As a Dutch, I learned that when picking out a restaurant to eat, the fancier the place looks, the better the food will be. Of course, this rule is not a hundred percent safe. But good food, in general, can be found in places that care about the overall look of their restaurant as well as the comfort of their guests. Even our McDonalds-es look modern. They have soft chairs, and couches and provide different seating options so that every guest will find a place that suits him or her.

And then I went to Greece

Dining in Greece is far from what it is in The Netherlands. The food is amazing, that is difference number one. The prices are really low, difference number two. But very strange for me was difference number three, my butt would hurt at the end of every dinner. At least when I had really good food.

Every restaurant I go to in Greece, especially in the non-touristic areas, has the chairs that my grandmother’s grandmother used to have at her dining table. Even without the pillow, they used to have back then. What is wrong with the Greeks?

Tradition or style?

At first, I thought that it had to do with the type of food. Traditional Greek food has to come with a traditional greek chair. To give you the experience of visiting the greek grandmother in her kitchen for dinner. But once we went to Erimitis in Paxos, a fancy restaurant with the most paradise-like view. We ate modern cuisine at a very high price but I still found myself on a traditional wooden chair. This was the moment I knew that this is just another hilarious glitch in the greek culture. And if you visited their website, don’t be fooled by their pictures, the nice chairs were just for the photographer!

For me, it seems so funny how the greeks just don’t care about some things that I learned to care about. It is kind of a relief as well. It shows me that being good at one thing is more than enough. Here in The Netherlands, you will fail to be a chef, no matter how good you are, when you are not a stylist or did not hire one. Is this fair?

The taste of Greece comes with a sore butt

Whenever we travel around Greece, we now go to the tavern that has the worst look and the least comfortable chairs, and although we sometimes have to stand up in the middle of dinner because our butts hurt too much to stay seated, we eat the best food everywhere!

So when you find yourself in Greece, don’t go to a fancy restaurant because it looks more like what you are used to believing is a good restaurant. The lounge chairs and pillows come with overpaying, less fresh ingredients, or a lower quality chef. Take the wooden chair and enjoy the real tastes of Greece.