About this tour
On this Study Tour we explore the foodscapes of Athens. With a history that stretches back thousands of years, the Greek capital is also a contemporary globalized metropole with a diverse food scene. We will find spaces that locals would consider “traditional,” as well as experimental kitchens offering “traditional with a twist” and other new ways of eating that come to the city through the migration of people and food trends.
The tour will contextualize our observations from Denmark by providing another European perspective on food, one that is often posed as the “opposite” of a northern European diet. We will dive into the fascinating culinary cultures of Greece and how these have been shaped by factors such as tradition and terroir, while also paying attention to how globalization is impacting the way locals eat.
Study Tour note on food allergies
Tastings will be regularly conducted both in the classroom and out on excursions.
Not all tastings will be able to accommodate every dietary restriction, and dietary alternatives may not exist in some contexts. We also cannot guarantee the lack of cross-contamination for food allergies in many of the places we will visit.
Learning outcomes
- Gain a comparative perspective on European foodscapes, how to interpret them, and how discourses in tradition, locality, and culture shape our experiences of food.
- Understand how the production and consumption of food in Greece is shaped by factors such as cultural history, medical discourses, and economic structures.
- Improve your skills in tasting and assessing food
Possible activities
- Train your ethnographic expertise through field work at the Athens central food market
- Meet with local merchants of olive oil, honey, and wine for tastings and discussions around quality and the economics
- Sail out on a day trip to the island of Aegina to meet with pistachio producers and examine how terroir is formalized through EU labeling system programs and branding