Foods You Must Eat in Crete Greece!

Mediterranean Diet, Cretan Gastronomy or Greek Food specialties?

All chapters from the same story: The Foods You Must Eat in Crete Greece!

Crete is the biggest of all Greek islands & the heart of Mediterranean gastronomy.

The super tasty & healthy food that you can find here, is a significant reason to visit the island - especially if you are a foodie or looking for a real gastronomy experience. The food standards are so high, that even an average cooked meal, for us locals, probably will taste like heaven to most of travellers.

There are two main reasons that makes Cretan food so tasty:

The climate

Crete is positioned geographically, very close to Africa, Asia & Europe (the south coast of the Chania prefecture is in a shorter distance to Libya (300kms.), than Athens.

The island has many microclimates (from snow covered mountains to dry sandy beaches), very warm summers & mild winters with lots of rain.

All these elements are creating a fertile terrain, ideal for growing vegetables, olive & fruit trees, almost of any kind, but also happy free range animals, like the Cretan goat.

If you add on top the fresh water springs, then you'll have the full picture.

THE ROOTS

Cretan gastronomy has very deep roots (more than 6.000 years going back to the Minoans) in time. The oldest civilization of Europe - and their unbeaten fleet of ships - were trading with other cities states & civilizations around the Mediterranean Sea their goods (olive oil, wine, honey, seeds, ceramics etc.).

At the same time they were importing goods like beer, spices, gold, silver, ivory etc.

The food influences from the past but also from the years of islands' occupation (Romans, Venitians, Arabs, Ottomans) are still part of our every day's cooking traditions.

Below we'll present just three of the Best Foods You Must Eat in Crete Greece,

carefully selected in order to understand the Cretan cooking philosophy.

For more tastes, home made wine & lots of olive oil,

follow us in our:

Eat & Crete Food Tour [non-touristy] in Chania Mountain Villages.

always in small groups

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Foods You Must Eat in Crete Greece

with suggested restaurants & taverns, that we visit ourselves

Ntakos (Crete's all day fast food)

Maybe the most iconic recipe on the island and the most easy to make, if you are a rookie in Cretan cuisine.

You can find Ntakos almost in all Crete's taverns & restaurants very often in different variations. The best season to have it is from the beginning of June to late September, where tomatoes are really juicy & tasty.

The basic ingredients are six but the most important are: the Summer juicy Cretan tomatoes, lots of olive oil, the local soft cheese (mizithra) & crispy barley rusks (hard croutons).

For maximum taste you'll add on top sea salt & mountain oregano.

Tsigariasto (slow cooked goat or lamb meat)

This is one of the very very few recipes in the Cretan cuisine that we don't use olive oil in order to cook it. The only ingredients that we need, are the meat cut in pieces, red wine, salt, pepper & daphne leaves.

The whole cooking process is really simple. We slow cook the meat for 5-6 hours, in it's own fat & wine. It'll be ready, when it melts in the mouth.

The goat meat variation is healthier than the lamb, as most of the goats are free range, have less fat & what they eat comes direct from nature. You'll find the original goat meat recipe in just a few places.

Wild naturally grown greens (hand picked from Cretan nature)

The wild greens have very deep roots in the Cretan cooking tradition as the local population soon realized how good they are for a healthy life..

They grow naturally almost everywhere on island and the only tricky part is for you to be able to recognize them. There are dozens of different types of wild greens, grown in different seasons, altitudes, terrains. The taste varies from bitter to semi-sweet and everything between.

The cooking is super simple: boil them in hot water for a few minutes (remember to clean them from any sand or mud beforehand. You might need to remove the root part as well).

Drain the greens and top with lots of olive oil, fresh lemon juice & salt in a deep dish.

The best alternative by far to the Greek salad, when tomatoes are not tasty during the winter months, and the ultimate side dish for sea food.

You may find wild greens in traditional pies and meat recipes as well.

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Have in mind that Cretan cuisine's basic ingredient is not the meat but the Olive Oil, the vegetables, the wild greens - herbs & the diary products .

In case you would like to taste original Cretan meat, then you better order goat, lamb or rabbit. Pork and beef meat is imported.

With all the above in mind and a great feeling of respect to the Cretan Nature, we created in 2023 our Eat & Crete Food Tour [non-touristy] in Chania's White Mountains.

Not only is it delicious and informative but also a cultural immersion that you would never have if simply hanging out in downtown Chania on a touristy food tour.

We, at Bonnie & Clyde Urban Tours, prefer to stay out of the easy touristy path & business style of copying a downtown Chania food tour that ends up being the same with all the others.

The goal for us is to present the authentic part of Crete & its traditions, always with the thought to leave behind the smallest possible foot-print on our beautiful planet Earth.