Food and Drinks in Crete
Traditional Cretan Recipes Cretan cuisine is distinguished and traditional. Local cheese, famous olive oil and punchy liqueurs are just three of the treats on offer. If you visit this island, there are some dishes that you should definitely try. Don’t expect over the top fancy dishes, just pay attention to the quality of the food […]
Traditional Cretan Recipes
Cretan cuisine is distinguished and traditional. Local cheese, famous olive oil and punchy liqueurs are just three of the treats on offer. If you visit this island, there are some dishes that you should definitely try. Don’t expect over the top fancy dishes, just pay attention to the quality of the food and the great flavors that each of them includes.
Dakos. Chopped tomato, fresh cheese, herbs and olive oil placed on top of a Paximadi (rusk). There is just enough olive oil to make them soft but without taking away the crunch of the base. You could eat these over bruschetta any day!
Cretan Cheeses. There is certainly no shortage of sheep or goat cheese in Crete. The most popular cheeses eaten in Crete are: Anthotiros, Kefalotiri, Mizithra, Graviera.
Sarikopitakia (Cheese Pie). Sheep’s cheese-filled pastries fried in olive oil and served warm with a sprinkle of honey on top. They get their name from the shape of the scarf the local men wear on the west of the island.
Chochlioi Boubouristi or Fried Snails are extremely popular. Once the women catch the snails, they are fried with flour and hot olive oil in a pan, then doused with wine and are ready to eat.
Moussaka is an eggplant or potato-based dish, often including ground meat, in the Levant, Middle East and Balkans, with many local and regional variations.
Cretan Wine. Traditionally Cretan wine is home-made and rarely bottled. The wine is a golden brown colour with a fairly high alcohol content (13 – 14%) and more akin to port or sherry.
The local “hard drink” is called “raki” or “tsikoudia” and is distilled from what is left over from pressing grapes so in fact it is the same as the Italian grappa. It is a strong, pretty clean alcohol, meaning that you’ll get drunk on it really quick but will feel halfway human the next day.