Greece and Cyprus are two of the most visited countries in the world, and English is the lingua franca almost everywhere. It's mandatory in Greek schools. So who needs this app? Well...
A few years ago Michael my husband and I wrote the Italian Food Decoder about another country we lived in and love, where it's become the fashion not only to not put restaurants menus in English, but to put them in dialect! For every fish, for every sugary carnival treat, for every shape of pasta there must be two dozen names.
But I never thought that my beloved Greece (my father comes from Ikaria) ever seriously needed a food decoder, that is, until late 2018 when I went to a little taverna by Lake Plastira while researching the Bradt Guide to Northern Greece, and not only was the menu only in Greek, which would have been okay for me, but I realized that I only recognized half the dishes. Then in Athens and Thessaloniki and other cities I began to notice that you can find restaurants with only Greek menus, as if to say 'we're the opposite of all those tourist traps...' And of course those are probably just the restaurants you want to go to!
So hence this app.
And... if you’re going to the islands, I’ve just done a new Greek islands app dedicated just to all of the inhabited islands... not their hotels and restaurants but everything else!
Using this app
Use the search function to find any of the 2000 plus words in this app. If you're just browsing, there are two places to look for words: either under region or type of food.
The Greek alphabet of course presents its own fun little problems; if you read the entry on Alphabet and language it may start to make sense.
In addition, there's a list you might need when Eating out in Greece, and another on Cooking terms that might help you work out exactly what's on the menu There's also a special list that covers Allergies, Vegetarians, etc.
Anyway, thank you for downloading the app. It was fun and educational to do, and I hope it's fun to use. Also it's a work in progress because I know for certain there are many more dishes I should include for the next update.
Please send any comments or suggestions you might have at dana@facarospauls.com. You can follow us on Facebook and Twitter @facarospauls.
And if you like this app please take a moment to review it.
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