Nuts and Cheeses

As a food journalist I always try to track down stories. Sometimes all I come up with is the equivalent of an urban legend. Here's an example: About a dozen years ago, I met a man in northern Greece who told me that in the 1930s his grandfather created a new way to serve mezethes, small plates of nibbles to accompany drinks at his taverm in the central Greek town of Volos. Not a huge spread of little plates set on the table at once as is often shown in photos in cookbooks and glossy magazines, but small single plates of tidbits to accompany a glass of ouzo or tsipouro, served progressively, each more filling than the one before. The local working men would come to the taverna after work for friendly conversation and a drink. “Grandfather would have been forced out of business if he sent the men home drunk. The wives wouldn't stand for it,” my informant told me.