Vegetarianism is attracting more and more followers. In Poland their percentage is over 20%, while in Greece it is only 2%. This group continues to grow not only for cultural or religious reasons, but also out of concern for their own condition, subjective views and lifestyle. Over the years, the feasts of the Greeks consisted mainly of meat dishes, enjoying seafood as well as fish. However, the Greek state is also famous for its fresh, juicy and above all healthy produce. At the regional markets we can find excellent cheeses, top quality olive products, numerous honeys of different origins and of course delicious fruits and vegetables, from which we can conjure up rich in flavor vegetarian dishes. Although the number of Greek vegetarians is considerably low, meatless food can be found in every taverna, which attracts many tourists from Poland as well as from all over the world. Today we will give you some ideas for a delicious meatless meal in Greece.
A perfect appetizer is SAGANAKI, which is fried sheep's or goat's cheese in a delicate batter, usually served with lemon or a piece of lime. It is extremely filling, so it can replace a main course. The price in taverns starts at 4. 5 euros.
For the main course we can recommend you BRIAM, which is a Greek vegetable casserole. It has been prepared according to traditional recipes for years – it consists of potatoes, eggplant as well as zucchini and tomatoes, seasoned with garlic and parsley, watered with olive oil. The recipe is of course movable, anyone can modify it in their own way, in terms of ingredients, or method of preparation. An excellent addition to the above dish will be fresh bread, which will not allow us to waste the aromatic sauce. Briam tastes even better accompanied by white wine or retsina. The price in taverns starts from 5 to 8 euros.
A wonderful and sweet dessert that is sure to please a large number of vegetarians is BAKLAVA. It consists of a variety of nuts mixed with spices, layered with layers of thin filo pastry, and all soaked in a very sweet sugar syrup. The price in taverns is about 5 euros.
The most popular Greek dip is TZATZIKI, a sauce made of thick yogurt, cucumbers, garlic and herbs. It is an addition to a variety of dishes, not only meat dishes, such as grilled vegetables or shashlik with halloumi cheese, but it tastes best as an appetizer with pita bread. The price in taverns varies from 2 to 4 euros.
Thanks to its diversity, vegetarian Greek cuisine is finding a wider and wider audience. And would you try Greek-style vegetarian cooking? Share with us in the comments. 😉