Souvlaki

Souvlaki (Greek: σουβλάκι, [suˈvlaci]), plural souvlakia, is a popular Greek fast food consisting of small pieces of meat and sometimes vegetables grilled on a skewer. It is usually served in a pita sandwich with garnishes and sauces, or on a dinner plate, often with fried potatoes. The meat usually used in Greece and Cyprus is pork, although chicken and lamb may also be used. In other countries and for tourists, souvlaki may be made with meats such as lamb, beef, chicken and sometimes fish (especially swordfish).

The word souvlaki is a diminutive of the medieval Greek σούβλα souvla 'skewer', itself borrowed from Latin subula.

History

Excavations in Santorini, Greece, unearthed stone sets of barbecue for skewers used before the 17th century BC. In each pair of the supports, the receptions for the spits are found in absolute equivalence, while the line of small openings in the base formed a mechanism to supply the coals with oxygen so that they remained alight during its use.Mycenaean Greeks used portable tray as grills. These trays were rectangular ceramic pans that sat underneath skewers of meat but it is not clear whether these trays would have been placed directly over a fire or if the pans would have held hot coals like a portable barbecue pit.Homer in Ilad (1.465) mentions pieces of meat roasted on spits (οβελός). In Classical Greece, a small spit or skewer was known as ὀβελίσκος (obeliskos), and Aristophanes mentions such skewers being used to roast thrushes, but there is no direct evidence of chunks of meat being skewered.

Souvlaki (album)

Souvlaki is the second studio album by the English rock band Slowdive. Recorded in 1992, it was released on 17 May 1993 in the UK and on 8 February 1994 in the US. The album was the group's last in the Shoegazing and Dream Pop style before they took a more ambient and post-rock direction on their third and final studio album, Pygmalion.

The album's title was taken from a skit by The Jerky Boys, where one of the duo prank called a hotel manager asking him to perform sexual acts on their wife. Upon learning the manager was Greek, the caller says "My wife loves that Greek shit... She’ll suck your cock like Souvlaki."

The album includes songwriting contributions from Brian Eno on "Sing" and "Here She Comes".

Background and Recording

Prior to writing the album, band members Rachel Goswell and Neil Halstead had ended their relationship and Halstead began to spend more time writing songs alone; a process that had been completed by the full band in the past. Early demos for the album were influenced by Joy Division and Low by David Bowie. These demos were initially rejected by Creation Records boss Alan McGee, but he later decided to give the band full creative control over the album. Slowdive asked Brian Eno to produce the album and he declined, however he agreed to do a couple of days of recording with Halstead, and out of these sessions came the tracks "Sing" and "Here She Comes". Following these sessions Halstead began to take greater influence from ambient music and has cited Aphex Twin and Dub music as influences for the track "Souvlaki Space Station""