Why buy Greek
Our small country, a land of plenty
We live in a land blessed with the perfect Mediterranean climate, with unique soil conditions and with a surprisingly rich flora. The well-drained soils, the sunny summers and the temperate winters are ideal for growing healthy olive trees of supreme taste and nutritional value. The same sunny summers together with the rich variety of Greek flora (more than 7,500 different species of herbs, plants, wild flowers and trees, many of them renowned since antiquity for their medicinal value, 850 of them unique to Greece) are responsible for producing the finest honey in the world. Our rocky landscapes, sunny sea level slopes and low rainfall create unique microclimates for cultivating grapes that produce excellent quality wines. Nature has blessed our small country with unique gifts, and we aim to bring them to the world.
Mediterranean Diet = Greek Diet
When scientists and doctors speak of the Mediterranean Diet, what they really mean is the Greek Diet. Almost all studies about the Mediterranean Diet are really based on information about the diet of Greeks, mainly from Crete, the Islands and the Peloponnese. All these are areas famous for the longevity of their people, who suffer much less from common diseases like heart attack and other cardiovascular ailments, stroke and type 2 diabetes as well as from chronic illnesses. They live longer and they live healthier, and science tells us that what they eat is the main reason why. The olive oil, rich in oleic acid is a big part of this diet, and Greeks consume far more extra virgin olive oil per capita than any other people in the world. It is also not an accident that honey is used medicinally all over Greece and that local wisdom considers a glass of wine a day a big part of a healthy diet. The antimicrobial agents in the honey and the antioxidants in the wine are considered important elements in promoting long life and good health.
However all the trends show that consumers these days want not only healthy food, they also want tasty, indulgent food that they can enjoy. This is where our products come in: they combine all the health benefits of the Mediterranean diet with luxury and delicious tastes, in one elegant package.
History and Tradition combined with Modern Technology
We are an old country with a long memory. Olive oil, honey, wine and traditional medicine are part of that. Fossilized olive leaves found on the Greek islands of the Aegean are said to be 50-60,000 years old, and the systematic cultivation of olives trees is said to have begun on the island of Crete in Neolithic times. Greek ties to the olive tree run deep. Greece is also where the art of beekeeping (apiculture) started in early prehistoric times. Honey and the collection of honey were so prolific in Greece that you can find more than 40 ancient names for honey containers and countless references to honey throughout ancient Greek history. The earliest evidence of Greek wine has been dated to 6,500 years ago. Dionysus, our ancient God of wine was so beloved that there were festivals all over the country in his honor, and the wine trade has been a mainstay of Greek trading from antiquity to medieval times to the modern age. Ancient Greeks understood the healing powers of nature, food and Greek herbs. Diocles of Carystus wrote one of the earliest Herbal books in history. Hippocrates, the Father of Western Medicine, famously said “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food”. In Grecce, we never forgot that this is a great rule to live by, whether your medicine is a sesame and honey bar or a mountain tea.
There is much more that could be said for the history of Greek food products, but we feel it’s just as important to stress that to this day our country respects this history and our traditions. It helps that agriculture has for the most part stayed a family business: we have an abundance of small to medium farms which preserve traditional methods and recipes handed down from generation to generation.
At the same time, we are a modern European country, part of the European Union with its very strict rules and regulations regarding food production and safety. Combining these two aspects has been the work of a new generation of young Greeks returning to the land and taking over agricultural production, with respect for the tradition but also with modern ideas, modern equipment and new techniques. It is their products, this amazing combination of the new and the old, of tradition and modern techniques that we are proud to bring to you.