Greeks prepare their salads with extreme simplicity which practically means they are easy to make. They avoid at any cost the ready made sauces and many will claim that the secret to a good salad is the fresh ingrediends. This is why Greeks have "summer" salads and "winder" salads where they use the vegetables of the season since a meal without a salad is something rare in Greece.

                Even though in Greece it is totally unheard for a healthy person not to eat meat and most of the recipies include it, the salads are kept as "green" as possible. In this site recipies without meat but with products of meat and/or fish are in green in the menu and they are marked with the sign in the recipies' pages.

                Mezedes (sing. meze) are small side dishes that accompany the drinking of something alcoholic or they are used as appetisers before the main course. A very "Greek" way to lay the table is to serve first the salad with lots of side dishes which will be present even during the main course. Tzatziki is a good example. It is a strong appetiser but it serves as a sauce for meat in many cases as well.

                Have you noticed how the Greeks tend to turn a meal into a feast any chance given? Well, the ever-present mezedes are invented mainly to sustain a person that sings, drinks and dances for long, usually long after he or she has finished eating!