In these blog posts, we will be exploring the inspirations, histories, and cultural influences on traditional Greek foods such as souvlaki, baklava, spanikopita, and others!
Souvlaki is a very traditional Greek food, and is famous for being an easily available, but delicious, "street side restaurant" food, also known as fast food. This dish is so culturally dominant that travel blogger Matt Barrett calls it "the hamburger of Greece." Often made with seasoned meat, tomatoes, pita, and the all important skewer or spit, it is well cooked and comes in plenty of different varieties, such as "souvlaki with chicken gyros," or "souvlaki with pork and beef skewers," and "souvlaki with pita." The word souvlaki comes from the Greek world slouva, meaning spit, which in turn came from the Latin subula.
According to Stella Tsolakidou in the Greek Reporter, the origins of this food date back to ancient Greece (Roughly 900 to 150 B.C.E) in a time when the country was split into dozens of kingdoms fighting for domination of the mainland and the islands surrounding it. Classical Greece saw the rise of philosophers, writers, and historians, and this dish was given a chance to spread its wings and be swept across the Hellenistic world through writing. Souvlaki, formerly known as obeliskos, was first mentioned in the works of Greek writers such as Xenophon, Aristophanes, and Aristotle. This simple dish became quite popular in Greek archaic times. Souvlaki was a dish that was eaten by many, the rich and the poor, and was also cooked and served not only by women, who were often considered the cooks and housekeepers of ancient Greece, but also by male vendors at agoras (the public meeting places of markets and towns) in the eras when women were not expected to cook outside of the homes. The first recorded official souvlaki shops were opened in the 1950's in Greece, and the food was served on skewers and in pita bread.
Bibliography:
Tsolakidou, Stella, The Greek Reporter, Souvlaki: The Origins of Greek Fast Food, July 31, 2012, https://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/07/31/souvlaki-the-origins-of-greek-fast-food/
Chrysopoulos, Philip, The Greek Reporter, The Ancient Roots of Greek Souvlaki, The First Fast Food, July 15, 2018, https://greece.greekreporter.com/2018/07/15/the-ancient-roots-of-greek-souvlaki-the-first-fast-food/
Souvlaki is a very traditional Greek food, and is famous for being an easily available, but delicious, "street side restaurant" food, also known as fast food. This dish is so culturally dominant that travel blogger Matt Barrett calls it "the hamburger of Greece." Often made with seasoned meat, tomatoes, pita, and the all important skewer or spit, it is well cooked and comes in plenty of different varieties, such as "souvlaki with chicken gyros," or "souvlaki with pork and beef skewers," and "souvlaki with pita." The word souvlaki comes from the Greek world slouva, meaning spit, which in turn came from the Latin subula.
Bibliography:
Tsolakidou, Stella, The Greek Reporter, Souvlaki: The Origins of Greek Fast Food, July 31, 2012, https://greece.greekreporter.com/2012/07/31/souvlaki-the-origins-of-greek-fast-food/
Chrysopoulos, Philip, The Greek Reporter, The Ancient Roots of Greek Souvlaki, The First Fast Food, July 15, 2018, https://greece.greekreporter.com/2018/07/15/the-ancient-roots-of-greek-souvlaki-the-first-fast-food/
This was very informal! The mentioning of pita bread reminds me of this bread called Farl. It is popular in Northern Ireland and is usually flat and cut into triangles. It's used to wrap meat just like pita bread.
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