Big, Fat Greek Copycats: Film Spawned Birth of Cultural Phenomenon

Nia Vardalos’ film a dozen years ago wasn’t just a hit in the cinema. Her title— seen as offensive by some that she would dare to include the words “fat” and “Greek” in the same title— was welcomed by so many others— so much so that a big fat Greek onslaught of copy cats followed. The expression coined by her title is nothing short of a cultural phenomenon.

Big fat Greek everythings started popping up all over the country— on newspaper headlines, on menus, at countless Greek festivals throughout the nation and on products— lots of products. Here are just a few things we’ve found— and with news of a sequel hitting recently, we can’t help but wonder what else big, fat and Greek will pop up.

(1) Restaurants… a ton of Big Fat Greek restaurants, cafes and delis

(2) Books, CDs, DVDs and a spin-off television show

(3) Food trucks

(4) Wine (!)

(5) Dinner dances, events… Lots of events

(6) Political cartoons– lots of these too

(7) Newspaper headlines