Taste one of the human senses. Knowing the taste was one of the main features of the ancient Greeks. The first people who made “art” flavor was undoubtedly the ancient Greeks. The taste is directly or indirectly connected with their food, their diet and the difference between Greeks and barbarians. Our surviving information coming from far away, start by Homer in his works Iliad and Odyssey, Athenaeus the Nafkratiti on Deipnosophistae project (rescued 15 of the 30), the Roman APIKIAN, Philoxenus from Kythira at work the Supper, the Ippolocho from Athens in his letter to Lygkea from Samos, which describes the festivities, after the presence of a Macedonian wedding table (saved in Deipnosophistae) and many other known and unknown.
  The foods are directly related to the seasons. They never had food in winter in summer and vice versa, because they could not, but he knew it was out of season with almost no vitamins and no real flavor, so why lose the taste so much loved.
  The ancients said: delight the palate and a light stomach.
  Our Homer tells that the gods have preferences in flavors that are simple and nice. He says that their food is more beautiful: the nectar and ambrosia.
  Our Chrysippus says that the heroes were producing their own eating them and was proud of it. They wanted to have their own care of their personal taste and also liked to show the dexterity in their taste.
 Odysseus said that could ignite fire, cut meat and offer food like no other. Homer says that eating is a rite, for it teaches us what we should call, saying that they should be from the excellent and honest. We also teach us what not to call, but that should come alone, indicating that their presence is necessary. Because neither parent, nor his brother nor his wife have someone to call because they are equal and cold call them. When they learn about the symposium, must themselves go.
   In Homer, the heroes eat seated at banquets and not lying. Not taking with them what remained from the dinner, but after satiate, leaving the rest, which is in charge of taking and holding to give to a stranger, that happened to come.
  Athenaeus our Nafkratitis says that: The principle and root of all good is the pleasure of the womb and the wise and senior who therewith associated. In the “Deipnosophistae ‘project one of the sources is a grammar of Tarsus Dioscorides, who wrote and among other projects, a book about the habits of heroes of Homer’s time.
    The man truly free, says Athenaeus, should enjoy his life, otherwise better penetrated deep into the earth, or a precipice be demolished and lost forever to Tartarus land. Enjoyment requires desire, then comes the satisfaction.
  In “Deipnosophistae” we have information on the food tastes, how they cooked, how it should be eaten when they are good and when not, as for those eating and baking was a whole art.
  Our Dafnos doctor says:
 The nightly dinners are beneficial for the body, because the star of the Moon helps digest food. It is also more digestible meat from animals sacrificed in sanctuaries night and wrists most mature best in moonlight.
 Hesiod says:
To invite to symposia those living near our house. Why friends who live far away are not friends.
 The comedy writer Apollodorus:
Once you cross the threshold of your friendly home Nikofonta will immediately feel the friendly warmth.
 First will come the jovial doorman, then the dog will rub your feet and someone will put you to sit.
   Timon:
From all evil, the first is the desire.
  Amphion:
 Do not skip your drink is free. Contrary to aspire.
  Hippocrates in “On Holy” book:
The best waters are those flowing from high places.
  The Antiphanes:
It is the divine life, when you how to eat for free, without having to do calculations in your head.
  Alexis:
If you see man dines alone, or poet, not like the music and singing, you know that the first, it loses half his life, and the second half of art, while both just barely living.
Not drunk enough to lose control, but only so as it takes to come out more easily the words of my mouth.
Each spiteful slander his name. But this is bad, because the fig name should be associated with something good and pleasing and not with malice. I wonder how it was done and united forever sweet with evil.
  I have everything needed and I hate unnecessary. On excesses there is no delight, but only luxury. Unnecessary have big expense, but does not offer any pleasure.
  Epicurus:
I can not understand what pleasure there, if you remove the taste and venereal pleasure.
   Ermippos says:
What good Dionysus brought people from traveling to the sea?
From Cyrene silfio and skin from beef from the Hellespont mackerel and foremost salted, from Thessaly bulgur and beef steaks, from Sitalkes scabies for the Spartans and Perdiccas ships with lies, the Syracusans produce cheese and sink Neptune all Corfu, always disagree, with their ships. Egypt sails and books from Syria incense and good Crete Gods cypresses from Libya ivories on trade. From Rhodes raisins and figs, from Evia Apidia and apples. From Phrygia slaves and allies from Arcadia. Pagases send us slaves and our Paphlagonians send ornaments dinner, fluffy almonds. And the dates and semolina from Phoenicia. And from Carthage carpets and a variety of pillows.
  Pindar:
Water is the best of all that we drink.
  Eyboulos:
Those who drink only water, is inventive.
  The Sophist Callisthenes,  Aristovoulos and Harry in their stories they write:
In a sumposio offered a boundless wine to Alexander, and he pushed the goblet.
They asked why does not drink, and he replied:
Alexander did not want to drink and Asclepius need.
   Theopompus in his book of “Philippos”:
The very food and meat eating reduces mental clarity and makes the human soul be hard and filled rage.
  Euripides:
Happiness is not in the food, but. at the subway.
   Poliochos:
Nobody deals with onions, when the table is filled with plenty of meat.
  Anaxagoras in his treatise “On nature”:
Egg white says is chicken milk.
  Bacchylides:
Ships from Egypt laden with wheat, bring the wrist that is wealth.
Whoever eats often becomes drowsy, but whoever drinks occasionally some wine always will have four hundred
  Alexander :
The nectar is not drink, but. Food of the gods.
   Antisthenes:
It’s good pleasure, if not regret after someone, for her.
   Antiphanes says of the specificities of each city
Elis chef, from Argos the cauldron, the Fliounta wine from
Corinth mattresses, fish from Sikyon from Aegio the Flute-playing girl, cheese from Sicily, perfumes from Athens and eels from Boeotia ..
  The Kid:
Nice and valuable is little, in all things.
  Seleucus:
The very old days there used to get drunk, or enjoy other pleasures,
but only drink for the gods. So they called these gatherings symposia
and dinners and drunkenness.
  Euripides says:
While offering small sacrifices (fees) to their gods, they are more devout than those who sacrifice oxen – here the word end, means sacrifice.
Ceremonies call celebrations made following some religious traditions, customs means I spend luxury ones who spend many petty ones who spend little.
 Here we should mention that at the time Athenaeus wrote “Deipnosophistae ‘were not in the known world: potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, corn, mushrooms, chocolate.
Several of these have preserved in their writings food recipes, of which most can not be built because the materials do not exist today, notably herbs.
 Within the flavors are not only the food and wine, Venus milk as he calls Aristophanes.
The correct ratio of water and wine the Athenians were taught by King Amfiktionia and therefore built Rectum Dionysus, because then it is correct, when drunk in moderation and properly neromeno.
Athenaeus mentions wines:
Wine Phoenician,
of Corfu wine is good when aged,
Thassos sweet wine smells of apple,
the Mendi wine is light,
Chios wine sweet,
wines of Zakynthos and Lefkada stun,
Cilicia is softener
wine from Lampsacus, Corinth wine is bad,
Black is the Skiathan,
the Naxian is nectar,
but the Lesvos wine with none compared.
The Alexandrian wine called Mareotis, named after the lake. In the same area there are vineyards and very palatable wines.
Many are the heroes who drank much wine as Nestor of Pylos, Agamemnon of Mycenae, and as says Nestor Achilles and the largest battle not avoid wine. Here should be mentioned tips you give us some of our ancestors regarding wine, and our behavior towards him.
  Homer: whoever drinks can benefit.
  Amphion our comedy writer says about the wine that: amid the wine is some logic, while those who drink the water are fools.
  Herodotus: when the wine goes down the body, floating bad words.
  Alexis: The old wine is not only to please us, but we do good to our health. It helps to be more easily digested foods, gives strength to the body, making the blood more red, helps circulation and give us peaceful sleep. And he adds that: the nature of man and the wine is different, although the man as aging becomes more ugly, and the wine ages is as coveted.
  The knowledge, positions and views on our ancestral foods and wines we see that it is always useful and relevant because the taste was a whole science.
Homer Ermeidi article published in the magazine “Unexplainable” 2005