FANCY FOODS: Gastronomy Days Come to Crete, Sept. 24-27
Crete produces a third of all the olive oil in Greece...but that's just the start
Cretan Gastronomy Days are coming back to Heraklion, on the Greek island of Crete. The tantalizing event takes place from September 24 to 27 and you can see a video preview here. It all goes down at the “Little Koules” pier beside the famous Venetian harbor Koules fortress.
The festival, organized by the Municipality of Heraklion, the Region of Crete, the Heraklion Port Authority, Depanal SA, and Agricultural Partnership of the Region of Crete, features a panoply of local producers. The full program follows after the jump.
SO WHAT’s all the fuss about food from Crete? For starters, locally sourced ingredients, unfussy cooking and generations of culinary traditions help make Cretan cuisine the healthiest of all the Mediterranean diets. A vast coastline, largely untouched mountain ranges and fertile plains are the backdrop for Crete’s agricultural bounty, of which olive oil has played a central role stretching back 3,500 years.
With 35 million olive trees, Crete produces a third of all the olive oil in Greece, and 90 percent of it is extra virgin. Crete’s unique biodiversity includes myriad native wild herbs and greens. You will find traditional Greek appetizers, or meze, in Crete but usually with a Cretan twist.
For example, there are the horta edible greens (lapatha, seskoula, kafkalithres, mironia, etc.), which not only make for some incredibly scrumptious “salty” pies (hortopitakia), but also, according to scientific studies, have an exceptionally high nutritional value, with plenty of micronutrients (i.e., vitamins and minerals).
What’s Cooking in Crete (and Where)
According to Stefanos Pertsemlidis, a leading Greek nutritionist, “The Cretan diet doesn’t differentiate much from the Greek/Mediterranean diet, as the term ‘Mediterranean diet’ is based on the Cretan diet of the early 1950s, when a very important study revealed the Cretan diet to be a protective factor against cancer and cardiovascular diseases.”
He adds that what differentiates Cretan cooking from that of other areas of Greece is that “most of the other areas in Greece do not have the very wide variety of ingredients that Crete has. This is quite unique — especially for an island.”
Some 18 Cretan agricultural and livestock products and at least a dozen wines have been awarded PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status. The foods of Crete are distinct from, yet form an integral part of, the entire delicious Greek gastronomic picture.
“As in most areas of Greece, the Cretan diet has specific characteristics,” Pertsemlidis says, “such as the wedding food [gamopilafo, the wedding risotto] or the traditional antikristo [across the fire] method of cooking lamb and goat meat.”
Book a stay at Domes Noruz Chania, Autograph Collection, in Chania, one of the most popular destinations in Crete, home to many good restaurants with traditional Cretan menus. Try Ta Chalkina for the Cretan pork sausage, chicken souvlaki marinated in yogurt and garlic, and local snails in olive oil.
For fish meze, the family-owned Portes (at Akti Papanikoli 1) wins plaudits, and for more excellent seafood, such as mussels in garlic and more, there’s Achilleas Fish Tavern (at Akti Papanikoli kai Monis Gonias).
Meanwhile, in eastern Crete, if you’re staying at the Domes of Elounda, Autograph Collection, the Vritomartes Taverna (on Akit Olountos) is a popular spot, as is Nikos Fish Tavern (on Akti Virtomartis).
Also on Crete, at The Blue Palace, A Luxury Collection Resort and Spa, diners can try exquisite takes of Cretan fare at the property’s new restaurant concept, Anthòs. With organic ingredients sourced from the resort’s farm, dishes here are developed with sustainability in mind, like the “Antikristo” lamb, which is cooked in traditional style on bonfires on the property’s private beach.
But these are just a few suggestions; rest assured you’ll be able to try traditional dishes almost everywhere in Crete, whether along the coast or in the inland villages.
Don’t Leave Without Trying These Cretan Foods
Be sure to sweeten at least one of your meals with some Cretan honey, the product of bees collecting nectar from pine and acacia trees, as well as herbs like thyme, ironwort (Cretan mountain tea), oregano, sage and heather. Other edible Cretan wild herbs you’ll find flavoring your foods include dittany, sage and pennyroyal (squaw mint).
Why not try some of Crete’s organic baby artichokes and askordoulakia (tassel hyacinth bulbs)? These are usually pickled in an olive oil, salt and vinegar mixture and sometimes served as meze to accompany raki (similar to ouzo). Kapriko is slow-roasted pork with a delectably crispy skin, while apaki and siglina are gourmet, smoke-cured cuts of pork.
Skioufikta is a tube-shaped pasta cooked in a meat broth and topped with grated dry anthotyro cheese. At many Cretan tavernas, you can order xinohondros, a local pasta, often served with chopped tomatoes and soft farm cheese drizzled with extra-virgin olive oil. Zucchini flowers stuffed with rice and herbs are called anthi.
The low-fat cheese spread called Xygalo is made from goat’s and/or sheep’s milk. Cretan cheeses often find their way into traditional pie recipes that can be sweet or savory (salted); you’ll see names for these like kaltsounia, mizithra, sfakianes, lichnarakia and others. Cretan graviera and three other cheeses have been awarded PDO designation.
The traditional hard Cretan bread rusks are made from barley and called dakos. Often they are served with chopped tomatoes on top, drizzled with soft cheese and sprinkled with olive oil. Snails, or hohli, are a much-treasured Cretan delicacy, and they are often fried with vinegar and rosemary (a dish called boubouristi).
Cretans also like to nibble on dried figs, sultanas and currants. Carob is making a comeback, and Crete’s carob tree forests are the most extensive in the southeast Mediterranean.
There are also organically grown fruits like oranges and grapes, as well as apples, from the Lassithi Plateau; sweet cherries from Gerakari; and even bananas from Arvi on the south coast. Kids love a local banana-flavored cola — called Zelita, it’s just one of the many fun foodie surprises you’ll find in Crete.
Full Program of Gastronomy Days 2021 in Heraklion, Crete:
FRIDAY: at 10:30 in the Aquila Atlantis Hotel – A conference will be held on the theme “Local products and gastronomy, the proposal for sustainable tourism development”. The workshop is coordinated by the journalist Helen Vakethianaki. 17:00 – 23:00: The exhibition and sale of Cretan products 18:00 – 19:00: The Cultural Association of Oil will prepare traditional cretan legumes for sampling.19:00 – 20:00: A Master Class with the chef Yiannis Baxevanis and IEK AKMI. Chickpeas puree with minced meat from Cretan sausages will be served. 20:30 – 23:00: Cretan music with the “Chainides” will cap off the first evening. SATURDAY: 12:00-23:00 Exhibition – Sale of Cretan Products 12:00-13:00: The Cooking School “Kappa Studies” prepares cretan treats.13:00-14:00: Cretan music with his band Costa Ζωράκη.18:00-19:00: The Association “Festival of the Cretan Cuisine” makes “the piece” (traditional pasta), and gumdrop serenades the house…19:00-20:00: Master class with the Association of Cooks Confectioners and Other Staff Kitchen and chef John Bosga. 20:30-23:00: Cretan music by Antonis Mazokopakis and the “Folklore Group L.& M. Χνάρη”. SUNDAY: 12:00-23:00: Exhibition – Sale Of Cretan Products13:00 – 14:00: Cretan music with his band Costa Zorakis..18:00 – 19:00: The “Bakeries Κουμάκη” prepare and bake traditional cretan kaltsounia.19:00 – 20:00: Master Class with the chef Dina Nikolaou.20:30 – 23:30: Cretan music with the Georgia Ntagaki with her Band. MONDAY: 11:00 – 23:00: Exhibition – Sale Of Cretan Products12:00 – 13:00: The Cretan oven, flavours of kneading and bread tasting.13:00 – 14:00: Cretan music with his band Costa Zorakis.At 16:30: Cultural Conference Centre Of Heraklion, In The Pilot Stage: “The Gastronomy in Crete, good practices: a Thematic Meeting of the Committee on Tourism and Entrepreneurship of the Municipality of Heraklion”18:00 – 19:00: The food blogger Nektaria Kokkinaki with their young assistants make σκιουφικτά pasta.19:00 – 20:00: H Chef’s Club Crete and Tasos Papadakis cook and offer unique culinary creations. 20:30 – 23:00: Cretan music with George and Nikos Stratakis and their Band.