July 16, Athens, Greece - Associated Press
KOSHER MOUSSAKA: The much-lauded Mediterranean cuisine is being adapted for Jewish visitors at Athens' first kosher restaurant.
The Kol Tuv Glatt Kosher restaurant, in the central neighborhood of Monastiraki, will open its doors in time for the Aug. 13-29 Olympics, the owners promise.
The menu will offer elegant Greek and Mediterranean cuisine as well as international specialties by a professional Greek chef, says Rabbi Mendel Hendel. The menu will include well-known Greek specialties such as moussaka (eggplant casserole), pastitsio (baked pasta with bechamel cream sauce), souvlaki (meat kabobs), briam (vegetable stew) and spanakopita (spinach pie).
"Keeping kosher is not just about the foods one is permitted to eat but about a disciplined way of life that creates community, strengthens identity, and ultimately lends itself to richer involvement in the greater experience of living Jewish," said Hendel. "Particularly when traveling, keeping kosher helps the Jewish people affirm their identity regardless of their surroundings."
The restaurant is another visible change in Greece's once homogenous society, which has changed significantly since immigration from the Balkans and Eastern Europe began in the 1990s.
But it seems Athens is still not ready for a mosque.
Efforts by Muslims to build the city's first mosque since Ottoman times have been hampered by bureaucracy and objections from the powerful Greek Orthodox Church.
