One of the reasons I enjoy writing about Greek food and culture is that I feel I am somehow bridging the ever-widening gap between my parents' generation and the next generation, that of my children.
This became painfully clear to me as I worked with the tireless ladies of my Greek Orthodox parish to prepare Diples, (THEE-ples) a delicious fried dough pastry, which will be sold at our upcoming Greek Festival.
The majority of the women working at the church were of my mother's generation and they were skillfully executing what their mothers and grandmothers had taught them when they were growing up.
You should know that making Diples is a process - first the dough is kneaded and rested. Then it is rolled out into paper-thin sheets using long dowels as rolling pins and cut into rectangular strips. These sheets are then fried while being "folded" into their distinctive wrapped shape and finally they are drizzled with honey and cinnamon.
Diples are simply delicious, and you really should try them, but I digress.
What struck me as I watched the women hard at work, was that this is an art form that is slowly disappearing. Fewer and fewer women of my generation have the time or the inclination to learn to bake the traditional sweets of our heritage.
Most of us are stretched thin by the demands of our modern lives and have little time for much else. Sadly, with each successive generation we are becoming further and further removed from the traditions of our parents and grandparents.
Who will carry on?
This problem is not unique to Greeks in America. Even in Greece, I found few women of my generation that have the time or desire to bake the traditional sweets. Most purchase them from bakeries and pastry shops which are readily available in Greece.
Here in America, unless you live in an area with a high concentration of Greeks, in most parts you are quite simply out of luck. I remember when I lived in Dallas, Texas that people would tell me they waited all year for the annual Greek Food Festival to get their "fix" of Greek food.
Recently, I had an email from Peggy in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin who is still working hard at her church festival at 79 years young. She lamented that it is difficult to find people who can do the work necessary to put on a festival. She was very tired, but happy that their festival was a success.
That situation illustrates exactly what I am afraid of. I fear that when the elder generation passes, that my generation is not up to the task. Personally, I think that would be a tragic loss.
What do you think?
Comments
Hmmm, well put. And with that said; I promise to try my hand at manipulating that ornery dough into a perfect swirl next time! If it doesn’t turn out pretty, I will gladly eat my mistake:)
I think you are exactly right, and that this loss is not just in the Greek communities. So many of our historical processes that give cultural flavor to our lives have been sacrificed in order to survive in this fast-paced world. Who has time to make homemade biscuits anymore?
I have also faced the facts of life after my mother leaves us. At 80 years old she is still very feisty and works tirelessly at our church for festivals and other food related events. She and a handful of other older women have kept tradition alive, but the younger generation does not really have an inclination to learn or readily participate. I have watched and learned from my mother, but I don’t have the patience needed for some of these delicate and time consuming pastries. Hopefully some of the youth will come forward and carry the torch of their ethnic food heritage.
I have the same problem at my Parish. When it comes time for baking for the Greek Festival, it is always the older women (my Mom’s generation) that are there baking and cooking for our Greek Festival which is held in October.
I agree completely. Greek cooking is becoming a lost art. I was shocked to find out at our greek festival they don’t get together and bake at all – they buy all the food and have it shipped in! Frozen baklava? It’s definitely not the same as fresh. When I mentioned that where I had lived before all the festival food was made fresh, they replied that the parish must be “old fashioned”.
you are amazing i make alot of greek dishes keeping up with the tradition born in greece but lived in usa now for 44 yrs can you please send me the diples recipe
We just recently had our festival and it is always a big success and this year especially so since the weather was great. The problem though………it is a lot of hard work and like other communities…….hard to get enough help. So we must hire people to help setup, cleanup, etc. We do not have diples at our festival…..we have loukoumathis and the people love them. I love diples and have tired to make them. Maybe you will do a video on how to prepare them. I love your website……thanks for all you do.
Very nicely put. But even in Greece, as you said, the younger generation doesn’t have the time to do any of the traditional Greek foods. They, like all of us here in the US, are caught up in the fast pace world we live in. There are also certain areas in Greece where the younger generation learns to do the traditional baking/cooking, but not everywhere in Greece. I don’t know how to make diples and my mother never knew how to make them either. So it’s certainly a lost art, like cross stitch/embroidery that I still do, but neither my two daughters know how to do. Which also holds true in Greece. No one embroiders there any more either. As much as we like to keep our Greek traditions, it’s very difficult, either here in the US, or even in Greece to keep it up. The fast paced times get a better hold on us.
I enjoy your website and appreciate the connection to my heritage. My Yia Yia was very adept at emroidery, and she made diples and courembiedes and baklava. In her time she also made noodles and the entire house was covered with sheets on which they dried. ( Does anyone have similar memories of the later?) I live in Southwest Florida and our festival is in February as the weather is great! All of these delights are available there and that is the time to indulge! Most of the Greek restaurants here serve familiar and generic items, so the festival is always greatly anticipated.
I still remember the wonderful aromas’ of Kourebiades, buried deep in a bowl full of powder sugar and a small pouch of pennies, nickels, & dimes hidding behind it. The taste and smell of dark rich green olive oil frying dryed cod fish was plus. I learned my first crochet stitching from Yia Yia at a very young age. Papou would always fill the house with fresh picked vegetables. Yia Yia would go out in the fields and pick the dandilions. My pet chicken, who I chased was running around their backyard. Oh such pleasant memories! I will never be as good a cook as Yia Yia, but I try to put a traditional touch on it.
you’re right..many of the recipes, particularly pastries, are lost with the passing of our older generations. I live in Chicago, so I am lucky to have a plethora of Greek stores and pastry shops. However, I do feel it important to learn to make much of this yourself. I am only half Greek, my mom is Irish. That said…my mom made sure to learn Greek cooking and to this day, cooks some of the best Greek food I’ve ever tasted..here in Chicago or in Greece. She simply is an excellent Greek cook. Traditions are definitely fading. I do my best to keep up with the cooking aspect, and still make pasticio and avgolemono from scratch, the way my mom taught me. However, I will admit I am not great about embracing the pastries. THey are a lot of work..and as you said, many of us don’t have a lot of spare time. I will make an effort, however, given diples are my absolute favorite Greek treat..and I have not had ‘homemade’ as in our home since my yia yia passed away.
“Amen” to all of your thoughts! Having just had our Greek Festival, I can attest to the fact that most of the men and women who cook our traditional foods are the senior members of our parish. We all lament the lost art of Greek cookery, but in this area there are few ethnic Greeks. Our parish has many converts to the faith and only a few are dedicated to cooking. Most of them worked tirelessly to package and sell the pastries, and we appreciate the love in Christ that they demonstrate each and every day. I continue to entertain family and friends that enjoy and appreciate home cooked Greek foods. Handing down our treasured recipes to our adult children and making those delicious foods for our grandchildren will help us keep those traditions alive. Having done cooking demonstrations at our Festival, I must say that the interest in Greek cooking crosses the spectrum of race and religion. Keep up the joyful art of cooking and sharing your favorite Greek foods!
I totally agree. I love your sight and have forward it to my children to keep it going. God Bless you. My mother was 1st generation american, born in NYC of greek parent, my father was born in greece so I am 2nd generation and my children are now 3rd generation. My husband was born in Greece and I continue to cook greek. My daughter and daughter in law cook some greek food but not as much as I do. Diples was my mother in laws best recipe but unfortunetly she is 94 and lives in Greece. My husband and I tried one time to make them but did not come out good Please post the recipe.
Thank you all for your kind comments! It’s pretty clear that this is a subject that is near and dear to the Greek community and even to non-Greeks that are feeling the light of their heritage fading away.
I have some great pics from our afternoon making diples and I promise I will post those soon with the recipe. There’s still lots of baking to do (we’re an “old fashioned” parish that makes the pastries ourselves) and hopefully we too will have a successful festival this year.
It’s nice to know you all feel the same way that I do about our wonderful culinary traditions – our mothers and grandmothers would be very proud!
Lynn
I so agree with your article!
I am 3rd generation Greek from Melbourne Australia.
Melbourne has the highest concentrate of Greek Migration outside of Greece.
It’s in our make-up to be so passionate to maintain and embrace our culture from whichever country we reside.
My children now in their 30’s and their generation have now become more interested in cultivating everything that’s Greek!
With the passing of our parent’s generation’s, yes, we had lost precious customs “ethimata”, where we would all gather and celebrate “name days” and the fond memories of massive tables of food and in particularly home made sweets-and then in turn the “glendi”– People were so much happier then…
But I believe we have made a comeback, with the help of articles such as yours and many Hellenic activities & in particularly the younger generation’s interest, we’re back on track!!
Mina