Greeks Turn to Starvation Recipes Cookbook Amid Economic Crisis

During the Second World War occupation, many Greeks were struggling to make ends meet. Instead of getting down and out, they got resourceful instead, coming up with numerous ways to get by with very little. These “survival tips” were published in the capital’s newspaper on a daily basis.

To give you an idea, some of these tips included:

– If you’re out of meat, push an eggplant through a grinder.

– Chew your food for longer periods of time until your stomach feels full

– Collect all of your crumbs for a little something extra at the end of the week

After many years of overspending, Greeks are once again faced with a crisis, but this time it’s of an economic nature. Historian and high school teacher Eleni Nikolaidou spent close to two years gathering tips and recipes from the 1941-1944 Nazi rule. She compiled her findings and created a cookbook called Starvation Recipes.

With so many looking for more affordable ways to prepare meals, the cookbook has been flying off the shelves. Nikolaidou speaks on what inspired the surprise hit cookbook. “The circumstances were, of course, much more extreme. But there are people today who open up their cupboards and see little more than a bag of flour and think, ‘What can I do with that?’”

-Brooke Benjamin