{"id":160,"date":"2005-12-02T09:41:39","date_gmt":"2005-12-02T09:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/?p=160"},"modified":"2012-10-02T09:43:20","modified_gmt":"2012-10-02T09:43:20","slug":"the-koulouri-has-never-left-greek-homes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/2005\/12\/02\/the-koulouri-has-never-left-greek-homes\/","title":{"rendered":"The koulouri has never left Greek homes"},"content":{"rendered":"

Anyone can make them. \u201cYou just need flour, salt, sugar, sesame and water,\u201d said Manolis Kolovos, owner of the Ionia<\/em> bakery. Koulouria<\/em>, or bread rings, originated with the Greeks of Smyrni, on the coast of what is today modern Turkey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Greeks were deported from Asia Minor they brought the recipe for the koulouri <\/em>with them to Greece,\u201d said Kolovos, \u201cFirst to Thessaloniki, and then to Athens.\u201d<\/p>\n

The family-run Ionia<\/em>, located in the Athens suburb of Nea Ionia, has been turning out koulouria<\/em> since 1942. \u201cWe used to open at 3 a.m.,\u201d said Kolovos. \u201cOur first customers would come before 5 a.m., and no one would leave without at least one koulouri<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The koulouri<\/em> is the breakfast of choice for people on the run. It\u2019s common to see street peddlers carrying baskets of koulouria<\/em> and selling them to people waiting at stoplights early in the morning.<\/p>\n

Panayiotis, 42, sells koulouria<\/em> outside Syntagma Station. \u201cI started this business five years ago,\u201d he said. After stocking up on his koulouria<\/em> from a bakery in Psirri, he is ready for business at 5 a.m. sharp. \u201cI have people waiting to buy from me as soon as I start,\u201d he said. \u201cUsually, policemen are the earliest, but I get businessmen and women and students later on during the day, too.\u201d<\/p>\n

Just up the street, Pantelis Selma is also getting to work. Selma came to Greece just five years ago, when he was 19. \u201cI didn\u2019t have a job in Albania,\u201d he said, \u201cand my godfather was living here and working at a bakery.\u201d Selma has been selling koulouria<\/em> for the past three years. \u201cPeople have come to know me and I have my regulars,\u201d he said, smiling. \u201cI like this job, and I like this tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n

What makes the koulouri<\/em> a tradition? \u201cGrowing up, I had just enough money to buy one koulouri<\/em>,\u201d said Dimitra Fotopoulou. Fotopoulou, 64, was raised in Nea Ionia but her parents were from Lampsako, in Asia Minor.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew the koulouri<\/em>; no morning was without one,\u201d said Fotopoulou, who today buys koulouria<\/em> for her grandchildren. \u201cThey love holding it in their little hands and taking bites out of it,\u201d she said, handing one to a toddler in his stroller.<\/p>\n

Kostas Tsambos, who works in Nea Ionia, said that out of the 15 people in his office, 10 of them will have a koulouri<\/em> in the morning with their coffee. Tsambos, who chain-smokes, said, \u201cI have three things as soon as I wake up: coffee, cigarettes and a koulouri<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prices for a koulouri range from 30 to 50 cents compared to one euro for a croissant. \u201cWhen my grandfather opened this bakery, koulouria<\/em> were much cheaper than they are now,\u201d said Kolovos. But even today, the koulouri<\/em> is a relatively cheap breakfast. Kolovos is a big fan of his koulouria<\/em>. \u201cThey sell stuff that is not good for you [at other places] for three times the price of a koulouri<\/em> for breakfast,\u201d Kolovos said, shaking his head from behind the counter of his bakery.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe koulouri <\/em>is cheap, tasty, and it\u2019s part of a Greek tradition,\u201d said Selma, handing one to a customer, who nodded in agreement.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Anyone can make them. \u201cYou just need flour, salt, sugar, sesame and water,\u201d said Manolis Kolovos, owner of the Ionia bakery. Koulouria, or bread rings, originated with the Greeks of Smyrni, on the coast of what is today modern Turkey. \u201cWhen Greeks were deported from Asia Minor they brought the recipe for the koulouri with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=160"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":161,"href":"https:\/\/web.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/160\/revisions\/161"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web.acg.edu\/web\/observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}