About this item
Stretching from the shores of Turkey to the Ionian Sea east of Italy, the Greek islands have been the crossroads of the Mediterranean since the time of Homer. Over the centuries, Phoenicians, Athenians, Macedonians, Romans, Byzantines, Venetians, Ottoman Turks, and Italians have ruled the islands, putting their distinctive stamp on the food. Aglaia Kremezi, a frequent contributor to GOURMET and an international authority on Greek food, spent the past eight years collecting the fresh, uncomplicated recipes of the local women, as well as of fishermen, bakers, and farmers. Like all Mediterranean food, these dishes are light and healthful, simple but never plain, and make extensive use of seasonal produce, fresh herbs, and fish. Passed from generation to generation by word of mouth, most have never before been written down.
About the Author
AGLAIA KREMEZI was born in Athens where she lived and worked as a photographer, journalist and editor before devoting her time entirely to food writing, cooking, and studying the history of the cuisines of the Mediterranean. Thirteen years ago she moved with her husband to Kea, an island of the Cyclades. She gardens, cooks, writes and teaches cooking to travelers at www.keartisanal.com . She blogged at the Atlantic Monthly Food/Health site, and writes regularly in Greek, European and American publications: Saveur, LA Times, Gourmet, BBC Good Food magazine, Bonne Appetit, Food and Wine, Food Arts, epicurious.com, etc. She has been a guest lecturer at the Culinary Institute of America, in Greystone, Napa, and also taught at Macy's Degustibus, at the French Culinary Institute and many other US cooking schools. She won the Julia Child award for her first book The Foods of Greece (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 1993) . Her upcoming book Vegetarian Mediterranean Feasts (STC/Abrams) is coming out in October 2014. Mediterranean Hot and Spicy (Broadway) is her latest book, while her best-selling The Cooking of the Greek Islands (Houghton Mifflin) will be re-launched in in paperback the spring of 2015. She is a consultant at Zaytinya, Jose Andres' acclaimed Greek and Middle Eastern restaurant, in Washington DC. Website/blog: www.aglaiakremezi.com
