Things you shouldn't do in Greece. Tips on how to prepare Greek salad correctly. Is it possible to eat Greek salad?
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There are no more than 130 kcal per 100 grams of salad. If desired, this figure can be reduced, especially when serving vegetables, cheese and dressing separately.
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Cooking classics of the genre
First, we will describe the Greek salad according to the classic recipe with photos step by step, and for the appetizer we will leave secrets, tricks and variations. There will be a lot of them! Each stage contains the opportunity to do it differently - with the same appetizing, but new result.
We need the following vegetables -
- Let's estimate piece by piece to get the proportion for quick cooking at home:
- Cucumber - 2 pcs. (not small)
- Tomato - 2 pcs. (not large, variety with dense pulp)
- Bell pepper - 1 pc.
- Crimean onion (blue) - 1 pc. (the average size)
- Olives - 20 pcs., large, pitted
- Feta cheese - 80-100 g
- Oregano (oregano) - ½ teaspoon of dry herb
- Extra virgin olive oil - 2-3 tablespoons
- Lemon juice - 1-1.5 tablespoons
Salt, pepper - to taste
- How to cook:
- Cut tomatoes and cucumbers into large pieces (2-2.5 cm). You can peel the cucumbers if the skin is too hard for you.
- Cut the blue onion into rings or half rings. For a family where raw onions are treated with caution, the cuts are thinner, into quarter rings.
- We clean the pepper from seeds and internal white membranes and cut into large squares - about 2-2.5 cm.
- The olives can be left whole. Very large ones - cut in half.
- Place the vegetables in a large bowl and stir gently. Two large spatulas will help. Salt and pepper to taste, not forgetting how salty the cheese is.
- Whisk olive oil with lemon juice to create a sauce. Dress the salad and sprinkle with oregano - a pinch at a time, slightly rubbing the herb in your fingers.
We cut the feta cheese into large pieces, comparable to slicing cucumbers, and place them in a picturesque disorder on top of the salad. One last pinch of oregano and the salad is ready - amazingly simple!
What else can you do with the ingredients? Onions: pre-marinate.- sprinkle the chopped onions with a mixture of vinegar (3 parts) and sugar (2 parts), add a little salt, let stand for 25-30 minutes, drain the juice and add the slices to other vegetables. Or cut the onion smaller - into quarters and eighths of rings. Or take two varieties - white and blue in a ratio of 1:2, or even 1:1 (especially vigorous white onions in this case should be softened by pickling). Or replace a quarter of the onion with garlic cloves. A nuance is important here: chop the garlic into small cubes with a knife.
Olives: cut larger or smaller, do not cut at all, replace with olives or capers (this is the case when something exotic for us is an everyday ingredient for the Greeks).
Cucumbers: naturally, play with the cutting. Or otherwise peel for large pieces, alternating between removing the skin in strips. It is especially quick to work with a manual vegetable peeler using a peeler: remove a strip, leave a strip, and so on in a circle. We will get a zebra cucumber, and the “back” of each piece in the salad will be white and green.
Tomatoes: take another variety, several varieties, or focus on cherry tomatoes, cutting them in half. Let's not forget about colors: for example, let's combine red and orange tomatoes. This not only looks more impressive, but also gives the salad meatiness, reducing the sourness - thanks to the rich and low-acid orange tomatoes. Plus, you can peel the tomatoes! Yes, yes, just imagine: large, juicy, immaculately soft large pieces - who would refuse this option?!
Pepper: again an ode to multicolor, which is most interesting when cut into thin strips. Stored with us and unusual idea. It slightly increases the labor intensity, but breaks all records for the delight of people who have tried this option. So, take a look at the red, fleshy, thick-walled pepper as an object for cleaning. You will need a sharp knife or a sharpened peeler. This approach is very popular in gourmet southern cuisine, where the idea of the Greeks has long been adopted by itself. The south of France, Italy, Bulgaria, Odessa, Kherson and Crimea: if they want to give a classic Greek salad an elevated and delicate taste, they start by peeling peppers and tomatoes.
How to replace feta cheese
Salted cheese, including goat cheese, which is easy to find at any market.
Or in large pieces processed cheese with a strong flavor (greens, smoked meats, but not tomatoes!), with a little more salt.
The option with Dutch cheese is also good, but make the pieces smaller. Yes, this will not be a pure classic. But who knows, maybe your family won’t like it much more? Husbands are often conservative, and they understand Dutch cheese and goat cheese much more than overseas feta.
Is it possible to add meat and what kind?
Personal taste rules the show! It's best to rely on the cheese you use: the saltiest one is fresh boiled chicken.
Did you risk depriving your salad of traditional cheese? Something smoked, well salted. But such a salad will not store well, the dissonance is too great fresh vegetables and smoked meats.
In addition to meat, you can add mushrooms to the salad: not only champignons, but even the simplest pickled chanterelles. The main thing is to thoroughly rinse them from mucus and dry them. The perfection of a simple base and your imagination are the best team for creativity!
Submission tricks
Pros of serving in large pieces: those who don’t like olives can easily remove them. The same goes for thick onion rings.
Sometimes the salad even looks like the simplest cutting of vegetables with cheese, so large slices are placed on a dish - without much stirring.
Portion serving in Greek restaurants is often extremely laconic: you get a deep plate with no sliced cheese. All the feta lies in a piece - right on top of the vegetable slices, leaving you to choose what to do with it.
You can serve the sauce in the same way - in a separate container for each serving. There's a convenient, everyday twist to this: as long as the salad isn't covered in sauce, it keeps better.
Helpful advice
It is beneficial to dress the salad only after serving portions. This way you can keep the slices in the refrigerator longer if your family doesn’t get enough of the vitamin happiness at one time.
How to dress a Greek salad
Olive oil, lemon juice and oregano- the classic Greek salad began with this sauce, which we reflected above in the recipe with step by step photos. But don't be afraid of other seasonings and herbs! The dish will easily accept coarsely torn leaves of curly lettuce and thin strips of wild garlic. You can add basil, thyme and parsley if you prefer.
And now let’s smile intriguingly... And fill up the next portion honey mustard sauce. It’s easy to prepare the sauce: mild mustard (can be with grains), honey and olive oil in a ratio of 1:1:2, whisk. If the sauce is thick, add more oil.
Greek salad (horyatiki salata)
Greek salad Khoryatiki
For the first time I was offered to try Greek salad in a small Bulgarian restaurant on the Black Sea coast. At the same time they asked if I would eat it with small sardines or cheese. About sardines floating in the bushes fresh tomatoes, I didn’t know anything, and decided not to risk it.
I chose cheese. It was delicious, plentiful, but too many ribbons Chinese cabbage, which corroded the salad unity.
Then, in Russia, I saw a familiar name in the prepared food section of a local supermarket. But I didn’t recognize his face. In a row of uniform, smooth mayonnaise salads, it was perceived as something chopped with an ax. And with such a tool it is difficult to cook beautifully and uniformly. Giant cubes of hard Dutch cheese, monstrous chunks of white cabbage (the size of Georgian cabbage), olives, slices of tomatoes... all this evoked despondency. It was problematic to scoop up at least 2 components of this culinary mutant with a spoon or prick with a fork. But if, nevertheless, you, having shown miracles of dexterity, risked chewing several mega-elements of the salad at the same time in order to understand its true taste, beware of choking!
No one bothered to season it with sauce, but probably they should have, because hard cheese, unlike fatty, crumbly cheese or feta, could not bind the giant fragments of food into a single whole.
You ask, how do I know all this? I confess, I bought it. A person’s faith in good, eternal intellectual doubt about the correctness of his conclusions (what if I’m wrong, what if someone else is right?) sometimes gives rise to such incidents.
And after this hundred-gram experiment, I really wanted to know what a real Greek salad looks like and what does it taste like when the Greeks themselves prepare the dish?
This is what it is, Greek village salad. A piece of feta thrown on top has already begun to crumble and grease all the elements of the dish
Of course, when you hear the name of salad and, at the same time, you know that the Hellenic civilization is one of the oldest in the world, has rich cultural traditions And long history, in which there was a favorable climate, and active trade, and wars, and foreigners, under whose influence Hellas fell (by the way, the Greeks themselves say [Ela(th)a], practically - El A va, with a slight lisp), then we can assume that the culinary traditions of Greece are just as rich and varied.
And it is unlikely that the Greeks came up with only one salad, which is a national pride, and, in order not to inadvertently confuse it with foreign ones, they called it “Greek”. We don’t have “Russian” salad. It sounds somehow funny and alien.
And in Greece there is no “Greek” either.
In our homeland, “Greek” salad is called “horse”. I tiki sal A ta” (χωριάτικη σαλάτα), which translates as “village” (also known as “rural” or “peasant”).
Its ingredients and method of preparation live up to its name. The salad consists of products that are always on hand and is prepared at home, quickly, generously, simply and from the heart.
Just imagine, you are walking, dark and handsome, under the scorching hot sun after hard work, say, in a vineyard, and along the way you pick last year’s lemon (they can hang on trees for 2 years, only the skin becomes thicker), bend down and find them in the beds a couple of ripe tomatoes, cucumbers and sweet peppers, putting them directly into the picked up apron.
Immediately you collect parsley, dill and oregano, pull out a head of red onion from the ground... you go into a stone house with a low threshold (because it’s always warm there), filled with fresh, cold air....
….washed into vegetables and herbs under cool streams and quickly cut into large slices, so that the juiciness and strength of summer could be felt in every piece! Sprinkled with citrus freshness. They also threw a handful of olives into the bowl, a piece of feta cheese on top, and sprinkled with aromatic herbs. And all this was lightly poured with luxurious and viscous olive oil. All! High and warm, well-fed pleasure inside, after a hard day! Wow!
)))))...let's now try to prepare this very tasty, juicy food - Greek Horiatiki salad from the juiciest and ripest vegetables that are available to us.
What does Greek salad consist of?
Cucumbers and tomatoes for Greek salad
This is how you can cut cucumbers and tomatoes in Khoryatiki Salata
Tomatoes need to be ground, sweet, the same as they were in our childhood. Soaked in sun and health.
We will cut them into cubes, which is more convenient to do with cream tomatoes oval shape and small size.
We choose long cucumbers; they are also easy to divide into cubes. Sweet peppers - with thick, savory walls, thick red color, and we will add orange and yellow - for beauty.
Which onion is best for Greek salad?
The Greeks prefer to use regular white onions in cooked dishes; you don’t often see them in local stores.
But wonderful red (pink or, also called purple) onions go into salads. It is believed that it is the most juicy, spicy and sweet, a sort of local onion standard. If you want to soften its taste, pour boiling water over the chopped onion in advance.
All that remains is to add olives and feta
It is not added to hot dishes. Probably only due to the fact that with prolonged heat treatment, red onions darken unsightly.
Threw a handful of olives
What oil and olives are needed for Greek salad?
Locals believe that olive oil for horyatiki salad should definitely be Greek. As do olives (fruits of the olive tree that have turned black). For salads, they often use pickled Kalamata olives (not olives!), without seeds, of course.
The taste of Kalamata olives can range from sour to bitter, and the color can range from black to purple, choose the one you like best. By the way, they say that a rare seed, other than an olive one, is digested by the human stomach. So, don't be afraid if you accidentally got it in your salad and swallowed it.
These are pickled Greek olives Kalamata (Kalamon). Photo: naturalpath.gr
What is feta and how to correctly emphasize the word
F e ta is a fatty and salty sheep cheese, reminiscent of feta cheese. The emphasis in the word feta (in Greek φέτα – f E ta) is placed on the first syllable.
Feta cheese is very similar in taste and properties to luxurious, crumbly cheese
If you bought a product with this name, then it is probably Greek and will suit us. Recently, EU countries recognized that “feta” is a proper name and is a “traditional name” that can only belong to Greek cheese.
Feta floats in a brine that maintains its juiciness and freshness, often already cut into cubes, although if we stick to the recipe we need whole piece. If the cheese turns out to be very salty, you can soak it (five minutes is enough) in milk or mineral water (like over-salted herring).
This is how it is customary to add feta cheese to a Greek salad. Then the feta will disintegrate, crumble into small fatty flakes that will lubricate all the tasty details of the salad!
What herbs go into Greek salad?
What else have we forgotten? Yep, green. Local chefs choose herbs with a pronounced aroma and taste, rich essential oils. Familiar in Greece medicinal plant– oregano is called “oregano”, we rarely use this herb, but it enhances and enhances the taste of the dish, making it more aromatic and brighter.
Oregano goes well with cherry basil, and the Greeks successfully use this combination in horiatiki salad.
We scoop up the salad with a spoon and immediately the feta cheese begins to crumble))
What should NOT be in a Greek salad?
Garlic, cabbage, peas, corn, leaf salad, olives, vinegar, mayonnaise, salt, hot peppers(Did you happen to find any of the above on your plate when you ordered a “Greek” salad? That’s right..).
First portion of delicious Greek village salad)
So, what do we need to prepare horyatiki salad for 4 people:
Composition of Greek salad
Tomatoes – 4-5 pcs;
Cucumbers - 2-3 pieces, depending on their size, the chopped mass should be approximately the same as tomato;
Sweet pepper – 2-3 pcs;
Red onion (aka pink, purple) – 2 medium-sized heads;
Lemon – 0.5 pcs.;
Olives - 1 jar;
Feta – 250 g;
Oregano and basil;
Olive oil.
How to make Greek salad
Eh, not an easy task. There are those who argue that tomatoes and cucumbers should be cut into slices (mainly in Russia), and there are those who support large cubes. I saw only the second option in Greece. Although I'm sure there are different variants proper preparation this salad.
- Cut tomatoes and cucumbers into large cubes (larger than the average Olivier cut). Onions and sweet peppers - in half rings.
- Throw everything into a bowl, add a handful of olives (whole) there. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Shake slightly without stirring.
- Place F on top e that one - yes, just like that, the whole plate. Sprinkle with herbs and drizzle with olive oil.
When you scoop up the khoryatiki with a spoon, the white fat plate of cheese will disintegrate and cover every piece of salad vegetables with its crumbs, the dish will acquire a persistent cheesy taste and will be salted.
Each slice is covered with fine crumbs of fatty cheese
Is it possible to cut feta into cubes for Greek salad?
Of course it is possible. But I'll tell you, it's not cool. And does not meet the requirements of the classic Greek Horyatiki salad recipe.
And stirring after adding feta cheese is not accepted. If you really want to follow all the cooking rules exactly.
What to serve with Greek salad
Khoryatiki is traditionally eaten with white bread; it is best to collect the remaining salad with a lightly toasted wheat slice, soaking it in the wonderful cheese and vegetable juice that flows from the slightly standing khoryatiki.
And none of the experts in Greek etiquette will judge you for this; there, this not entirely decent licking of a bowl is considered the norm.
Enjoy your meal!
You can eat the leftover salad the next day by wrapping it in pita bread. Or filling it with Arabic pita.
And then for a long time you will feel in your mouth the sharp, salty trace of cheese with small specks of vegetable juice.
Enjoy your meal!
By the way, friends, there are a lot of original Greek salads: “tzatziki” - cooling and awakening the appetite, made from cucumbers, garlic and mint, sprinkled with a drop of lemon, in yogurt; “melizanasalata” – baked eggplant with garlic.
All these Greek salads are sour, which quenches thirst very well in the intense Greek heat or the Cypriot heat.
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It is interesting that the salad that made Greece famous throughout the world is not considered a salad in Greece itself; there it is perceived as food for the poor (Khoryatiki salad), and is understood as “couldn’t be simpler”
Classic Greek salad is a light, summer salad made from vegetables; it contains many useful microelements and vitamins; this salad preparation option is optimal for those losing weight and for children. The advantage of this salad is that anyone, even a child, can prepare it, and most importantly, this process will only take about 15 - 20 minutes.
Why has it become so popular in our country? To answer this question, you need to look at the composition: tomatoes, cucumbers... Russians have been growing these vegetables for a very long time, they are grown in the summer, and in summer season I want something light and fresh. The salad in question fully corresponds to these characteristics. The common people also make the salad without adding olives and feta cheese.
Of course, what once became popular now has many varieties, Greek salad is no exception. Innovators have made changes to this salad throughout its history. After looking through this article, you will be able to discover new ideas and combinations of tastes that are, in principle, difficult to imagine.
How to cook Greek salad - 10 varieties
What could be better than a classic? This question is relevant in everything: in music, in clothes and in dishes. Greek salad is no exception; this salad recipe will appeal to both classics and gourmets.
Ingredients:
- Tomatoes - 250 g
- Olives-50 g
- Cucumbers - 200 g
- Olive oil - 3 tbsp. l.
- Onion- 70 g
- Lemon juice - 1 tbsp.
- Feta cheese - 300 g
- Green pepper - 150 g
Preparation:
Cut the tomatoes into large pieces. Place in a common salad bowl.
Peel the cucumbers and cut into semicircular slices. Add to the salad bowl and mix with the tomatoes.
Peel the sweet pepper from all excess and cut into oblong slices. Add to bowl. Mix with other ingredients.
Thinly slice the onion into half rings. It is easier to separate the half rings into petals using your hands. Add to the rest of the vegetables and mix thoroughly.
Cut the cheese into rectangular slices and place on top of the salad.
To prevent Feta from sticking to the blade, you can first dip the knife in warm water.
It’s easiest to add pitted olives to the salad bowl, but you can remove them yourself by crushing them with a knife and removing the pit.
Parsley, as you know, is very healthy, it is rich in carotene and vitamin C, and it goes well with any vegetables, and adding it to a Greek salad will be very useful
Ingredients:
- Salt -taste
- Tomatoes - 500 g
- Yellow pepper - 1 pc.
- Ground black pepper - 1 pinch
- Red onion - 1 pc.
- Cucumbers - 300 g
- Feta cheese - 150 g
- Romaine lettuce - 1 pc.
- Basil - to taste
- Olives - 15 pcs.
- Parsley - to taste
- Olive oil -3 tbsp. l.
Preparation:
Cut the tomatoes and cucumbers into large pieces; this cutting is more beneficial for the body; cut the yellow pepper with a salt shaker, cut the onion into half rings, then chop the greens and mix with olive oil.
To serve, place romaine lettuce and chopped vegetables on the bottom of the plate. Cut the cheese into cubes and, together with the olives, simply place on the vegetables, sprinkle with salt and pepper on top.
If you like to try something new, or like to eat something richer and tastier than vegetable salad You will definitely like this recipe...
Ingredients:
- Fresh tomatoes - 125 g
- Olive oil - 1.5 tbsp. l.
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Olives - 50 g
- Salted white cheese (feta or bynza) -100 g
- Paste - 150 g
Preparation:
Fusilli pasta or pene. To put it simply, throw the horns into boiling, salted water and cook until tender. Then drain the water and leave the pasta in a colander, wait for the water to drain.
Top the pasta with chopped tomatoes, diced cheese and olives. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with black pepper. You can serve.
Greek salad itself is a storehouse of vitamins; by adding spinach to it, you will also add phytonutrients to it, which have a beneficial effect on all processes of the body, and in general the taste will also not leave you indifferent.
Ingredients:
- Salt - to taste
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Tomatoes -3 pcs.
- Onion (white or red) - to taste
- Olives -12 pcs.
- Cucumbers - 0.5 pcs.
- Sweet pepper (colored) - 0.5 pcs.
- Lettuce leaves - 0.5 pcs.
- Lemon juice - to taste
- Cream cheese - 200 g
- Spinach - 1 bunch
- Marjoram - to taste
- Olive oil -3 tbsp. l.
Preparation:
To cut the lettuce, you can take cabbage, tomato and young spinach into slices. Cut the cucumber in half lengthwise and then chop into slices. Cut the sweet onion and peeled green pepper into rings. Cut the cheese into small pieces, finely chop the marjoram.
Pour all the prepared vegetables into a bowl, and top with olives, cheese, and marjoram.
Thanks to this recipe, you can easily have a Greek salad for dinner, and all because it is very filling and nutritious, great for children
Ingredients:
- Tomatoes -3 pcs.
- Cucumbers - 3 pcs.
- Red onion - 1/2 head
- Olives - 50 g
- Romano salad - 1 bunch
- Feta cheese - 75 g
- Chicken (preferably fillet) - 500g
- Ground black pepper - a pinch
- Olive oil - to taste
- Salt - to taste
- You can also add:
- Ground garlic -1 tsp.
- Red wine vinegar - 0.3 cups
- Fresh oregano leaves (can be chopped) - 1 tbsp. l.
Preparation:
Prepare chicken fillet, you can fry it, bake it, but it’s best to stew it, to do this, put it in a frying pan.
you can cut it into several pieces, then the chicken will cook faster
Fill with water, add salt and keep on low heat until cooked. Let the chicken cool and tear into small pieces
Chop the salad as finely as you would normally chop greens. Divide the cucumbers and tomatoes into equal small pieces with a knife. Cut the olives into several pieces widthwise to make circles. Chop the onion finely, as for frying.
In a separate saucer, combine the herbs with olive oil and vinegar. The gas station is ready.
Pour the dressing over the salad, crumble the cheese on top and mix gently.
Sounds absurd, doesn't it? Yes, this is probably the most unusual recipe Greek salad, but it's worth trying at least once in your life
Ingredients:
- Sugar syrup (can be maple) - 100 ml
- Olive oil - 3 -4 tbsp.
- Garlic - 2 cloves
- Salt - to taste
- Tomatoes -800 g
- Sweet paprika - to taste
- Lemon - for drizzling
- Basil (fresh) - to taste
- Feta cheese jelly (if you couldn’t find ready-made, the recipe will be below) - 350 g
- Pickled cucumber -350 g
- Tomato jelly (if you couldn’t find a ready-made one, the recipe will be below) - 350 g
Preparation:
Feta cheese jelly. Boil a third of a glass of cream, the same amount of milk and about 200 grams of feta with a pinch of oregano. Dissolve gelatin (7 grams) and agar (1 gram) in this mass. Pour this mass into a mold and refrigerate for 2 - 4 hours. Then pour sugar syrup over it.
Tomato jelly. Dissolve gelatin (7 grams) in a separate bowl with water. Boil chicken broth (100 grams), add gelatin, then tomato juice (350 grams) and seasonings to taste. Cook, stirring thoroughly for a few minutes, pour into the mold and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours.
For the sauce, place a saucepan or deep frying pan over high heat, fry the garlic, add tomatoes, a bunch of basil (whole) and paprika, wait until the liquid has evaporated and remove the basil. The sauce is ready.
Place both jellies beautifully on a dish, pour over the sauce, place slices of pickled cucumber, sprinkle with lemon and olive oil, sprinkle with salt.
Dedicated to lovers of Italian cuisine...Add Italian dressing, chickpeas, and the Greek salad is not so Greek anymore
Ingredients:
- Italian salad dressing 1 - 2 tbsp.
- Cheese cheese - 75 g
- Chickpeas (canned) - 1 jar
- Cucumber - 1 pc.
- Garlic - 1 clove
- Salt - to taste
- Cherry tomatoes - 125g
- Sweet red or white onion - half a head
- Lemon juice - 1 tbsp.
- Olives or olives - 90 - 100 g
Preparation:
Remove the chickpeas from the jar and dry.
Soak chopped red onion in lemon juice.
Cut the cucumbers into half circles or quarters.
Remove pits from olives and chop, halve cherry tomatoes
Press the garlic in a garlic press
In a salad bowl, combine all the ingredients except cheese, season with Italian dressing and garlic, mix and put in the refrigerator for a while.
Grind the cheese and sprinkle on the salad before serving.
If you want to add a touch of something refined and delicate to an ordinary Greek salad, add balsamic vinegar to it; the pronounced fruity taste of this seasoning will definitely surprise you
Ingredients:
- Balsamic vinegar - 1 tbsp.
- Olive oil - 5 tbsp.
- Sweet pepper - 1 pc.
- Parsley - to taste
- Tomatoes -4 pcs.
- Salt - a pinch
- Onion (Red) - 1 pc.
- Olives (olives) -20 pcs.
- Cucumbers - 3 pcs.
- Feta - 250 g
- Ground black pepper - to taste
- Oregano - to taste
Preparation:
Chop all vegetables (Onions, tomatoes, cucumbers and olives) the size of the pieces does not matter, rely on your own preferences
Place in a large salad bowl, add vinegar and oil, and then other seasonings (salt and pepper), crumbled feta, and you are ready to serve.
It is worth saying that following this recipe, you will get a very ambiguous combination of tastes, it’s not for everyone, but still leaving this recipe without attention would be a big mistake.
Ingredients:
- Tomatoes - 2 pcs.
- Olive oil - to taste
- Sweet pepper - 1 pc.
- Cucumbers - 2 pcs.
- Salad onion - 1 pc.
- Salt - to taste
- Lemon - 1 pc.
- Fetaxa - 200 g
- Salad - 1 bunch
- Avocado - 1 pc.
- Ground white pepper - to taste
Preparation:
First, you need to peel the avocado, cut it into small slices and sprinkle with lemon.
Chop the vegetables: the onion very thin, the cucumber into small pieces, and the tomato large.
Combine all the vegetables in a bowl, season and add salt, place the cheese directly into portions.
Greek salad with croutons
By its definition, a vegetable salad should not appeal to someone who is not averse to eating unhealthy, but tasty, but this recipe breaks stereotypes
October 17, 2018, 4:18 AM
The Great Orthodox Schism: is it possible to travel to Greece and where is it forbidden to pray?
Holy Synod of Russian Orthodox Church(ROC) ceased communication with the Orthodox Church of Constantinople (OCC). This news would have remained within the framework of the relationship between hierarchs and priests, but, as it turned out, the schism affected several million people who consider themselves to be members of the Russian Orthodox Church.
What does a break in communion between churches mean?
The interruption of Eucharistic communion means that the clergy of the Russian Orthodox Church and the laity do not have the right to participate in joint services with representatives of the Orthodox Church. For violation of these conditions, the leadership of the Russian Orthodox Church threatened to punish the priests. For the laity, deviation from the rules is considered a sin.
"IN in practical terms this decision means that we will not be able to perform joint divine services with the Patriarchate of Constantinople, our bishops and priests will not be able to participate in the celebration of the liturgy together with the hierarchs and priests of the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the laity will not be able to receive communion in the churches of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. This is also stated in the statement,” explained Metropolitan Hilarion (Alfeev), chairman of the department for external church relations of the Moscow Patriarchate.
It should be noted that formally everyone who was baptized in the parishes of the Russian Orthodox Church is under the jurisdiction of the Moscow Patriarchate. In connection with this statement there have already appeared different interpretations, which means an interruption of Eucharistic communion. In particular, some clergy interpreted this as a direct ban on visiting and praying in churches under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church. At the same time, the Patriarchate of Constantinople did not issue any bans on visits to churches by representatives of the Russian Orthodox Church.
In which temples can you not pray?
The parishes of the Constantinople Orthodox Church are scattered across almost all continents, but for clergy and laity from Russia, the parishes and monasteries located in Greece, Cyprus and Crete are primarily of interest.
Stands apart greek mountain Athos is the largest Orthodox world concentration of monasteries.
There are many shrines on Mount Athos, which are often brought to Russia and the Urals. One of the significant relics, the belt of the Virgin Mary, caused a stir throughout the country in 2011. In Yekaterinburg, from October 24 to October 27, there were huge queues to worship the shrine. The relics of Saint Spyridon of Trimythous, which were in the Ural capital at the end of August, were brought from the island of Corfu, which is also under the jurisdiction of the Orthodox Church.
In addition to this, representatives of the Athonite monasteries are quite frequent guests of the Yekaterinburg Metropolis, and collections with sayings of Greek monks are widely represented in the church shops of city parishes.
In this regard, Greece, and especially Athos, are one of the most popular destinations for Russian pilgrims (after Jerusalem). The Greek island regularly attracts Russian VIPs who consider themselves Orthodox.So, the day before the split, the secretary of the General Council went to Athos " United Russia» Andrey Turchak and his deputy, State Duma deputy Evgeny Revenko. On October 15, a joint photo of Turchak and a hieromonk of one of the monasteries appeared on Instagram. A few hours later, the Holy Synod of the Russian Orthodox Church announced a severance of communication with the Orthodox Church. It is noteworthy that Turchak planned to spend at least a week on Mount Athos.
Is travel to Greece banned?
The decision of the highest hierarchs of the Russian Orthodox Church, as can be judged by the reviews of the clergy, worried believers in many parishes. The rector of the parish in honor of Saint Paraskeva in the Nizhny Tagil diocese, Priest Vitaly Yarmulik, spoke about the reaction of the EAN people (the opinion of the clergyman is not the official position of the Russian Orthodox Church MP - EAN note).
- Father Vitaly, how did the parishioners react to the news of the severance of communication with the Orthodox Church?
The day after the announcement of the Holy Synod, parishioners approached me with a question about what to do with the pilgrimage to Greece. On the one hand, a person, as a member of a local church, must listen to its voice. But, in my opinion, there is no ban on visiting churches of the Orthodox Church. Christians are allowed to visit religious buildings. For example, former temple Hagia Sophia in Istanbul has been converted into a mosque and museum. And Christians can safely visit it as tourists.
- But pilgrimage is more than tourism. This is a religious act.
Pilgrimage is not only participation in worship, it is worship of shrines. Their grace does not depend on who owns them, what church. Therefore, believers are not prohibited from going to worship shrines.
“But for believers, worship is accompanied by prayer. Does the synod's decision prohibit prayer in the churches of the Orthodox Church altogether?
Individual prayer in the churches of the Patriarchate of Constantinople is not prohibited. The document focuses specifically on participation in the sacraments, since they unite the churches. And the interruption of Eucharistic communion is something more than a break diplomatic relations. This means that we no longer recognize them as one of the 15 local churches.
- So you would bless parishioners for a trip to Greek temples and monasteries?
Yes, if we're talking about about the worship of shrines.
- What should people do if they have a need for religious rituals, but there are no Russian Orthodox Church parishes nearby? After all, a person may find himself in a critical situation.
It would be better to consult with the ruling bishop or parish priest. Over the centuries-old history of the church, such a division has occurred not for the first time, and experience has already been accumulated on how to get out of difficult situations that arise among clergy and laity.
I think it is premature to draw clear conclusions now. Sooner or later, recommendations may be determined.
Greece, like Italy, has always been distinguished not only by its huge tourist demand at any time of the year, but also by its special cultural atmosphere, which has remained here to this day. It is necessary to know the cultural traditions of the Greeks - despite all their friendliness, it is very easy to offend these emotional people with inappropriate gestures or ignorance of the rules of behavior. It is better to know about some rules of behavior and laws of Greece long before the trip.
Violate the rules of behavior in churches and monasteries
An obvious rule for all tourist countries in Greece is that they have their own national flavor. Firstly, in addition to standard laws appearance for Christian churches, the original Greek rules come into play here. Some monasteries only allow entry to specific clothing, such as long-sleeve shirts. Most often, you can buy clothes of the desired style and size upon entering such monasteries. Women have their own set of rules, the strictest of which is: ban to enter Saint Athos.
Touch ancient ruins without permission
Here everything is also obvious - ancient buildings, whose age can exceed 2000 years, are especially looked after by both the Greek authorities and local residents. But, even despite numerous warning signs, there are always tourists who want to climb some colonnade. Even attempting to do this is strictly prohibited - the consequences can be very severe, up to several days of arrest. Also, on the territory of ancient ruins, in no case should you pick up fragments of marble and other stones that seem ownerless from the road - for this you will be punished fine up to a thousand euros.
Gesture actively when communicating with the local population
Greece has a long-standing and established system of gestures, which has a special, sometimes sacred and offensive connotation. For example, you cannot protrude thumb, traditionally showing positive emotions– this gesture for a Greek would mean the word “shut up.” Putting your fingers in a rocker "goat", especially in Greek villages, absolutely not possible– local residents will perceive this as an insult with sexual overtones.
Denying hospitality to a Greek
The concept of friendship among the Greeks may seem very frivolous to a Russian person. A few meetings may be enough to get a guest signed up for best friends and immediately invited me over for dinner. At the Greek table, guests are obliged to try every dish offered, otherwise they may greatly offend the owner of the house. The same applies to gifts - you should never refuse them, but you need to be prepared that the Greek will wait for a reciprocal gesture.
Cross the road carelessly
Unfortunately, road accidents in Greece are the most common type of accident among tourists. Rules traffic are violated by the Greeks everywhere, and this is not always done intentionally - the driver may simply not notice a pedestrian running out onto the road. In this case, there is only one way to protect yourself - cross the road only at traffic lights, and, if possible, avoid walking along the roadway at night.
Ignore siesta
The Mediterranean tradition of an afternoon nap in Greece is an immutable law. WITH 15:00 to 18:00 Almost all shops and other establishments are closed, and their employees sleep peacefully, often right at their workplaces. There is no need to try to enter a closed establishment - the owner of a store or tavern may well call the police. Also, calling somewhere during siesta hours would not be considered a very polite tone - the sleepy voice that answers has every right to be rude to the annoying tourist, which is what happens most often.
Expressing sympathy for women too openly
Greece, of course, is not a Muslim country, even with unfamiliar girls you can start a conversation here, but within the framework of neutral topics. It is highly discouraged to shake hands with Greek women when meeting or exiting public transport - here such a gesture can be perceived as courtship and flirting. The same goes for kissing the hand - if in France this is a manifestation of elegant etiquette, then in Greece they look at this with outright misunderstanding. You can only take pictures with girls with their permission.
Being overly polite on public transport
While traveling on a bus or train, you may be quite surprised by the behavior of the Greeks. It is not customary here to give up seats to elderly people, children and women. The Greeks will respond to such a gesture loud laughter or even open resentment. In Greece, it is considered rude behavior to sit in someone else's seat, and the one who gives in is perceived as very a strange man, or, at worst, as a bully and provocateur.
Discuss sporting events with Greeks
The fan movement is very developed in Greece, in particular, football fans here are a huge public organization, often with criminal connections. Hooligan antics and mass pogroms after football matches in Greece are a common thing, so it is better to stay away from crowds of heated guys dressed in the symbols of their favorite team. Also, for your own safety, you should not start a conversation with local residents about specific teams and the sporting successes of Greece in general.
Eat only in tourist cafes and restaurants
This rule will allow tourists to save a huge amount of money on food alone. Often in tourist areas, cafes and restaurants have menus based on English language, and in some places – Russian-speaking staff. The downside of such establishments will be the increase in prices almost three times compared to Greek prices. You can avoid this literally on the next street - the menu is there Greek, but for the sake of reasonable prices, a few common words and expressions are still worth learning.
To hurry somewhere
Greece is a country with its own rhythm of life. Punctuality cannot be called strong point local residents, so they live here and work as fast as they can. Greek guides are almost always late for meetings - you need to treat this with patience and understanding.