Cretan cuisine

Culinary tradition

Cretan cuisine (Greek: Κρητική κουζίνα) is the traditional cuisine of the Greek island of Crete.

Background

The core of the Cretan cuisine consists of food derived from plants, whereas food of animal origin was more peripheral in nature. In general, people consumed seasonal products, available in the wider local area, which underwent minimal processing or none at all. The traditional cuisine was widespread in the island until the 1960s when, with improving living standards, alimentary patterns changed towards more meat and other animal-derived produce.

Fresh fruit and dried fruits, pulses, endemic wild herbs and aromatic plants, and rough cereals, whose cultivation was favored by the regional climate, were consumed in great amounts and constituted the base of the Cretan cuisine during that period. Dairy products were consumed on a daily basis in low to moderate quantities. Poultry and fish were consumed on a weekly basis in moderate quantities, whereas red meat was consumed only a few times a month. The main supply of fat was effectuated by olive oil, which was used not only in salads but also in cooking, unlike the northern European countries which primarily used animal fat. Another essential feature of the Cretan cuisine was the moderate use of alcohol, mainly red wine which accompanied meals. Finally, the most common dessert was yogurt and fresh fruits, while traditional pastry based on honey had been consumed a few times a week.

Appetizers

Dakos (salad)
Stamnagathi (cichorium) salad
Piktí (or Tsiladiá), pork charcuterie
Apáki, smoked pork (or chicken) meat
Paximadi
Kalitsounia
Stafidota, cookies with a stuffing based on raisins
Kolokythoanthoi
Raw cardoons^[1]
Askordoulakoi (or Volvoi), pickled bulbs of Tassel hyacinth
Kolokythopita
Marathopita
Mizithropita, mizithra stuffed flatbread
Sarikopita, cheese pie twisted into shape resembling the "sariki", a type of traditional Cretan headwear
Sykoti Savore, liver cooked in vinegar
Staka, buttercream roux
Graviera cheese
Xynomizithra cheese
Xygalo cheese
Pichtogalo cheese
Other cheeses include Amarino, Seliano, Tirozouli, Tiromalama

Specialities

Amygdalopita (dessert)
Antikristo (or oftó), lamb meat
Arni me askolibrous, a lamb stew with golden thistle and avgolemono
Gamopilafo, rice cooked in goat and rooster broth
Hirino me selino, pork meat with celery
Ηohlioi boubouristoi, snails fried with rosemary and vinegar
Katsikaki me stamnagathi, goat meat (alternatively lamb) cooked with avgolemono and a local plant species of the Cichorium genus
Kreatotourta, meat pie from western Crete
Pasta, such as skioufichta, magiri, chilofta, and avgochilos
Patouda (dessert)
Portokalopita (dessert)
Rofos me bamies, grouper cooked in the oven with okra
Sfougato, omelette containing various vegetables (most often potatoes, zucchini and onions) and cheese
Snails with tomato
Sofegada, vegetable stew
Soupies me maratho, cuttlefish with fennel
Triftoudia, type of orzo
Tsigariasto, lamb or goat meat dish, typically from the Sfakia region
Tzoulamas, traditional meat pie from Messara
Xerotigana (dessert)