

Traditional cuisine - Prefecture of Drama

The prevailing elements of the eating habits in Drama are the products of the local livestock breeding sector, plenty of river fish, pies, home-made pasta and the traditional recipes of the inhabitants of the Prefecture coming from Pontos or Sarakatsans.

Some typical local dishes from Pontos are: sorvas (soup with yoghurt), tsirichta, yvrista, keskek (chicken with wheat) and trachanas, while the Sarakatsan traditions suggest dishes like lachanopita (thick fyllo pastry spread with butter and placed on a baking dish, one layer of finely chopped cabbage leaves, onions, cheese, salt, pepper and butter or oil), galatopita (a mixture of flour, salt and sugar which is boiled until it thickens and then is placed in thick fyllo pastry and baked with little of butter). The pie is prepared for religious events, Easter and St. George’s commemoration day.

Another traditional pie is striftopita or psaropita (the pastry is stretched by a rolling pin on a special base until they become very thin leaves. Every leaf is stuffed with cheese and trachana and is tightly rolled along. The rolled pieces of pastry are placed one next the other in circles in a round baking dish spread with butter. Thus, you have a twisted pie, which you will spread with butter and cook in the gastra (clay baking dish).


Keskek from Pontos

Keskek is a traditional dish from Pontos, which is handed out to those attending the Mass during the Annunciation of the Virgin Mary) in the Municipal District of Kalamonas after the end of the Mass on the day of the celebration of the Holy Spirit.


500 gr. of wheat
Some salt
1 medium-sized home-bred hen
Some butter


Soak the wheat one day before the preparation. Boil the chicken in a casserole and use another casserole to boil the wheat in some water. When they are almost ready, put them together in a big casserole. There they will boil together until they become soft. Remove from the heat, remove all the bones of the hen and start smashing the mixture with a mixer or a pestle until it becomes creamy.
Finally, heat some fresh butter and pour it over.


Sarakatsan Koulourotyro


For the pastry: 1 k. of flour (and some more
for the stretching)
1/2 spoon of salt
some warm water
For the stuffing: 1/2 cup (270 gr. approximately) of warm melted milk butter 750 gr. of feta cheese


Blend the pastry, cover it and let it rest for some time. Then, split it in 10-12 pieces and stretch them to make the pastry leaves.
Spread butter on each layer and put cheese on it. Then, roll the piece of pastry (like a spiral) towards the center of the baking dish. Do the same with the next fyllo pastry leave and place it in the dish just next to the first one. Continue like this until there is no more room in the baking dish. Spread butter, sprinkle some water and put it in the oven (180o C for 15-20 minutes). Afterwards, set the temperature at 150o C so that the pastry at the center is baked over a slow heat. The pie will be ready once it has a golden-brownish color. You can serve it hot, warm or cold.

