As Greece entered the pre-Easter season of Lent, Kathimerini newspaper’s food magazine Gastronomos, published a special 35-page section on the lenten cuisine of Mount Athos, featuring recipes from Monk Epifanios that have been a best-kept secret for centuries. It is a photographic record of the prominent figures of monastic cooking seen though the most basic of human enjoyments – food. In creating this historically and religiously important record of all the rich flavours of Athonias, I feel privileged to have had the opportunity to experience, sample and preserve it in images. The subjects are monks whose hard work is accompanied by respect for the “garden of the Virgin Mary”, or Panagia, asMount Athos is also known.
