Greek Cuisine and Culture
Uploaded by SeanL on Sep 15, 2007
Greek Culture and Cuisine
In the following pages, I will discuss the beginning of civilization in Greece, the major events in Greek history, the cuisine, everyday lives of Greek cuisine and their food culture. I will also discuss in detail one the major industries in Greek and American cooking, the use of the olive.
The country of Greece has had a varied history. At about 2600 BC, Greek civilization was founded (Barrett, 2007, Bronze Age). This is an educated guess because most records were not documented in that time. Greek civilization started with a group of people called the Minoans. Minoan civilization reached a peak during 1400s-1300s BC. Homer wrote his famous books, “The Oddesy” and “The Iliad” during the ninth century BC. During the eighth century BC, Athens, Sparta and other cities and states developed. During 800 BC, Alexander the Great conquered the Grecian Empire of city-states and Greece became part of the Macedonian Empire. After the downfall of the Macedonian Empire, Greece entered a lull which lasted for almost a thousand years. During that time, numerous empires conquered Greece. The Greeks fought a war of independence against the Ottoman Empire and won. The first president of Greece was Ioannis Kapodistrias elected in May 1827 (Barrett, 2007, Greek Revolution). The Greeks have had many great leaders and visionaries in their history including: Plato, founder of the “Academy of Athens” in 380BC and Alexander the Great in 336BC, the great ruler who defeated the Persians. I will fast forward to the modern day events in Greek history to allow you to understand how today’s culture was created.
In 1829, the Treaty of Adrianople placed Greek under British, French, and Russian protection. In 1832, the Treaty of Constantinople placed Greece under British, French and Russian protection, defined its boundaries, and names Otto of Wittgenstein ruler. In 1843, the Greeks rebelled against Otto and created the first constitution in 1844 that established a democratic parliamentary government system and reduced his overall power of the country. In 1862, after series of coups, Otto was forced to resign. After this, Greece was an independent country. Greece played a small part in World War I. It was on the side of the Allied forces. This brings the history of Greece to the...