Greek Salad

Miles Lambert, author of Greek Salad: A Dionysian Travelogue, published by The Wine Appreciation Guild and due out in July explores Greece via its tavernas "with the utility of a travel guide and the tone of a novel," says publisher Elliott Mackey. "Greek Salad is like no other book I've seen. Miles brings out the native personality of Greece through its tavernas, where distinct drinks and foods, and even the fellow sitting at the next table, have their own personal folklore. It's perfect preparatory reading for those heading to this year's summer Olympics." Lambert begins the book with a light brunch of "flaky bougasta filled with sweetened semolina" aboard a ferry headed for the island of Tinos, a member of the Aegean Islands, and once there, he's dragged on an impromptu expedition into "prehistory" lead by a tavern proprietor and his dog. From Tinos and "prehistory," Lambert then travels through the islands, onto the mainland, and then west to the lonians, ending the final chapter in a lower-class quarter of Corfu, drinking wine out of tumblers with his cab driver. "Greece can be a highly amusing place to navigate about in." says the author, "and I wanted to portray that neglected side of the country and people as I've found them over the years.I've often been looking through the prism of taverna wine glasses, but it's a vantage point with a lot to recommend it, not least of all because of our recent fascination with the food and folkways of Mediterranean Europe. We shouldn't stop at Provence and Tuscany when so much in those cultures originated in the age-old Aegean world."