Advertisement Ever since he wrote a cookbook sharing his secrets for feeding his fellow monks, Milopotaminos’ cell phone rings constantly with requests to speak at seminars, appear on television and do cooking demonstrations.
He’s an unlikely candidate for sudden celebrity; in the nearly four decades since he took charge of cooking on the secluded Mount Athos sanctuary, little about what he does has changed.
“It’s the same way meals were prepared 100 years ago, or 50 years ago,” Epifanios says of the meat- and dairy-free diet, much of it cooked over a log fire. “It’s a clean diet that people once ate across the eastern Mediterranean.”
This year he shared that diet, collecting 126 of his recipes in a book that provides a rare glimpse into life in this community of about 1,500 monks in 20 monasteries that strictly limits outside access.
And people appear to like what they see.
“People are curious because we use different ingredients and different methods,” he said.
Epifanios already has appeared on a popular Greek cooking show and his publisher, Synchronoi Ozizontes, says the leather-bound cookbook has sold 12,000 copies, a healthy figure for the local market.
Athens nutrition scientist Paraskevas Papachristou says books such as Father Epifanios’ get a great deal of attention because Greeks generally want to eat healthier.
Whether people actually make the recipes is another matter. Papachristou says the interest is at odds with an overall trend away from Mediterranean diets because people cook less and eat more convenience foods.
Published in April, “Cooking on Mount Athos” (so far available only in Greek) offers unpretentious, tasty recipes. Don’t expect arugula with balsamic vinegar. Rather, lots of chickpeas and bitter wild greens.
“Monks at Mount Athos don’t eat meat,” Epifanios said. “The word butter is never mentioned in the book, and we don’t add flour to thicken sauces. We just let the ingredients boil down.”
Epifanios’ catalog of recipes is divided into seafood — with and without backbones, according to different fasting categories — or vegetables. No desserts at the Holy Mountain.
Slow cooking suits the heavily bearded monks, who rise well before dawn and spend much of their day in prayer.
“We have a lot of time, without families, wives and children to tend to,” Epifanios said.
Braised Cod with Plums
3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large yellow onion, diced
1 pound plums, halved and pitted
1-1/2 pounds cod
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Ground black pepper, to taste
In a large, deep skillet over medium-high, combine the olive oil, garlic and onion. Saute until the onion just begins to soften, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the plums and saute another 2 minutes. Arrange the cod over the onions and plums, then add enough water to come halfway up the cod. Sprinkle the cod with salt, then bring the water to a simmer, cover and cook 15 minutes, or until the cod flakes easily.
Sprinkle the lemon juice and parsley over the cod, then season with pepper. Makes 4 to 6 servings.
(Recipe inspired by Father Epifanios Milopotaminos’ “Cooking on Mount Athos,” Synchronoi Ozizontes, 2008)
