Later, it has beensuggested, the Byzantines refined and spiced the preparation and fillednot only grape leaves but leaves of other vines as well as the leavesfrom hazelnut, mulberry and fig trees. Such tales support the Greekcontention that the concept of the dish rests in their history and helpexplain the universality of stuffed vine leaves throughout the MiddleEast. Greek food - with its heavy reliance on lamb, on baked dishesthick with olive oil and eggplant, on pungent, unsubtle spices - isquite similar to Middle Eastern cookery. Differences occur in emphasis.

The stuffed vine leaves of Greece, also called dolmathes, arefilled largely with minced lamb, a bit of rice and touches of suchother ingredients as crushed mint, fennel or parsley leaves, dill,garlic, pine nuts or currants and are served either hot with a chickenbroth and lemon-based sauce called avgolemono or cold with a touch ofolive oil. In Turkey they are dolma, in Iran dolmeh, and their basis ismore rice than meat. They will invariably also contain pine nuts andcurrants. Throughout the Middle East vine leaves and leaves of spinach,Swiss chard and cabbage are served stuffed. But in Greece thetraditional dolmades are only of fresh, firm, springy grape leaves, andtheir filling is almost always spiced lamb. And only in Greece are theyserved with avgolemono sauce.

When hot - and sauced - dolmadesare occasionally served as one course of a larger meal. More often,however, the leaves - cold or at room temperature and daubed with a bitof olive oil - are served as a part of the mezes, or hors d'oeuvres,that precede just about all Greek meals. They include such preparationsas tzatziki (cucumber, garlic and yogurt salad), taramosalata (a pinkpuree made from fish roe), keftedes, (spicy, garlic-laden meatballs),spanakopites (tiny triangular spinach pies) and meletzanasalata (apaste of spiced, cooked eggplant).