Traditional Greek Island Recipes in a Local Athens Home - Day Trip

Traveling Spoon

Fotini is an economist, MBA lecturer, writer and independent journalist. She started cooking and experimenting with recipes when she was a university student in Thessaloniki. She loves cooking authentic Greek cuisine from the islands, with Cycladic dishes being her favorite. Fotini has traveled around the world, studying, working and traveling for fun. In addition to her passion for cooking, she also loves reading, gardening and classical music. Fotini loves to host and meet people and is passionate about sharing dishes from continental Greece and the Greek islands with her guests. As Fotini says, meals in Greece are a way to celebrate with guests over great discussion and music. She loves meeting people from all around the world and when she travels she makes it a point to taste the local cuisine. This passion for cooking and traveling has made her a collector and she now has over 100 cookbooks in her collection! Fotini lives with her husband and their beloved dog in an antique and plant-filled apartment in south Athens. Fotini's husband, originally from the beautiful island of Corfu, is also a good cook, and they will both welcome you into their home. While you sip a welcome drink, Fotini will tell you about traditional Greek cuisine, considered one of the healthiest diets in the world owing to heavy use of vegetables, Greek olive oil and cheeses. Gather with Fotini at the dining table to share a selection of traditional dishes from Asia Minor such as melitzanosalata (smoked eggplant salad), keftedakia (meatballs with potatoes), pastitsio (baked pasta dish that contains ground beef and béchamel sauce), or the famous Greek moussaka (baked eggplant with ground beef and bechamel sauce). For vegetarians or guests who are interested in something very different, Fotini can cook for you recipes of Greek Orthodox monks, which includes dishes like spicy eggplant baked with cheese. If you book a cooking experience, you will learn to make traditional Greek dishes from the islands which might include tomato keftedes (tomato balls, a traditional recipe from Santorini), fava (unlike Western "fava beans", "fava" in Greece refers to a delicious yellow split peas puree, a traditional dish from Santorini), froutalia (a traditional omelette from Tinos island) or ladenia (Greek pizza, a traditional dish from Kimolos island). The cooking lesson will last one to two hours before you sit down to enjoy the meal you prepared together. Please note, Fotini is available for dinner all days of the week but can can only host lunches on the weekends.

Vacation Inclusions

• Meal
• Cooking Class (optional)
• Lunch (1:30-3:30pm Meal, 11am-2pm Cooking Lesson) OR Dinner (7:30-9:30pm Meal, 6-9pm Cooking Lesson)
• Vegetarian options available
• Alcohol available
• Transportation available

Featured Destinations

Athens Athens Even though you've probably come here to see the "glory that was Greece," perhaps best symbolized by the Parthenon and the superb statues and vases in the National Archaeological Museum, allow some time to make haste slowly in Athens. Your best moments may come sitting at a small cafe, sipping a tiny cup of the sweet sludge that the Greeks call coffee, or getting hopelessly lost in the Plaka -- only to find yourself in the shady courtyard of an old church, or suddenly face to face with an ancient monument you never knew existed. With only a little advance planning, you can find a good hotel here, eat well in convivial restaurants, enjoy local customs such as the refreshing afternoon siesta and the leisurely evening volta (promenade or stroll) -- and leave Athens planning to return, as the Greeks say, tou chronou (next year).

Destination Guide

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