Living in Crete: Cretan cuisine

I read an article recently ( http://ow.ly/2WoPM @ http://twitter.com/#!/livingincrete) regarding the Cretan diet and it hit on a few things I fancied talking about, so…

The mythical Mediterranean diet has, it seems, often been the cure for death itself. I’m always seeing reports of people in their nineties and hundreds with the biology of a twelve year old. Ok, I’m exaggerating a little, but these reports talk of the lowest heart disease and cancer rates in the world. (If I were a proper, paid up journalist I’d insert some evidence here.) The fresh fruit and vegetables and copious amounts of olive oil are always given the credit for this. Let’s face it you can’t argue with that. Although I did discover recently (from a qualified dietician) that once olive oil is heated the good fats that it contains turn to terribly bad ones. That will become significant later. So, what’s my point? This is true, when the diet is at its best it’s fantastic, fresh, often locally produced produce. And yes, it is often layered with a gallon or six of olive oil – not always. However, it’s not cooked so it’s perfectly healthy. There are some amazing traditional dishes in Crete that are so simple and tasty; dakos (fresh grated tomato, feta and herbs on a bed of paxamathi – a hard bread), fava (split peas with onions and oil – basically strained lentil soup but better!), numerous different kinds of salad, all sorts of beans in all sorts of sauce – I’ve mostly come across tomato based sauces, steamed greens with olive oil and lemon – lemon is used in a lot of dishes, stuffed peppers and tomatoes, the list goes on.

Meat also plays a large part on the dinner table. The problem is, as far as I can see, it’s often cooked in olive oil. On top of that there are popular meat dishes such as apaki which is fried chunks of smoked pork (ruddy nice). When you witness a regular taverna table there tends to be a fair amount of meat, especially if there is a majority of males. In addition to this, on almost every occasion I’ve dined out, which in Cretan culture is pretty much every night if you’re not careful, there is always a potato or two. Oven cooked potatoes you would think would be the healthy choice, if it were not for the oil they are cooked in, this would be true. The other popular dish, that is always on the table somewhere, is the ‘fried potato’ – to me and you ‘fries’ or ‘chips’.

The other alarming thing that I’ve noticed – when I say alarming I’m talking with a heavy dose of relativity – is that the traditional meat dish appears to be souvlaki. In its pure form it’s not too bad – basically a kebab of flame grilled chicken or pork chunks and a slab of bread. In its commercial form it’s been transformed into something akin to the ‘British’ post club kebab – a choice of pork or chicken has been joined by the, often seen, reformed meat on a rotating vertical prong in front of what looks like a 1980’s electric heater a la UK kebab shop. This is then joined by a healthy portion of fries and yogurt and then wrapped in oil soaked pitta. I’ve actually witnessed mothers ordering this from the local shop and delivered as a treat for the kids, it makes me chuckle imagining the typical UK mother calling up the local 4-in-one – ‘donner with salad and sauce please’. Don’t get me wrong here, I’m not atop my lofty horse, I’m the first one to enjoy a souvlaki…on occasion.

So, unfortunately the Mediterranean diet may well be in danger, in this part of the world anyway, but the healthy food still far outweighs the unhealthy, however it doesn’t take much of the unhealthy stuff to make an impression. If you walk down the street in Heraklion there does tend to be quiet a lot of young guys with a pearish look about them and a lot of them are very young. Most old guys carry a few extra bellies, but you expect that in most cultures, when you see a lot of the younger generation like that it does make you think. Of course, it may just be the result of Greek mothers, you never go hungry in a Greek house, you’re not allowed.