Aura Tatu - Cretan Cuisine: Traditional Mediterranean Recipes for Eating Healthy and Living Well

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Copyright 2018 Aura Tatu

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For any inquiries and for permission requests please email the author at aura.tatu@gmail.com.

Cover image: its_al_dente / shutterstock.com

Editor: Mitch Fatouros

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Tell me what you do with the food you eat, and Ill tell you who you are. Some turn their food into fat and manure, some into work and good humor, and others, Im told, into God. So there must be three sorts of men. Im not one of the worst, boss, nor yet one of the best. Im somewhere in between the two. What I eat I turn into work and good humor. Thats not too bad, after all!

Nikos Kazantzakis - Zorba the Greek

Mama Katerina has been cooking her amazing food at the Mistral Singles Hotel in Maleme, Crete, since it opened in 1991. Nowadays she is enjoying a well deserved retirement but is often present in the kitchen supervising the staff, helping with the preparation of meals and every now and then cooking some of her signature dishes.

Based on the most popular dishes served at the Mistral during summer the recipes in this book have been compiled with her help and also on what Cretans eat all year round as well as on special occasions.

This book offers a panoramic view of the Cretan culture through their most prized asset - their food - enabling the reader to gain a better perspective of the local customs as well as the culinary history of this blessed land.

The Cretan Diet

With over 1400 islands, 230 of which harbour life, Greece is a country of rich history and breathtaking beauty, charming its visitors year after year with its authentic culture and irresistible flavours. Crete is the biggest Greek island and the fifth largest in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus and Corsica. Situated in the southernmost point of Europe, it is separated by only 400 kilometres of sea from the North African coast of Libya and Egypt.

The birthplace of Zeus in ancient Greek mythology, Cretes heritage spans over millennia pre-dating the Minoan civilisation, considered the earliest known in Europe. Its archaeological finds include magnificent palaces, houses, roads, paintings and sculptures. As old as its civilisation is the cultivation of olives trees on the island. The Palace of Knossos, Europes oldest city, still bares traces of an olive grove comprising of 400 olive trees, a mill and several earthenware jars used to store vast quantities of olive oil. The gold-liquid as Homer referred to olive oil in his Odyssey has been a permanent presence on the island since ancient times. Ancient olive presses made of stone have been found all over Crete with the one in Vathypetro considered to be the oldest in the world. It is believed to be at least 2000 years old.

In fact, nothing is more characteristic of Crete than the olive trees which cover one quarter of the island in groves accounting for approximately 65% of its agricultural land. With over 35 million olive trees on the island and land inherited from generation to generation, Cretan farmers literally grow up alongside their trees.

The quality of Cretan olive oil is determined by a unique combination of soil, climate and obstinate use of traditional means to harvest. The most popular olive tree is the Koroneiki, which bears very small drupes but extremely resistant to wind and heat. It produces one of the best qualities of olive oil, with acidity levels not exceeding 0.3% (which makes it extra virgin).

Unsurprisingly, the average consumption of olive oil is the highest in the world, averaging 20kg per Greek and shooting up to 25kg in Crete. To place the importance of olive oil into the Cretan diet perspective, consider that average olive oil consumption in Spain is 14 litres per person, Italy 11 litres per person and the USA around 1.1 litres per person annually.

The world had to take notice of some impressive facts about the Cretan diet. In 1947, representatives of the Rockefeller Foundation arrived in Crete to offer humanitarian assistance to the war-ravaged islanders and coordinated an epidemiological study in order to determine the state of health of the local population. It documented the islanders meagre diet, mainly consisting of wild greens, fruits, legumes, bread and barley rusks, little protein and plenty of olive oil. While the scientists were appalled at what seemed like a diet of utter despair, they were equally surprised to find out that the islanders were uncannily healthy. Even in those war-torn years, there was no malnutrition in Crete.

Around the same time in Naples, a young cardiologist named Ancel Keys was puzzled at how there wasnt a single heart patient in the entire hospital he had served in during the War. He conducted a comparative study on feeding habits prevalent in seven countries: USA, Finland, Holland, Japan, Italy, Yugoslavia and Greece. This study revealed that, while the Cretans consumed an inordinate amount of fat, on a par with meat-eating Fins, still, they had no heart disease whilst the populations of Northern Europe and the United States had more cardiovascular risks than those from the Mediterranean basin. These risks were related to excessive consumption of saturated fatty acids, whereas olive oil appeared to be beneficial to health. Unlike the Fins, who got most of their saturated fat from meat and animal products, the Cretan peasants got most of their fat from unsaturated olive oil. The Cretan diet (in fact a great part of Greek diet) in the 1950s consisted of carbohydrates (mainly bread and barley rusks), wild greens (more than 80 different varieties), other vegetables, fruits and olive oil. There was virtually no cheese in the diet as this was considered a commodity to be made and sold and, there was almost no meat. By the late 1950s, Keys had concluded that the Cretan diet was one of the healthiest in the world.

For thousands of years Cretans have eaten only what the land was producing, plenty of fruits, vegetables, olives, whole grains and pulses. As to why the diet was better in Crete and not on other Mediterranean islands (e.g. Sicily, Rhodes, Cyprus), its perhaps because of the relative long distance from the mainland. Small boats were not capable of making the long and occasionally treacherous journey to Crete. This isolation has compelled the Cretans to maintain their traditional diet for longer than other islanders.

Further, Keys study revealed that Cretans ate more fruit than any of the other populations in the study. From November to April, grapefruits, lemons, oranges and tangerines are plentiful and they are present in Cretan cuisine not only in desserts but also as ingredients in salads and main dishes. Figs and pomegranates grow abundantly while melons are cultivated extensively during summer months. The favourable soil conditions support excellent grape varieties with viticulture being practiced on large areas since Minoan times.

However, what makes Crete a truly blessed land is the abundance of wild greens some of which do not grow anywhere else in the world. There are more than 80 types of edible weeds growing in Crete, bearing various names that differ depending on the area, with the majority eaten steamed and simply seasoned with salt, lemon juice and olive oil. They are also extensively used as fillings for the kalitsounia- the traditional Cretan mini pies, or cooked together with meat and fish. Some other aromatic plants are used as herbal teas or for their pharmaceutical properties.

Other stars of the Cretan diet are whole-grains barley and wheat in the form of bread and rusks, pulses such as beans, fava beans, chick peas, lentils, split peas and nuts, especially almonds, chestnuts and walnuts.