Evia: Cooking Class in an Art Residency in Aliveri

Nowadays, Greece is famous for 3 things: the Greek history & mythology, the Greek islands & the Greek Mediterranean gastronomy. Mediterranean cuisine is famous for a reason.

In the late 1950s, the American physiologist Ancel Keys conducted the famous “Seven Countries Study”. It was an exhaustive study of the dietary culture of the Mediterranean. The conclusions of this project were truly surprising and coined the term “Mediterranean diet”.

The Mediterranean diet has its origins in a portion of land considered unique in its kind, the Mediterranean basin, which historians call “the cradle of society”, because within its geographical borders the whole history of the ancient world took place.

The principal aspects of this diet include proportionally high consumption of olive oil, legumes, unrefined cereals, fruits, and vegetables, moderate to high consumption of fish, moderate consumption of dairy products (mostly cheese and yogurt), moderate wine consumption, and low consumption of red meat products.

The importance of the Mediterranean diet in enriching human health & well-being is so substantial that in 2010, UNESCO included the Mediterranean dietary tradition in its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The Greek Mediterranean cuisine is not just a set of dishes.