Olive oil is the staple of almost, if not all Greek plates. Olive oil is found all over Greece, as well as the trees that bear the fruit. It has ties to both religious and folk beliefs, and is used as Greece's official addition to any plate that needs that extra "touch" of Greek taste.

Food and holidays are both very sacred to the people of Greece. The most extravagant meals are held during Holidays, such as Christmas.

The Greek Christmas celebration lasts for thirteen days, from Christmas Eve until Epiphany, January 6, the day that the Magi arrived in Bethlehem, bringing gifts to the Christ child.

Bread is the most important of the Greek holiday foods. Historically, flour and yeast were scarce and expensive and thus saved for special meals. Traditional items, such as Christmas bread or stravropsomo, a fruit-filled loaf, decorated on top with the sign of the cross and Chistopsomto or “Christ's Bread”, a leavened bread made of flour, sesame seeds, and spices, such as anise, orange, cloves, and cinnamon accompanied by dried figs, are eaten on Christmas Eve.

Other traditional Greek Christmas sweets include thiples, fried dough strips dripped with honey, kourabiedes, holiday butter cookies, kataifi, phyllo-wrapped confections made from cinnamon and sugar and drizzled with honey, melomacrona, popular honey cakes, and the ever-popular sweet pastry, baklava.

The Greek also have their own set of habits that they fulfill at mealtimes, which they take very seriously. For example, meals are always held at specific times of the day. Breakfast is held bright and early at 8 AM, lunch not until around 1 PM or so, and supper can be at either 8 PM or 10 PM.

A typical Greek meal would always start with an appetizer, which usually turns out to be a salad. Feta cheese, olives and tomatoes are commonly seen in them. Wine will also almost always accompany the main course. Robolla is a popular choce for the main course, a white wine hailing from Cephalonia.

When the main course DOES come around, though, it could be any number of delicious plates. However, the Greek national dish is perhaps the Souvlaki. t is a blend of lamb or beef and seasonings, seared and stuffed in a pita topped with sliced and diced tomatoes, onions and tzatziki, then served with a yogurt sauce. Moussaka is normally eaten along with a red wine like Agiorghitiko while Styphado is eaten with a heavy red wine such as a dry Mavrodaphne.

Baklava is also by far the most popular Greek dessert - it is a multi-layered pastry filled with crunchy nuts and oozing with honey syrup. It is made up of little Filo squares filled with a walnut, semolina and honey mixture and garnished with honey and grated orange peel.

As far as I can see, Greek foods and culture have not greatly impacted Nova Scotia's own dining habits and foods. However, Athens is one of the most well-known and most popular restaurants on Quinpool. It is a Greek restaurant with a wide variety of meals.

Revani

Revani is one of the well-known desserts of Turkish, Arabic and Greek cuisine. However, it is known as with different names in different cultures. For example, in Arabic cultures it is called as Basbousa. Revani takes it's name from a poet who lived in 16th century. Additionally, there are very little differences between both cooking and ingredients. The main ingredients of Turkish revani are semolina, eggs, sugar, flour. After being cooked, it is mixed with syrup which has already been prepared. The typical Revani syrup includes caster sugar, water and lemon. It is usually served at room temperature. Some people prefer to serve it with clotted cream.

Keskul

It is a kind of pudding peculiar to Turkish cuisine. The main ingredients of Keskul are milk, egg yolks, sugar, corn starch and almond. First of all the egg yolks are whisked with almond extract, sugar, corn starch and milk in a bowl. Prepared mixture is stirred in medium heat. While stirring the mixture, boil it two or three minutes. Afterthat, let the mixture cool for an hour. Keskul is served cold with ice-cream.

Tulumba

It is a kind of Turkish dessert. It is deemed that it originates from ancient Anatolian cultures. The main ingredients of tulumba are water, unsalted butter, salt, flour, sunflower oil and eggs. The syrup of tulumba is made with sugar, water and lemon juice. Water, butter and salt is heated in a pot. When it starts boling, flour is added and the heat is lowered. Whole mixture is stirred constantly until it becomes doughy. Then the eggs are added to the mixture one at a time and blended. Finally, it is mixed with it's syrup that has already been prepared.

 

Lokum

Lokum is called as “Turkish delight” in other European countries. It is mainly made from sugar and starch. However, in some lokum kinds, it is flavored with lemon, rosewater, cinnamon and mint. Lokums are generally white, yellow and pink. I prefer to taste the pink one because it is mixed with rosewater.Lokums with rosewater smell like roses.Because of it's ingredients,lokum is soft and sticky.

Baklava

Baklava is a heritage from Ottoman Empire cuisine to Turkish cuisine.In Ottoman Empire,Baklava was made in big palaces of the Empire.It was made especially in Topkapi Palace in Istanbul where the sultans of Ottoman Empire stayed.So,Baklava is not only delicious but also a historical significance.The main ingredients of Baklava is walnut and pistachio.After being cooked,it is sweetened with it's syrup.

Kadayif

The main ingredients of Kadayif are sugar,butter,hazelnut,water and lemon.Kadayif is first cooked and then mixed with it's syrup.After being prepared,it is served cool.Kadayif is the main delight of Ramadan and Muslim's bairams.In patisseries,kadayif is served with ice-cream.