The Cuisine of the Black Sea Greeks

Deep in a mountain in the Pontic Alps, North-East Turkey, there's a monastery reminiscent of Tolkien's Minas Tirith; the seven-walled fortress city built on the spur of a mountain. Nestled in a steep cliff at an altitude of about 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) and facing a beautiful wooded mountain valley is Panayia Soumela Greek Orthodox monastery, dedicated to Virgin Mary. This is the heartland of the Pontic Greeks. And my journey today begun from a church with the same name, near my home town of Veria, in Northern Greece, 1800 Km away from Trabzon, deep in a forested mountain on a similar altitude...Hello! The Pontic Greeks lived in the region of northern Turkey roughly in the areas of Trabzon, Samsun and Gerishun, Sinop for about 2 millennia before their forced expulsion and genocide.But their food and culture remains still alive luckily for us, and even their unique Greek language which traces its lineage to ancient Greek!So what did they eat? How they cooked their foods? And how does their cuisine differ from other Greeks, and the similarities with other Black Sea nations around...Some spectacular videos of Panagia Soumela Monastery and countryside in Trabzon region mountains:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQb3UJVvbmMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ynLcqCxCh0sFor traditional Pontic produce in Greece today go to Thessaloniki and find this guy:http://ragian.gr/index.php?route=information/information&information_id=4Google map link for the Thessaloniki shop:https://maps.app.goo.gl/QJGjFiEBW4YN7W369The farm were they age cheeses in caves, smoke their own meats and produce their pasta:https://maps.app.goo.gl/yVQHg9HVdGDcEyWdAMore information about history and culture of Pontic Greeks:https://pontosworld.com/index.phpAnd the Guardian article that inspired me to do this episode today:https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/apr/03/endangered-greek-dialect-living-bridge-ancient-world-romeykaWith music from Pavlos KapralosEnjoy!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. If you love to time-travel through food and history why not join us at https://plus.acast.com/s/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Imagine yourself dining with Socrates, Plato, or Pythagoras... maybe even Cicero and Julius Caesar...being a soldier marching with Alexander's the Great army in the vast Persian empire discovering new foods... or try and picture the richness of fruits and vegetables in the lush Hanging Gardens of Babylon...what foods did our ancestors ate?How did all begin? Why am I so hooked on ancient recipes and ingredients? Is the food delicious? Wholesome? Do you need to know? I think so! Recipes, ingredients, ways of cooking. Timeless and continuous yet unique and so alien to us now days. Staple ingredients of the Mediterranean world -as we think now- like tomatoes, potatoes, rice, peppers, didn't exist. What did they eat? We will travel and imagine how it was to eat like a Greek Philosopher in a symposium in Athens, as a Roman Emperor or as a rich merchant in the last night in Pompeii......Lavish dinners, exotic ingredients, barbaric elements, all intertwined...Stay tuned and find out more here, in 'The Delicious Legacy' Podcast!Find all out, right here!Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/the-delicious-legacy. If you love to time-travel through food and history why not join us at https://plus.acast.com/s/the-delicious-legacy. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.