The Food and Wine of Greece: More Than 300 Classic and Modern Dishes from the Mainland and Islands

Contrary to popular belief, Greek cooking is more than just onions, garlic, and olive oil. In The Food and Wine of Greece, Diane Kochilas does a wonderful job of revealing the richness of Greek cooking. Kochilas lovingly talks about each region and the culinary specialties indigenous to them. Kochilas has spent over 15 years living and traveling in Greece. In that time she has gathered a diverse collection of regional Greek recipes that are easy to read and prepare (even if you aren't Greek). As an added bonus, she offers a wine recommendation (Greek, of course) for each dish. If you have never tried your hand at Greek cooking then this is the book for you. It is both inexpensive and fun to read. Buy it today!

I much preferred her first book to this one, though its been years since I read either of them. I recall this one as lacking some excitement of the dishes of her first Greek cookbook. I think she had covered the per-eminent dishes already and so had to work with some of the lesser ones this time around.

But the two together form a great reference to the food and drink of Greece.

As I'm not greek, I thought her organization and discussion of regions was confusing. You need some Greek background or experience to get the most from these books it seems. There are lots of similar dishes throughout the book  and I'd have liked to see the basic dish, then the regional variations. That loses the regional focus she has in the book but would have been more useful to me as a newcomer to greek cooking at the time.