The Importance Of Agriculture In Greek Culture

Throughout three media articles it is clear that agriculture is a vital part of Greek ethnicity and identity. In the first article, Feta Cheese and Greek Yogurt at Risk of Losing their ‘Greekness’ by Philip Chrysopoulo, the author explains how several Greek dairy products are culturally Greek and other countries should not be given the right to reproduce or replicate such products. In the second article “Messinian Olive Oil Leads Greek Olive Oil Production by Evgenia Adamantopoulou, the author explains the deep importance of olive oil production to the economy of Greece. She further makes the connection between agricultural profits and Greek culture. In the third and final article named “Agriculture a Way Out of Crisis” by Maria Korologou,

During the Ottoman rule, Orthodox Christians were the minority group in some of the areas. Under Islamic rule, many Christians had to produce their own food and live lives of subsistence. Even after Greece gained independence from Ottoman rule, the country was still economically weak to produce food at high levels. This meant families needed to rely on their own farms and communal food supply to survive. Today, Greek agriculture remains a large piece of pride for people throughout the country. Another example of the effects of Greek agriculture on the national sentiment of the population can be seen in further articles about food production. The newspaper article titled, “Messinian Olive Oil Leads Greek Olive Oil Production by Evgenia Adamantopoulou gives a detailed description about olive oil throughout Greece. Olive oil is a staple food group in the country that provides farmers with money and the country with economic benefits from export profits. Yet, as a food, olive oil is a major part of Greek identity. Many families, restaurants, and other establishment will incorporate the olive oil into a variety of ethnically Greek foods. Olive oil as an entity as ethnically Greek as many of the actual people who live in the country. The

Ethnicity is something that helps to unify the people of a country and tie them through common sets of traits and characteristics. Agriculture, and especially olive oil is a very mainstream example of the value of agriculture on a group of people. In the final article, “Agriculture a Way Out of Crisis” by Maria Korologou, the author explains how agriculture is a driving force that has the potential to relieve Greece as it struggles through one the most adverse financial hardships in history. As Korologou writes in the text, ““The creation of groups or cooperatives of cultivators, the specialists’ expertise and the division of labor by specialists are the basic conditions that will allow cultivators to organize their crops, production, treatment and processing, as well as the distribution of products. A farmer cannot meet this challenge by himself.” This point is critical to understanding how agriculture