GREEK DIET AND

LOCAL FOOD

The Mediterranean food pyramid

It shows what food we should eat so as to be healthy and how often we should eat this kind food. In Greece, we grow all this kind of food.

The food on the base of the pyramid is the food we should eat every day.

The diet in the island of Crete is the best food food for health and a long life. It is based on oil.

The products of our place

• Oil-olives• Fruit• Vegetables• Dairy products (milk-

cheese etc.) • Corn• Honey• Herbs-plants• Nuts• Wine

The history of the olive tree

• According to the myth, the olive is the gift of Goddess Athena to the residents of Athens as they chose her as the protector of their city and they did not accept the gift of God Poseidon, the water.

The importance of olive in ancient times

The cultivation of olive

• The olive does not need much care and is grown in almost all places in Greece, maybe because it was born in Greece many many years ago.

From olive to oil

• In November we start to pick the olives in the traditional way just like the ancient times: people hit the fruit of the tree , it falls on the ground and they pick it on nets.

Precious oil

• Then, people separate the fruit from the leaves, take it to the olive mill and produce the oil with special machines.

• In the past, there were no machines and people did everything, as we can see in the museums of olive.

Oil and olives

• Apart from the oil, people eat the fruit of the oil.

Food which have oil as their main ingredient

• Tomatoes or peppers stuffed with rice• Eggplants imam

• Greek salad• Oil bagels

Citrus fruit(εσπεριδοειδή)- their history

• Ancient Greek did not know the citrus fruit. They saw them when they travelled to far away places and the myth of Esperides symbolizes the desire of the Greek people to get those delicious fruit. According to the myth, Hercules travelled far away and stole the fruit which was guarded by the nymphs Esperides.

The cultivation of citrus fruit

• They are short trees whose leaves do not fall on the ground and grow in countries with hot climate. Some citrus fruit are: oranges, lemons, mandarins, bitter oranges, citrus and pergamonto

• We call those trees “sour” because the taste of their fruit is bitter and sweet and have many vitamins.

• Their enemy is cold and ice.

Products we get from citrus fruit

• The fruit, with which we make juice, sweets, jams, liqueur etc.

• The plants, with which we make essential oils and we use them as medicine or for cosmetic purposes.

The precious Pomegranate (ρόδι-rodi)

• It is the fruit which Pluto gave to Persephone in order to “tie” her to Ades and it is the sign of the ELEUSINIAN mysteries. In the Greek tradition, it is the symbol of fertility, everlasting life and good luck. That is why, we break pomegranates in weddings and New Year’s Day. Their juice is rich in vitamins, iron, kalium and antioxidants.

Fig, the most ancient fruit

• In Greece, we grow the fig tree before the time of Homer. Homer also says that the aim of the the campaign of the king of Persia, Xerxes was to conquer Athens so as to eat fresh figs and not eat only dried figs. The fig, the olive and the vine are most ancient trees.

Herbs-Aromatic Plants

• In Greece, nature is full of a great variety of herbs and aromatic plants which are healthy and make our food delicious. If you go for a walk in the greek nature, you will pick plenty of them.

We hope you learnt the most important products of Greece and their nutritional value. We hope you visit

Greece and taste all of them.

Ευχαριστώ(Efharisto)Thank youDziękuje