Taverna

Taverna refers to a small restaurant serving Greek cuisine, not to be confused with "tavern". The Greek word is "ταβέρνα" and is originally derived from the Latin word "taberna" ('shed' or 'hut', from "tabula" 'board', possibly by dissimilation from "traberna", from "trabs": "beam", "timber"). As Greeks have migrated elsewhere, tavernes (plural) have spread throughout the world, especially countries such as the USA and Australia. The taverna is an integral part of Greek cuisine and of Greek culture.

Cuisine

A typical menu for a taverna would usually include many if not all of the following items:

* Bread, usually loaf bread, sometimes flat bread;
* Appetizers or entrées including tzatziki (yogurt, garlic, cucumber dip), melitzanosalata (eggplant dip), tyrokafteri (whipped feta cheese, with hot peppers and olive oil dip), spanakopita spinach pie, tyropita cheese pie, saganaki fried cheese served with lemon juice, and dolmades or dolmadakia - (rice mixture with fresh herbs such as mint and parsley and sometimes pine nuts-and in some regions minced meat is added-tightly wrapped with tender grape leaves and served with a thick and creamy, lemony sauce);
* Soups such as avgolemono (lemon spiked creamy chicken soup), patsas;
* Pasta such as makaronia me kima (spaghetti napolitano); pastitsio baked layers of thick pasta (Greek pastichio noodles) and minced meat mixture topped with a thick béchamel sauce);
* Fish and seafood dishes such as baked fresh fish, fried salt cod served with skordalia (garlic sauce); fried squid and baby octopus;
* Baked Dishes (magirefta) such as a wide variety of seasonal Vegetable dishes); moussaka (eggplant or zucchini, minced meat, béchamel sauce);
* Greek salad;
* Grilled dishes such as gyros and souvlaki;
* Minced dishes;
* Sweet dishes such as baklava, loukoumades, galaktoboureki;
* Cheese;
* Wine including retsina, mavrodafni and other Greek red/white wine varieties;
* Beer
* Spirits such as ouzo, tsipouro and Metaxa brandy.
* Fruit

Operations

Tavernas open at later hours than restaurants in the UK or US with dinner hours starting at 8.30pm and reaching a peak around 10pm [Emily Hiestand, "Lessons from the Taverna" in Larry Haberger, Sean O'Reilly and Brian S Alexander "Travelers Tales Greece: True Stories" Travelers Tales 2003 ISBN 1-885211-99-6 page 65] As tourism has grown in Greece many tavernas have attempted to cater to foreign visitors with English menus and touts or "shills" being employed in many tavernas to attract passing tourists. Similarly, tavernas in tourist areas pay commissions to tour guides who send business their way [Anthony Cox, "Still Life in Crete: A Singular View" Universal Publishers 2001 ISBN 1-58112-691-3 page 97 ] .

Tavernas in literature and art

The taverna has become an integral part of Greek culture and has become familiar to people from other countries who visit Greece and through the establishment of tavernas overseas by expatriate Greeks. Tavernas have also been portrayed in the arts and literature. Taverna is also a chain of restaurants in the USA which specialize in a lively atmosphere, napkin tossing and table top dancing.

For example, the lead character in the play and film "Shirley Valentine" written by Willy Russell leaves her husband and family in Liverpool for a vacation where she has an affair with a waiter at the taverna and ends up working in the taverna ["Willy Russell" in "Contemporary Dramatists", 6th ed. St. James Press, 1999. Reproduced in Biography Resource Center. Farmington Hills, Mich.: Thomson Gale. 2005]

=References=
* [http://www.greece101.com/glossary.display-lid1-slid80.html?trk=slid80 Greek glossary featuring a definition of taverna]
* [http://www.softlab.ece.ntua.gr/miscellaneous/faq/greece/tourism_faq.html Soc.Culture.Greek FAQ including a typical taverna menu]

=Notes=

=Further reading=
*cite book|first=Tom|last=Stone|title=The Summer of my Greek Taverna:A Memoir|publisher=Simon & Schuster|city=New York|year=2002|ISBN=0-7432-0541-3