Honey, Olives, Octopus

“’Honey, Olives, Octopus’ is about the oldest kinds of work—how food is grown, caught or gathered; how it is prepared and eaten; how it tastes and what it reveals about a remarkable people. . . . The aesthetics of food, like the poetics of work, are among the things that lend life its character, that remove it from the daily grind and lift it toward reality like an imagined sphere. ‘Honey, Olives, Octopus’ is a book of life lessons, small moments and full flavors brought back to the other life. The one we call ordinary.”

— Wall Street Journal

“Delightful . . . . Bakken’s culinary quest leads him deep into the heart of the countryside and of the country people. Along the way we meet an endearing cast of characters.”

— National Geographic Traveler

"While other travel/food books make me go, 'hmm, maybe I’ll make try to cook that one day,' Honey, Olives, Octopus has me notating all the hotels and restaurants he mentions so I can go skedaddle over there as soon as possible for some chtipiti (mashed feta and hot peppers), grilled octopus drizzled with red vinegar, Cretan bread, and Naxian Graviera cheese. He will utterly convince you that not only is Greek food sublime and underappreciated, but that the terroir, history, and mythology of the place are so ingrained in the cuisine that you have to go there to understand it. I’m off to find my passport."

— Bookriot

"A well-informed, sustained paean to the joys not only of the Greek table but also to the landscape of the country. . . .  Clearly and evocatively written, informative, well-paced, vivid, hunger-inducing - as well as sometimes, as the dark undertow exerts its pull, very poignant."

— New Criterion