In the new Trip to Greece series Coogan and Brydon (plus Jagger, Caine and friends) are on an odyssey in search of this peninsula’s superb food. Here are our highlights … When I first went to Greece, some 30 years ago, I was a teenage backpacker and survived on biscuits and scrumped (delicious) lemons. I didn’t discover the joys of Greek food until I lived there as an English teacher after university. At the time supermarkets, such as they were, only sold canned and frozen food. I had to develop a new way of shopping: in markets, grocers and butchers, buying what was fresh, local and in season. This seems unremarkable now but for a South London boy at the time it was a revelation. It took me a few days to develop the courage to even buy tomatoes. Unlike the perfect spheres I was used to, these were large, knobbly affairs of mottled red and green, often covered with flies. But they tasted divine. Times have changed, though the Greek attitude to food has not – and the Peloponnese (the southern peninsula of the mainland) exemplifies this. Not as tourist-heavy as the islands, and fertile: much of what you eat here will still come from local small-holdings and suppliers of meat and fish. It is also the heartland of the revival in Greek wine, and there is even craft beer to be had. Continue reading...
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