CHEF MARIA LOI: EAT LIKE A GREEK
CHEF MARIA LOI: EAT LIKE A GREEK
Description
Chef Maria Loi, who has has cooked for celebrities and Presidents, is working to change the world - one healthy bite at a time.
Tags
Credits
Interviewee
- Maria Loh
Podcast Producer
- Sofia Papaiwannou
- Xaris Pagwnidou
Sound Designer
- Iasonas THeofanou
Sound Editor
- THodwrhs Moustakas
Archive
- The Life of Loi: Mediterranean Secrets
When you eat like a Greek, first of all, you feel satisfied, and you feel happy. And you know why you feel happy? It's not only because you eat something that has good ingredients, that is helping you, is helping your body -you know- out of toxins on that, but you will never eat alone. Because you will never eat alone! Even if you go alone into the restaurant, someone next to you will invite you for a glass of wine, and you will be happy. And this is what we need today: to be open and to be happy. Because you can find the best food around the world. You can have the most tasty food anywhere in the world. Or the most expensive food, because people have various ideas about what good food is. But when you eat alone, you are not gonna be happy.
Eat like a Greek! And then you will look like a Greek, I mean like a Greek god or a goddess. Don't you want that? I want that for you, that's why I love you when you come to Greece, and I will be next to you.
Greece has everything, so you cannot choose. But if I had to tell someone what they have to eat as soon as they land, you know, just go outside and get some cucumbers, tomatoes, a piece of feta cheese, onions, olives, and you have the best food: you have a Greek salad! And if you find then some dakos bread, you have a full meal.
And it’s not only the food that makes a difference, it’s the environment. You will love it. Don't stay at home, go outside. Have a glass of wine. Make sure that it's red. It's very good for your health. That's the first night.
Second day. Of course, where you are gonna go; You have to visit Acropolis! And you will go through Plaka area. Then, when you go out near the Acropolis, you need a lot of water, because the sun in Greece is very strong. Is like the Greek people: we are strong, the Greek people! Then, go down. Go to the museum. When you go to the museum, I'm sure you will be hungry. Don't go far. Go upstairs. They have one of the best restaurants! Usually, in the museums you don't find good food, you find the ordinary food, but in that museum, you'll find the Greek food that they say: mousaka, pastitsio...
So, then you have to go to your hotel. Ask them to bring you some nice piece of cheese, kasseri or feta, again. Have some tsipouro. Don't try any other drink. You can have ouzo, but ouzo has a bit of sugar, so I prefer tsipouro. Whatever you want to eat, try to get it from the source. it's not difficult to eat good in Greece. You have it next to you.
So, you want me to tell you how I start my day? What I'm doing? A shot of olive oil! I have it next to my bed and when I get up, I have my olive oil and then I go to brush my teeth. And -because you came from a vacation, maybe you are by the sea- take your toothbrush and go to the sea and brush your teeth! You will never have this experience anywhere in the world, because only the Greek sea is so clean…
And then have a coffee, and then have your walnuts, and then have your dairies, and then have your yoghurt, and then have your salad, and then have your fish, and then have a nice coffee and don't forget the spoon dessert in the afternoon! Just eat the fruit of the desert, you don't need the sirop. And there's no fat in that dessert, it's really good if you say that: ‘I'm on a diet’. You know, ‘diaita’ it's a Greek word, it' s from the ancient Greeks. It means ‘the way of living’, actually.
Is there a connection between the ancient Greeks and the new Greeks? Of course. Food! It’s a connector. Think about the baklava. They say it's Turkish. OK. But we had ancient ‘gastrin’. It was almost exactly how I make my baklava: with honey, nuts and phyllo. So, it's a proof! So, we had the pasta. Today is ‘lasagna’, it was the ancient ‘lagano’.
But we don't have to go so deep, you know, to ancient Greece… Come over here now, and enjoy what we have in Greece today. And don't forget that: to use a lot of olive oil. Because, as I say: “Μέτρον άριστον”, ‘Nothing in excess, except love, olive oil and good eats!’
