Yiayia's Greek Yogurt with Honey & Walnuts

In my Yiayia's (grandmother's) small apartment in Northcote, Melbourne, breakfast was a sacred ritual that connected her to her childhood in Athens. While Australia embraced toast and cereal, Yiayia insisted on starting every day the way Greeks have for centuries: with thick, creamy yogurt, golden honey, and toasted walnuts. "This is real food," she'd say, spooning the yogurt into her favorite ceramic bowl. "Not that sugary milk they call yogurt here."

Yiayia arrived in Melbourne from Athens in 1968, part of the wave of Greek immigration that transformed inner Melbourne suburbs. She brought very little with her - a suitcase of clothes, her mother's recipes written in Greek, and an unshakeable conviction that Greek food was superior to anything Australia could offer. For the first decade, she made her own yogurt every week because Australian yogurt was "too thin, too sweet, too fake." It wasn't until the 1980s, when Greek-style yogurt became available in Melbourne, that she begrudgingly accepted store-bought - but only specific brands that met her exacting standards.

The honey had to be Greek honey - preferably thyme honey from the mountains, which she'd buy from the Greek grocers on Lonsdale Street. Australian honey was "nice enough," she'd admit, "but it doesn't taste like home." The walnuts she'd buy fresh from the nut shop in the Victoria Market, toasting them herself in a dry pan until they smelled like autumn. She'd chop them roughly - "not too fine, you need texture" - and keep them in a jar by the stove.

Every morning for sixty years, Yiayia ate this exact breakfast. She'd spoon thick yogurt into a bowl, drizzle it generously with honey in a spiral pattern ("like this, counter-clockwise, the way my mother did it"), scatter walnuts on top, and if it was summer, add whatever fruit was ripe - figs, peaches, or cherries. In winter, she'd add a sprinkle of cinnamon. She'd eat it slowly, sitting by the window, often with a small cup of Greek coffee afterward.

This breakfast represents more than just food - it's about maintaining identity in a new land, finding comfort in ritual, and the Greek philosophy that good health starts with good food. Yiayia lived to 96, sharp as a tack until the end, and she credited this breakfast with her longevity. "Yogurt for your stomach, honey for energy, walnuts for your brain," she'd explain. "Everything you need to start the day strong."

When I make this now - using the same Greek yogurt brand Yiayia approved of, the same thyme honey from the same importer, the same method of toasting walnuts - I feel her presence. I hear her voice: "Eat slowly. Taste it. Be grateful. This is how Greeks have eaten for thousands of years." Some traditions are worth keeping, especially the simple ones that nourish both body and soul.