IN GREECE
Local Life
Greek fast food Nowadays,
Will traditional Greek fast food retain by Elena Leiterer its supremacy?
what we conventionally understand as fast food in almost every country are burgers, fries and sandwiches from American brands like Mcdonald’s. The American fast food chains have spread over European countries and dominate our perception of fast food.
However, when you arrive in Greece, you will
she always mentioned how vital nutrition is to Greek people. By asking her about fast food, I realized that Greek fast food’s definition needs to be clarified.
When it comes to traditional fast food, Mar-
ion’s answer is simple: “Traditionally, we have souvlaki or gyros, with pita or without.” Here in Greece, traditional fast food is synonymous with “souvlaki “. Souvlakia includes gyro, kebab and others. However, it is most often meat of some sort served with fries or bread.
have difficulty finding some of the branches you would typically go to to buy fast food. For example, there are only 28 Mcdonald’s stores all over Greece. Coming from Germany with 1,428 Mcdonald’s stores, it’s almost weird to walk through a city without seeing the “big M” Souvlaki, in its simplest form, is sliced-up roast meat on a stick. This stick even gave the dish for Mcdonald’s everywhere. its name. What makes souvlaki unique is its ancient history. It dates back to ancient Greek What do Greek people eat as fast and is known as “obelisks”. Aristophanes or Arfood when they don’t visit the istotle even mention “obelisks” in their work. Arstandard American chains? chaeologists even discovered stone barbecue To learn more about the local habits towards holders for skewers. fast food, Marion Chalampalaki gave me her expertise on the topic. I met Marion while she This form of fast food survived till today. And was volunteering with some of my friends and there are a lot of shops or street stands serving she has lived in Thessaloniki since she was the delicacy. Greeks preserve this old traditioneighteen. When we discussed food before, al fast food.
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