Getting to know each other over food

culinary cultures — By Bob Riel on September 25, 2009 at 7:25 am

It’s a way of life in many parts of the world: sharing food and conversation around the dinner table. In a place like Greece, these meals might consist of various smaller dishes, called meze, similar to the Spanish tapas that have become popular in some U.S. restaurants. Joanna Kakissis has a great story up on NPR’s Kitchen Window, in which she reminisces about the meze gatherings of her childhood and talks of how she has tried to re-create these occasions in her own homes and with new friends. The story will surely make you want to invite some people over for dinner this week, or at the very least go out for Greek tonight.

My parents moved from their native Greece to the American Dakotas in 1974, but never got used to the big, stick-to-your-ribs Lutheran dinners in the Midwest. Back in the Mediterranean, evening meals were a collection of small, flavorful dishes called meze, spiced with tiny sips of ouzo or the homemade firewater called tsikoudia, courtesy of my mother’s Cretan family. And the food was always shared with friends or relatives who would stay to talk late into the night…

In summer, the evening meze crowd would gather on the tiny balcony in our tiny house in suburban Athens, savoring cheese and spinach phyllo triangles, minty and garlicky yogurt dips, crispy oregano-dusted fried potatoes, the spicy little meatballs called keftedes, grilled octopus, marinated anchovies and, of course, lots of fresh tomatoes, olives and pita bread. My earliest memories include those deeply comforting scents of meze and the openhearted laughter of people bonded to cuisine, culture and each other.

The meze nights got a lot quieter when we moved to the Dakotas, but they didn’t die. Sometimes it was just the four of us — my parents, sister and I sharing keftedesand a giant tomato, feta and mint salad — but sometimes my parents’ friends would join us and add their own flavors…As I grew up and moved around as a journalist, I grounded myself in each new locale by hosting meze nights for new friends.

If you check out the entire story, you’ll also be rewarded with some nice recipes for such dishes as ouzo-spiked pork and beef keftedes, or mint yogurt with carrots and garlic.