Few voices have done more to shape global understanding of Greek food than Diane Kochilas. For more than three decades, the chef, award-winning (and bestselling) author, and television host has expanded the reach of Greek cuisine through more than a dozen books, restaurant consulting, and the five-season PBS show My Greek Table. She championed the Mediterranean diet and plant-based eating before it was everywhere. Her latest book, “ATHENS: Food, Stories, Love: A Cookbook,” is all about the food in country’s capital city.
Photos: Diane Kochilas
Kochilas has lived in Athens for more than 30 years — 20 of those as a columnist and restaurant critic for the largest newspaper. The cookbook has recipes, of course, but also stories that tell how the ancient city’s food has evolved and what the next generation of Athens chefs are creating.
I caught up with Kochilas over email for her take on what travelers should know about dining out in Athens now.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Matador Network: When did you know you needed to write this book?
Diane Kochilas: It was over lunch with my editor, but the idea made me nervous. It’s a very personal book and as I delved into it, it became almost therapeutic to think back on 33 years of my life thus far in Athens – just so many memories. I have stood witness to the city through its many transformations. Today, Athens is comfortable in her own skin. It’s a great city, so culturally rich, such great food, and the layers of history, cliche as that may sound, still strike awe in me. I turn my corner and the Acropolis is right there.
How has the food in Athens changed over the years you’ve lived in the city?
I’ve seen three major transformations. The first, in the 1990s, when there was a free flow of EU money into Greece, a renewed sense of hope and excitement with the military dictatorship well behind us, and a stock market boom. My generation of Greeks, now in our 60s, returned from places like the UK and US and with that came a demand for things our parents could never imagine. Sushi and other Asian restaurants mushroomed, the supermarket saw an influx of new foods from afar, and the early and first food columns and magazines were born. It was a lot of fun. A few downtown neighborhoods, such as Psyrri, saw the first phases of gentrification.
The Psirri nieghborhood in 2016. Photo: Milan Gonda/Shutterstock
Then…the Olympics loomed and Greek chefs started to rediscover and reinvent their native cuisine. Structural improvements made it easier to find regional Greek products in Athens. Menus started to read like geography lessons! The whole molecular phase around then was pretty weird to me…gelled Moussaka, freeze dried feta, skordalia foam that was like garlic toothpaste… it was interesting, but unsatisfying, at least to me.
Then came the crash. Gone were the cavernous industrial-spaces-turned restaurants and the pretensions. Humility was the new seasoning, and it was pretty tasty. Chefs continued to embrace the artful designs and presentations they learned in the fat years and reapplied them to leaner, more traditional menus so that eating out was still delicious, just a whole lot cheaper.
Now what I see is another transformation as the internet generation takes the helm, with little of the emotional attachment to traditional foods that my generation has. I see a mixing and matching of Greek regional specialties in the same plate, of ingredients we’d never imagined could be part of the cuisine. Asian, mostly, but also European… woven into menu items because this generation has a whole other world of cultural references. Wider, global, uninhibited. It’s a fine time to eat in Athens!
What’s one dish that exemplifies the food culture of Athens today, and one that exemplifies Athens cuisine of the past?
That’s a really tough one! Maybe something like melitzanosalata (roasted eggplant dip) with miso as the mascot for today’s zeitgeist, and something like noua (pot roast) with mashed potatoes, or artichokes a la polita, or Athinaiki salata (grouper with boiled vegetables and homemade mayo) as the exemplars of 50 years ago (the “Bourgeois” cuisine).
What’s the must-visit market in Athens, and what should people look for there?
The must visit market is by far the Central Market, and there’s so much to recommend, there isn’t enough space to do so! I’d head to the little meze place across Koralis Fish Market for a very local experience, or to Epirus in the market for tripe soup or the chicken soup, if they’ve got it that day. I’d meander through the fish market just to get an understanding of the sheer variety and how important fish is to the Greek diet. The meat market is definitely not a sugar-coated experience either, so be prepared for a bit of culture shock!
But there’s so much more. I’d also stroll through the Exarxheia outdoor market on a Saturday, which has become quite the place for foreigners but it’s still a great market. If pomegranates are in season, stop for a fresh pressed juice. I’d also go to Mitropolitikon, a retro pastry shop near Syntagma, and pop a whole candied mandarin in my mouth!
What neighborhoods should food lovers make sure to visit in Athens?
Athinas Street, designed in the 19th century as the artery linking ancient and modern Athens, stretches from the Acropolis and Monastiraki to Omonia and stands out for its bustling markets, the remarkable variety of traditional and regional Greek products, and its proximity to downtown’s best spice shops, honey purveyors, and both classic and contemporary eateries.
Photo: Min Jing/Shutterstock
Kypseli and the area West of that towards Agios Pandeleimonas in Patissia are interesting food neighborhoods as well. The former because it’s got a mix of traditional and newer, hipster places where young chefs are reinventing their generation’s version of Greek cuisine, and the latter because it’s one of the most ethnically diverse neighborhoods in Athens, with Polish, Syrian, Kurdish, Georgian, Greek, and other fare waiting to be discovered.
For drinks, what are the classic things that people should try that are distinct to Athens?
Athens is a great drinking town. I’d head to one of the city’s numerous wine bars and start my dive into Greek alcoholic beverages with wines. There are so many, and the varietals are unique, so there is much to explore!
Any tips on how travelers should order for a local experience?
I would suggest ordering a few of the dishes you may know and feel secure with, for example classics like saganaki, Greek salad (horiatiki), horta (greens), keftedes (meatballs), etc. – but also to seek out something unusual on the menu, something that seems chefy. I’d look for seasonal specialties, too, which are usually what the Greeks gravitate toward.
“ATHENS: Food, Stories, Love: A Cookbook” (St. Martin’s Griffin) is available for preorder and releases October 28.
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