TRADITIONAL GREEK CUISINE

Greek cuisine has a long tradition and its flavours change with the season and its geography. Greek cookery, historically a forerunner of Western cuisine, spread its culinary influence - via ancient Rome - throughout Europe and beyond. It has influences from the different people's cuisine the Greeks have interacted with over the centuries, as evidenced by several types of sweets and cooked foods.

Appetizers

Meze is a collective name for a variety of small dishes, typically served with wines or anise-flavored liqueurs as ouzo or homemade tsipouro.
Orektika is the formal name for appetizers and is often used as a reference to eating a first course of a cuisine other than Greek cuisine. Dips are served with bread loaf or pita bread. In some regions, dried bread (paximadhi) is softened in water.
Boureki: individually vegetable and meat fillings wrapped in phyllo pastry or dough.
Deep Fried vegetables "tiganita" (courgettes, aubergines, peppers or mushrooms).
Dolmades: grapevine leaves stuffed with rice and vegetables, meat is also often included.
Fava: Yellow split pea puree or other bean purees; sometimes made of fava beans (called κουκκιά in Greek)
Greek Salad: The so-called Greek Salad is known in Greece as Village/Country Salad (Horiatiki), essentially a tomato salad with cucumber, red onion, feta cheese, and kalamata olives, dressed with olive oil [in Cyprus it contains also cracked wheat (bulgur), spring onions instead of red onions and lemon juice].
Horta: wild or cultivated greens, steamed or blanched and made into salad, simply dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. They can be eaten as a light meal with potatoes (especially during Lent, in lieu of fish or meat).
Kolokythoanthoi: zucchini flowers stuffed with rice or cheese and herbs.
Koukkia: fava beans.
Lachanosalata: Cabbage Salad. Very finely shredded cabbage with salt, olive oil, lemon juice/vinegar dressing.
Marides tiganites: Deep-fried whitebait, usually served with lemon wedges.
Melitzanosalata: aubergine (eggplant) salad.
Pantzarosalata: beetroot salad with olive oil and vinegar.
Patata salata: Potato salad with olive oil, finely sliced onions, lemon juice or vinegar.
Saganaki: fried cheese; the word "saganaki" means a small cooking pan, is used to say "fried" and can be applied to many other foods.
Skordalia: thick garlic and potato puree, usually accompanies deep fried fish/cod [bakaliaro me skordo, i.e. fried battered cod with garlic dip, being a very popular dish].
Spanakopita: spinach, feta cheese (sometimes in combination with ricotta cheese), onions or spring onions, egg and seasoning wrapped in phyllo pastry.
Taramosalata: fish roe mixed with boiled potatoes or moistened breadcrumbs, olive oil and lemon juice.
Tzatziki: yoghurt with cucumber and garlic puree, used as a dip.
Tyropita: cheese (usually feta) wrapped in phyllo pastry.
Many other food items also are wrapped in phyllo pastry, either in bite-size triangles or in large sheets: kotopita (chicken), spanakotyropita (spinach and cheese), hortopita (greens), kreatopita (meat pie, using minced meat), etc.

Meat dishes

Oven-baked lamb with potatoes (Αρνί στο φούρνο με πατάτες). One of the most common "Sunday" dishes. There are many variations with additional ingredients.
Bekri Meze: 'drunkard's snack', diced beef or pork marinated in wine, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaves, olive oil and cooked slowly.
Giouvetsi: lamb or veal baked in a clay pot with Kritharaki (orzo) and tomatoes.
Yiouvarlakia: meatballs with egg-lemon sauce, usually served over white rice.
Païdakia: Grilled lamb chops with lemon, oregano, salt and pepper.
Chtapodi sti Skhara: Grilled octopus in vinegar, oil and oregano. Accompanied by Ouzo.
Gyros: meat roasted on a vertically turning spit and served with sauce (often tzatziki) and garnishes (tomato, onions) on pita bread; a popular fast food.
Kleftiko: literally meaning "of the Klephts", this is lamb slow-baked on the bone, first marinated in garlic and lemon juice, originally cooked in a pit oven.
Keftedes: fried meatballs with oregano and mint.
Kotopoulo pilafi, a chicken and white rice dish, mostly popular on the island of Crete. The gamopílafo ("wedding pilaf") variety is a prized version served at wedding feasts.
Moussaka: eggplant casserole. There are other variations besides eggplant, such as zucchini or rice, but the eggplant version melitzanes moussaka is most popular.
Pastitsio: a baked pasta dish with a filling of ground meat and a Bechamel sauce top.
Pork with celery (hirino me selino/hirino selinato).
Soutzoukakia Smyrneika (Smyrna meatballs): large meatballs with cumin, cinnamon and garlic and served in a tomato sauce. Often served with rice or mashed potatoes.
Souvlaki: (lit: 'skewer') Anything grilled on a skewer (lamb, chicken, pork, swordfish, shrimp). Most common is lamb, pork or chicken, often marinated in oil, salt, pepper, oregano and lemon.
Spetsofai: a stew of country sausage, green and red mild peppers, onions and wine. Originates from Mt. Pelion.
Stifado: game (rabbit, hare, venison etc.) stew with pearl onions, vinegar, red wine and cinnamon. Beef can be substituted for game.