Diane Kochilas

Diane Kochilas Diane Kochilas is one of the world’s foremost experts on Greek and Mediterranean cuisine. The series is in its third season.
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🍽 Greek-American Celebrity Chef
👩‍🍳Blue Zone Ikaria Cooking Classes & Ikaria PLUS Greek Culinary-Cultural Trips
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TAG ME @ She is the host, creator, and co-producer of My Greek Table, the award-winning 13-episode per season cooking-travel show about Greece that airs nationally on Public Television. Diane hails from the Blue Zone G

reek island of Ikaria and New York City and brings a combination of innate Blue-Zone wellness and result-oriented NYC spirit to everything she does. She is an award-winning author of more than 18 books on Greek-Mediterranean Cuisine and runs the Glorious Greek Kitchen on Ikaria Cooking School every spring and fall on the island. Diane also organizes culinary excursions and walking tours in Greece and cooking classes throughout the United States. She has been at the forefront of bringing healthy Greek and Mediterranean cuisine to an American audience for more than 25 years. Diane has been consulting chef for many of the top Greek restaurants in the United States and for years has worked with university dining services at Harvard, Yale, and UMass Amherst to bring healthy Mediterranean cooking to student dining halls. She is a frequent speaker at the CIA and other major culinary institutions.

04/06/2026

‼️Most people ruin tomato fritters.
Not because of the batter.
Because they don’t respect the tomato.🍅

Tomatokeftedes are one of Greece’s great summer foods — traditionally associated with the Cycladic islands, where ripe tomatoes become something completely different once they hit hot olive oil.☀️🇬🇷

▪️The secret isn’t frying.
▪️It’s draining.
▪️Coarsely chop or coarsely grate the tomatoes.
▪️Salt lightly.
▪️Wait.
▪️Then squeeze through a sieve or cheesecloth.

That one step gives you everything you want:
crisp edges, soft centers, concentrated tomato flavor.
For this version I’m using chickpea flour instead of wheat flour — both to make them “healthy,” but also because chickpea flour doesn’t get gummy and I love the nutty flavor and delicate crispness it creates.

Then comes my favorite part (serving):
▪️Hot fritters.
▪️Cold Greek yogurt.
▪️Lemon squeezed over them.
▪️The contrast is everything.

Save this for tomato season.
▶️ Full recipe at the link in bio
📩 Join my newsletter for recipes and all things Greek and edible
🇬🇷 Explore my classes, Athens walks and Greece trips

❓️QUESTION
Team:
extra yogurt or extra lemon?🥣🍋

02/06/2026

The biggest mistake people make with oyster mushrooms?
They don't press them while cooking.‼️

ℹ️Most mushrooms release water as they cook. But when you press oyster mushrooms (pleurotus) against a hot grill pan, something completely different happens. The moisture evaporates, the edges become crisp and caramelized, and their flavor transforms into something rich, savory, and almost meaty.
It's one of the simplest techniques in the Greek kitchen—and one of the most delicious.😍

These are marinated in ladolemono, Greece's classic dressing of olive oil, lemon, garlic, and oregano, then served over cool Greek yogurt with fresh herbs and Aleppo pepper.

➕️And here's the bonus: oyster mushrooms are rich in antioxidants, fiber, and compounds that researchers are studying for their role in healthy aging, immune health, and overall wellness.

This is simple food, with big flavors and even bigger wisdom!

Would you try this instead of meat?
👇 Tell me below.

🔗 Full recipe: Link in bio or visit https://www.dianekochilas.com/greek-pressed-oyster-mushrooms-ladolemono-yogurt/

📺 More Mediterranean diet and longevity recipes:
YouTube.com/

🇬🇷 Join me in Ikaria:
www.dianekochilas.com/ikaria-classes

✈️ Travel with me in Greece:
www.dianekochilas.com/greece-trips

📩 Free recipes & newsletter:
https://www.dianekochilas.com/subscribe/

📚 Books & eBooks:
www.dianekochilas.com/books

31/05/2026

Ikaria: This is my home.
The garden is in and growing — lettuces onions, tomatoes, zucchini, eggplants, peppers, herbs.
I always add flowers too. I love all the colors, especially against the stone walls, and that Greek blue sky and sea.🌺
I was just in Ikaria getting everything ready for our June classes and being there reminded me that life is so much better when meals are part of the day instead of squeezed into it.☀️

We cook almost entirely from the garden. Mostly vegetables. Well, almost. Because what would Greece be without lamb — and what would Ikaria be without a slow-roasted goat once in a while?

✅️But mostly it’s simple food: olive oil, greens, beans, seasonal vegetables, local cheeses, herbs. It’s the kind of cooking that makes you feel good.

During the week we cook, milk goats, make cheese, visit the beehives, taste local honey, sit at the table longer than we meant to, and somehow by the end everyone knows everyone.
That part is always the best for me.

And – yes – we dance!
If you’ve been thinking about joining us, we’re booking our 2027 classes now.👇️

🌿 Ikaria Classes:
https://www.dianekochilas.com/ikaria-classes/
📩 Newsletter:
https://www.dianekochilas.com/subscribe/
🇬🇷 Greece Trips:
https://www.dianekochilas.com/greece-trips/

📌Save this for later.
Send it to someone who’d come with you.

❓️Question:
What would you want to do first—
cook from the garden, make cheese, visit the beehives, or just sit and watch the sunset?

28/05/2026

Smashed Giant Beans with jammy tomatoes & feta. This doesn’t look like longevity food. That’s part of the charm.😉

People imagine healthy eating as restrictive, but on Ikaria — one of the world’s original Blue Zones — meals like this appear again and again because they’re truly satisfying.🧡

Creamy giant beans.
Jammy roasted tomatoes.
Good olive oil.
Fresh herbs.
A little feta.

And 2️⃣tiny techniques change everything.👇️

🍅Smash a few of the beans and tomatoes with the back of a spoon or fork. That moment creates a silky natural sauce created from the olive oil and tomato juices, to become something greater.

🍋The other secret: lemon zest as an amazing flavor boost.

ℹ️Research continues to point to legumes as one of the strongest dietary predictors of longevity — but Ikaria’s lesson isn’t really about beans. It’s about cooking in a way that makes healthy food irresistible.

This is pantry cooking at its absolute best.🔝

Save this for summer.

▶️ FULL RECIPE: at the link in bio

📩 Join my biweekly newsletter and get recipes, stories, and all things Greek and edible: https://www.dianekochilas.com/

🇬🇷 Want to cook and eat this way with me?
Ikaria Classes: https://www.dianekochilas.com/ikaria-classes/

Athens Food Walks: https://www.dianekochilas.com/athens-walks/

Greece Trips: https://www.dianekochilas.com/greece-trips/

26/05/2026

If you could grill seawater…it would smell like this stuffed grilled quid!.
There are dishes that feed you. And then there are dishes that transport you.🦑🇬🇷

Along the Athenian Riviera, in the old seaside tavernas just outside Athens, stuffed calamari has long been one of those dishes.
Fresh squid filled not with breadcrumbs and excess, but with what Greece does best: beautiful cheeses, handfuls of herbs, zesty lemon, great olive oil, and a sense of balance.🍋🌊

ℹ️For this version from My Greek Table, season 3, I combine salty feta with mild sheep’s milk cheeses, fresh dill and mint, then grill the squid just long enough to pick up that incredible sweetness from the sea.
And when it hits the grill…I always think the same thing:
If you could caramelize seawater, that’s what it would smell like.
What I love most is that this dish feels luxurious without being heavy — exactly the kind of cooking that defines so much of coastal Greece.
Athens is more than the Acropolis — it’s fish tavernas, Riviera sunsets, and recipes like this one.

✨️If this transported you somewhere warmer, the full My Greek Table episode and recipe video are waiting for you on YouTube.

▶️ Subscribe to my YouTube channel for full recipes, Greek travel, My Greek Table episodes, and stories from Athens and Ikaria.
📘 Explore more Athens recipes + stories in Athens: Food, Stories, Love
📩 Subscribe to my newsletter for twice-weekly recipes and all things Greek and edible.
🇬🇷 Classes / walks / trips

💬Tell me:
What dish instantly tastes like summer to you?

21/05/2026

The most famous party island in Greece has a food secret almost no tourist ever finds: Kremmyodopita, or Onion-Cheese Pie.😍

Way back in season 3 of My Greek Table, I arrived in Mykonos and headed straight past the clubs — into a farmhouse kitchen, where local chef and cooking teacher, Eirini Zouganeli, showed me how to prepare kremmydopita: a savory onion-and-cheese pie that has been made on this island for generations.

ℹ️We made it with tyrovolia — a fresh local cheese — handfuls of dill, spring onions, and a homemade dough built on olive oil and a splash of raki. This simple, ancient, delicious savory pie took about an hour to bake. It is quite different from other cheese pies from around Greece, or from those found in Athens.

Alas, even the most touristed places in Greece have their traditions, and I love discovering them and sharing them with you.

This is the Mykonos I love. 🪴

📌 Full kremmydopita recipe → link in bio
👉 Watch the full recipe video on my YouTube Channel → https://youtu.be/QAGcwwqHqXA
👉 Tag someone you'd drag off a cruise ship to find this pie.
👉 Want to make phyllo and savory pies like this at home? I teach it in my Fearless Phyllo online class — link in bio.

If you’ve ever traveled to Mykonos…what was your favorite dish?

18/05/2026

In Ikaria, nobody calls this a "health food."
They call it briam and it’s a Greek summer classic. Home cooks make briam when the zucchini and eggplant come in from the garden, the tomatoes are heavy and juicy, and there's a bottle of good Greek olive oil at arm’s reach on the counter. It tastes extraordinary and the leftovers are even better the next day.😍

The longevity part — the fiber, the antioxidants, the olive oil science — Greeks have been eating this way for centuries. Fresh, seasonal, mostly plant-based foods enriched with life-giving olive oil and herbs.🌿

ℹ️This version has one technique most briam recipes skip entirely: the ladolemono marinade. Before anything goes in the pan, every vegetable gets tossed — by hand, thoroughly — in a whisked mixture of Greek olive oil, lemon, garlic, and oregano. It rests for at least 20 minutes. The potato and eggplant absorb the marinade into their flesh. The flavor is inside the vegetable before it ever touches heat.

Slow-roasting and the final charring make this both absolute comfort food and exciting on the palate! I add a slab of feta in the middle of the hot dish, and leave it to soften and go golden. Toasted walnuts add plant-based omega 3s, protein, fiber, and magnesium.

Health, flavor, everyday fresh ingredients, and easy to make. It’s a win-win no matter how you serve it!💚

🔖 Save it to make it this weekend!
Question for you: what does your family's version of briam look like? Same vegetables? Different ones? Do you add any other protein? I always love hearing how this dish lives in other Greek kitchens — and beyond.
📩 Comment BRIAM and I'll send you the full recipe in your DMs.
🌿 Full recipe at the link in my bio — dianekochilas.com

📬 Subscribe to my newsletter for weekly Ikarian and Mediterranean recipes, stories, and seasonal guides: dianekochilas.com/subscribe
🇬🇷 2026 Ikaria Cooking Retreats — cook in my kitchen, walk the herb paths, eat at the village feasts. We’re booking for 2027. Space is limited and spots fill fast!

15/05/2026

Memorial Day is coming — and this is your new favorite thing to bring to the table. 🫒

Phyllo Pizza with Artichokes, Tomatoes and Feta. Crispy. Bright. Shareable. And just maybe one of the easiest things you'll ever make.
This recipe is from Season 5 of My Greek Table — the "Phyllo for Healthy Fun" episode — and it completely changed how I think about snacking. Because phyllo isn't just for pies. It's a genius vehicle for getting more plants, herbs, and olive oil onto your plate without even trying.

Tomatoes. Olives. Bell pepper. Fresh parsley. A little feta. A little Kefalograviera. Layered between crispy, olive-oil-brushed phyllo and baked into golden squares you can set right in the center of the table.

That's Mediterranean diet snacking done right — abundant, plant-forward, and made for sharing.

💬 What are you making this Memorial Day? Drop it below 👇
🔗 Full recipe → link in bio
📩 Weekly Mediterranean recipes in your inbox → subscribe via link in bio
🏛️ Learn the art of Greek plant-based cooking in Ikaria → classes at link in bio
▶️ Watch Season 5 of My Greek Table on YouTube — subscribe so you never miss an episode

13/05/2026

‼️People are always surprised when I tell them that Ikarians eat pork.

They expect the longevity island to be all lentils and wild greens. And yes — that's the foundation. But meat has always had a place at the table here. In the traditional diet, meat was either a treat on special occasions or eaten in small portions together with lots of plant-based ingredients (think stews).🌿

These grilled bone-in pork chops marinated in olive oil, lemon, garlic and oregano — are finished with a green herb sauce inspired by my Ikarian garden: Parsley, dill, mint, olive oil, lemon, garlic. It takes a few minutes to whip together and makes everything taste healthy and bright!💛

Serve with greens for even more yummy nutrition. Squeeze more lemon. Pour more olive oil than feels reasonable. That's the Ikarian way.🍋🇬🇷

💬 Do you eat meat? How do you think about balance on your plate?

🔗 Full recipe + more Greek longevity recipes → link in bio
📩 Subscribe to my newsletter for weekly Mediterranean diet recipes
🏛️ Join my Ikarian cooking classes → link in bio
▶️ Watch on YouTube — subscribe so you never miss a recipe

11/05/2026

I've filmed here for My Greek Table, I've eaten my way through its markets more times than I can count, and I keep coming back — because no city in Greece layers history, culture, and food quite like this one.🇬🇷

Three thousand years of Byzantine, Ottoman, Jewish and Macedonian life, all of it alive on every table.

The bougatsa pulled fresh from the oven for the best breakfast on earth! To go, too!
The mezedes that arrive in waves and never seem to stop.
The Pontic cheeses you won't find anywhere else in Greece.
The tavernas along the waterfront where the White Tower glows at sunset and nobody is in a hurry to leave.

👉️This is why Thessaloniki is one of the centerpiece stops on my Ancient Athens to Enchanting Istanbul journey this October — three full days to actually feel this city, not just pass through it. From Aristotle Square to the Royal Tombs of Vergina to the vineyards of Macedonia, this is northern Greece at its most magnificent.
And the food? Locals will tell you it's the true Greek food capital. After everything I've eaten here — on camera for My Greek Table Season 3 and off camera for pure pleasure — they may be right!😍

Two spots remain on the October tour.
📩 Email [email protected] to join us.
🔗 Full tour details at the link in bio.
💬 Have you been to Thessaloniki? Tell me your favorite dish or memory below. 👇

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