good because it holds cholesterol levels down. Second, the food keeps extremely

well, not only providing great leftovers but often tasting better the second time around.

Legend has it that Greek food is so aromatically delicious that one can swoon

in ecstasy. Me, I thought it was the amount of garlic in many dishes!

So, George, Christina, and little Georgio wish you bon appetit...no,no, there we

go again...they wish you Kali Orexi!

Published by Bookmice.com

Country Cooking