I have eaten plenty of versions on an Americanized Greek Salad where the ingredients were mixed in, or layer on top of, an assortment of leafy greens. And they were pretty delicious. But, it wasn’t until actually traveling to Greece that I was introduced to the traditional Greek food and delicious renditions of this dish. And there has been no turning back ever since.
A Greek Salad in Greece is typically made with tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, feta cheese, kalamata olives, oregano and olive oil.
Did you notice that there was no lettuce listed in the above ingredients? That’s because in Greece that’s not how this dish is made. But, who needs it? In most cases I’d rather have all the goodies in a salad, minus the filler greens anyway. Unless, it’s kale. I love kale. But, that’s a different story.
Checking “Eat a Greek Salad in Greece” off my bucket list was one of the easiest things to do once I was actually in the country, just about every restaurant offered their own variety.
My very first experience happened within an hour of arriving in Thessaloniki. The Hyatt Regency offered a welcoming salad that had all the traditional ingredients, plus a sprig of rosemary and rings of green peppers on top.
Though I did not see any rosemary after this initial greeting, green peppers were an addition to a few of the following Greek Salad food experiences.
At Taverna Aeolus in Santorini the green bell peppers were cut in strips and mixed with the other vegetables.
Lotza Restaurant, in the charming town of Oia in Santorini, also had green peppers, but they added some juicy, fat capers on top. Nice addition.
This may have also been the prettiest presentation of them all.
Xamintie in Thessaloniki mixed up the minor green pepper trend, by throwing red ones in there instead. Very clever.
There were two instances where a little American flair was added to the Greek Salads.
After learning how to Greek dance at Athena Palace Village, they served us the traditional salad sprinkled with a dozen arugula leaves.
The peppery flavor of the lettuce was a nice inclusion.
At Elkies restaurant in Halkidiki they garnished the dish with one green lettuce leaf. I ate around it.
What also made this one different is the crunchy croutons tossed in the mix. I ate all of those.
Have you had a Greek Salad in Greece? Which version would be your favorite? What do you consider the best food in the world?
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Hi Annette,
I have not eaten a Greek salad in Greece but I am mildly obsessed with the dish.
Thing is, outside of my NJ home I can’t find a decent one – or the dish at all – in many travel spots. Some Western style restaurants may offer it up in say, Thailand, yet as we know in many of the tropical places I visit, you need to stay away from anything that should be chilled, because they don’t place a premium on that stuff.
When I think “salad” I stay away, in the tropics. Warm cheeses and veggies are a recipe for a serious stomach problem, and goodness knows that a not too chilled Caesar dressing that I downed in India led to a wicked case of giardia.
When I return to NJ in 2 months I’ll happily order a Greek salad, at a diner, no doubt owned by Greeks from the other side.
We have tons of those back home ;)
Way cool images Annette. I’ll tweet this soon.
Signing off from Savusavu, Fiji.
Ryan
That is so true in many countries. I fortunately have been very lucky while traveling, so far. I probably just jinxed it :)
Greek Salad in Greece is something I STILL talk about to people when they ask if I have been to Greece, and my last visit was in 2007!! Although many attempts have been made to order and replicate the creation while stateside, nothing quite compares to the perfect concoction that the Greeks put together. YUM!
It’s so funny how one of the simplest dishes in a country can be so memorable!
Minus the onion… those look AMAZING.
LOL! I picked around a lot of the onions too :)
Love this post and the title you’ve chosen. :-) The best Greek salad I’ve had to date was on my last birthday, in a restaurant, in Toronto. This sounds like the perfect setting and the perfect dish, minus the olives. I can handle onions, but both are a little too strong for my tastes. Delicious none the less.
You’ll have to give me the name of the restaurant in Toronto so next time I am there I can get my fix :)
Greek salads are delicious, especially the combination of feta, tomato and onion! Any of them could be my favorite as long as they come without olives!
I’ll eat al the olives for you!
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.
Delicious geek salad you can eat in Corfu island , because we have a special olive whit aroma of herbs ,is really tasty .
Sounds delicious! Hoping to make it to Corfu one day to try it.
Loving the food in Greece. Gyros, souvlakis, keeping me happy all the time.
No doubt! I think I can live off of feta ;)