Gastronomicon – Culinary Art in Ancient Greece

Almost a millennium separates the times of Homer who praises the grand feasts, declaring that their delightful sensation embodies the greatest joy of life, up to Athenaeus and his refined references concerning the innermost details of symposia, the luxury of sophisticated recipes or the unrivaled skills of the master-chefs.

During this long period of time, the inhabitants of a rather infertile and bleak land will become the prominent ambassadors of the luxuries of life, which will be spearheaded by their culinary art and thus they will establish standards which were destined to influence heavily their known part of the world.

Their principles regarding the quality and the certification of various edibles, the selection and their combinations, as well as the systematic recording of their utilization and exploitation, reflect the pulse of an eponymous high cuisine, which despite the turbulences caused by great historical upheavals, survived and resurged powerfully, influencing Europe and thus accomplishing the preservation of their tradition.

The text that follows is an effort to reverse the commonly held opinion about the frugality and the austerity of ancient Greek cuisine, which reflected agricultural hardship.