«Αρχή και ρίζα παντός αγαθού η της γάστρος ηδονή» Επίκουρος (341 π.Χ. - 270 π.Χ.)
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5/05/2013
5/01/2013
Bread and Wine
Wine
General information
The wild vine found throughout the Mediterranean coastline, with the exception of the fringes of the Sahara, while the domesticated vine plant goes back in time to the late Neolithic period. Both of these species were used in the production of wine, until the cultivated vine form fully prevailed. For the possible inputs are Greece Thrace or Asia minor EAST, where according to the legend, Ulysses has received the wine given to Polyphemus. It is also possible but each one of the areas where traces meet viniculture to independently develop this crop, as the wild vine found there even today. In Greece have come to light remnants of the fruit by the end of the Neolithic age which grow during the Bronze Age.
Wine production
The harvest was a feast, but also a painful and specialized work. The stafyles was being cut with knife, sometimes subjected to Clipboard touch to araioplegmeno, made of reed or wooden container, were collected in soft panniers or were in an adjacent, permanent winepress. In open deep bucket that contained up to 200 kilograms were pressing empeiroilinobates, employees under the sounds of songs and flutes. The geykos that result, there was only mild and already working in classical times were used to improve weak harvests or for wine protropoy on Friday. From the early Iron Age the stafylomaza that remained in the winepress, placed in bags and ekthlibontan further to press lever with stone weight, proportional to the eleourgiki practice. In the late Hellenistic and Roman period introduced the screw presses, sometimes portable, as well as the large craft facilities fixed-frame wedge. Pressing with mechanical means established in antiquity, as it significantly increases performance and reduces the manpower needs. The last remnants of machining are what give the wine buying not particularly good quality.
Winemaking is the fermentation of mash and within earthen jars. The earthenware jars buried in the soil were those allowing the aging, without the risk of activities under the influence of oxygen, yielding a wide variety of wines. They are sometimes subjected to special treatment: the drying of the grapes reach Passos in the Sun and okapnias cooked mash. Hesiod mentions that the stafyles was dried up partly in the Sun and then stacked in jars to close tightly. The rich in sugars from juice scant broken nipples begin to slowly kneaded and liberating carbon dioxide. In this environment the unbroken berry was softened nipples and their cells formed aromatics and alcohol. Just stop the fermentation, the stafyles are driven to LINOS: fragrant juice was added in sweet wine of pithwn.
Ancient Greek technology (I)-Production of flour and bread
The bread
The consumption of wheat bread, a basic component of the European diet, was a significant cultural progress and in terms of food consumption, but also in terms of production and technical resources. Primarily meant converting poor farmland, wooded terrain and sometimes caustic in arable land suitable for growing wheat seed bare. There was also a key factor in the concentration of water, which in classical Greece relied on winter rains and spring to meet the needs of the dry summer. Irrigation generally was not the strong point of the Greek and Roman agriculture and despite the fact that there were relevant technical knowledge, irrigation channels and dams were used in a few cases, additional of wood production.
The word bread is etymologically derived from the verb ‘ψώω’ or rub, grind, or ‘ψωμίζω’ meaning eat putting small pieces in the mouth. As the bread for the ancient Greeks was the main product of consumption with the word bread they meant the bread but they meant and the food in General. Hippocrates mentions various kinds of bread from wheat flour, sieved or not, with or without yeast, Bran, oatmeal, honey and cheese, oil, poppy, sesame. The Αθηναίος refers to 72 kinds of bread. The scarcity of the grain and the high nutritional value resulted in wheat bread to eat people of the social position, unlike the simple people nourished with barley bread.
-Fermentation baking
In the next stage of the process of making flour, they edited the flour. Remarkable was the device of Roman times, consisting of a stone cylindrical receiver, internal protrusions, enclosed by vertical axis with similar notches. Water, flour and yeast, to ensure the bloating of the product was conjured up with the rotation of the shaft and the dough was grazed by a hole near the bottom.
The last phase of the whole process had to do with the baking of the dough, obeloys, ipnoys, Griddles and ovens. As early as the 5th century there are testimonies that were selling bread ovens, while from the prehistoric years saved clay furnace models or figurines women who knead. Flavorings, pepper, sesame seeds, dill seeds and opium they lent to the bread variety and perfumes. The vulgar bread distributed in hampers.
Production of flour
Before the use of animals in the grinder, process all the relevant stages carried out by hand, from the man. To come clean, the fruit should be first cleaned in a manual mill and either boiled to produce the OAT porridge, or kneaded bread and produce. If it were barley, three processes: predated milling of roasting or drying, peeling with the mortar and pestle, beating and sifting to produce without bark and ground grains.
Primitive wheat species was made without bark with further short roasting in the oven, grinding in shallow, stone or wooden mortar and new split of flour. In oldest phases were seeds in the cavity of a shallow basin of volcanic stone and suffer reflux treatment in cylindrical or spherical grinder. But as the effort was disproportionate effect, the use of these tools was replaced by the use of mills.
Pliny explains that the fruit was destroyed in a wooden mortar to the bark removed, but at the same time to avoid the pulverizing which result from the use of stone songs. After this the clean fruit anymore was destroyed to slice them with the same way and with the same tool. The wooden mortar was a hollow container, fastened on the base, while the pestle tapered off on the edges with a carved handle in the middle. In general the wheat in the classic years was split only once, while repetitive grinding and sifting, was only in great cases, as evidenced on the sources. The ancient flour was also overtaken in color and quality of the corresponding current, while even after grinding contained several impurities, some of which are poisonous and some harmful to teeth.
Apart from the mortar, grinding was done on millstones. In particular many ancient millstone which were discovered by the excavations, as well as pieces of mills or the relevant representations in the form of figurines. Based on these materials residues can be configured a satisfying image in relation to the types of tools, similar to these processes, as well as in relation to the development and passage of the quern in technologically more sophisticated mill of water. At the same time, one finds a more gradual to ensure smooth flow of grain to the mill, as well as increasing the amount of material to grinding. The introduction of rotating movement in whole process of milling brought many positive results in relevant technology, allowing very strong zepsimatos power zwokinitis.
The ancient Miller did not have of course modern equipment, but relatively simple machines with stone millstones, pretty primitive, screens vessels for measuring the quantity of fruit, baskets and other objects, respectively. The emergence of the occupation of Miller doesn't necessarily mean a better and better quality grinder process.
Millstones prehistoric Thera
The millstones was constructed by pyroxeniko andesite, a volcanic rock, a black of direct geological environment of the settlement and consisted of two tools that were complementary. The lower fixed item repulsing had the largest length and width and formed a flat surface grinder with elliptical and oblong outline. The surface is gradually was being glossed and by using. The top part of the cell called millstone only and has almost the same features as the technomorfologika down, but on a smaller scale. The only one who was moved to the surface of the lower repulsed item with rectilinear reciprocating motion with the active surface is convex cross-section, complementary to the pressing of repulsing millstone. The millstones of the Cape were of two types:
A) Portable Millstones
Portable millstones were typically undersized, easily transported and have come to light in several areas of the houses of the village, on the ground floor or floors.
B) Fixed Millstones
These massive tools, which was incorporated in the sloping surface of a desk built, on the ground floor of buildings. Their presence testifies to the organization in the process of grinding and productivity tools. The alestis here working upright on the elevated bench, while for mobile work sitting down.
The firm millstone was incorporated in build desks and had large surface grinder. Indeed, often next to the main surface grinder was added when the shaft length, a specially designed millstone (image. 7/8). So the process of milling different parties, gaining another dimension and even a specific place in the architectural design of the building, usually in contact with the entrance of the building, as independent from storage areas fruit and galleys. On this bench grinder would work simultaneously three different people, while in a large stone basin will become the beating of fruits.
The production of large quantities of crushed products could indicate relevant professional activities, beyond the simple domestic consumption.
Bibliography
Moundrea-Agrafioti a., "Agriculture, agro-processing and stone tools in Akrotiri of Thera", 469-485 in Ancient Greek technology and technique from prehistoric to Hellenistic times with emphasis in prehistoric times, conference proceedings, 2004.
Amouretti C. M., Le pain et l ' huile dans la Gr? ce antique, 1986.
Forbes j. r. , Studies in Ancient Technology, vol. III, 1993.
Isager S., Jens E., Ancient Greek Agriculture. An Introduction, 1992.
Richter, w. Die Landwirtschaft im homerischen Zeitalter, Archaeologia Homerica II, 1968.
Sallares r., The Ecology of ancient Greek world, 1991.
FOOD PREPARATION IN GREECE
Food preparation
Food played an important part in the Greek mode of
thought. Classicist John Wilkins notes that "in the Odyssey for example,
good men are distinguished from bad and Greeks from foreigners partly in terms
of how and what they ate. Herodotus identified people partly in terms of food
and eating".
Up to the 3rd century BCE, the frugality imposed by
the physical and climatic conditions of the country was held as virtuous. The
Greeks did not ignore the pleasures of eating, but valued simplicity. The rural
writer Hesiod, as cited above, spoke of his "flesh of a heifer fed in the
woods, that has never calved, and of firstling kids" as being the perfect
closing to a day. Nonetheless, Chrysippus is quoted as saying that the best
meal was a free one.
Culinary and gastronomical research was rejected as a
sign of oriental flabbiness: the Persian Empire was considered decadent due to
their luxurious taste, which manifested itself in their cuisine. The Greek
authors took pleasure in describing the table of the Achaemenid Great King and
his court: Herodotus, Clearchus of Soli, Strabo and Ctesias were unanimous in their descriptions.
Fresh fish, one
of the favourite dishes of the Greeks, platter with red figures, c. 350–325
BCE, Louvre
In contrast, Greeks as a whole stressed the austerity
of their own diet. Plutarch tells how the king of Pontus, eager to try the
Spartan "black gruel", bought a Laconian cook; "but had no
sooner tasted it than he found it extremely bad, which the cook observing, told
him, "Sir, to make this broth relish, you should have bathed yourself
first in the river "Evrotas". According to Polyaenus, on discovering
the dining hall of the Persian royal palace, Alexander the Great mocked their
taste and blamed it for their defeat. Pausanias, on discovering the dining
habits of the Persian commander Mardonius, equally ridiculed the Persians,
"who having so much, came to rob the Greeks of their miserable
living".
In consequence of this cult of frugality, and the
diminished regard for cuisine it inspired, the kitchen long remained the domain
of women, free or enslaved. In the classical period, however, culinary
specialists began to enter the written record. Both Aelian and Athenaeus
mention the thousand cooks who accompanied Smindyride of Sybaris on his voyage
to Athens at the time of Cleisthenes, if only disapprovingly. Plato in Gorgias,
mentions "Thearion the cook, Mithaecus the author of a treatise on
Sicilian cooking, and Sarambos the wine merchant; three eminent connoisseurs of
cake, kitchen and wine."Some chefs also wrote treatises on cuisine.
Over time, more and more Greeks presented themselves
as gourmets. From the Hellenistic to the Roman period, the Greeks — at least
the rich — no longer appeared to be any more austere than others. The
cultivated guests of the feast hosted by Athenaeus in the 2nd or 3rd century
devoted a large part of their conversation to wine and gastronomy. They
discussed the merits of various wines, vegetables, and meats, mentioning
renowned dishes (stuffed cuttlefish, red tuna belly, prawns, lettuce watered
with mead) and great cooks such as Soterides, chef to king Nicomedes I of
Bithynia (who reigned from the 279 to 250 BCE). When his master was inland, he
pined for anchovies; Soterides simulated them from carefully carved turnips,
oiled, salted and sprinkled with poppy seeds.Suidas (an encyclopaedia from the
Byzantine period) mistakenly attributes this exploit to the celebrated Roman
gourmet Apicius (1st century BCE) — which may be taken as evidence that the
Greeks had reached the same level as the Romans.
Social dining
Banqueter
playing the kottabos, a playful subversion of the libation, ca. 510 BCE, Louvre
As with modern dinner parties, the host could simply
invite friends or family; but two other forms of social dining were central in
ancient Greece: the entertainment of the all-male symposium, and the
obligatory, regimental syssitia.
Symposium
The symposium (συμπόσιον symposion), traditionally
translated as "banquet", but more literally "gathering of
drinkers", was one of the preferred pastimes for the Greeks. It consisted
of two parts: the first dedicated to food, generally rather simple, and a
second part dedicated to drinking. However, wine was consumed with the food,
and the beverages were accompanied by snacks (τραγήματα tragēmata) such as
chestnuts, beans, toasted wheat, or honey cakes, all intended to absorb alcohol
and extend the drinking spree.
The second part was inaugurated with a libation, most
often in honor of Dionysus, followed by conversation or table games, such as Kottabos.
The guests would recline on couches (κλίναι klinai) low tables held the food or
game boards. Dancers, acrobats, and musicians would entertain the wealthy
banqueters. A "king of the banquet" was drawn by lots; he had the
task of directing the slaves as to how strong to mix the wine.
With the exception of Courtesans, the banquet was
strictly reserved for men. It was an essential element of Greek social life.
Great feasts could only be afforded by the rich; in most Greek homes, religious
feasts or family events were the occasion of more modest banquets. The banquet
became the setting of a specific genre of literature, giving birth to Plato's
Symposium, Xenophon's work of the same name, the Table Talk of Plutarch's
Moralia, and the Deipnosophists (Banquet of the Learned) of Athenaeus.
Syssitia
The syssitia (τα συσσίτια ta
syssitia) were mandatory meals shared by social or religious groups for men and
youths, especially in Crete and Sparta. They were referred to variously as
hetairia, pheiditia, or andreia (literally, "belonging to men"). They
served as both a kind of aristocratic club and as a military mess. Like the
symposium, the syssitia was the exclusive domain of men —
although some references have been found to all-female syssitia. Unlike the
symposium, these meals were hallmarked by simplicity and temperance.
Dinners
The Greeks had three to four meals a day. Breakfast (ακρατισμός
akratismos) consisted of barley bread dipped in wine (άκρατος
akratos), sometimes complemented by figs or olives. They also made pancakes
called τηγανίτης (tēganitēs), ταγηνίτης (tagēnitēs) or ταγηνίας (tagēnias).
A quick lunch (άριστον
ariston) was taken around noon or early afternoon. Dinner (δείπνον
deipnon), the most important meal of the day, was generally taken at
nightfall.An additional light meal (εσπέρισμα
hesperisma) was sometimes taken in the late afternoon. Ἀριστόδειπνον / aristodeipnon, literally
"lunch-dinner", was served in the late afternoon instead of dinner.
http://el.wikipedia.org/wiki/Διατροφή_στην_αρχαία_Ελλάδα
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_cuisine
http://hellenicpsyche.blogspot.gr/2012/10/archaeology-of-food-gastronomy-in.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_Greek_cuisine
http://hellenicpsyche.blogspot.gr/2012/10/archaeology-of-food-gastronomy-in.html
4/28/2013
TOMATO PICKERS: A NEW FORM OF SLAVERY.
Abridged
from”Modern
slave migrant toil in Italy’s tomato fields”,by Silvia Aloisi,Reuters, September 28, 2009.
RIGNANO GARGANICO(Italy)-After crossing half of Africa
and surviving a perilous boat trip from
Libya escaping from hunger,war or dictatorship in search of a better life in
Italy,every year thousands of immigrants, many of them from Africa, arrive in
the fields of southern Italy to work as seasonal workers picking grapes,
olives, tomatoes and oranges.
Broadly tolerated by the authorities thanks to their role in
the economy, they endure long hours of backbreaking work and live in squalid camps without
running water or electricity.
“ I never thought
it would be like this in Italy. Even
dogs better off than us”, said Bailo, a 24- year-old
from Guinea struggling to survive in an area of Puglia which produces 35% of
Italy's tomatoes. “ it's better to die than to live like this, because at least
when you die your problems are over”.
In this period, the government launched a law to
regulate immigrants illegally employed in cleaning or caring for the elderly by
Italian families , but that does not apply to those working at bringing
tomatoes in from the fields.
Bailo, who was denied an asylum request, says he has worked eight days in the past two months “and
I didn't even put 100 euros in my pocket “.
The going pay for illegal tomato pickers is 3,5 euros
per “cassone”, a big plastic crate that, when
full, weighs 35 kg. On a good day, workers can hope to make as much as 25 euros
from working from dawn to dusk. But in most cases they will have to pay a
percentage to the so-called “ caporali “ ,who are middlemen who select the
workforce for the farm owners and control that the job gets done.
“These modern slaves are handy
for the economy: you can exploit them and then get rid of them when you don't
need them anymore” said Father Arcangelo Maira, a local priest trying to help
the immigrants.
People sleep on bug-infested
mattresses in overcrowded shacks made of cardboard and plastic sheets or in decrepit houses.
After turning a blind eye for years in Puglia,
regional authorities in August set up 60 portable toilets and 20 water tanks to
serve an estimated 1500 immigrants until October, when most will move further
south to the Calabria region for the orange harvest.
“the condition in which they live and eat are
extremely precarious. These are youg, strong people who arrive in Italy in good
health and fall sick here“,said MSF (Doctors Without Borders ) doctor Alvise
Benelli. Spending hours kneeling or bending in
the fields means that many suffer from back and muscle pain. The lack of
hygiene causes skin and intestinal diseases. There is also an increasing number
of people suffering from depression.
“They left their country and came here hoping to find
an El Dorado, but they end up living in conditions that are often worse than
what they had at home”, said Benelli. “You see it most when they are forced to
stay indoors, they sleep for much of the they of the day and don't answer when
we speak to them. Sometimes I have seen them cry”
PIZZA NAPOLETANA
INTRODUCTION
Today we want to deal with a classic recipe, even the recipe for excellence, which at first glance may seem easy to prepare, but, actually, cooking a good Neapolitan pizza margherita is hard, but nothing is impossible, so with a bit of will and imagination, today we deal with the Neapolitan margherita pizza, cooked in a wood oven alfapizza. The history of pizza is pretty well known, but for the uninitiated, the margherita pizza is out of the hands of the chef Raffaele Esposito of Pizzeria Brandi, who in June of 1889, to honor the Queen of Italy, Margherita of Savoy, created the Margherita pizza, where the toppings, tomato, mozzarella and basil, represented just the Italian flag.
INGREDIENTS
1 liter of water
2 Kg of flour
6 tablespoons olive oil
20 g of fresh yeast
50 grams of sea salt
teaspoon of sugar
1.2 kg of fresh mozzarella
1.6 Kg of tomato sauce
fresh basil
PREPARATION
But let's see how they prepare the Neapolitan pizza margherita.
Mix the flour with water until everything is well mixed,
the consistency of the dough should be soft, we recommend that you add water a
little at a time. Add the yeast, oil and salt and continue to knead. After
rising, the dough balls should be 180-200 gr and cover to get an 'other leavening.
Once you are ready with the hot oven (300 ° C) roll out the dough balls in hand
looking for a more rounded shape possible.
To make sure that the cornice is higher, stretch the pizza from the center by moving the air inside of the dough towards the outside. This will make sure that the air increasing the volume will create perfect eaves. Spread the tomato, previously mixed with oil and salt, with a circular moving, add the mozzarella and olive oil and bake. When you believe that the pizza is ready take away from the oven and add the fresh basil.
To make sure that the cornice is higher, stretch the pizza from the center by moving the air inside of the dough towards the outside. This will make sure that the air increasing the volume will create perfect eaves. Spread the tomato, previously mixed with oil and salt, with a circular moving, add the mozzarella and olive oil and bake. When you believe that the pizza is ready take away from the oven and add the fresh basil.
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