Food from Many Greek Kitchens [Hardcover]

Tessa Kiros (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 14, 2011

Food, culture, celebration, and memory are inexorably tied together inside Tessa Kiros's Food from Many Greek Kitchens. As the follow-up to her best-selling Venezia and Falling Cloudberries, Food from Many Greek Kitchens explores Kiros's Greek-Cypriot heritage and takes readers on a colorful journey into the Greek kitchens of her friends and family as she catalogs the traditional foods for fasting, festivals, and feast days.

Recipes like Vassilopitta New Year Wish Cake, Lamb in a Flowerpot with Dill and Red Wine, Yamopilafo Wedding Rice, and Easter Soup are accompanied by short introductions that explain each dish's cultural significance. In addition, lavish full-color photographs take readers on a tour from the local Mediterranean fishmongers and markets into Greek family homes and kitchens to experience the best in authentic Greek cooking.

With a glossary and more than 200 classically prepared Greek recipes, Food from Many Greek Kitchens adds a greater depth of flavor to each dish through Kiros's warm anecdotal introductions like the following passage for Vassilopitta:

"In Greece, everyone has a vassilopitta (cake) at New Year. The wonderful thing about this cake is that a flouri (coin) is added before baking. If you're lucky to get the piece with the coin, you'll be blessed for the year. Don't you love that sense of celebration the Greeks have?" --Food from Many Greek Kitchens

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Tessa is a great cultural tour guide, delving into classic culinary traditions and dishes." --Cooking Channel's "Devour the Blog"

About the Author

Tessa Kiros was born in London to a Finnish mother and a Greek-Cypriot father. The family moved to South Africa when she was 4, and at the age of 18, Tessa set off to travel and learn all she could about the world's cultures and traditions and new ways of living and eating. She has cooked at London's The Groucho Club and in Australia, Greece, and Mexico. On a trip to Italy to study language and food, she met her husband Giovanni, and now lives in Tuscany.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Andrews McMeel Publishing (June 14, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1449406521
• ISBN-13: 978-1449406523
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 8.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #201,141 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #19 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Greek
  • #66 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Regional & International > European > Mediterranean

More About the Author

Born to a Finnish mother and a Greek-Cypriot father, Tessa Kiros grew up learning about the world's diverse cultures and traditions. She has worked in restaurants in Sydney, Athens, and Mexico, and at London's famous Groucho Club. Tessa is the author of Venezia: Food and Dreams, Apples for Jam: A Colorful Cookbook and Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes, both from Andrews McMeel Publishing. She lives in Tuscany with her husband and two daughters.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple and authentic, December 1, 2010

By 

XtinaLouisa "Xtina" (Melbourne, VIC, Australia) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Food from Many Greek Kitchens (Hardcover)

Having just returned from three glorious months in Greece I was keen to be able to reproduce some of the wonderful dishes I tried while I was there. This book is a feast both visually and inspirationally. The recipes are straightforward and use recognisable ingredient names. There are sensible suggestions throughout the recipes like, "add more water if it looks like it needs it" or "cook until the garlic and onion smell good".

The photos are truly beautiful and make you want to just sit down and browse through this book for the sheer pleasure of it.

What I like most of all is that the name of the dishes are first written in Greeklish (using the Anglo alphabet) then in English and finally, in smaller print, using the Greek alphabet.

I have bought a number of Greek cook books, but I have found this one the most accessible and true to my experience of Greece and Greek cooking. Congratulations!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, July 9, 2011

By 

zb - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Food from Many Greek Kitchens (Hardcover)

So I bought this a while ago, it is visually striking and beautiful. The recipes come with little stories or traditions, as well as serving suggestions. However, a few recipes I've tried came out pretty bad, almost like they're missing something the recipes I'm talking about are; Dolmades and the Artichoke and Fava Beans. The Fava Bean recipe wasn't very good, and the dolmades seemed like they were missing something with fat and texture such as ground lamb. Overall, this book is great, I just hope other recipes turn out better.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A PLEASURE TO READ AND TO USE, June 17, 2011

By 

Gail Cooke (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (COMMUNITY FORUM 04)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Food from Many Greek Kitchens (Hardcover)

Some of my happiest memories of Greece are the colors - natural yet bold, bright, rich. Such are the colors of the gorgeous photos found in FOOD FROM MANY GREEK KITCHENS, whether they be pictures of food, the people or the country. Leafing through this volume is very much like a visit to a favorite land.

This lovely volume not only holds 115 authentic Greek recipes gathered from the author's friends and family but bits of that country's history and culture - it's truly a joy to read and use. Kiros has divided her recipes into sections beginning with Traditional Foods, Fasting Foods, Easter Foods, Shared Foods, Baker's Foods, Soups, Ladera + Salads, Ready-Cooked Foods, There + Then Foods, and Sweet Foods (my favorite, of course, ia an irresistible Ouzo Sorbet!)

What caught my attention was how very often the simplest ingredients were used to make the tastiest dishes. For instance, Poached Fish with Lemon Oil - in the authors words it is "delicate yet aromatic, not quite a soup. It is an easy, healthy, almost instant food that you could serve to any generation." In my words it's a taste treat filled with potato, carrots, zucchini, celery, a touch of green onions, and white fish (we used perch). It is both easy and quick to prepare.

This is my first book by Tessa Kiros, but it surely won't be my last. (Her other cookbooks include Venezia, Falling Cloudberries, and Apples for Jam.)

Enjoy!