Polyvios' parents grow lemons, grapes, pomegranates, oranges, zucchini, tomatoes, greens, onions, and cucumbers at their family home, and raise hens (for eggs) and rabbits (for meat). They also have a country property referred to as "the village house" which is near their own olive and orange groves. Wild herbs like thyme, oregano, and sage grow in the area, and at the end of the dry summer, they harvest dried herbs right off the plants. It was really nice for the children to see where food comes from before it appears on grocery shelf. It was even better to enjoy the really fresh and delicious produce and eggs.
This is a view near the family olive groves in south Crete. The olives ripen in December or so and are pressed for olive oil. During our visit we learned about the benefits of olive oil as a staple of the Cretan diet. Mainly we learned that we haven't been using olive oil nearly enough. This is the vat that Polyvios' family keeps on hand at the village house. It was full to the top.
Olive trees are everywhere on the island. Some in the cities are bred sterile to prevent the abundance of fruit from dropping and being tread throughout the streets and buildings. The trees are quite hardy with some living hundreds, even thousands of years. Below is a picture of some very old trees. The young ones look more like the small apple trees grown in orchards.
From the moment of our arrival, Polyvios and his mother, Hara, cooked for us. Apparently the mark of a good Greek host is that her guests are well-fed. If that's the test, then our hosts were off the chart! We already knew from parties in Maryland that Polyvios is a wonderful cook, and now we've learned he inherited this trait from his mother! He has his own blog on cooking which Mike wants me to use as my new cookbook.
So, we ate. And ate. And ate some more! Breakfast might include Greek yogurt with local thyme honey and walnuts, olive-oil cake (baked nearly every day, since during our time on Crete there were 10-12 people to feed), pastries, rice pudding, freshly squeezed orange juice, and Turkish coffee (similar to espresso).
Lunch might be large and then dinner would be leftovers, or lunch would be simple like omelettes, souvlaki, or gyros. The main meal of the day, whether at lunch or at dinner, often consisted of several dishes all set on the table at once for diners to help themselves as they chose. Our hosts laughed that in Greece there is no notion of the French style of serving courses. At home there would be several large dishes available. In restaurants you could order many small plates to sample and share. We ate chicken, fish, lamb, rabbit, and pasta pie, plus many potato and vegetable based dishes.
Desserts included plenty of ice cream (far more abundance and variety than we found in the UK), and various combinations of phyllo pastry, honey and nuts. Dinner often concluded with a small (and complimentary) shot of raki, a digestif similar to grappa. Of the several that we tasted, Mike and I liked best the one made by Polyvios' grandfather from his own grapes.
Which brings me to the social aspects of food.
I've already mentioned the goal of a Greek host is to entice guests to indulge again and again in the delicious offerings. And there's no such thing as the "clean plate club." If you have eaten everything on your plate, someone will just put something else there. The same rule for food applies to drink: If you empty your glass someone is sure to fill it again.
Nearly all of our meals were eaten outside. The weather is so often perfect for al fresco dining. It encourages unhurried eating, conversation and relaxation, especially when the children's food droppings could be easily swept or rinsed away rather than scrubbed with detergent and elbow grease to remove stains from a carpet in a rented house. The Cretan houses tend to have terraces, which are often shaded by balconies or trees.
Meals tend to be later and more spread out: breakfast at 8 or 9, lunch around 2, and dinner at 9ish, with dessert or watermelon appearing around 11:00. We found it interesting that this schedule is assumed by the schools, which go until 2, with children eating lunch when they get home. To handle such long days, children often take a nap for an hour or two after lunch. But despite Polyvios' mother's urging, our kids refused to sleep ("sleep is evil!"). After many tries, she shook her head with a smile as she went off to nap herself.
There's more I could tell, but it feels like I've written a chapter already. Still, I'm going to use this topic as an excuse to add photos of a couple of the views we had while eating on Crete.
The top photo is a view of the Irakleio harbor which we could see while having cappuccino freddo (iced cappuccino) and doughnuts. The bottom one is our view of Chania harbor as sat on a stone wall and ate pizza while watching the sunset.
I may not be able to replicate these gorgeous vistas, but with the help of some genuine Cretan olive oil and my (other) new cookbook Olive Oil - The Secret of Good Health, I certainly intend to try to reproduce some of the wonderful flavors we enjoyed in Greece.
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