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Host: Erna

Epanomi-Thessaloniki, Greece

USD
$72-$134 per person

A blend of Greek traditional dishes and cooking class with modern twists

Host offerings
  • House
  • Home cook
  • Pets
  • Vegetarian
  • Alcohol
  • Transportation
  • Cooking class
  • Market visit
  • Food tour

Meet Erna

Erna and her husband, Thanos, live in a seaside village outside of Thessaloniki and both share a common passion for food and hospitality. Erna is a native Austrian and has been living in Greece, where she moved after marrying Thanos, for the past 30 years. Erna first learned to cook in school, where cooking classes were part of the curriculum, and she developed a passion that started in the classroom and traveled home, where she fondly remembers recreating dishes learned at school for her family. Erna's in-laws were both professional cooks and she learned traditional Greek cooking from them. She knew she couldn’t compete with their professional cooking skills, so she started to innovate and create her own dishes, which are traditional Greek recipes with an Austrian twist!

From Erna, “We like to please people through their taste buds which always leads to interesting conversations, sharing a good glass of wine and having a good time.”

What to expect

Please note menu might vary. If there are particular dishes you are interested in trying, please include your request in the booking form.

In-home meal: (1-10 guests) Erna and Thanos will welcome you into their beautiful home, which is filled with arts and trinkets from their travels across Europe and beyond! Erna makes everything from scratch, including her delicious freshly-baked bread. Thanos is always in charge of the fish, which is cooked to perfection! They combine flavors from their Greek and Austrian cultures with delicious results.

Your meal will be served at the dining table or in the garden area, depending on the weather. You can expect to eat dishes cooked with fresh and seasonal ingredients such as fava beans, olive bread, fish with herbs and pine nuts, baked lamb, traditional pie with wild leafy herbs (such as amaranth, dock weed and dandelion), and stuffed zucchini flowers with bulgur. For dessert you might be treated to pomegranate gelee or a fig strudel in red wine sauce served with Greek yogurt. After your meal you can enjoy some coffee and homemade loukoumi (traditional sweets made from flour and sugar) while sharing travel stories.

Cooking experience: (1-8 guests) Join Erna in her home for a Thessaloniki cooking class. Together with Erna, you will prepare all the side dishes for your meal, such as feta or anchovies in wine leaves, fried aubergines stuffed with herbs and fresh cheese, tzatziki with purslane (traditional strained yogurt with garlic, purslane, olive oil and lemon). All these will be made with fresh and seasonal ingredients. You can expect the cooking lesson to last about 1-2 hours and at the end you will enjoy your full meal together at the table, newly-able to recreate a few authentic Greek dishes once back home!

For groups larger than 4, for the cooking part of the experience, Erna will divide the group into two. As her kitchen is small, the set up will be: the first group will work on the first half of the cooking (preparation of the ingredients) and the second group will do the rest of the cooking. The group who is not cooking can start eating their appetizer. When all the dishes are done, the whole group can dine together at the table. Erna is excited to share her culture through food and offer an authentic/traditional cooking class in Thessaloniki. She can also accommodate vegetarian diet in her Thessaloniki cooking class in Greece.

Market visit: (1-8 guests) On Wednesdays, Erna will walk you to her local weekly morning market where you can get an assortment of local fruits and vegetables. This market is a 10-minutes walk from Erna and Thanos's home. On days other than Wednesday, Erna will take you to another small, local market where there are fish and vegetable stands. There you will shop together for fresh fish for your meal.

Languages spoken: English, German, Greek

PERSONALLY VETTED REVIEW
A Traveling Spoon ambassador visited this host. Here is their personal review.

Erna and her husband Thanos were such excellent hosts, not only with food but history, hospitality and guidance! And wow, what a lunch! They will definitely be a star addition to Travelling Spoon - at least two on the Michelin scale! I was welcomed not only into their home but their hearts as well!

Karen, Traveling Spoon Ambassador

Traveler reviews

5.0 (15)
My husband and I traveled to Greece for three weeks and we wanted to experience an authentic home cooked meal with a local. Luckily I stumbled across this website. From the moment we booked with Erna we knew the experience was going to be amazing and we were so excited. We we warmly welcomed by Erna and Thanos and their fabulous children and partners. We could not of hoped for a more sublime lunch. The food was exceptional. It was the most authentic food that we had over our 3 weeks in Greece. We had many laughs over a very long lunch and will be forever grateful for this opportunity to share a meal in there home. We were sad to leave! If you are lucky enough to share a meal in there home you will have new friendships to treasure.
- moses70 October 10, 2023
We felt very welcome in the home of Erna and Thanos and loved the cozy interior. Cooking together we made the most tasty dishes and enjoyed lovely conversations whilst eating in the nice garden.
- Freedom September 26, 2020
- September 18, 2019
- May 26, 2019
We had a great time cooking and eating with Erna. The food she prepares with you is with delicious, fresh and local ingredients. She incorporates different flavours we got to try a few new things we hadn't tried before! She went out of her way to make us feel welcome and we even got to visit a local winery on her recommendation!
- May 06, 2019
We were four couples hosted by Erna and Thanos in their beautiful home for one of the most outstanding meals we have ever eaten. Every single dish was unique, creative and absolutely delectable. We are still trying to figure out how to duplicate the recipes at home, which Erna has generously shared. It was an evening we will remember forever!
- Julie B March 24, 2019
Our dinner with Erna and Thanos was the highlight of our visit to Thessaloniki. The food was exceptional - we all agreed we could never get a meal like that in a restaurant. Erna and Thanos were warm and charming, their home is beautiful and the meal's presentation was stunning. We will cherish the memory!
- Julie Baretz March 11, 2019
Had a great time with Erna, was great to understand the Greek culture.
- Michelle January 22, 2019
I would have to say that my favorite memory of our trip to Greece was our cooking class with Erna and Thanos. Thanos picked us up ( we are a mother and daughter team) and we drove to their village about 1/2 hour outside of the city. He described all of the sites we were passing along the way, clearly proud of his community and culture. Their home is charming and decorated with mementos from their travels.They are both warm, hospitable hosts and it was great that they had a strong command of English since we do not speak Greek. Erna gave us a small, handwritten notebook with our menu listed and all of the ingredients. Many of the ingredients were prepped so it was easy to make the numerous dishes. They seemed a bit surprised that we wanted to help prep- saying that a number of their former guests had mostly wanted to watch and then eat the meal. The fish and multiple side dishes were all delicious as was the dessert. We learned a lot and plan to try to duplicated many of the dishes at home. We thoroughly enjoyed our conversations on many, many topics and they were very generous serving a number of different wines. Both Erna and Thanos are very thoughtful, intelligent people and like to laugh. This was a delightful experience. I truly hope to visit with them again in the future.
- Myra and Sage (mother and daughter from Virginia, USA December 25, 2018
A most enjoyable experience
- Mike Harris November 11, 2018
Erna and Thanos welcomed us in their home with open arms! The food was excellent! My favourite was the fish, it was very juicy! They also served us a greek classic: aubergine salad, which was so good! The food and wines where all local! We had a lovely evening! Made new friends! And got to experience how nice greek hospitality can be!
- Mica October 21, 2018
Very friendly couple! The food was excellent! We had a juicy fish, black bread (with sepia), a very good Aubergine salad and for dessert pears in wine with goat milk ice cream! Everything was local (food and wine) and seasonal! We had a great time, learned a lot, would definitely book again! Thank you!
- travellingaround85 October 21, 2018
Erna and Thanos are lovely people who warmly welcomed us to their home. Cooking with them was a lot of fun and we learned heaps. The food was simply amazing and we definitely recommend spending an evening with them learning lots about Greek cuisine.
- Christoph3r October 17, 2017
It was a lovely evening at Ernas and Tanos' house. The dinner we prepared was very tasty and I would highly recommend other visitors in the region of Thessaloniki to try the Traveling Spoon with Erna.
- Uta July 19, 2017
Completely awesome!! Edna & Thanos were fabulous hosts & food was excellent!!
- Jayne Hartley July 04, 2017
Read More
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Erna

$72-$134 USD

per person
100% VETTED
Learn more
  • 100% satisfaction guarantee or your money back
  • Credit card is not charged until the host confirms your booking
  • Private experience
Pricing (per person)*
1 person 2-4 ppl 5+ ppl
In-Home Meal
 $90 $80 $72
Cooking Experience + Meal
 $116 $98 $90
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 $134 $116 $108
Alcohol
 $18 per person
Transportation
 $54 per car
*Does not include 3% payment processing fee applied at checkout.
1 person 2-4 people 5+ people
In-Home Meal
 $90 $80 $72
Cooking Experience + Meal
 $116 $98 $90
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 $134 $116 $108
Alcohol
 $18 per person
Transportation
 $54 per car
*Does not include 3% payment processing fee applied at checkout.
Experience Timings
 Lunch Dinner
In-Home Meal
 1:00pm-4:00pm 8:00pm-11:00pm
Cooking Experience+ Meal
 11:00am-3:00pm 6:00pm-10:00pm
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 10:00am-3:00pm

Meet Erna

Erna and her husband, Thanos, live in a seaside village outside of Thessaloniki and both share a common passion for food and hospitality. Erna is a native Austrian and has been living in Greece, where she moved after marrying Thanos, for the past 30 years. Erna first learned to cook in school, where cooking classes were part of the curriculum, and she developed a passion that started in the classroom and traveled home, where she fondly remembers recreating dishes learned at school for her family. Erna's in-laws were both professional cooks and she learned traditional Greek cooking from them. She knew she couldn’t compete with their professional cooking skills, so she started to innovate and create her own dishes, which are traditional Greek recipes with an Austrian twist!

From Erna, “We like to please people through their taste buds which always leads to interesting conversations, sharing a good glass of wine and having a good time.”

What to expect

Please note menu might vary. If there are particular dishes you are interested in trying, please include your request in the booking form.

In-home meal: (1-10 guests) Erna and Thanos will welcome you into their beautiful home, which is filled with arts and trinkets from their travels across Europe and beyond! Erna makes everything from scratch, including her delicious freshly-baked bread. Thanos is always in charge of the fish, which is cooked to perfection! They combine flavors from their Greek and Austrian cultures with delicious results.

Your meal will be served at the dining table or in the garden area, depending on the weather. You can expect to eat dishes cooked with fresh and seasonal ingredients such as fava beans, olive bread, fish with herbs and pine nuts, baked lamb, traditional pie with wild leafy herbs (such as amaranth, dock weed and dandelion), and stuffed zucchini flowers with bulgur. For dessert you might be treated to pomegranate gelee or a fig strudel in red wine sauce served with Greek yogurt. After your meal you can enjoy some coffee and homemade loukoumi (traditional sweets made from flour and sugar) while sharing travel stories.

Cooking experience: (1-8 guests) Join Erna in her home for a Thessaloniki cooking class. Together with Erna, you will prepare all the side dishes for your meal, such as feta or anchovies in wine leaves, fried aubergines stuffed with herbs and fresh cheese, tzatziki with purslane (traditional strained yogurt with garlic, purslane, olive oil and lemon). All these will be made with fresh and seasonal ingredients. You can expect the cooking lesson to last about 1-2 hours and at the end you will enjoy your full meal together at the table, newly-able to recreate a few authentic Greek dishes once back home!

For groups larger than 4, for the cooking part of the experience, Erna will divide the group into two. As her kitchen is small, the set up will be: the first group will work on the first half of the cooking (preparation of the ingredients) and the second group will do the rest of the cooking. The group who is not cooking can start eating their appetizer. When all the dishes are done, the whole group can dine together at the table. Erna is excited to share her culture through food and offer an authentic/traditional cooking class in Thessaloniki. She can also accommodate vegetarian diet in her Thessaloniki cooking class in Greece.

Market visit: (1-8 guests) On Wednesdays, Erna will walk you to her local weekly morning market where you can get an assortment of local fruits and vegetables. This market is a 10-minutes walk from Erna and Thanos's home. On days other than Wednesday, Erna will take you to another small, local market where there are fish and vegetable stands. There you will shop together for fresh fish for your meal.

Languages spoken: English, German, Greek

PERSONALLY VETTED REVIEW
A Traveling Spoon ambassador visited this host. Here is their personal review.

Erna and her husband Thanos were such excellent hosts, not only with food but history, hospitality and guidance! And wow, what a lunch! They will definitely be a star addition to Travelling Spoon - at least two on the Michelin scale! I was welcomed not only into their home but their hearts as well!

Karen, Traveling Spoon Ambassador

Traveler reviews

5.0 (15)
My husband and I traveled to Greece for three weeks and we wanted to experience an authentic home cooked meal with a local. Luckily I stumbled across this website. From the moment we booked with Erna we knew the experience was going to be amazing and we were so excited. We we warmly welcomed by Erna and Thanos and their fabulous children and partners. We could not of hoped for a more sublime lunch. The food was exceptional. It was the most authentic food that we had over our 3 weeks in Greece. We had many laughs over a very long lunch and will be forever grateful for this opportunity to share a meal in there home. We were sad to leave! If you are lucky enough to share a meal in there home you will have new friendships to treasure.
- moses70 October 10, 2023
We felt very welcome in the home of Erna and Thanos and loved the cozy interior. Cooking together we made the most tasty dishes and enjoyed lovely conversations whilst eating in the nice garden.
- Freedom September 26, 2020
- September 18, 2019
- May 26, 2019
We had a great time cooking and eating with Erna. The food she prepares with you is with delicious, fresh and local ingredients. She incorporates different flavours we got to try a few new things we hadn't tried before! She went out of her way to make us feel welcome and we even got to visit a local winery on her recommendation!
- May 06, 2019
We were four couples hosted by Erna and Thanos in their beautiful home for one of the most outstanding meals we have ever eaten. Every single dish was unique, creative and absolutely delectable. We are still trying to figure out how to duplicate the recipes at home, which Erna has generously shared. It was an evening we will remember forever!
- Julie B March 24, 2019
Our dinner with Erna and Thanos was the highlight of our visit to Thessaloniki. The food was exceptional - we all agreed we could never get a meal like that in a restaurant. Erna and Thanos were warm and charming, their home is beautiful and the meal's presentation was stunning. We will cherish the memory!
- Julie Baretz March 11, 2019
Had a great time with Erna, was great to understand the Greek culture.
- Michelle January 22, 2019
I would have to say that my favorite memory of our trip to Greece was our cooking class with Erna and Thanos. Thanos picked us up ( we are a mother and daughter team) and we drove to their village about 1/2 hour outside of the city. He described all of the sites we were passing along the way, clearly proud of his community and culture. Their home is charming and decorated with mementos from their travels.They are both warm, hospitable hosts and it was great that they had a strong command of English since we do not speak Greek. Erna gave us a small, handwritten notebook with our menu listed and all of the ingredients. Many of the ingredients were prepped so it was easy to make the numerous dishes. They seemed a bit surprised that we wanted to help prep- saying that a number of their former guests had mostly wanted to watch and then eat the meal. The fish and multiple side dishes were all delicious as was the dessert. We learned a lot and plan to try to duplicated many of the dishes at home. We thoroughly enjoyed our conversations on many, many topics and they were very generous serving a number of different wines. Both Erna and Thanos are very thoughtful, intelligent people and like to laugh. This was a delightful experience. I truly hope to visit with them again in the future.
- Myra and Sage (mother and daughter from Virginia, USA December 25, 2018
A most enjoyable experience
- Mike Harris November 11, 2018
Erna and Thanos welcomed us in their home with open arms! The food was excellent! My favourite was the fish, it was very juicy! They also served us a greek classic: aubergine salad, which was so good! The food and wines where all local! We had a lovely evening! Made new friends! And got to experience how nice greek hospitality can be!
- Mica October 21, 2018
Very friendly couple! The food was excellent! We had a juicy fish, black bread (with sepia), a very good Aubergine salad and for dessert pears in wine with goat milk ice cream! Everything was local (food and wine) and seasonal! We had a great time, learned a lot, would definitely book again! Thank you!
- travellingaround85 October 21, 2018
Erna and Thanos are lovely people who warmly welcomed us to their home. Cooking with them was a lot of fun and we learned heaps. The food was simply amazing and we definitely recommend spending an evening with them learning lots about Greek cuisine.
- Christoph3r October 17, 2017
It was a lovely evening at Ernas and Tanos' house. The dinner we prepared was very tasty and I would highly recommend other visitors in the region of Thessaloniki to try the Traveling Spoon with Erna.
- Uta July 19, 2017
Completely awesome!! Edna & Thanos were fabulous hosts & food was excellent!!
- Jayne Hartley July 04, 2017
Read More
Pricing (per person)*
1 person 2-4 ppl 5+ ppl
In-Home Meal
 $90 $80 $72
Cooking Experience + Meal
 $116 $98 $90
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 $134 $116 $108
Alcohol
 $18 per person
Transportation
 $54 per car
*Does not include 3% payment processing fee applied at checkout.
1 person 2-4 people 5+ people
In-Home Meal
 $90 $80 $72
Cooking Experience + Meal
 $116 $98 $90
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 $134 $116 $108
Alcohol
 $18 per person
Transportation
 $54 per car
*Does not include 3% payment processing fee applied at checkout.
Experience Timings
 Lunch Dinner
In-Home Meal
 1:00pm-4:00pm 8:00pm-11:00pm
Cooking Experience+ Meal
 11:00am-3:00pm 6:00pm-10:00pm
Market Tour+ Cooking Experience + Meal
 10:00am-3:00pm
ABOUT TRAVELING SPOON

Traveling Spoon connects you with meaningful culinary experiences, from private cooking lessons to homecooked meals in people's homes. Enjoy an immersive cultural experience that gives you a glimpse into the local way of life.

FAQ

    You can cancel your reservation up until 48 hours before your experience for a full refund minus a 3% processing fee. Experiences within 48 hours are not refundable.

    If you have a question for your host, you can include a note in the field "Write a note to your host" during the booking process. Once your booking is confirmed, you will be emailed your host's direct contact information and you will also be able to message the host through your profile. You can always cancel your booking and receive a full refund 48 hours or more before your experience. If you have other questions you can also email us at reservations@travelingspoon.com.

    Most of our hosts are able to accommodate dietary restrictions and allergies, including vegetarian and gluten free options. For vegetarian travelers, we have an icon on each host profile to indicate whether that host can also offer a fully vegetarian menu. There is a section in the booking form to note any allergies or dietary restrictions which will be sent directly to your host.

    Some hosts offer alcohol as an optional add-on for travelers who are of legal drinking age. Pricing for alcohol is visible on the host profile page and includes one to two glasses of wine, beer or local alcohol.

    Have a flight or other tour planned and can’t make the timing provided? If the timing listed on the host’s profile doesn’t work for you, our hosts can often accommodate timing changes. Because all of our experiences are private our hosts are happy to tailor experiences to meet your travel needs. Simply note your request in the booking process.

    Your card will not be charged until your host accepts your booking. Typically hosts respond to bookings within 72 hours. In the event your host is unavailable on your selected date and your host rejects your booking your credit card will not be charged.

    Your host's detailed contact information, including their phone number, address, and direction notes, will all be provided immediately upon successful confirmation of your experience (after your hosts accepts your booking and your credit card is successfully processed). This information will be emailed to you to the email address you used to sign up, and will also be visible on your Traveling Spoon profile.

    All prices are noted per person prices unless otherwise specified. Transportation is typically charged on a per car basis. Children aged 5-11 are 50% off, and infants aged 0-4 are free. Hosts set their own prices and Traveling Spoon marks up the experiences; on average hosts receive over 70% of the price paid by the traveler.

    100% of Traveling Spoon experiences are private! Just you and your host and host’s family.

    Hosts typically respond to booking inquiries within 72 hours. If for some reason you have not heard from your host or if you have any questions you can always contact us at reservations@travelingspoon.com.

    Your safety and security are our top priority. To ensure this, Traveling Spoon personally vets 100% of all hosts, including an in-person host visit, to ensure each host and experience meets our strict quality requirements.

    Some hosts offer transportation as an optional add-on for travelers. Typically this is round trip transportation with pick up and drop off at your hotel. Pricing is quoted per car. Specific instructions for transportation will be provided in your confirmation details when your booking is confirmed.

    Many of our hosts accommodate solo travelers. You can see if a host accepts solo travelers by looking at the traveler range found next to the experience descriptions on the host profile (indicated by the numbers in parentheses next to "In-home meal", "Cooking experience" and "Market visit").

    Most of our Traveling Spoon experiences are incredibly family friendly and can accommodate infants and children. If a host is unable to accommodate children that will be noted in the “Notes” section of their profile. Our child pricing policy is children aged 5-11 are 50% off, and infants aged 0-4 are free.