AT the third meeting in the 2007 programme about 20 members of the monthly Greek interest club enjoyed a most entertaining evening.

The chairman welcomed guest speaker Marsia Sfakianou, a visiting archaeologist and PhD student of Birmingham University, who spent many of her formative years learning the art of Greek cooking at her mother's knee.

Recalling bygone traditions, Marsia's talk highlighted the development and history of Greek food.

Greek cuisine is so much more than food and drink to our Mediterranean cousins. The Greeks have a word for it - filoxenia, which simply means hospitality to strangers.

All visitors to a Greek household will be offered a small token of friendship in the form of cake, pastry or some other local delicacy to accompany a coffee. From the earliest time, food was also offered up to the gods as a gift.

Marsia showed excellent slides of freshly-prepared popular food dishes and explained their origins with many Eastern influences reflecting the constant occupancy of invaders over the years.

Members were surprised by the range and extent of vegetarian food widely available at good tavernas. Everyone was enthralled to learn that a healthy diet based on the world-renowned olive oil was seen by many Greeks as the success of a long and active life.

After a short break for refreshments and the drawing of the raffle (won this month by David Britton) Marsia shared the secrets of tasty Greek cooking from a number of recipes she had acquired over the years.

The evening was rounded off in good spirits with Marsia passing around a sample of her freshly-made yiaourtopitta (yoghurt cake).

On behalf of the members, the chairman thanked Marsia for her highly informative talk and delicious cake before the presentation of a small token of appreciation.

The next meeting of the club is Thursday, April 26, at the Worcester Golf & Country Club, Bransford Road, Worcester.

Ralph and Wyn Braunholtz will be presenting the second part of their well received talk in 2006, entitled The Braunholtz Letters.

The theme continues the sojourn based on photographs and letters of the life and travels of Ralph's mother, May, an artist/archaeologist who spent time at the British School in Athens in the 1920s, to Crete and parts of the mainland. Anyone wishing to come along and enjoy a sample of the Greek life will be made most welcome.

Further details can be found at the club website www.wahc.org.uk or by contacting the chairman, David Leggott on 01905-21886.

Peter Reynolds