Yia yia is the Greek word for grandmother
Our Story
Yia yia is the Greek word for grandmother - the quiet warriors with extraordinary capacity for love that forms rock of many Greek families. Every yiayia is unique but one thing in common among all greek grandmothers is this: they will stuff you with their warm food even when you tell them you're not hungry. This must be their way of showing love.
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I remember fondly how all the time I have a told my Greek friends that my favourite food was (it still is) spanakopita, their reply would all be the same, in these exact same words : "my yia yia makes the best spanakopita! "
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I once had a Greek lover, when I was living on a small Cycladic island in Greece. Having lost both his parents at a young age, he was raised by his yia yia Maria. The first night I met his yia yia Maria, she held my hand in both her chaffed, warm hands and spoke to me in Greek. I did not understand Greek but I recognised love and sincerity, I think she was saying a prayer for me. This yia yia had a lot of love in her to give.
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We lived on the ground floor of a townhouse and his yiayia lived in the house above us. Yia yia would always have a kitchen full of freshly cooked meals, while he waited for his grandson to come eat. Over the next 2 months in the winter, I had the good fortune to savour yiayia's revitha (chickpea stew), fasolada (white bean soup) , fasolakia ladera (green bean in tomato sauce), and her own creation of mixed vegetable rice that reminded me of a Greek style bibimbap. I never got to try her spanakopita, but like a her grandson had so proudly declared, "my yia yia makes the best spanakopita!", and I believe she must.
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When I returned to Singapore, I found myself constantly craving for a good, old, rustic spanakopita. A few Greek restaurants have it on their menu, but I also missed the accessibility and casualness of it. In Greece, spanakopita's are commonplace grab-and-go snack that you grab from the local bakery on your way somewhere. Eating a spanakopita with a fork and knife on a plate in a restaurant is not the same as devouring a whole spanakopita while on the go, and that, I think, is how spanakopita is meant to be eaten - causal,, easy, comforting. That's how Yia Yia Pie shop was born.
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When coming up for the recipie for our spanakopita, I thought alot about yia yia Maria. How cooking was a big part of her daily routine now, how she poured love into her food, how seriously she respected to ingredients, leaving as little parts of waste as she possibly could, how her food was always perfectly seasoned, how she kept things simple, how her warm stew comforted me on cold winter evenings. ​
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Yia Yia pie shop is not only a tribute to yia yia Maria, it is a tribute to my own grandmother too. I hope you get a taste of yia yia's love when you have our rustic greek pies.
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