Tahini – Food for the Gods

Breakfast outdoors tastes better

Would you believe in the miraculous powers of a tiny seed from a humble bush, if I revealed that a small Greek kingdom transformed into a mega empire by grinding this seed into paste and consuming to raise the most well known army of its era that conquered the entire known world. It is only befitting that this tiny seed nourished Homer’s epic for a decade.

Those of you versed in Greek history might have guessed by now the name of this super-food seed; which is none other than Sesame seed (SESAMUM indicum). And the paste is Tahini.

                                     

Borrowing from the ancient Greek wisdom I decided to include 1 to 2 spoons of tahini mixed with pure honey in my breakfast. By eating it daily in the morning I hoped it would enhance my blog writing skills (which only time can tell), but for now the result is an amazingly delicious healthy food in my diet; especially when I put it on a slice of freshly baked home-made bread with whole nuts and zea flour.

Traditional bronze bowls are still used for the production

This summer a very dear friend from abroad spent few days at my home. The first day after his arrival I offered him a typical Greek breakfast full of delicious & healthy locally grown products.

I must mention that Greece is a paradise for fruits, vegetables, nuts, honey, olive oil, and real yogurt due to constant shinny days and ground consistency. And believe me they taste nothing like what you might have already tasted elsewhere. They can wake up your deepest memories of childhood, when you were just a carefree child, who was exhausted from nonstop playing, running to your mom’s kitchen for your snack.

So I woke up early that morning and baked bread (whole nut and Zea flour) with lots of sunflower seeds and linseeds. I sliced apples and figs freshly picked up from my mother’s garden, got pure goat yogurt (the one with the crust on top), a combination of cereals (linseed, buckwheat, oats & zea),raw nuts, home-made jam with fruits from my parent’s garden (thanks mom!) honey and of course tahini.

While we were having our breakfast under the warm sun (Greece is well known for sun’s bright light effect) I noticed that my friend’s eyes, on seeing tahini, opened wide full of query! It was only then I realized that many people worldwide, not only haven’t tasted tahini, but they also haven’t heard about it. Maybe that’s why we don’t have big empires and Epics like the one Homer wrote once!

So I imagined I was Eleni of Troy and I started explaining to my friend what exactly tahini is, how it is made, how nutritious it is and how can we use it in our daily diet.

I explained to him that tahini, is actually the paste produced by milling baked wholegrain sesame seeds.

Sometimes you can find tahini in which it is added cocoa powder, which gives a very special taste and it suits a lot.

Adding tahini in your daily diet is so healthy that you can notice very soon the health benefits and the improvement in the appearance of your skin and hair. Of course you have to be very careful with the amount you consume, since one soup spoon of tahini has almost 90kcal.

For vegetarians like me, tahini is a perfect source of vegetable proteins, with high biological value, when you combine it with food rich in lysine, like nuts or pulses , (like chickpeas, for hummus or with beans) since it provides you with proteins with biological value equivalent to meat proteins. Tahini is also rich in vitamins E, B1, B2, niacin, amino acids and carbohydrates. It prevents hair loss, headaches and increases milk production for lactating women. It also acts as antihypertensive, anti thrombotic, anticancer and antioxidant and helps against osteoporosis.

Due to all these it is regarded as a super food. Ancient Greeks used to add tahini in their daily meals. It is also used in Arabian and Turkish cuisine.

We find mention of the seeds in ancient Chinese medicine while Assyrian Gods were believed to drink wine made from sesame seed before a battle, and mortals considered it precious as silver.

While I was talking to my friend about tahini, I noticed that the whole bowl of tahini and almost all of the bread had disappeared and in a way he did look fuller and shinier. I was so happy he was enjoying its divine taste while listening to my stories that I continued giving him advises how to use it as a dressing in his salads (just by mixing tahini with lemon juice) or as a dip for his finger food with raw vegetables, like carrots and cucumber (just by mixing tahini, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl).So simple, so easy yet if you consider how rich tahini is in calcium, zinc, potassium, copper, iron and Ω6 fats… you get amazed! Just by eating one spoon of tahini daily you stand to improve your health tremendously. And who knows, this may lead you to your Eleni of Troy!

That morning, after eating the whole bowl of tahini (along with all the other food we had) it is needless to mention that we went for hiking into the Rodopi Mountains. We wandered over 8 hours through the beautiful forests. Too many calories had to be burned!

Kalimera (hello) to Good Life

Kalimera my friends, welcome to my home; a world of Good Living.

For breakfast I will serve you the knowledge I gained through my quests for good living combined with the exotic fragrances and taste my homeland offers so generously. Beneath the sparkling blue Greek sky I will illustrate how easy life can be, luxurious in its simplicity, yet sexy just by surrendering your senses to its rhythm. I will reveal nature’s secrets, through stories of simple village people whose wisdom has passed through generations, carefully nurtured like Mother Nature would do for her "children".

As you glean more about the organic products my land offers, you would begin to appreciate why ancient Greeks, the creators of "golden ages" chose wisely to integrate them within their daily diet. Even Homer in his very first epic wrote so poetically about these treasures during Achilles journey to Troy.

     

Lunch would be an introduction to a stylish and relaxed way of living, easily applied, giving you a new perspective to your life just by taking the correct decisions. Greek hospitality and traditions for good living are legendary. We love to fine dine and party every day and everything is so easily set up. You may read about the Greek crisis in the media but we have retained our taste for good living. Imagine yourself stepping into my house, redolent with essence of freshly chopped thyme  flirting with the elegance of gold virgin olive oil on top of red juicy tomatoes reclining on white, like snow, feta cheese, accompanying a glass of red wine; recipes that originate from time immemorial.

   

Before we sit down for dinner, where more spicy experiences would be shared, during evening snack I will serve my time tested tips and proposals for the body and the outdoors, since a combination of a healthy mind and body is needed for ‘good’ living. Just by making small changes in your life today, you can change your tomorrow and awesome things can be happen.

By now I am sure you are curious to know about your gourmet chef; which is me Kiki. I will reveal more about myself and my dreams as we journey along but for now I will share one of my deepest childhood desires that I have never shared before.

Ever since I was a young girl, my biggest dream was to travel around the world, explore new places, learn about new cultures and meet new people. I visualized little Kiki, wearing short polka dot pink skirts, travel around the world, just with one backpack on her back,  from one country to another from one continent to another riding  a horse, sometimes a camel, even an elephant and of course with lots of footwork. I always loved walking and hiking. Sometimes I feel I was born to walk. I could walk all around the world, without ever complaining.

All my life I admired people who  followed their passion, their inner need to explore the world; who dared to dream and believed in them and stopped at nothing to achieve their goals and I realized that most often such people began their journey with very meager resources, often discouraged and ridiculed by the society. Such people became my role model though I must confess that after backpacking around the world with very low budget I would love to immerse myself in the warmth of a luxury hotel and Jacuzzi.

Then one day I realized that little Kiki had grown up without having completed her journey around the world, in the way she had dreamed of, since it never really began. The imaginary back-pack was still resting on a store shelf. However, during all these years, my inner need to experience new things pushed me into places and situations that made me feel happy and free, since either in reality or within my mind I did travel, met new friends, explored new places, listened to stories from people who shared their experiences and wisdom and I understood how happiness, harmony and the meaning of life, or in another words “good living” could be acquired just by making the right choices.

   

During one of my last trips some friends asked me to share all the knowledge I have gained through these years that has transformed my life from ordinary to amazing since I live a healthy lifestyle and believe that anyone can lead a good life just by making the right choices and leading a balanced life by combining healthy eating, healthy habits and healthy mind.

I was lucky to be born in Greece, a place so rich and abundant in history and culture, with fragrances and tastes of rare beauty. I had the privilege of meeting wise people who taught me the secrets of good living; how to love myself, how to find happiness in simplicity, how to encourage my free spirit, and they showed me that out there exists a wonderful world where you can live awesome.

This is my world, my house of good living. I will keep the doors wide open because you are all invited to join me and share your experiences and thoughts. Only by sharing our knowledge and caring about each other can we prosper and exist. We all are entitled to Good Living, the only state of life worth living. So come along for this wild adventure; I promise you will enjoy every moment of the ride.

   

Did I mention that the last present I recently received was a back-pack and a tent!