Favorite food in Greece
 

So, I have never been to Greece and I am not familiar with what people crave when they arrive. What must you eat right away when you get there? What can you have again and again?

As I can never make my mind up, I like anywhere serving mezes - small tasters of different dishes. Dishes I always look out for - kleftiko, a dish made with lamb, sometimes cooked in a paper package, stifado - a beef stew with small whole onions, prawn saganaki - prawns in a tomato sauce, topped with cheese.

The starters are always good and can be a meze meal in themselves. Select a few and share them - dips such as tzatziki, taramasalata and houmous, small cheese or spinach pies, with filo pastry, fried aubergines or courgettes, gigantes - large (butter?)beans in tomato sauce and of course Greek salad with a huge chunk of fresh feta cheese...

Sorry, I'll have to stop, I'm making myself hungry! ;)

Mmmmmmmmmm I love real Greek food.

Mezes are great as you can try lots of different things. Stifado and kleftiko are good but there's a lot more things available so be adventurous. You'll normally find a 'translation'on the menus. Where are going? You get fantastic fresh seafood near the coast and on the islands. Greek salad is great and the feta cheese is nothing like the slimy stuff you get down the supermarket!
I also found that charcoal grilled lamb was widely available and delicious. Spit roast chicken also popular.
Giros (pronounced gear-oss, nearly anyway but not Giro as you might think)are a really good kebab. Real meat and tasty.

There's nothing that I have to eat "right away." For substantial main meals, I really like grilled very fresh fish in Greece, and that's something I had repeatedly. For light meals, when I didn't feel like having meat or fish, I often liked stuffed vegetables. I agree about trying various mezes, and you may find that some of them become your favorite foods in Greece. When they are good, they can be very very good, but you'll also find some very tired commercial version of them if you have them in the wrong places. Fruit and yogurt are great for breakfast. For heavier foods, you might try various lamb dishes, and goat. If you might also enjoy trying some unfamiliar fish and seafood dishes, like piles of very tiny fish that you eat whole, bones and all. There are interesting, but very sweet, pastries that are usually eaten as a snack, with coffee, rather than as dessert with a meal. One famous Greek dish that many people love is moussaka, which is made in many different ways. (I don't happen to like bechamel sauce, which is usually the topping.)

I don't love Bechamel sauce either.
And the only yogurt eaten here is Greek and the only Feta I will buy is Greek (not the cheap Bulgarian Feta). My mouth was watering reading the food descriptions. I am sure fish will be abundant since we will be mostly on the islands. Is there any special type of fish that is popular and wonderful.
Now that I am remembering, I lived in Greek area in Chicago and basically lived on gyros! They aren't as good in NY. yes, now I am hungry too. Do they yell OPA in greek restaurants there like they do here?

Spanakopita!
Tzatziki!
GHAAAAAAA!!! (Homer Simpson noises...)

Gyros. €1.50 from the takeout window of the insanely crowded place by the Monastiraki metro station.

A chicken gyro with tzatziki sauce, and stuffed not only with the usual vegetables, but also with fries!

Cheese pie from Ariston in Athens.

saving for my trip file :-)

Loved the greek salad (horiataki?) but beware, the first time I ordered shrimp, it came with the heads on!!! The little taverna kitties were the lucky recipients that day. And this sounds wierd, but they have the best french fries because they cook them in olive oil that tastes a million times better than most of the olive oil in the states.