At The Eastern Mediterranean Table
Food has a way of carrying a place with it. A recipe can preserve a memory. A bottle of wine can carry a taste of home across an ocean. This week, we explore the food of the eastern Mediterranean – from Cyprus and Greece to Lebanon – and the stories that come with it.
First, we speak with Anissa Helou, author of Lebanon: Cooking the Foods of My Homeland. Anissa tells us about the cuisine she grew up with in Beirut and some of the dishes and traditions may sound surprisingly familiar to our Louisiana foodways. Although she now lives in Sicily, Anissa's connection to the culinary traditions of her childhood never faded. She has continued to write, she says, to preserve these traditions and knowledge for future generations.
Next, we hear from first-generation Greek-American writer and comedian Gus Constantellis. When Gus unexpectedly lost his mom to a sudden stroke in 2023, he began writing down his memories of her and the recipes she made for their family. The result was a deeply personal and humorous tribute to his mother called My Greek Mom's Recipes: She Died. I Wrote This Cookbook.
Finally, we speak with Ari Kyriakides, a Cyprus native who has called New Orleans home for decades. Ari's the owner of Ambeli Wine Imports and Distribution, a Louisiana company he created to make Cypriot wine widely available in the U.S. He tells us how he's working to put Cyprus on the map one bottle at a time.