What do beer and bread have in common?—Fermentation by yeast. At least 30,000 years ago “bread” was discovered. Wheat and barley were among the first crops to be domesticated in the Fertile Crescent. Its cultivation was crucial in the transition from paleolithic man (hunter and gatherer) to become neolithic man(farmer).

About 10,000BC, the leavening of bread in Ancient Egypt, who also practiced beer and mead fermentation, was standard. But it was the Greeks who took bread making to the modern era with the development of the self standing, pre-heatable oven with a door. Athenians in...

In one variation of Greek Mythology, Athena, goddess of wisdom and war was competing with Poseidon, god of the sea, for the patronage of the growing Attica settlement: Poseidon struck the rock and a spring flowed, but it was salty water. Athena in turn touched the stoney ground and an olive tree grew. The olive tree was judged to be the more useful gift and the city became known as Athens.

The olive, in any case, is one of the oldest cultivars known to man. Originating in Asia Minor as a small shrub, the first indication of the fruit collected for food dates to the 8th millennium...

Pronounced, av-goe-LE-moe-noe, this classic Greek sauce is BOTH! Deriving its name from the two words, avgo' (egg) and lemo'ni (lemon), Avgolemono is made by whisking fresh eggs into which about the same amount of freshly squeezed lemon juice is streamed while continuously beating. Next hot stock twice the volume of the egg and lemon mixture is slowing whisked in as well and finally the egg-lemon-stock mixture is poured slowly either over the vegetables and meat, the dolmades, or whisked into the soup. Seasonings are adjusted and the heat is turned up just to a brief simmer. Avoid boiling...