Fasolada

Often called the unofficial national dish of Greece — cheap, filling, fasting-friendly (no meat, no dairy), and made from pantry staples that travel through winter. Documented in Greek cookbooks from the late 19th century, it was promoted as a national dish during the food shortages of the 1940s when meat was scarce and beans, olive oil, and tomato kept families fed.

Greece's de facto national dish — cheap, fasting-friendly, promoted hard during the 1940s food shortages when meat ran out and beans, oil and tomato kept families fed. The final pour of raw olive oil after heat-off is the seasoning, not the garnish; tomato goes in late because acid stops beans from softening.

A thick white-bean soup, deep orange from tomato and a generous pour of olive oil floating on top — that oil layer is the seasoning, not garnish. Carrot, celery, onion cooked down to almost-disappearing. Eaten with bread, raw onion, olives, and salted anchovy or sardine on the side. The beans should hold shape but yield with the back of a spoon.

Dried beans soaked overnight, then a parboil with the soaking water discarded — this removes the indigestible oligosaccharides and lets the beans cook evenly. Olive oil added in two stages: a small amount during cooking, a generous final pour after the heat is off so the raw oil's flavor stays bright. Tomato goes in late; added too early its acid keeps the beans from softening.