Preeminent in philosophy, rhetoric, medicine, and the other sciences, as well as in theater and letters and the art of warfare, the Ancient Greeks could hardly have neglected cooking. The intellectual, commercial, and artistic flourishing of the wider region of Greater Greece during the age of Pericles, which began in the 5th century BCE, continued into the 4th, signaling -among other things- the rise of gastronomy, that is, the art of fine food. Considering it a fundamental expression of culture with its own philosophy and techniques, the Ancient Greeks elevated gastronomy to yet another of the high arts, in which they were pioneers, influencing the Western world and beyond. In a land as poor and rugged as Greece, local cuisine could only be simple and austere, yet nonetheless nourishing over the centuries. [...]