An Interview with Anastasia Miari
One of the perks of running your own Made-in-Greece brand is - besides traveling to Greece for “work” - meeting creative Greeks from all over the world doing amazing things. This summer, we met Anastasia Miari over Instagram. Anastasia is a Greek-British journalist and author who, like us, is obsessed with food, culture and heritage. In her latest book, appropriately and quaintly named Yiayia, Anastasia brings together recipes and stories from yiayiades (grandmothers) she met from different regions across Greece. Invited into their respective homes, Anastasia and photographer Marco Arguello captured in language and in image the “time-perfected” dishes made with love (and seasonal ingredients) by “Greece’s greatest matriarchs”.
In this short but sweet interview, we had the pleasure of talking with Anastasia about writing, food and the inspiration behind Yiayia.
When did you discover your passion for cooking and writing?
I've written since I was really young. I was always documenting what happened in life, through poetry and verse and prose. It was a natural progression to become a journalist but originally I wrote about fashion and moved into travel and food journalism after taking a big trip to South America when I was 24. Since then I've focused on what food says about a people and how it preserves its culture and heritage.
What inspired you to write Yiayia?
My own yiayia. She's a fiery woman who really doesn't give much away in terms of emotion but I can feel how much she loves me when I arrive home in Corfu and the first question is 'what do you want to eat?' Every meal from Yiayia is imbued with love. It tastes incredible - like no food I've had elsewhere. I've eaten at tonnes of michelin star restaurants and new, trendy 'hot spots' but nothing compares to the food of my Yiayia.
Your favorite recipe?
So difficult!! I love Corfiot pastitsada, which is a slow cooked meat (either beef or octopus!) in a rich, spiced tomato sugo paired with spaghetti or rigattoni. It's a classic dish from my island and we eat it on celebration days when we most want to feast on life!
One thing you’d like your readers to know about Greek cooking?
It's incredibly regional!! Greek food is so much more than moussaka. Stuffed courgettes from Lesvos, Cycladic fourtalia, Corfiot bourdeto, Cretan Dakos, Watermelon Pie from Milos. If you don’t know them now, you will once you start to leaf through the pages of my book!
Something unexpected we’d find in your book?
Lots of pasta dishes - it was also unexpected for me but the Greeks were making pasta as far back as the Italians!
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To learn more about Anastasia and to purchase her book visit: https://matriarcheats.com/
All images are by Marco Arguello, the photographer behind the stunning images in Yiayia.
