Food is an integral element of the history of civilization, but it is also an important chapter of the science of Folklore in the study of the material life of the rural people.

This edition presents the traditional cooking of Kythnos (or: Thermia) as it was shaped until the middle of the 70s, before the invasion of modern elements in the local diet. Back then, when the old housewife was still cooking on the petrogas, which had replaced, relatively recently, the "chimney" with the fuel from straw, wood and vine branches.

I had already recorded some information related to the topic of nutrition from my high school years. The topic, however, has occupied me more intensively in the last eleven years, and, in particular, since 2001, where with my long stay on the island, due to work, I was able to collect recipes, as well as other nutritional information that make up the content of the hand book.

Cooking in Kythnos is a representative sample of typical Cycladic cuisine. And here you will find the "baked chickpeas" (which most people think are cooked only in Sifnos), the "dava", stuffed goat with rice, which we find (under other names) in many Aegean islands, etc.

However, every place has to present something characteristic, something special, in its local cuisine. In Kythnos, the famously delicious cheese seals the taste difference of dishes, such as "spongata", "Lambris pies", "kukoulopites" or "taharta".

All the recipes present village cooking that delights with their wise simplicity and deliciousness and at the same time gives us the opportunity to try flavors, to discover the charm of local products, the folk cuisine of the island.

A part of this work is experiential material, since I grew up with several of these cookings. [...]

(from the author's introduction)

Foreword by Ilias Mamalakis