The taste of memory

Taste and memory. One intertwines with the other, draws it out, provokes it. The thread of an entire life unravels, following tastes and smells, indelible imprints in time, traces that come together and part only to meet again. Childhood in Thessaloniki tastes of hot tsouskes and Aristos’s cod in Ladadika. Youthful loves hidden within the layers of moussaka; a loaf of sourdough bread with fresh mizithra, beneath the scorching sun, a meal etched in the mind forever. Amidst roast duck, tzatziki and exceptional wines, from student halls in Edinburgh to restaurants in Paris, a world emerges into the light and comes to life. Every new bite brings back sounds, faces, colours, landscapes and emotions from memory, and all of these together rekindle the flavours that accompanied them. And life goes on. Narrative and emotion come together. Like Albert Aruch, but also like Epicurus – parallel paths that nevertheless intersect – the author allows the flavours of his life to guide him in telling his story. And it comes to life, bringing with it the flavour of memory.

In this book, Epikouros passionately explores what exactly Greek identity means in our cuisine. He begins by examining what ‘Greekness’ means, drawing on references and examples from literature, painting and architecture. He wonders what Greekness meant to the generation of the 1930s, how it is changing today, and what this means for gastronomy. He traces, from the Ottoman period to the present day, the folkloric, local, cultural, economic and many other factors that constantly shape what we call Greek cuisine. What is ‘mum’s cooking’ and what is restaurant food? Who are the great chefs who have shaped our tastes and palates from Nikolaos Tselementes to the present day? Is moussaka Greek? Will our great-grandchildren consider sushi to be Greek? In other words, joking aside, the dialogue we were having continues. What will be the next chapter in this fascinating story of our Greek cuisine? It is a great joy and honour for us that, 20 years after *Deipnosophists*, this dialogue continues at Ikaros.