More experts around the world are realizing what most Greeks already know — that Greek cuisine and olive oil are among the best on the planet — as shown by recent global surveys and awards.

In its recently published list of the top cuisines, TasteAtlas, a website that calls itself the world’s food atlas, ranked Greek cuisine in second place globally, marginally behind Italian cuisine.

Greek cuisine had a ranking of 4.73 out of 5, Italy scored 4.78. Third was Spain with 4.58. Romania was in fourth place, and Mexico in fifth.

Users also ranked “gemista” (stuffed vegetables) the top vegetable dish in the world, while “dakos” (Cretan barley rusk topped with chopped tomatoes, feta, herbs and olive oil) was found to be the world’s best salad.

The rankings are based on more than 100,000 user ratings at TasteAtlas which contains a database of more than 15,000 traditional dishes and local food products.

Meanwhile, at the prestigious EVOO World Ranking 2021 awards, honoring the best olive oils in the world, Greek companies were also recognized as some of the world’s best.

Greek flavored and gourmet olive oils scooped awards in numerous categories, including first, second, third, fourth and fifth place in the TOP 5 Flavored Oils of the World 2021, all of which went to Sakellaropoulos Organic Farms.

The company was honored with more awards for the taste and quality of their olive oils, as were other Greek companies, including Terra Creta, whose Grand Cru was named the second best extra virgin olive oil in the world. 

At the end of each olive harvest year, the World Association of Journalists and Writers of Wines and Spirits (WAWWJ) collects and ranks all the olive oils that have been selected in 29 recognized international competitions.

The association ranks the oils based on their taste and quality, with the method of blind-tasting based on the rules of the International Olive Council. This global olive oil ranking, called EVOO World Ranking (EVOOWR), is part of the WAWWJ world ranking, created in 1997.