By Steve Stockmar
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Editor's note: This article first appeared in Sun Life Magazine, a Daily Independent publication.

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So long spaghetti, hello gyros!

TasteAtlas, the online travel guide for traditional local food, released its 2024-25 awards, and the data show that Greek food ranks as the world’s most popular cuisine, edging out Italian for the top spot.

Based on almost 478,000 ratings by users for more than 15,000 cuisines, Greek food earned the highest average scores. Italian, last year’s number one, was relegated to second place followed by Mexican, Japanese, and French.

From gyros to Greek salads to souvlaki to baklava, the Mediterranean cuisine is the way to go, according to the survey participants’ tastebuds.

“Every single one of these are things that we as Greek Americans typically have on our dinner table several nights a week, or certainly on a Sunday dinner, or certainly at our holidays,” said Sandy Meris, an organizer with the Original Phoenix Greek Festival, which will host its 64th annual gathering in October. “These are all very, very common and traditional and regular Greek items that we all eat on a regular basis.”

The festival takes place at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, at 1973 E. Maryland Ave., in Phoenix, and is run entirely by volunteer parishioners from the church community who also do all the cooking.

The festival is huge now, having expanded to a three-day weekend over the decades.

Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral tours are conducted throughout each day to showcase the architecture which conforms to ancient Byzantine standards while exhibiting a Southwest desert influence, according to festival organizers. Also on site, the Hellenic Museum of Phoenix is open with vintage photographs of pioneer Greek families.

And the weekend features traditional folk-dance groups made up of children from kindergarten to college-age, plus live music.

“The festival is really more an act of love and an opportunity for us to share our culture with the people of Phoenix,” Meris said.

But, hey, foodies from around the world have spoken. Traditional Greek cuisine is in the culture’s spotlight.

The food itself might be a novelty or occasional delicacy for some. For those in the community it’s a way of life that goes back generations.

“It's very vegetable-forward, it's very seafood-forward. It's lean meats. And a lot of vegetables and flavorings with garlic, onion, oregano, lemon; things that are not only good for you, but they're also really easy to find,” Meris added. “We don't have any really crazy weird things that are hard to find at the grocery store. You can see our desserts are made with a lot of honey and nuts.”

Visit https://phoenixgreekfestival.org for more information on the festival, which returns in October.

Gyros are arguably the most well-known in the world of traditional Greek cuisine.

(Metro Creative Connection)

The Original Phoenix Greek Festival will return to the Valley in October.

(Photo provided Sandy Meris)

Steve Stockmar
News Editor | Sun Life Magazine & Arts & Entertainment YourValley.net

sstockmar@iniusa.org

Meet Steve
Steve Stockmar joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2017, and has been an Arizona journalist for almost 30 years. He serves as editor of Sun Life Magazine and contributes to West Valley communities where he focuses mostly on arts & culture, education, and profiles of neighbors making a difference.

Community: Every season Steve serves as a “buddy” with the Miracle League of Arizona in Scottsdale, has volunteered his time with Family Promise in Glendale, and previously served on the Ghostlight Theatre board in Sun City West.

Education: Graduated from Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff with a Journalism major and English minor.

Random Fact: Steve once won a 50-player live Texas Hold ’Em poker tournament.

Hobbies: Anguishing over his beloved Chicago Cubs and Bears; listening to Beatles and Grateful Dead music.