The Food and Geography of Greece

It was a matter of economics, too: goats and sheep produced milk to drink and to make into cheese, and mohair and wool, so they were only killed when they were very old and had outlived all their other purposes. The Greek diet was also heavy in sweets. They ate fruit, which the philosopher Aristotle observed caused their teeth to rot: “Why do figs, which are soft and sweet, damage the teeth?” That was the diet in Athens, in northern Greece. In the southern part of Greece, Sparta was a rigid militaristic society. Infants that were not born healthy and physically perfect were tossed off a cliff. Girls and boys ran and played rigorous sports to toughen them up. When they were seven years old, the boys were sent away for military training. They lived in barracks and slept on hard wooden benches. Spartan food matched the Spartan life. Although cheese, barley, and figs were food fundamentals in Sparta, the staple food was a black broth made from pork stock, vinegar, and salt. It is from their denial of what they considered luxury that we get the word spartan.

Geography also influenced human relationships in Greece. Because the land made travel so difficult, the guest-host relationship was sacred. If a stranger, even a poor man, appeared at your door, it was your duty to be a good host, to take him in and shelter him, share your food and wine with him. “We do not sit at table only to eat, but to eat together,” said the Greek author Plutarch. Dining was a sign of the human community and differentiated men from beasts. In return, the guest had obligations to his host. These included not abusing his host’s hospitality by staying too long, usually not more than three days.

A violation of this relationship by either side brought justified human and divine wrath. An example is in Homer’s epic poem, The Odyssey. After the Trojan War, which lasted ten years, Odysseus, King of Ithaca, wandered for another ten years trying to return to his home. In his absence, his house was filled with men who drank his wine, ate his roasted meat, and pressured his wife to choose one of them as her new husband because they kept assuring her Odysseus was dead. When he finally arrived home disguised as a lowly swineherd, the suitors refused to give him food or shelter. Then Odysseus revealed himself and justifiably killed them all.