To Kalogerikon

To Kalogerikon

I always reckoned thereʼs great interest in this field of folk culture, but eventually I came to realize, quite surprisingly I have to admit, that Greek cuisine is an integrated system, a coherent cooking proposal concerning modern people. My deepest wish was to unveil all the flavours I kept in my heart in such a way as to reflect the beauty of the sun, the sea and the mountains, as well as the light and spirit of my home place. "The folk culture of modern Greeks, as of any other nation with a historical background, is indeed a historical phenomenon and as such it should be studied". This folk culture, what we call "tradition", is not stagnant or stable; it evolves alongside people, integrating all new data to the already existing ones. The most vital ingredient of this procedure is time. At a very slow pace, almost unobtrusively, the new customs are added to the old ones till they are all incorporated into a new group. Evi Voutsina, extracts from the book "Greek taste".