Greek cuisine Greek cuisine Greek cuisine (, "Elliniki kouzina") is a Mediterranean cuisine. Contemporary Greek cookery makes wide use of vegetables, olive oil, grains, fish, wine (white and red), and meat (including lamb, poultry, veal, beef, rabbit and pork). Other important ingredients include olives, pasta (especially hyllopites, a kind of pasta similar to tagliatelle), cheese, lemon juice, herbs, bread and yoghurt. The most commonly used grain is wheat; barley is also used. Common dessert ingredients include nuts, honey, fruits, and filo pastry. It is strongly influenced by Ottoman cuisine and thus, especially cuisine of anatolian Greeks shares foods such as baklava, tzatziki,
Turkish cuisine meat or minced meat), often with or before rice or bulgur pilav accompanied by a salad or cacık (diluted cold yogurt dish with garlic, salt, and cucumber slices). In summertime many people prefer to eat a cold dish of vegetables cooked with olive oil ("zeytinyağlı yemekler") instead of the soup, either before or after the main course, which can also be a chicken, meat or fish plate. Although fast food is gaining popularity and many major foreign fast food chains have opened all over Turkey, Turkish people still rely primarily on the rich and extensive dishes of Turkish cuisine. In