The Heart & Soul Of Greece: Greek Salad

The Heart and Soul of Greece

Greece

When one thinks of Greek cuisine a few essential cooking ingredients come to mind: tomatoes, olive oil, feta, olives, oregano. The Greek salad, in my opinion, must be the culinary representation of the heart and soul of what it means to be Greek. Its ingredients embody the beauty of my country. Ripe, sun kissed tomatoes growing in our fields; rows of olive orchards in our countryside producing the best oil this earth has to offer; herds of goats roaming our mountains (and blocking our roads) enabling us to create the feta cheese I crave for on a daily basis. These are some of the images that the Greek salad invokes in me. So from my heart into yours, let this salad take you away to my country if only for a meal.

One can see how this could cause some major traffic

Type of cuisine: Greek (the title kind of gave it away)

Where did you have it: This salad was made on a very regular basis while I was growing up. My mother used Bulgarian feta which is less salty and softer. In my grandmother house, traditional Greek feta was the rule. We all used to grow tomatoes in our backyard gardens in order to make the best possible salad (living in Canada, tomatoes in the winter are hard to come by, so we craved the change of season to finally taste the juicy, sweet tomato again).

Tomatoes in the garden

How much?: The price varies because tomatoes, when they are out of season, can be very expensive. Feta is also a pricey cheese, but I recommend you buy in bulk, it will drive the price down.

Rate 1-10: I would rate this salad a 15 out of 10. I am slightly biased though.

Greek salad as a side to moussaka, another traditional Greek dish from RestaurantRodos.com

Recap of Ingredients: Tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, olive oil, red wine vinegar (just a tablespoon), feta, olives, oregano, salt.
You can also add green peppers, radishes and watercress as garnish, if you desire.

For all you cheese lovers, this one's for you

Enjoy the summer and the salad!