A Rhodes food tour means a trip about food on Rhodes, an island of the Dodecanese. It is one of the Greece tours on this site. The notes below look at food through its plants, sweets and bread: street food, the chickpea, the pomegranate, baklava, beekeeping, halva, sourdough and marmalade, then four food terms. Each term is explained in plain words, and the facts come from reference articles.
What does a Rhodes food tour mean?
A Rhodes food tour means a trip about food on Rhodes, an island of the Dodecanese chain. Street food is food sold by a hawker or vendor on a street or at another public place. Dining out is common among tourists.
A food travel association states its mission as preserving and promoting culinary cultures through hospitality and tourism. World Food Travel Day puts the spotlight on how and why people travel to experience culinary cultures. Hospitality means welcoming guests. A culture is the shared habits and customs of a group. Culinary means about cooking and food.
Increased tax revenue is listed among the possible benefits of food tourism. Cooking classes also include market tours that enhance the cultural experience. Tax revenue is money that a government collects. On a Rhodes food tour, a market tour means a walk through a food market. A market is a place where food is sold.
In China, regional street food generates strong interest in culinary tourism among domestic and international visitors. Small fried fish was a street food in ancient Greece. Regional means from one part of a country. On a Rhodes food tour, domestic means from inside the country. Ancient Greece means the Greek world of long ago.
A 2007 study found that 2.5 billion people eat street food every day. The study came from the Food and Agriculture Organization. Evidence of a large number of street food vendors was discovered during the excavation of Pompeii. An excavation is a planned dig into the ground. A study is a careful look.
- Cairo: A late 14th-century Florentine traveler reported street vendors selling kebabs and fritters in Cairo.
- Java: In Indonesia, especially Java, traveling food vendors are described in temple reliefs from the 9th century.
- Ottoman law: In 1502, Ottoman Turkey became the first country to legislate and standardize the sale of street food.
A Rhodes food tour is therefore a trip into food habits, from market stalls to cooking classes. Street food, tax revenue and food days all belong to the subject. The next section turns from the idea to a single plant.
On a Rhodes food tour, what does the chickpea bring?
A Rhodes food tour brings up the chickpea. The plant grows 20 to 50 cm high, with small feathery leaves on either side of the stem. Each chickpea seedpod contains two or three peas. A seedpod is a case around the seeds.
The chickpea has white flowers with veins that are blue, violet or pink. Desi chickpeas have small dark seeds and a rough coat, coloured black, green or speckled. Kabuli chickpeas are tan-coloured with a smooth coat. For a Rhodes food tour, a coat means the skin of a seed. Speckled means dotted with small marks.
Chickpea cultivation is well documented from 3300 BCE in Egypt and the Middle East. Its closest wild relative, Cicer reticulatum, is native to a small area of southeastern Turkey. Cultivation means growing a plant as a crop. A wild relative is a plant of the same family that grows without farming.
Theophrastus described one chickpea variety called rams in Historia Plantarum. In 2023, world chickpea production was 16.5 million tonnes, led by India with 75 percent. A tonne is one thousand kilograms of weight. Theophrastus was an ancient Greek writer on plants. Historia Plantarum is a book about plants. A variety is a distinct kind.
In the Near East, over 80 percent of annual rain falls from December to February. On a Rhodes food tour, the Near East means countries on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Annual means for each year. Over 80 percent means more than four parts in five. Australia is a country and continent.
- Spread: Spanish and Portuguese introduced chickpeas to the New World in the 16th century.
- India: Kabuli chickpeas reached India from Afghanistan in the 18th century.
- Producers: Australia is a major secondary producer of chickpeas, behind the leader.
The chickpea adds a plant story to a Rhodes food tour, from white flowers to a crop. Its seeds spread from the Middle East to India, the New World and Australia. The next section turns from a seed to a fruit.
On a Rhodes food tour, what does the pomegranate bring?
A Rhodes food tour brings up the pomegranate. It grows as a shrub or small tree, 1.5 to 5 metres tall, with spiny branches. A pomegranate can hold anywhere from 200 to about 1,400 seeds. Pomegranate seeds have thick, fleshy coats called sarcotesta.
The pomegranate originated in a region spanning the Caucasus and the Iranian plateau. Ancient Iranians first domesticated the pomegranate about 5,000 years ago. To domesticate means to tame a wild plant for farming. On a Rhodes food tour, a plateau is a high, flat region. Spiny means covered in sharp points.
In ancient Persian culture, the pomegranate blossom was a sacred and symbolic element. A petroglyph at Persepolis shows an Achaemenian king holding a pomegranate flower. In ancient Greek mythology, the pomegranate was known as the fruit of the dead. Sacred means holy, and a petroglyph is a picture carved in rock.
The myth of Persephone features her eating pomegranate seeds. Persephone is a goddess of Greek myth. A myth is an old story that explains the world. Mythology means the set of myths told by a people. Seeds are the parts of a fruit that can grow into new plants. A goddess is a female deity.
In Pakistan, the pomegranate grows wild between 1,000 and 2,000 metres altitude. Altitude means height above sea level. Wild means growing without farming. A shrub is a short, branching woody plant. On a Rhodes food tour, a fruit is the seed-holding part of a plant.
- Settlers: Spanish settlers brought the pomegranate to California in the year 1769.
- Bible: The pomegranate is one of the Seven Species listed in the Hebrew Bible.
- Bronze Age: Late Bronze Age pomegranate remains were found at Hala Sultan Tekke in Cyprus and Tiryns in Greece.
The pomegranate adds a fruit with a long past to a Rhodes food tour. Its seeds, its shrub and its myths each add a thread. The next section turns from the fruit to a layered pastry. Each word here is explained plainly.
On a Rhodes food tour, what does baklava add?
A Rhodes food tour brings up baklava. Baklava is a dessert of layered filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts. Melted butter and starch separate the layers of filo dough in baklava. Filo is a very thin sheet of dough.
Finely chopped nuts are added partway through the layers, such as walnuts or pistachios. Before baking, the dough is cut into regular pieces such as parallelograms, triangles, diamonds or rectangles. A parallelogram is a four-sided shape with two pairs of parallel sides. Pistachios are green nuts from a small tree.
Greek baklava goes by other names such as samousades, zournadakia and masourakia. On the island of Lesbos, a type of baklava is still known as plakous. A historian is a person who studies the past. Lesbos is a Greek island. Samousades, zournadakia and masourakia are Greek names for the pastry.
Gaziantep in south-central Turkey is known for baklava made from locally grown pistachios. The word baklava was first attested in English in 1650. Attested means shown in writing. Locally grown means grown near the place. On a Rhodes food tour, a legal name means a name the law protects. Grown means raised as a crop.
Algerian baklava originates in the city of Constantine. Algeria is a country in North Africa. Syria is a country in West Asia. Originates means has its start. A layer is one flat sheet laid over another. On a Rhodes food tour, Algerian and Syrian are words that name where a style began.
- Syria: Syrian baklava is made with 24 layers of buttered filo dough.
- Protected name: In 2013 the European Commission registered Gaziantep baklava as a Protected Geographical Indication.
- Origin: Food historian Patrick Faas identifies an ancient layered dessert as the origin of baklava.
Baklava adds a layered sweet to a Rhodes food tour, from filo sheets to chopped nuts. Its names run from Greek plakous to Turkish and Syrian styles. The next section turns from the pastry to the bee. Each layer, name and place adds a clue.
On a Rhodes food tour, what does beekeeping bring?
A Rhodes food tour brings up beekeeping, also called apiculture. Beekeeping is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in artificial beehives. Beekeepers keep bees to collect honey, beeswax, propolis, bee pollen and royal jelly. A colony is a group of bees that live together.
Other beekeeping income comes from crop pollination, raising queens and selling package bees. Hives have traditionally been built from cedar, pine or cypress wood. Finds at Knossos include hives, smoking pots and honey extractors. Pollination means moving pollen so that plants make seeds. On a Rhodes food tour, income means money earned.
Modern movable frames are considered to have come from traditional Greek basket top-bar hives. A frame is a wooden border that holds the comb. A top-bar hive is a hive with bars across the top. Movable means able to be lifted out. Comb is the wax structure where bees store honey.
The bee space is commonly given as between 6 and 9 mm. Beekeepers use a smoker, a device that makes smoke from incomplete combustion of fuels. Smoker fuels include hessian, twine, pine needles, corrugated cardboard and rotten or punky wood. On a Rhodes food tour, hessian means a coarse cloth made of jute.
Franz Hruschka invented a simple machine for extracting honey by centrifugal force in 1865. Centrifugal force pushes things outward when they spin. A honey extractor spins the frames so the honey flows out. Invented means made for the first time. Honey is the sweet food that bees make. A machine is a device.
- Frames: Langstroth designed a series of wooden frames within a rectangular hive box.
- Date: The oldest evidence of movable-frame hive use dates back to 1669.
- Smoker: Moses Quinby invented the bee smoker, a smoke-making device, in 1873.
Beekeeping adds the hive to a Rhodes food tour, from honey to wax and pollen. Hives, frames and smokers all have a recorded past. The next section turns from the bee to a sweet made of sesame. Each tool has a plain name.
On a Rhodes food tour, what does halva add?
A Rhodes food tour brings up halva. Halva is a confectionery found across North Africa, the Balkans, West Asia and the Levant. Halva originated in Persia, in what is now Iran. An ancient Greek dish, sesamidios, is considered the same as sesame-based halva.
Its base can be a thick paste made from flour, butter, oil, saffron, rosewater, milk, turmeric and sugar. Sesame halva’s main ingredients are tahini, with sugar, glucose or honey. On a Rhodes food tour, a confectionery is a sweet food made with sugar. Tahini is a paste of ground sesame seeds.
Halva is a traditional fasting food among Greeks observing Orthodox fasting periods. Greek Orthodox fasting avoids meat on Wednesdays and Fridays, and throughout Great Lent. Fasting means going without certain foods for a set time. Traditional means handed down over time. Orthodox means belonging to the Eastern Christian church. Lent is a season of fasting.
In Greece, halva is also served as a dessert or at village festivals. In Greece, halva is commonly made of sesame or semolina. Semolina is a rough flour milled from wheat. A festival is a day of public celebration. For a Rhodes food tour, a village festival is a local celebration.
A regional variant from the Thessaly town of Farsala is made of cornflour. A variant is a different form of the same thing. Thessaly is a region of central Greece. Cornflour is a fine white flour made from maize. Regional means belonging to one part of a country. Maize is the plant that gives corn.
- Floss: Floss halva, called pişmaniye in Turkish, is a traditional sweet from Kocaeli, Turkey.
- Sunflower: Sunflower halva is popular in the former Soviet Union, Bulgaria and Romania.
- Carrot: Gajar ka halwa is a popular carrot halva in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
Halva adds a dense sweet to a Rhodes food tour, from sesame paste to fasting tables. Its forms stretch from Greece to India. Each form shares a thick, sweet paste. The next section turns from the sweet to bread. Each form has its own name.
On a Rhodes food tour, what does sourdough bring?
A Rhodes food tour brings up sourdough. Pliny the Elder described methods of sourdough leavening to make bread. Sourdough used as the sole leavening agent is called type one sourdough. A leavening agent is what lifts dough as it bakes.
The starter is also called the chief, chef, head, mother, or sponge. Periodic additions of flour and water, called refreshments, increase the starter’s volume. A starter is a living mix of flour and water. Periodic means at regular times. For a Rhodes food tour, volume means how much room something takes up.
Barm was replaced by industrially produced baker’s yeast across the late 19th century and the early 20th. Industrially produced means made in a factory. Baker’s yeast is a living fungus sold for baking. Barm is the foam that forms on fermenting drink. A century is one hundred years.
Fructilactobacillus sanfranciscensis was named for its discovery in San Francisco starters, though it is not endemic there. Leuconostoc, Pediococcus and Weissella are lactic acid bacteria found in sourdough. German pumpernickel is traditionally made from a sourdough starter. Endemic means found naturally in only one place. Bacteria are tiny living things.
Birote salado started in Guadalajara as a short French baguette that uses sourdough, not yeast. In Ethiopia, teff flour is fermented to make injera. Ferment means to change through the action of microbes. A baguette is a long thin loaf of bread. On a Rhodes food tour, teff is a small grain.
- California: French bakers brought sourdough techniques to Northern California during the Gold Rush.
- Klondike: The sourdough tradition reached Alaska and the Yukon Territory during the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush.
- Freezing: Freezing does not kill a sourdough starter, but excessive heat does.
Sourdough adds a living starter to a Rhodes food tour, from Pliny to the Gold Rush. Its starter, its microbes and its names each carry a tale. The next section turns from bread to a fruit preserve. Each term here is explained in plain words.
On a Rhodes food tour, what does marmalade add?
A Rhodes food tour brings up marmalade. Marmalade is a preserve of citrus juice and peel boiled with sugar and water. The best-known version is made from bitter orange. A preserve is fruit kept in sugar. Citrus means fruits such as oranges and lemons.
Bitter orange has high pectin content, which gives marmalade a thick consistency. Pectin is a natural substance in fruit that makes jam set. Peel means the outer skin of a fruit. Consistency means how thick or thin something is. On a Rhodes food tour, juice means the liquid pressed from fruit.
Historically, the word marmalade was used for non-citrus preserves. In the 21st century, the term refers to jam made with citrus fruits. Non-citrus means not made from citrus fruit. Historically means in earlier times. On a Rhodes food tour, a term is a word used for a thing. Historical means from the past.
The English word marmalade comes from French marmelade. The French word came from Portuguese marmelada, which started with Greek melimēlon, meaning sweet apple. The oldest known document with the Portuguese word is Gil Vicente’s play Comédia de Rubena, written in 1521. A play is a story written for actors. An origin is a start.
Originally, marmalade was made from quince and meant quince cheese. The first printed recipe for orange marmalade was in Mary Kettilby’s 1714 cookery book. Quince cheese is a firm sweet paste of quince fruit. A recipe is a list of steps and parts for making food. A cookery book is a book about food methods.
- Bear: Paddington Bear keeps marmalade in his hat wherever he goes.
- Other fruit: Mango, pineapple, apricot and cocoa beans have been made into marmalade.
- Citrus: Other citrus fruits, such as lemons and limes, can also be used.
Marmalade adds a bitter-orange preserve to a Rhodes food tour. Its name runs from Greek to Portuguese, French and English. Its fruit, its sugar and its name each carry a clue. The next section turns from the preserve to four food terms.
Which questions come up before a Rhodes food tour starts?
A Rhodes food tour raises four plain questions about food. Cumin is a dried seed used as a spice, and the caper is a pickled bud. The walnut grows in a hard shell, and the rusk is a twice-baked bread.
On a Rhodes food tour, which dried seed is used as a spice?
Cumin is a flowering plant in the family Apiaceae, native to the Irano-Turanian Region. Cumin seeds are used in whole and ground form in the cuisines of different cultures. The cumin plant grows to 30–50 cm tall and is harvested by hand. Apiaceae is the parsley family.
Which pickled bud sits behind a Rhodes food tour?
The caper bush is a perennial plant with round, fleshy leaves and big pinkish-white flowers. The caper bush is best known for its edible flower buds, used as a seasoning or garnish. Both caper buds and caper berries are consumed salted or pickled.
Which nut grows in a hard shell behind a Rhodes food tour?
A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus Juglans. Walnuts are the round, single-seed stone fruits of the walnut tree. Walnuts ripen between September and November in the northern hemisphere. Ripen means become ready to pick. Hemisphere means half of the earth.
Which twice-baked bread sits behind a Rhodes food tour?
A rusk is a hard, dry biscuit or a twice-baked bread. In Argentina, rusk is called tostadas de mesa, which means table toasts. The Serbo-Croatian version of rusk is called dvopek. Twice-baked means baked a second time to dry the slices.