A recent article by the Guardian explores the “unique culinary repertoire” of Thessaloniki, offering suggestions for must-try specialties, and highlighting how the city’s rich cultural heritage is reflected in its local cuisine.

The ancient maritime gateway to fertile Macedonia, Thessaloniki has a long and vibrant history of trade and multiculturalism. From antiquity to the present day, each community has left its own indelible mark on the city’s unique culinary landscape.

Quoted at the beginning of the article, Greek-American TV chef and author Diane Kochilas, a specialist in Greek and Mediterranean cuisine, expresses the view that “Thessaloniki is Greece’s de facto ‘food city’.”

With a diverse culinary repertoire of well-loved Greek classics and Jewish, Balkan and Turkish-influenced dishes, Thessaloniki was designated by UNESCO as Greece’s first city of gastronomy in November 2021.

Accompanied by Diane Kochilas and local expert Chantal Jaspers of Epiculiar, a company that gives tours of the city’s foodie scene, the article introduces us to a smorgasbord of Thessaloniki’s famed specialties, from the humble koulouri, to delicious local wines, the iconic frappé, “accidentally invented” at the Thessaloniki International Fair in 1957, and Sephardic cuisine, dishes with deep roots in the city’s Jewish community.

The list also features the emblematic bougatsa, a layered filo pastry stuffed with feta or sweet semolina custard, and sprinkled with icing sugar and cinnamon. This northern Greek classic, its early origins in Byzantine Constantinople, is described as the “ultimate Thessaloniki breakfast.” “If you’ve ever walked around early in the morning, you’ve definitely caught the aroma of freshly baked bougatsa,” says Jaspers in the article.

Following the catastrophic Greek-Turkish War (1919-1922), Thessaloniki absorbed a great number of Greek refugees from Asia Minor, who added their own contribution to the city’s cuisine. Perhaps the most famous of these recipes is soutzoukakia Smyrneika (now Izmir), oblong-shaped beef meatballs cooked in a spicy sauce with cumin, garlic and cinnamon.

“In Thessaloniki, dishes are often just a bit more spicy than in the rest of Greece,” adds Jaspers. This is perhaps best exemplified by the spicy, cheesy bouyiourdi, a delicious dish of baked feta with tomato, fresh hot peppers and chilli flakes, laced with oregano and olive oil.

Another famous Thessaloniki pastry, trigona, features on the list: sticky syrup-soaked cones of filo filled with custard. “Thessaloniki is often called ‘sweet mother’,” says Kochilas.

For lovers of seafood, visitors to the city are spoilt for choice. The adjacent Thermaic Gulf is Greece’s main mussel-producing region, with plenty of dishes on offer, from mussel pilaf (midopilafo Thessalonikis) loaded with peppers, onions, dill and lemon, to fried mussels or mussels saganaki (feta-based in a spicy tomato sauce).