Eat: Greek food in Crete

Thanks to texts and images that have been recorded from ancient times, we know that Greek fare has played a significant role in the culture for centuries. Its influence spread to ancient Rome, throughout Europe, and well beyond.

Local Staples The first cookbook in history was written by the ancient Greeks. Their diet was founded on Mediterranean ingredients, with olives and grapes a vital aspect. It combined what’s known as the Mediterranean triad: olive oil, wine, and wheat, with frugality. While fish was commonly consumed, meat was rarely eaten. The trend continued into Roman and Ottoman times until more recent years, with meat becoming more readily available. nOne of the most wellknown staples was a black soup, melas zomos, made with the boiled blood of pigs with vinegar added to prevent emulsification.

Fusion fare in Greece can easily be traced all the way back to 350 B.C. when Alexander the Great extended the reach of the Empire from Europe to India, with various influences absorbed into the cuisine. After falling to the Romans in 146 B.C., Roman influence was blended into Greek cooking.

Today, you’ll find that Greek foods have influence from every era, marrying vegetables and savory meats with mountain herbs tossed in. Wild game like rabbit is braised just like the early hunters did, while peppers are stuffed with ingredients that can be traced back to many different origins, including rice and cheese, nutmeg, mint, and sultana raisins. The fruit and nuts folded into sheets of dough, bathed in muscat, citrus, honey, and brandy, is a technique gifted by Byzantine chefs.

Wild sage, oregano, thyme, and rue are often gathered by the locals to make wine, while vine leaves growing on trellises are a favorite part of Greek meals too, frequently made into dolmades (stuffed dishes). The climate is ideal for producing many of the herbs used in wine and for cooking. They’re gathered and often hung in bundles on the rafters of stone homes. But herbs are not only used for flavoring foods; they’re used as medicines, like Chamomile, to help calm or soothe a cold.

Each region, island, and even towns tend to have its own particular local ingredients that are popular in dishes, like Santorini’s capers that grow wild and are brined in salt. Yellow lentils might be topped with everything from sardines and tapenade. Farm-totable food is a way of life in Greece, but there may be no better way to experience it than a visit to Crete.

Image: Domes Zeen Hotel, Crete

Many of the foods eaten on Crete today were consumed during the Minoan era. The Minoans lived here during the Bronze Age (3000 to 1100 BC) and built the Palace of Knossos, one of the most popular attractions in Greece today. Their diet included food from the sea like fish, sea snails, and barnacles. Meat from animals that were hunted or bred like sheep, goat, rabbit, cattle, and pigs, were also part of the diet. In later Minoan periods, wild deer was also on the plate.

Thanks to excavations, we know that ancient people ate many legumes like beans and lentils, fruits and nuts, and cereals such as barley, along with olive oil and wine. Even just a century ago, the diet is believed to have been more like that of the Minoans than modern Greece due to a lack of refrigeration. Various forms of traditional food preservation had to be used with small-scale vegetable crops forming eating habits similar to the ancient civilization.

Image: Domes Zeen Hotel