Nutrition Videos

In the '90s, when I started eating out at taverns with my friends, the dishes were named as you'd expect. Tzatziki, French fries, Greek salad, steak, etc. Five to ten years later, I noticed that at the more modern restaurants, the names of the same traditional dishes that were served had changed. They'd become more descriptive. French fries were now called "crispy potatoes from Naxos "fried in extra virgin oil from Mani." Meat had acquired more exotic descriptions, such as "Greek beef tenderloin from Mr Dimitris' farm in Agrafa, "slowly grilled over low heat." And other similar strange examples. I guess that if you eat at taverns and restaurants and you've been reading the menus since the '80s and '90s, you have noticed this change. Why was it made? Can this help us in any way? Is it just a marketing trick that is a pointless fraud? Before you start evaluating it positively or negatively, you should know that there are scientists that did this before you. They noticed that when the names on the menu were more descriptive, the customers found the food more pleasant to look at, namely it seemed more aesthetically beautiful to them, they believed that it was tastier and that it had more calories. We're talking about customers that tried the exact same food and the experience they described afterwards was entirely different. Only because the food had a descriptive name. Moreover, they noted that they were more satisfied after eating it, and they felt fuller. Therefore, it's clear that they way you describe and name some food plays an important role in the experience of its consumption. This is clear and scientifically proven. It's not a marketing trick. Or, if you like, it's a marketing trick that is really successful and does exactly what it was designed to do. But could this be useful for us? How can we utilize this? What we can do is name the Greek foods that we serve to our children descriptively and try to give depth to the way they were produced and prepared. In no case do we have to say "Kids, I've made crispy green beans from Mr Kostas' garden." But we can choose foods that we know a bit more things about where and when they came to us, cook them a bit more passionately and share these details with our children. For example, you can buy legumes from Feneos and tell your family that those legumes came from Feneos, which produces some of the best legumes in the area. Those that will eat these legumes will find them tastier, because they're from Feneos. You can also often mention the way you cooked the food and your passion while cooking it. It doesn't need to be a lecture. It can just be a reference. For example, I rinsed the chickpeas three times to make them tastier. This alone will make those that will eat them find them tastier. They were cooked with love. They will be tastier. Number three has a special power too. Don't underestimate the power of speech. Irvin Yalom, the famous psychotherapist and psychiatrist, has said that words have power. Marketing has got wind of this. Now it's our turn. Thank you!