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. That's their way of showing love.
I remember fondly the countless times each of my Greek friends have told me, in these exact same words : "my yia yia makes the best spanakopita! "
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 when see it.
We lived together on the ground floor of a townhouse and his yiayia Maria lived in the home directly above us. Yia yia Maria would always have a kitchen full of Greek dishes, waiting for us to come eat. Over the next 2 months in the winter, I was lucky enough to savour yiayia Maria'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 him.
When I returned to Singapore, I found myself constantly craving for a good, old, rustic spanakopita. A few Greek restaurants here have it on their menu, but what I missed was the accessibility and casualness of it. In Greece, spanakopita's are convenient grab-and-go food 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 here is not the same as devouring a whole spanakopita while on the go somewhere, and that, I think, is how spanakopita is meant to be served - causal, easy, comforting. That's how Yia Yia Pie shop was born.
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 she kept things simple, how her warm stew comforted me on cold winter evenings.
Yia Yia pie shop is not only a tribute to yia yia Maria, it is a tribute to my own grandmother too. Each pie is rooted in tradition and crafted by hand. I hope every bite brings you closer to the warmth of a Greek grandmother.