Think Greek cooking is hard, tedious, time-consuming, way too many ingredients and worst of all unhealthy and fattening? Then it’s time for enlightenment!
On December 2nd, Patricia Moore-Pastides will introduce her dazzling new cookbook, Greek Revival: Cooking for Life to local residents attending the USCB Lunch With Author series at the Moss Creek Clubhouse, Hilton Head. Moore-Pastides, an accomplished cook and public-health professional, has taken eighty-seven ambrosial recipes designed for the needs and appetites of everyday cooks, leavened the pages with delectable anecdotes about the Greek lifestyle, then peppered it with revealing scientific insight, and the result is Greek Revival: Cooking for Life. The Moss Creek Chef will make Milopita, one of the desserts from the Greek Revival cookbook, for the luncheon.
Throughout the book Moore-Pastides shares lively stories of her days living in Greece and Cyprus that exemplify the enduring charm of an Old World lifestyle. Through her tales she shares a snapshot of a world lost to fast-paced modern living, and introduces the health benefits of the Mediterranean lifestyle.
In a recent interview, Moore-Pastides said, “Greek Revival goes back to a more traditional time in Greece when people ate what was called a ‘peasant diet’. They probably had bean dishes four or five times a week, seafood because they are coastal and ate a lot of fruits and vegetables and dark, leafy greens that grew wild in the countryside. They’d come home and boil up the greens and serve them with olive oil and lemon (called horta). Greeks tend to eat small plates like tapas, called mezes, where there may be five or six different vegetables, an offering of shrimp or … meat that has been cooked in a casserole with the vegetables.”
Patricia Moore-Pastides is the First Lady of the University of South Carolina and teaches Mediterranean cooking classes at Columbia’s Cooking!, an interactive community cooking program offered by the university’s Cancer Prevention and Control Program. Proceeds from the sale of the book go to the USC Health and Sustainability Fund which is a fund Patricia and husband, President Harris Pastides started to have more money available for the Farmers Market and other things on campus pertaining to health and sustainability such as increasing the community garden, more rain barrels, more composting and recycling.
Before moving to South Carolina, Moore-Pastides was executive director of Health Line Corporate Wellness Services in the Sisters of Providence Health System in Holyoke, Mass.; a hospital planner at Mercy Hospital in Springfield, Mass.; and assistant director of health in New Haven, Conn.
Advance registration for the USCB Lunch With Author series must be made with Jo Ann Kingsley at 843-521-4147 or kingsley@uscb.edu. All-inclusive price for the luncheon is $42. Lunch is served at noon followed by the author’s talk, Q&A and book signing. The USCB bookstore will sell books at the luncheon.
