Mediterranean Diet, they were surprised to find that the “starving” Cretans were almost 100 percent healthier than the supposedly well- nourished Americans. They had subsisted on greens gathered from fields and mountains, cooked with what appeared to be extravagant amounts of olive oil; bread or rusks made of unrefined wheat and bran flour; snails; walnuts; honey; goat or sheep's cheese; practically no red meat but daily doses of wine or grappa-like raki. In fact, apart from the cheese, their diet resembled the strict regime of the Orthodox fasts that still dictates what true believers should eat for about half the year.
Even in times of plenty, Cretans were frugal but imaginative. Not having much meat, poultry, or seafood to nourish their large families, they invented delicious stews padded with garden vegetables or their beloved spiny artichokes, greens, and herbs, especially mint. Vegetables used as wraps or containers for small amounts of meat and rice or bulgur wheat also appear in various guises. As for sweets, these are healthy too; often consisting of pastries made with olive oil rather than butter, and filled with nuts, raisins, citrus peel, and honey, and only rarely containing dairy products or eggs.
Paximadia (rusks)
Twice-baked breads have been around since Roman times, but in Crete they are both staple and luxury. Made of every conceivable type of flour from refined white to coarse wheat and barley, they accompany every meal, crumbled into salads or springing up in sauces. Smaller sweet rusks flavored with coriander, cloves, and mastic were such a delicacy they were served at weddings until recently. Studded with nuts or currants, seasoned with juices and spices, they are still served with coffee, herbal teas or raki at any time of day.
Cretan Olives
Two favorite eating olives are Neratzates — green olives soaked in brine and then flavored with bitter orange juice and the tiny black Psirolia or Psiloelia, hardly bigger than a coffee bean. Surprisingly, they also produce lots of oil.
All Cretan cheeses are made from either sheep's or goat's milk or a combination of both. Here's a short list: Graviera: Perhaps the most famous of Crete's cheeses, this local adaptation of gruyere is made of unpasteurized sheep's milk. The wheels, which range from one to 25 kilos (2 to 50 lbs.), no longer taste anything like the Swiss prototype. Cretan graviera ranges from sweet, when young, to nutty and resonant, when aged. Kefalograviera: Harder and more piquant than graviera, this is a table cheese that is often also used in baked dishes like pastitsio and moussaka.
Myzithra
This is a fresh whey cheese, relatively low in fat, and similar to ricotta.
It is used as filling in all types of Cretan pies, whether fried or baked, sweet or savory. Dried in large balls, it is popular grating cheese. Xynomyzithra: A cheese unique to Crete, this “sour” whey cheese is salted, grainy rather than creamy, and is aged for two months before eating. With its dry, tangy taste, it is a favorite meze with ouzo or raki, while baked into a pie, it becomes sweeter.
Staka
This cholesterol-rich delicacy is found only in western Crete. It is prepared from the cream skimmed off the top of sheep's milk and then simmered with a pinch of salt and some flour until it separates into clarified butter (stakovoutiro) and a yellowy substance that resembles clotted cream or crème fraiche. The former is used to flavor festive dishes such as wedding pilaf; the latter may be spread on bread like a soft cheese or used to fry eggs.
The Cretans probably eat more snails than the French (to whom they export them). Plucked from a bush or bought from the market, they need to be purged before cooking with flour, dried pasta, or fresh herbs. They are rich in beneficial omega 3 fatty acids and appear in dozens of recipes. Among the most common are boubouristous fried and seasoned with rosemary and vinegar, or stewed with cracked wheat (hondros) or trahana (xinohondros).
Hondros & Xinohondros
Though trahana exists throughout the Balkans and Middle East, only in Crete is it made with cracked wheat (in lieu of flour or bulgur). The slightly sour (xino), pungent flavor comes from the addition of buttermilk or intentionally soured milk. Possibly the oldest form of pasta, it was an ingenious way of combining wheat and dairy into an easily transportable food that never spoils. Just boil it with a little water and you have a nourishing, tasty soup.
Olive oil
The Cretans consume more olive oil than any other people, including mainland Greeks. The island also produces more extra virgin oil than anywhere else in the country and much of it is organic. At least 9 districts have been awarded the coveted POP (Protected Appellation of Origin) designation by the European Union.
Even though Cretans ate little else during the Second World War, they still have a passion for wild greens. The island is said to have as many as 300 edible weeds, which range from the ordinary dandelion to the exotic askrolymbros, a thistly root in the salsify family that commands a higher price than filet mignon in the market. Cretan cooks bring enormous imagination to their greens dishes, balancing the intensity of sweet and sour or bitter, and combining them with everything from lamb and rabbit to fish and octopus. Greens often turn up in pies and even raw in salads, a practice unusual in the rest of Greece.
Meat
When Cretans want to celebrate, they roast or boil a young goat or sheep. The idea of eating a sirloin steak rarely if ever crosses their mind, and few beef or dairy cattle are raised on the island. On the other hand, pork is widespread, and in the old days even the poorest rural household lived off sausages, smoked filets, and other cuts from the family pig.
Wine & RakiCretans love to drink and many families keep a barrel of homemade amber-colored wine in their storerooms. But commercial wineries are beginning to make a name for themselves, with crisp whites from Siteia and deep reds from Archanes/Peza the most distinctive. But if you go to Crete, no matter what time of day or season, you'll be just as likely to see small groups of men
sipping shot glasses of clear, potent raki, distilled from grape skins and pips.
By Diana Farr Louis
source: KERASMA
