This article was produced by National Geographic Traveller (UK).
Easter is the most important day of the Greek religious calendar. As a result, there’s no feast like a Greek Easter feast. When I was a child, we’d spend the day in my grandparents’ Greek-Cypriot taverna in London with countless cousins and friends. Sometimes we’d go to Cyprus, to the Troodos mountains near Limassol. My grandfather’s village would shut for the celebrations — roads blocked, food laid out on long tables in the central square — and everyone would be out, drinking shots of ouzo after church until well into the night. As neighbours met, you’d hear the greeting “Christos anesti” (Christ is risen) and the enthusiastic reply “alithos anesti!” (truly, He is risen!). We’d gather with loved ones, eat food, play games and rejoice in the resurrection of Christ.
To appreciate our joy, it’s important to first understand what happens during the weeks leading up to this. Like other Christians, followers of the Greek Orthodox faith observe Lent (in fact, strict adherents will eat restricted diets for about a third of the year). The penultimate Thursday before Great Lent is Tsiknopempti — Smoky Thursday. Grills are lit, and all the meat in the house is cooked. The following week, we have Tyrini, Cheesefare Week. With the meat gone, we now eat the dairy products. Then, Kathara Deftera, or Clean Monday, the day Great Lent begins. It’s carnival day — we picnic, eat lagana (an olive oil bread) and fly kites to symbolise our desire to be close to the divine. One of the questions I get asked the most is why Orthodox Easter is often celebrated on a different Sunday to that in many other countries, and that’s because the Orthodox church still follows the Julian calendar. This year, they’re a whole five weeks apart.
For over 40 days, we’ll eat plenty of vegetables but no flesh, dairy or eggs (although some shellfish and things like cod’s roe are eaten). On Easter Saturday, we go to church to light a candle at midnight. The bells ring, and we come home at 2am and put overtired children to bed so we can catch a few hours’ sleep before getting up early to begin cooking in earnest. It’s my favourite time of the year.
Fakes can differ depending on where it’s served. In Greece, the lentils are often just cooked with onions, while in Cyprus, tomato, rice, spinach or even orzo are added.
Photograph by Art of Food, Alamy Photo
Easter specialities
1. Magiritsa
After midnight mass, Greeks break their fast with this rich soup. Traditionally, it’s made with the offal of the lambs. These days, I use lamb shank as most people prefer it. It’s thickened with egg yolk and seasoned with lemon in a similar way to avgolemono soup, which is the soup people in Cyprus often eat to break their fast.
2. Tsougrisma
Not strictly a food, but a must at Greek Easter, nonetheless. Tsougrisma is a fiercely competitive game (at least in my family) — a clash of hard-boiled eggs that have been dyed red, in memory of the blood of Christ. The victor is the person whose egg remains unsmashed. My family says the winning egg should be kept for seven years, after which it will turn to gold. I have yet to see proof of this because my mother will turn all the eggs into her mother’s famous salad, with potato, beetroot, onions and celery.
3. Flaounes
Not quite savoury, not quite sweet, not even really a pastry — a sesame-topped dough folded around a firm, cheesy cake that’s studded with sultanas and herbs. A flaouna is hard to understand until you’ve eaten one, but for me no other food is as emblematic of Greek-Cypriot Easter. Most people don’t make them at home because it’s quite an involved process. My yiayia (grandmother) and I prepare hundreds the week before, and I love the ritual, as well as the result.
4. Tsoureki
This sweet, enriched brioche-like plaited loaf — flavoured with mastic and mahlepi (a spice made from ground cherry seeds) and sometimes cradling a red egg — is a traditional gift to make for loved ones. You’ll find modern variations in bakeries all over Greece around Easter time, some topped with chocolate, studded with citrus or even laced with chestnut.
Flaouna is a cheesy cake that’s been folded with sesame-topped dough.
Photograph by Michalis Palis, Alamy Photo
5. Kleftiko
Lamb is the traditional centrepiece of a Greek Easter feast. In villages, it will be a whole lamb — or two — turning on a spit, basted with red wine and oregano throughout the day. At home, we’re more likely to have this traditional recipe of leg or shoulder, slow cooked under parchment with potatoes, oregano, cinnamon, tomatoes and wine.
6. Fakes
This simplest of lentil soups is eaten by Greeks year-round, and, in my family, we’ll always cook a version on Good Friday. It’s one of the strictest fasting days and we can’t even have olive oil, so we’ll season the soup with a splash of vinegar. It’s comforting and hearty. In Greece the lentils are often simply cooked with onions, but in Cyprus you’ll find it cooked with tomato, plus the addition of rice, spinach or even orzo, which gives it a creamy texture.
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