About this item
Ikaria is mythical, beautiful, enigmatic--and, as we learned after reading the New York Times article about it, a place where residents live unaccountably long lives. Part cookbook, part travelogue, filled with gorgeous photography, stunning recipes, and interviews with locals, and packed with the often quirky secrets to a long life that Ikarians are spoon-fed at birth, Ikaria is award-winning author Diane Kochilass ethno-culinary paean to this magical island.Here, Kochilas will marry lore to lesson and recipe to interview well meet a 101-year-old weaver--the best on the island--and taste the combinations of herbs that he cooks with and that he believes give him life. Well learn about the life-giving benefits of delicious salads both raw and cooked, the gorgeous breads and savory pies that are a part of every meal, the bean dishes that are passed down through generations, and the seafood that is at the root of the Ikarian culinary culture.
About the Author
Diane Kochilas was born in New York City and has divided her time between NY, Athens, and her family's ancestral island, Ikaria, where she and her husband, Vasilis Stenos, run the Glorious Greek Kitchen cooking school. She has written 18 books on Greek cuisine. Her latest book, The Country Cooking of Greece (Chronicle), was hailed by the Virtual Gourmet (John Mariani) as her masterpiece and the best cookbook of 2012. Another tome, the Glorious Foods of Greece (William Morrow), won the prestigious IACP Jane Grigson Award for Excellence in Research.Diane is consulting chef for two of New York's most highly regarded Greek restaurants, Pylos and Boukiés, as well as for Axia in New Jersey and Avli outside Chicago. She works with Harvard University as well as other top university dining services to help create healthy Greek menu options for the undergraduate student body. Currently, she is hosting her own television show, in Greek, called "What Are We Going to Have for Dinner Tonight, Mom?" which airs in Cyprus and Greece. For 20 years she was the food columnist and "most feared" restaurant critic in Athens Greece, where she worked for the country's largest daily newspaper, Ta Nea.
