Byzantine cuisine

Pita ( or ; ; ) or pitta (British English), also known as Arabic bread, Arab bread (), Syrian bread, Lebanese bread, and pide (Turkish) is a family of yeast-leavened round flatbreads baked from wheat flour, common in the Mediterranean, Middle East, and neighboring areas. It includes the widely known version with an interior pocket. In the United Kingdom, the term is used for pocket versions such as the Greek pita, used for barbecues as a souvlaki wrap. The Western name pita may sometimes be used to refer to various other types of flatbreads that have different names in their local languages, s

Halloumi, or haloumi, is a cheese originating from Cyprus. It is traditionally made from a mixture of goat milk and sheep's milk; however, due to industrial tactics to increase profit, modern halloumi increasingly contains cow's milk. The cheese's texture is often described as "squeaky". It has a high melting point and so can easily be fried or grilled, a property that makes it a popular meat alternative among vegetarians. Rennet (mostly vegetarian or microbial) is used to curdle the milk in halloumi production, although no acid-producing bacteria are used in its preparation.

thumb|Koofteh Tabrizi from Iran Kofta is a family of meatball or meatloaf dishes found in South Asian, Central Asian, Balkan, Middle Eastern, North African, and South Caucasian cuisines. In the simplest form, koftas consist of balls of minced meat—usually beef, chicken, lamb or mutton, camel, seldom pork, or a mixture—mixed with spices and sometimes other ingredients. The earliest known recipes are found in early Turkish cookbooks and call for ground lamb.

thumb|upright|Garum amphorae from [[Pompeii]]

thumb|right|Pastirma

Simit is a circular bread, typically encrusted with sesame seeds or, less commonly, poppy, flax or sunflower seeds, found across the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and the Middle East, especially in Armenia, Turkey and the Balkans. Simit's size, crunch, chewiness, and other characteristics vary slightly by region.

Kokoretsi () or kokoreç is a dish of the Balkans and Anatolia (Asia Minor), consisting of lamb or goat intestines wrapped around seasoned offal, including sweetbreads, hearts, lungs, or kidneys, and typically grilled; a variant consists of chopped innards cooked on a griddle. The intestines of suckling lambs are preferred.

Bottarga is salted, cured fish roe pouch, typically of the grey mullet or the bluefin tuna (). The best-known version is produced around the Mediterranean; similar foods are the Japanese and Taiwanese , which is softer, and Korean , from mullet or freshwater drum. It has many names and is prepared in various ways. Due to its scarcity and involved preparation it is expensive and regarded as a delicacy.

thumb|A bottle of retsina from the Greek producer Kourtaki thumb|Retsina Malamatina

Kefalotyri or kefalotiri () is a hard, salty white cheese made from sheep milk or goat's milk (or both) in Greece and Cyprus. A similar cheese, Kefalograviera, also made from sheep or goat milk (or both), is sometimes sold outside Greece and Cyprus as Kefalotyri. Depending on the mixture of milk used in the process, the color can vary between yellow and white.

Tarhana is a dried food ingredient, based on a fermented mixture of grain and yogurt or fermented milk, found in Central Asian, Southeast European, and Middle Eastern cuisines. Dry tarhana has a texture of coarse, uneven crumbs, and it is usually made into a thick soup with water, stock, or milk. As it is both acidic and low in moisture, the milk proteins keep for long periods. Tarhana is very similar to some kinds of kashk.

thumb|180px|Tsipouro

Commandaria (also called Commanderia and Coumadarka; , and Cypriot Greek κουμανταρκά) is an amber-coloured sweet dessert wine made in the Commandaria region of Cyprus on the foothills of the Troödos Mountains. Commandaria is made from sun-dried grapes of the varieties Xynisteri and Mavro. While often a fortified wine, through its production method it often reaches high alcohol levels, around 15%, already before fortification. It represents an ancient wine style documented in Cyprus back to 800 BC and has the distinction of being the world's oldest named wine still in production, with the name

historical regional cuisine

Mizithra or myzithra ( ) is a Greek whey cheese or mixed milk-whey cheese from sheep or goats, or both. It is sold both as a fresh cheese, similar to Italian ricotta, and as a salt-dried grating cheese, similar to Italian ricotta salata. The ratio of milk to whey is usually 7 to 3.

thumb|250px|Lakerda steaks (center) at a store in Kapani (Agora Vlalì) Market, Thessaloniki.

cheesecake recipe from ancient Greece

thumb|A modern bottle of Conditum Paradoxum

Anthotyros () (Anthotyro in modern Greek, "flowery cheese") is a traditional fresh cheese. There are dry Anthotyros and fresh Anthotyros. Dry Anthotyros is a matured cheese similar to Mizithra. Anthotyros is made with milk and whey from sheep or goats, sometimes in combination. The ratio of milk to whey usually is 9-to-1. It is commonly a truncated cone, but when shipped in containers may be crumbled, as it is removed. It may be unpasteurized, where law allows.

' () or must jelly (also mustpie and mustcake) is a traditional Greek kind of pudding made of grape must mixed with flour and boiled until thick. , must biscuits or must cookies' are the biscuit (cookie) version.

thumb|Paximadia Paximathia (), also spelt paximadia (plural), or paximadi/paximathi (singular), is a hard bread of Greek origin, similar to rusk, that is prepared with whole wheat, chick pea or barley flour. It has been referred to as being similar to biscotti or as a type of biscotti. Paximathia is a common food in Greece and many Greek bakeries sell the bread, which is often served as a breakfast food with marmalade or cheese. Paximathia is purveyed also in Greek specialty stores in many areas of the United States.