Traveling is one of the pleasures of life. Whether you go for work or vacations, it is always an opportunity to know different cultures, traditions, and most important to eat new and exotic food.
When you travel abroad, besides all the adventures you may live, and the pictures you may take, you will also get a vast range of culinary experiences. Traveling is a complete adventure, it is the chance for trying new activities, and tasting meals you have never thought of eating.
Undoubtedly, the most exciting part of traveling is discovering new flavors. It is the best way of knowing a country since in a simple dish you can experience a foreign country’s culture, history, and traditions.
For example, if you visit the Dominican Republic, you will taste multicultural dishes combining local flavors with the ingredients brought by the colonizers. All their meals are a mixture of native ingredients like fruits and tubers with meats and herbs from Spanish conquerors; and bananas and yams brought by African slaves.
If your destination is one of the Greek Islands, you will find a strong Ottoman influence in their dishes. Most meals include olives, feta cheese, vegetables, lamb, fish, wine, and fragrant herbs.
All Mediterranean flavors in Greek meals
Most people know a bit about international cuisine. In your country, there must be several versions of international dishes. Thus, you might think you know and have eaten almost every popular international dish at home.
But, when you travel, you realize you are wrong. The typical dishes eaten in their origin country will surprise you by giving the real taste of their foods. In some cases, you can discover flavors and combinations you would never imagine. Furthermore, by tasting new flavors, you will surely get a wider range of new culinary ideas to try at home.
General knowledge of Greek cuisine refers to fresh and savory dishes based on olives, feta cheese, vegetables, and herbs.
Most popular dishes include:
- Moussaka: minced beef cooked in tomato sauce and put into eggplants and white sauce.
- Souvlaki (Gyros): Roasted meat with onion, lettuce, potato chips, and tomatoes.
- Choriatiki: It is the typical Greek salad made of tomatoes, cucumber, olives, feta cheese, and dressings.
Besides, try the most famous Greek dishes, give a chance to their desserts and be gladly surprised by their exotic flavors.
Trying Greek desserts
Sugary dishes are less familiar, but they are equally delicious. Baklava is the most known Greek dessert. It consists of layers of filo pastry flavored with butter and filled with nuts, sugar, and spices.
You will also find Melomakarona, Diples, Bougatsa, and Rizogalo.
- Melomakarona: They are egg-shaped cookies made of flour, olive oil, orange zest, cinnamon, and honey. They are cooked at Christmas time.
- Diples or thiples: Thin strips of dough folded and then fried. They are drizzled with honey, cinnamon and served during New Year’s eve.
- Bougatsa: Usually eaten as a snack or breakfast, it is a crisp filo pastry with custard filling. It has a salty version with meat.
- Rizogalo: Despite its weird name, its translation is: Rizi refers to rice, and Gala means milk. So, it is the Greek version of rice pudding. It is a sweet dessert usually eaten warm at dinner. This variation is creamy and dense flavored with cinnamon.
Once you try one, or all, of them in Greece, you won’t forget how delicious they tasted. Surely, you will try to replicate them at home. So, be sure to ask local people their cooking secrets and take all the experience back to your country.
With all the tips and the extra help of the web, you will cook any of these delicious desserts. To start, try the well-known and easiest sugary dish: Rice pudding.
You can refresh your memory and perfect your recipe by checking How to Make the Perfect Rice Pudding | Carolina® Rice and sharing the newly discovered Greek flavors.Visiting foreign countries is an unforgivable adventure. Living this experience to the fullest implies understanding its history and culture. There is not a better way of doing this but by their traditional dishes. When returning home, you will have a new knowledge of authentic flavors that you can share with your family.
