Spanakopita: a spinach footnote

We have had so many posts dedicated to Popeye's favorite vegetable (see "Selected readings" below), but we haven't yet done justice to one of my favorite spinach dishes: spanakopita.

Spanakopita (/ˌspænəˈkɒpɪtə, ˌspɑː-, –ˈkoʊ-/; Greek: σπανακόπιτα, from σπανάκι spanáki 'spinach', and πίτα píta 'pie') is a Greek savory spinach pie. It often also contains cheese, typically feta, and may then be called spanakotiropita (Greek: σπανακοτυρόπιτα "spinach-cheese pie"), especially in northern Greece.^{[citation needed]} In southern Greece, the term spanakopita is also common for the versions with cheese. 

("Savory spinach pie") 

The reason I am inspired to write about spanakopita at this time is because last weekend at our Farmers Market, when I approached the Greek food stall and said to the attendant, "May I please have some spanakopita", she exclaimed, "Wow!  You pronounced it correctly!"

Having completed the purchase, I walked away from her stall on a cloud of linguistic satisfaction.

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My next spinach footnote will be about the Japanese word for the vegetable.

 

Selected readings

• "Spinach smorgasbord" (7/15/25)
• "Spinach: Mongolian rhapsody" (7/10/25)
• "Spinach: Indian interlude" (7/10/25)
• "Spinach: the Persian vegetable" (1/19/21)
• "Spiny spinach" (7/9/25)