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Honey, Olives, Octopus

Adventures at the Greek Table
by Christopher Bakken (Author), Mollie Katzen (Illustrator)
Hardcover eBook
Price: $34.95
Publication Date: Mar 2013
Edition: 1st Edition
Title Details:
Rights: Include NAmerica, US and Territories
Pages: 256
ISBN: 9780520275096
Trim Size: 6 x 8
Illustrations: 18 b/w photographs, 8 line illustrations, 1 map
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About the Book

Combining the best of memoir, travel literature, and food writing, Christopher Bakken delves into one of the most underappreciated cuisines in Europe in this rollicking celebration of the Greek table. He explores the traditions and history behind eight elements of Greek cuisine—olives, bread, fish, cheese, beans, wine, meat, and honey—and journeys through the country searching for the best examples of each. He picks olives on Thasos, bakes bread on Crete, eats thyme honey from Kythira with one of Greece’s greatest poets, and learns why Naxos is the best place for cheese in the Cyclades. Working with local cooks and artisans, he offers an intimate look at traditional village life, while honoring the conversations, friendships, and leisurely ceremonies of dining around which Hellenic culture has revolved for thousands of years. A hymn to slow food and to seasonal and sustainable cuisine, Honey, Olives, Octopus is a lyrical celebration of Greece, where such concepts have always been a simple part of living and eating well.

About the Author

Christopher Bakken is Frederick F. Seely Professor of English at Allegheny College.  He is the author of three books of poetry: After Greece, Goat Funeral, and the forthcoming Eternity & Oranges. His poems, essays, and translations have been published widely in the U.S. and Europe.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Prologue

1. Olives: The Throumbes of Thasos
2. Bread: The Prozymi of Kyria Konstandina
3. Fish: Tailing Barbounia
4. Cheese: The Stinky Cheeses of Naxos
5. Meat: Goats in the Ghost Towns of Chios
6. Beans: Chasing Chickpeas at Plati Yialós
7. Wine: Another Carafe at Prionia
8. Honey: The Thyme Honey of Aphrodite

Epilogue: At the Still in the Hills

Sources
Index

Reviews

“’Honey, Olives, Octopus’ is about the oldest kinds of work—how food is grown, caught or gathered; how it is prepared and eaten; how it tastes and what it reveals about a remarkable people. . . . The aesthetics of food, like the poetics of work, are among the things that lend life its character, that remove it from the daily grind and lift it toward reality like an imagined sphere. ‘Honey, Olives, Octopus’ is a book of life lessons, small moments and full flavors brought back to the other life. The one we call ordinary.”
— Wall Street Journal
“Delightful . . . . Bakken’s culinary quest leads him deep into the heart of the countryside and of the country people. Along the way we meet an endearing cast of characters.”
— National Geographic Traveler
"While other travel/food books make me go, 'hmm, maybe I’ll make try to cook that one day,' Honey, Olives, Octopus has me notating all the hotels and restaurants he mentions so I can go skedaddle over there as soon as possible for some chtipiti (mashed feta and hot peppers), grilled octopus drizzled with red vinegar, Cretan bread, and Naxian Graviera cheese. He will utterly convince you that not only is Greek food sublime and underappreciated, but that the terroir, history, and mythology of the place are so ingrained in the cuisine that you have to go there to understand it. I’m off to find my passport."
— Bookriot
"A well-informed, sustained paean to the joys not only of the Greek table but also to the landscape of the country. . . .  Clearly and evocatively written, informative, well-paced, vivid, hunger-inducing - as well as sometimes, as the dark undertow exerts its pull, very poignant."
— New Criterion
“The title of this enjoyable book is somewhat modest in its claims as it does not hint at the breadth of knowledge and understanding of Greek culture, past and present, that Christopher Bakken brings to bear on his exploration of Greek food … there is much to commend in this engaging and enthusiastic discourse on all things Greek.”
— Pleiades Reviews
“Christopher Bakken celebrates Greek food in the Greek style, sharing it with those he loves at joyous tables filled with overflowing trays of mezedes, carafes of wine, and cloudy glasses of ouzo. But he doesn’t just look at the way the food is prepared or harvested—or eaten—he also immerses himself in the process and introduces us to the friends he makes along the way. This is food writing that goes beyond the simple pleasure of eating—Honey, Olives, Octopus illuminates something about what it means to be alive.”—Natalie Bakopoulos, author of The Green Shore

"I have never been to Greece, or at least I hadn't until I read Christopher Bakken's poetic story of food and life on its islands. The book sings with Aegean beauty: the cobalt blue water, stoic olive groves, pine sap, and chicory I'd always dreamed I would find there. It is an absolute pleasure to take the journey with him in these pages." —Tamar Adler, author of An Everlasting Meal: Cooking with Economy and Grace