It’s easy to feed children well on the road in Greece. Whether you’re navigating a taverna menu for a Bolognese pasta taste-alike (quick answer: Pastitsio), assembling an easy, locally-inspired breakfast, or looking for a shortcut to dinner (skip to end of post), we list some tips and sometimes-healthy ideas for feeding first eaters and beyond in the land renowned for its culinary heritage.
BREAKFAST, DESSERT & SNACKS
- Greek yoghurt, honey and walnuts – a true combination of superfoods. Add fresh figs when in season (late August to early September) or peponi (honey-sweet melon) and peaches. Tip – instead of Fage (the popular Greek yoghurt brand internationally), try local brands like Complete by Delta for a more luscious taste and texture.
- Honey and butter on toast– healthier than a Nutella spread and just as satisfying. Avocados are usually readily available in supermarkets as well.
- Sliced apples drizzled with honey and a dash of cinnamon powder.
- Sliced cucumbers with white wine vinegar and salt – sounds hard core, but a popular snack for kids in Greece.
- Spanakopita (spinach pie) from a local bakery. Baby D doesn’t like spinach much, but somehow she loves spanakopita. Nice-to-know: Filo pastry, used in most Greek pastries, does not contain saturated fat. Just flour, water and olive oil.
- If spinach is too ambitious, try tiropita, a feta cheese-filled pastry. Feta is a healthy sheep and/or goat milk cheese that’s comparatively low in fat, nutrient dense, and a probiotic.
- Koulouri – a sesame-sprinkled giant doughnut shaped ring of semi-sweet bread. Also available at bakeries.
- and fruit! Forget packaged food. Pop by a fruit stand or supermarket for fruits bursting with flavour like nature intended. Picnic-friendly fruit for the beach available in summer (depending on the month you visit) include: apricots, pears, peaches (the donut type is easy for small mouths to bite into), plums, nectarines and cherries.
TAVERNA APPETIZERS & SIDES
- Kolokithakia – lightly-fried zucchini chips that rival the potato chip. Always a hit.
- Tomatokeftedes (tomato balls / fritters) and kolokithokeftedes (zucchini balls / fritters) – more fried vegetables that taste un-vegetable-like. Try it at home with this baked recipe that’s hard to mess up, even for me.
- Dips aside from tzatziki (cucumber-yoghurt dip)? Fava (hummus-like yellow split pea puree), melitzanosalata (roasted eggplant dip)
TAVERNA MAINS
- Pastitsio – Greek lasagna topped with béchamel cream sauce .
- Burger and meatball equivalents: bifteki (a burger without the bread), keftedes (fried meatballs) and soutzoukakia (long-ish meatballs in red sauce).
- Meats in red sauce options: rooster in red wine sauce with pasta is a personal favourite. Moschari kokkinisto is a beef stew, again served with pasta, rice or fries.
- Souvlaki – pork or chicken grilled and served on a stick.
- Gigantes plaki – giant sized white beans oven baked in a tomato based sauce with a creamy, buttery texture. Easy to mash for weaning babies. Fasolakia, a green bean stew, (especially delicious when using a broad and flat green bean variety called Romano) is also good for pureeing.
- Kotopoulo lemonato (oven-baked lemon chicken and potatoes) – the Greek-take on the classic roast chicken.
- For our small Asian friends: Yemista – tomatoes and peppers stuffed with rice. Or Lahanodolmades avgolemono – stuffed (with ground meat and rice) cabbage rolls in an egg-lemon sauce.
SEAFOOD LOVE
- Fried calamari is a seafood taverna staple for us, along with:
- Grilled sardelles (sardines) – full of omega-3 fatty acids, as small fish, they also don’t accumulate as much contaminants. Sardines have one of the lowest mercury levels amongst fish.
- Gavros (fried anchovies) – another small, oily and tasty fish rich in omega-3. Often fried and served as an appetizer. Again, try this in place of potato fries.
- Barbounia (red mullet) – a small fish type, also on the oilier side. Typically fried and sweet to taste.
- Fagri (when available) – delicately sweet and a winner for my fussy-with-fish children. Best grilled. How to pick the freshest catch? Look for bright eyes, shiny scales and red gills.
- Shrimp pasta, crayfish pasta, or lobster pasta
MEALS OF ULTIMATE CONVENIENCE
Too tired to even deal with the restaurant experience with kids on the verge of a meltdown? Aside from pizza, there are always pita gyros (pita bread stuffed with meat slices and fries) wraps to go. Also good to know is the “mageireio”, a home-style kitchen with ready-cooked food (e.g. moussaka, oven backed chicken or lamb, vegetable stews) that gets dished out for takeaway.
