Diane Kochilas has made a life long career out of her family's Greek hertitage.  As a highly sought after food expert of Greek cuisine, Diane piles her plate high with writing books, news articles, critiques and even teaches classes at her own culinary school in Greece. 

AndrewZimmern.com: Your expertise is primarily in Greek cuisine and food history. Compare and contrast that with France or Italy or Spain?

Diane Kochilas: Greek cuisine is more direct, with simple techniques. But there is an impressive regional cuisine that has yet to come to the fore in the U.S.

AZ.com: What can we taste today in Greece that is a driect reflection of Greece's most ancient culture?

DK: Olive oil, olives, honey, simple goat's cheeses from the islands, sweet cheese cakes from the islands, snails, combos of nuts and honey and pastry, whole grains, wild greens, the array of Mediterranean fish, game, especially rabbit/hare and small birds, among other things--these are the ingredients that have always been in use in the kitchen here and in many instances used in similar preparations. The ancient Greeks were also the first to develop a sense of regionality and a kind of appellation of origin system.

AZ.com: Did food play a big role in your upbringing?

DK: All Greeks love to eat and love to sit around the table with lots of other Greeks, family and friends, to argue with them over mama's great cooking! We were no different.

AZ.com: Your cookbook Aegean Cuisine pays a contemporary homage to Greek cuisine. How have you gone about modernizing traditional recipes?

DK: By bringing certain techniques and skills to the kitchen, by weaving in new ingredients, by paying attention to plating. These are just some examples of how the cuisine has been able to keep its soul and still be timely.

AZ: Where and how do you discover new ideas for your work?

DK: Ideas are like germs--they are everywhere!!

AZ: You are a writer and editor, and a great cook. Is it more dfficut to edit yourself or authors you work/worked with?

DK: Cutting out my own words from my own copy is like choosing between my children! Almost. I write then take a distance of a day or two from the piece then go back to it with a harsh eye. But it's easier to edit other people.

AZ: What inspired you to open Glorious Greek Kitchen, a cooking school in the Greek Isle of Ikaria?  Are your students primarily Greek?

DK: Our students are almost all American, from every corner of the country, every age group, sex and sexual persuasion, profession, etc. Ikaria is truly unspoilt. It hasn't been destroyed by tourism and is a kind of backwater, although there is an airport and regular flights and ferry service. What we give people here is the experience of a Greek village and the agrarian life that has been the same for many, many years. Plus a lot of memorable late nights, great wine, excellent food prepared with fun and soul, a lovely garden in which to enjoy it, and the chance to spend some time on one of the last untrammeled islands in the Mediterranean. Sounds good, doesn't it? You are welcome to join us any time. We even have a few bizarre foods, like salt-cured goat meat (as a way to preserve it in times before refrigeration).

AZ: In a recent article published in the Washington Post you said the economic crisis has changed the restaurant industry in Greece and put the country on a “much needed diet.” What do you mean by this?

DK: Greeks embraced consumerism wholeheartedly and blindly and put themselves in debt doing so. The restaurants reflected this nouveau riche, kid-in-a-candystore mania; face control at the doors, exorbitant prices without any real sense of value, places to show off but not necessarily to eat well, chefs who used their newfound status to sell anything that came to mind, including things like freeze dried feta and fish soup foam, and who had lost sight of whether what they were serving was actually any good. Things have reverted considerably. The taverna is gaining ground again, and so are more down to earth places.

AZ: What’s the hardest part about splitting your time between New York, Athens, and Ikaria? The best?

DK: Not belonging anywhere and always missing the people you leave behind--to answer number one; being fortunate enough to experience vibrant cities like NY as my own and the peace and quiet of Ikaria like a native. And having friends from both places drop in now and then.

AZ: Five favorite places you like to hit up for a good meal in New York?

DK: Arturo's and Lombardi's pizza.
Peking Duck House in Chinatown, for Beijing Duck
Jean Georges. For everything I can't afford, but splurge on anyway because he is such a genius.
Oceana, for the fish but mainly for the cocktails and tidbits at the bar. Those cocktails.                 The little Thai place up the street from the house I grew up in in Jackson Heights, because it's real family Thai food and serves mainly local Thai immigrants.                                                       Peter Luger's, when I get the urge for carnivorous delights. A tiny sushi place on w. 4th street that serves the most creative sushi I've ever tried outside Tokyo. There are only about 5 tables.