RECIPES

There are no secrets here. Cretan cuisine does not require no special culinary skills. All one needs is seasonal and fresh produce, olive oil and dairy products made in Crete. Cretan dishes are not vegetarian per se, since there are many recipes that use lamb, goat and pork; however most of them are vegetable based. Vegetarians and vegans won’t find it at all hard to choose from menus and find mouthwatering dishes to their likings. Often enough, dairy products such as cheese and yogurt work as a replacement for meat, offering the required nutritional value of proteins in a more financially sensible way.

A traditional Cretan table always overflows with different dishes that are shared among the hosts and guests. In more formal invitations there is a main dish with meat as the center piece, however the starters are countless and in portions that could be considered a main meal on their own. On friendly gatherings organized on the spot, a Cretan salad, variation of the Greek salad but with mizithra cheese instead of feta, some mezedes (titbits) and some ice cold tsikoudia is the most common synthesis of a typical Cretan meal.