It is believed that fritters or keftedes have their origins in Ancient Greece. Greek loukoumades or doughnuts was the first type of fritter to be created in Ancient times. These were sweet fritters with honey and sesame. Almost every region and island of Greece has their own fritters based on meat, seafood, vegetables or fruit. For example, Santorini uses tomatoes or fava bean, Mykonos uses onions, Crete uses wild greens, and Tinos uses fennel, and so on.
You can use beef or lamb mincemeat or a combination for this dish. The bread must be stale — half a loaf of a country-style sourdough bread is ideal. Sometimes I substitute bread for sweet trahana to add a touch of sweetness, or breadcrumbs.