GreekFoodTv's video: Diane Kochilas My Life My Work and GreekFoodTv

Welcome to this short video bio of me and my work over the last 20-plus years promoting Greek cuisine all over the world. Greek cooking is so delicious and healthy. There are so many recipes that are easy, accessible, but most importantly, plant-based. Greece is one of the few countries in the world--the Mother of the Mediterranean Diet, remember!--where vegetables and beans are the ingredients in countless main courses. We don't relegate them to side-dish status. My goal is to share healthy, delicious Greek cuisine with the world. The secrets to longevity are hidden in the traditional cooking. And the key to fighting the obesity epidemic plaguing the United States can be found in the tremendous variety of wonderful Greek food, from luscious fresh vegetable stews and casseroles to savory pies filled with wild greens to desserts made with olive oil. Indeed, olive oil and the generous use of it on almost every Greek dish, is one of the secrets to eating and living well. I hope the video will be an enticing journey through Greece, one that inevitably ends around a table. Beyond that, on GreekFoodTv you will find dozens of other videos in which i demonstrate traditional and contemporary Greek classics and lots of regional Greek specialties. If you enjoy this site, you might also enjoy one of my books and want to keep an eye out for my forthcoming book, The Country Cooking of Greece. It was really an honor to have been asked by Chronicle Books to write the Greek tome for what has turned into an award-winning series. For me, that was yet another sign that Greek cuisine in the United States was finely being given its due and finally being embraced by the mainstream. The Country Cooking of Greece will be out in the fall of 2012, and in it I look at the simple, delicious, healthy foods that are still the mainstay of life in the Greek countryside today. But before the publication of any book, especially a cookbook, which is complicated and multifaceted, there is the process, the road the author takes to get her to those first bound galleys. I thought it would be fun to take readers on a parallel journey, into what went into the making of the book. So starting now, and running through its publication in November, 2012, I will serve forth what I like to think of as a "poikilia" a meze platter of behind-the-scenes tidbits that I hope will eventually entice you to sit down for the full-course meal, the book itself. I share that information on the GreekFoodTv Facebook page. There, I share recipes that never made it into the actual book for all sorts of reasons, text that I had to cut because of space limitations, photos of places, people, and dishes that we had to nix because they just couldn't all fit, manuscript pages that were edited, cut, slashed, commented on, and filled with queries, and so much more. Mostly, I'll share with you the labor of love, from inception and fruition, which brought The Country Cooking of Greece to life. I enjoyed every minute of researching this book and hope to share some of the adventures leading to the Country Cooking of Greece (Chronicle Books 2012): For example, one of my favorite farmers and a spearheading figure in the organic movement in Greece, is Alexandra Valopetropoulou, whose farm is just 45 minutes from downtown Athens. She is but one of many passionate artisans working the field, the vine, the table and more all over Greece. In another photo album I talk about a "Greek Touch:" Rusks. Rusks, or paximadia, as they are called in Greek, are one of the ancient foods that still define Greek cooking today. This ultimate peasant treat, a twice-baked bread that is great for breakfast, lunch and dinner and extremely versatile. Thanks for joining me at GreekFoodTv, both on youtube and on Facebook. Enjoy all the delicious Greek regional and authentic recipes. Eat and live well the Greek way!