Some years back, after we’d moved house, I made myself a promise to stop buying cookbooks. It was brought on by the almost nauseous panic that set in when I started unpacking box after box of recipe books. Almost too many to count, they were also accompanied by several box files of newspaper and magazine clippings of recipes and cookery articles.
I mean – how many recipes does even the keenest home cook need ? Especially now that Google can give you almost endless inspiration… So some serious editing was needed. The box files went in the bin but weeding out the piles of books needed a little more thought.
I used the rule that any cookbook worth its salt needs to have given you at least one good recipe. Obviously the ones that were totally pristine, with no marked pages or slightly sticky covers were the first out of the door.
The River Cafés ( 5 in number) and the Ottolenghis (also 5) were always going to make the final cut. ‘Nigella Bites’ bit the dust but her ‘How To Eat’ is such a good read, apart from anything else, that it had to stay. Then there were the Deli (a total of 6), who could part with them ? And all the Jamies…that man is very prolific…I think just one made it to the charity shop.
Eventually, I got to the Greek ones and this was the hardest cut of all – these aren’t just recipe collections. Each one is a milestone on a decades’ long journey. The pointers and signs on the road to my own Greek ‘Kouzina ‘. There was a time when Greek cookery books in English were a bit niche. Elizabeth David had showcased Greek food with great passion in ‘A Book of Mediterranean Food’ (1950). It would be another decade or more before Robin Howe and Joyce Stubbs published very authoritative books dedicated to authentic Greek cooking. Even in the Seventies and Eighties, along with Anne Theoharous’ ‘Cooking the Greek Way’, these were still the main guides. I snaffled up all three. That was only the beginning. As if my books were somehow breeding, three became twenty and you would think that was enough …
And then I came across ‘Vefa’s Kitchen’.
To call this a cookbook undermines the scope and meticulousness of this beautiful book. But first of all let’s talk about Vefa Alexiadou.
Vefa was born in Volos, Greece in 1933. Growing up during WWII and enduring the Occupation, Vefa had a more than difficult childhood. Despite this, she went to university to study Chemistry, first in Thessaloniki and later at Berkley, California. She had always been drawn to cooking and later she would say,
‘Chemistry has always been my ally because cooking is essentially chemistry. Just like in a laboratory, if you don’t add the right ingredients to the reactor, you won’t achieve the desired result. The same applies to food; if we don’t use the right ingredients, our dishes won’t turn out perfectly’.
It was while living in America with her husband, that Vefa started watching Julia Child on TV and she was really inspired – cooking became a passion. Although her professional life was as a dietician, she did love entertaining, and her food was much admired by her friends. ‘...the next day the phone wouldn’t stop ringing with each of them asking ‘how did you do this?’ and ‘how did you do that?’. They began to push me to write a cookbook.”
Not one to be put off by disinterested publishers, Vefa borrowed some money and, with the help of a friend, published her first recipe book. The print run of 5,000 copies sold out in four weeks. Numerous bestsellers followed.
In 1990 Vefa’s TV career took off. For 13 years she was the resident cook on one of Greece’s most popular daily magazine programmes. Without a hair out of place and immaculately dressed and made up, Vefa entered Greek homes and brought about a new appreciation of Greek cooking that has laid the way for others.
Outside Greece there were TV appearances, cooking alongside Martha Stewart and Rick Stein; by the early 2000s Vefa Alexiadou was universally acknowledged as the doyenne of Greek cuisine.
In 2009 came the crowning glory of Vefa’s career with the publication in English of ‘Vefa’s Kitchen’. The culmination of decades of knowledge, expertise and research, this is not just a recipe book. This is an encyclopedia of Greek gastronomy, easily comparable with the classic work on Italian food by Anna del Conte.
Here Vefa gives us a detailed examination of each of the distinct Greek regions and cuisines. There is a comprehensive glossary, with explanations of cooking techniques and ingredients. There are of course over 700 gorgeous recipes too. Many of them were from her own family repertoire- her mother’s heritage was from Constantinople, so Politiki Kouzinaas it is known, made up part of her repertoire. Many more came from ordinary housewives, inspired by her TV programmes, they would send in their own family recipes.
”Some would even send me the original manuscript written in their grandmother’s hand writing.”
Always the scientist, for Vefa details were important. Even the size of cloves of garlic is specified, ‘Garlic cloves are assumed to be large; use two if yours are small ‘.
Measurements are everything; use either metric, imperial or cup, ‘as they are not interchangeable’. With a nod to the big Greek diaspora Down Under, there’s even a special note for Australian cooks; their spoon sizes are different
..’Australian readers are advised to use 3 teaspoons in place of 1 tablespoon’.
Details are important but most important of all are the ingredients; the freshest vegetables, the best quality meat and sea-fresh fish. She writes:
‘Today the mother of Mediterranean cuisine continues to evolve, while remaining tightly bound to the sparse soil and the blue sea…. Greek cooking offers healthy, tasty dishes designed to be savored slowly with good wine and pleasant company.’
Probably the the most authentic advice of all .
In November 2024, time caught up with Vefa and she passed away at the age of 91. Despite her incredible success, the Fates had not been entirely benevolent. Ten years ago, she tragically lost both her daughters within a few months of each other. These blows, unsurprisingly, were devastating. Undoubtedly she will have found some peace at last from that sadness.
We, however, are the most blessed; we will always have ‘Vefa’s Kitchen’.
When the news of her passing broke on live TV last November, one of the male presenters broke down and was inconsolable.
There can be no greater obituary than that.