Lefteris and his Soft Pretzels

How and why “koulouri” became our national snack

Multigrain, with sesame or without, with tahini… “Tomorrow I’ll have wholemeal; the kind you skinny girls favor.” Lefteris Agorastos, whose cart is permanently parked beside one of Athens’ busiest streets, sells about 50 koulouria, a Greek type of soft pretzel or bread ring, every day. Hailed as a “national snack” or “street breakfast,” simple and cheap at just 0.50 euros, you can find koulouri almost anywhere. It is nutritious (thanks to the sesame seeds that contain plant proteins and calcium, among others), doesn’t make a mess, can be eaten on the run or at your desk with a piece of cheese and some tomato, and is, perhaps, one of the few things we have kept untainted since childhood. This famous bready snack appeared on the market in Constantinople and Thessaloniki in Byzantine times. It got its name, koulouri, from the round mats used by vociferous salesmen to carry towering trays of the stuff on their heads from daybreak. Even when it arrived in Athens, it was still called Thessalonian koulouri – and it became an instant staple.

How did you get into the business, Lefteris? “In ’83, selling wholesale and delivering to snack bars at office buildings. I’d wake up in the wee hours, go to my friend Ilias in Psyrri, who is still the main source supplying most of Athens, and look for the freshest koulouria; he always gave me the best.”

There seems to be a shortage of street vendors in Athens. “Look. This is the only antique we have left,” he says while pointing his old cart fitted with a glass case to protect the koulouria, but also donuts, sweet raisin bread, crunchy breadsticks and pies. “Athens used to be full of carts like this one. Now they can be found only on postcards,” he continues, maybe unable to see that he would be the perfect postcard subject right now; with his smiling face, as he’s greeted by passersby who call out to him by his first name. “I had an entire group once. They bought it all!” he says about some foreign customers who heard of him from friends coming back from a holiday in Athens. “That’s how it goes: once you’ve sold out you pack it up. And any crumbs that are left go to the pigeons.”

WHERE & WHEN
On the start of Filellinon Street near the Syntagma metro station, from 05:30 until noonish. Get a koulouri for yourself and a few for your friends. Don’t worry about the crumbs, there’s always the pigeons. 


Photo: Irini Vourloumi