Δημοκρατία (Democracy)

(This is a true story, in case you think I'm making it up.)

I recently met up with an old family friend whose husband recently passed away. My father was the godfather of her youngest son; my parents were very close to their godchildren's parents. It was actually this woman's name that bought them even closer together. Even the priest must have changed shades as he dunked her into the baptismal font when he heard the name:
... the Priest turns the Sponsor to the East with lowered hands, and asks the following three times:
- Do you join Christ?
The question is answered three times:
- I do join Him.
Again the Priest asks three times:
- Have you joined Christ?
- I have joined Him.
Again the Priest asks:
- And do you believe in Him?
- I believe in Him as King and as God.
After the completion of the Creed, the Priest asks thrice:
- Have you joined Christ?
- I have joined Him.
Then the Priest says:
- Then bow before Him and worship Him.
The Sponsor) bows down, saying:
- I bow down before the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit; Trinity One in Essence and Undivided.
Following the blessing, the Priest asks the Sponsor what the name of the child will be, and the Sponsor says the name loudly and clearly:
- Dimokratia!

The name came as a surprise not just to the priest but also to Dimokratia's parents. But they knew Stavros was a devout communist, and a vow was a vow: they had asked him to become godfather to their child, and they could not go back on their promise. Back in those days, and in those regions, it was the godparent who chose the child's name, and the parents and godparents rarely met up, The parents in fact did not always attend the service, and would only find out the name of their child once the service was over.

My parents met Dimokratia and her husband while both couples were living and working in New Zealand. My mother remembered that when she was a child, not quite a teenager, one of her second cousins, Stavros (son of Efsevios, first cousin of my maternal grandfather), had left the village where both my mother and Stavros lived to become a godparent to a child in another village far away from the mountains where they lived. When he returned a few days later, he proudly announced that he had chosen a beautiful name for the baby - he had called her Dimokratia. Was this Stavros' goddaughter after all? Indeed it was. Here was Dimokratia herself, standing in front of my mother, while they had both transplanted themselves to another country, very far away from their own homeland.

The EAM anthem: 

Only three letters enlighten the Greek people

and show us the bright way to bring freedom

It is our struggle's light and the people follow faithfully,

young, old, all together they shout, hip hip hooray for EAM

EAM saved us from hunger, it will save us again from slavery

and it has congregationalism in its manifesto, hip hip hooray for EAM

It has united all our people, it includes EPON and ELAS,

and it has congregationalism in its manifesto, hip hip hooray for EAM

My mother and Stavros lived through very confusing political times in Greece. During WW2 when democracy was failing Greek citizens and Greece was under Nazi occupation, EAM, the National Liberation Front, was formed, quite obviously encompassing communism and left-wing nationalism, given the musical score that its anthem was set in (the Russian Katyusha theme). No doubt Stavros was one of EAM's strongest supporters, and he would have addressed Alexis Tsipras as 'comrade' if he were still alive now (although he would probably be turning in his grave now). But even for SYRIZA and Mr Tsipras, democracy has taken many turns. It pays to remember what SYRIZA meant to the world way back in December 2014, which isn't too long ago. Democracy has a variety of meanings for everyone, but it rarely encompasses all people: the fragile meaning of democracy has been debated since ancient times.

And what about Stavros, the godfather? Eventually he married, and after seven years, he and his wife gave up trying to have a child as none had come by that time. They decided to adopt instead. But Stavros himself chose the name he would give to his son: 'Eleftherios', from the Greek ελευθερία, 'e-lef-the-RI-a', meaning 'freedom, liberty'. My aunt related to me the day Lefteri (as his name is abbreviated in Greek) came to the village, when he was also baptised. Lefteris' father was so happy to finally have a child of his own, that he invited all the villagers to the baptism, and he composed a mantinada (μαντινάδα) especially for the occasion:

Ευχαριστώ στους χωριανούς - I thank the local villagers
και όλο αυτό τ' ασκέρι - and this great large assembly
που ήρθε κι' αποδέχτηκε - that came and greeted warmly
το Κάτη, το Λευτέρη. - the new Kati*, Lefteri.
(*Kati is the abbreviated surname of 'Katakis')

And that's not the whole story: Two years after Lefteris joined the family, Stavros and his wife brought Kostantinos into the world by natural birth. The moral of the story: everything happens in its own time, patience is a virtue, and hope dies last.

(The video clip is part of a playlist of politically motivated modern Greek music, composed, written and sung by some of the most famous names in Greek music, many of whom are considered heroes of the various Greek Leftist movements.)

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The Greek Collection: Shabby chic Greek flag for Independence Day

It's an Independence Day bank holiday today for people of Greek heritage all over the world. The origins of the formation of the modern Greek state has its beginnings in March, 1821. Yanis is due to spend it in Hania. (If the parades turn into a musical feast, you might even get to dance with him.)

A funny story related to Greek Independence took place just this week at my workplace. My non-profit institute's finances are monitored by the various organisations that fund it, which includes the Greek government. Checks are performed even on our library acquisitions: we were recently asked to justify why an institute with an agronomic nature such as ours, which uses English as the main working language of the institute, bought a book about the Greek revolution of 1821, in Greek, to add to our library. I wrote the following justification to our funders:

"Greek and English language lessons are offered to students, both during the academic year, and the summer school period. The Greek-language book about the Greek Revolution of 1821 is of great value for students studying the Greek language, who wish to gain an understanding of Greek history from the Greek point of view, as most material that Greek-language learners will most likely read about Greek history is in another language, and therefore the Greek point of view may not be expressed."

HIstory is open to interpretation. Library acquisitions have wider readership than just the acquisitioning library: our acquisitions can be shared through the institute's interloan system, which is connected with other institutes in the wider region of Crete, for the needs of university students. In this way. such material has a greater audience, and the knowledge that they contain can thus be shared among more people. 

A sky full of Greek flags will be flapping in our springtime breeze today, sporting the traditional blue and white stripes. We rarely see less traditional flag designs based on the Greek flag, so I wonder what people will think of my shabby chic patchwork creations. Greeks are not really into the shabby chic design - they prefer more modern lines. 

Shabby chic: a form of interior design where furniture and furnishings are chosen for their appearance of age and signs of wear and tear or where new items are distressed to achieve the appearance of an antique. (Wikipedia)

Bonus information - The book about the Greek revolution is not the only book we had to justify:  

"The Gatekeepers of Galatas (by Brian Taafe, in English) is based on the history of the wider region of Chania. It is written by a New Zealand academic living in Australia, whose father was stationed in the region during WWII. The local history detailed in the book - the battle that took place in Galatas, Chania, in an area known by the allied soldiers at the time as Pink Hill - has had little mention in contemporary writings about WWII. The usefulness of this book as a resource to students is in its descriptive value of rural life in Chania during WWII, with which students can make direct comparisons with their own experiences of the region."

Mentioning the war - that war - is bordering on the taboo these days. But just what was village life like in Hania during WWII? The book's descriptions of Galatas, a village only 5 kilometres out of Hania, show that, despite its proximity to the main town, the village was typical of many other villages further inland: simple houses, lime-washed stone walls, earth floors, long stone ledges to serve as seats, beds covered by rough woven blankets, very few bits of furniture in the houses, consisting primarily of a dowry-type chest full of linen, a weaving loom, an oil lamp, an icon, and πύθοι (earthenware urns) for water and oil. People ate fairly frugal, yet healthy diets, made up of pulses and other vegetables, herbs and wild greens, olives, village bread, paximadi (dry hard rusk), goat cheese, snails and, on a very seldom basis, meat. This was supplemented by olive oil, honey, fruit and berries, and washed down by wine and raki. The village roads were lined with pollarded mulberry trees, whitewashed against insect attack, some flowerpots and other trees, and the houses were covered by maze-like vines that provided shade. Life was not as hard as in the mountains, but it was hard nonetheless, wrote the author. There also seemed to be a shortage of food, according to the author's father; the villagers were very generous, but there was little available to buy. 

Compare all this to the situation nowadays - we've come a long way, and there's no going back.

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Koulouma (Κούλουμα)

It's the start of Great Lent, and the holiday allowed me to make the most of the day. Traditional food marking this event in the religious calendar includes shellfish - no meat or animal protein is eaten on this day.


First things first, taramosalata, using a salty cod roe, freshly processed breadcrumbs from stale bread, lemon juice, vinegar and olive oil.


As bloodless seafood is a mainstay of the day, I cooked some shrimps, in the easiest way possible to let me enjoy the day:  Take some headless shrimp, deveined and frozen. Wash them to get rid of most of the ice, then place in a shallow frying pan with minced onion and a good sprinkling of fresh aromatic herbs (I used Cretan wild greens picked up from my recent shopping trip to the Saturday street market, at the λαϊκή). Heat the pan and cook, straining off the liquids and adding a little lemon juice, a little red wine and some olive oil (and salt) to taste. Cook till the skin is crispy - you will be able to eat the skin too.


The rest of the meal consisted of fresh vegetables prepared as hot or cold salad: freshly boiled beetroot (with the leaves, which Greeks love to prepare as a hot salad), freshly prepared shredded cabbage salad, sliced avocado, freshly boiled potatoes, and some pickled vegetables.


The bread of the day is flat lagana. We buy two differnt kinds, to last us throughout the week. It was the case in the past that this bread went stale quickly, but times have changed - bakers have changed their recipe, and lagana stays fresh longer...


Although the weather looked promising in the morning, by lunchtime it was raining and remained so throughout the day, which cancelled our plans for a walk to the Ayious Apostolous beach which is popular on this day for kite flying. Many people were more daring than us: the beach area was full of kite-flyers.

The meal was finished off with some store-bought halva. The total cost of the meal is much more than what a home-made lunch meal usually costs, the most costly items being 800g shrimps 12€, 150g cod roe 4€, and lagana at 6€ a piece. As we say, it's only once a year.

Kali Sarakosti!

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Cooking for love - Clean Monday 2014 (Σαρακοστιανά)

In Greece, the start of Great Lent - known as Kathara Deftera (Clean Monday) - is one of those times when feasting is all about being a shellfish-eating vegan. It's a great time for me to cook because I don't cook meat on a day like this, and I've never really enjoyed cooking meat. I especially like to cook using frugal as well as colourful ingredients, which inevitably means using vegetables. Today gave me a chance to cook in my favorite way, with the added bonus that I was cooking for others, as we were hosting the Kathara Deftera meal (it's a public holiday today in Greece).

Shellfish is generally considered an expensive commodity, but there are always specials going at this time of year, just before Great Lent starts, and I found I was able to pick up quite a bit of seafood at very good prices. Food that you can cook with (ie not highly processed) is still cheap and has in fact gone down in price, at least in the last 2-3 years, a crisis-related consequence:

Greece in comparison with the United Kingdom, France and Spain, ... is the cheapest among the four countries in terms of the prices of commonly purchased supermarket goods. The contents of the average shopping basket in Greece add up to €38.93 with value-added tax included and €33.54 without. In Spain the same basket costs 0.26% more with VAT and 5.84% more without. In France it is 24.95% and 32.36% more expensive, while in the UK the same two figures are 30.45% and 40.37% higher respectively. http://ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite2_1_28/02/2014_537823

I've often shown through my blog and facebook page that prices have in fact dropped during the crisis - finally the media is admitting this. The same article mentions that 'households are still struggling', but I think that's just a way to keep the whingers and whiners happy, by saying something anti-establishmentarian. It's not the good life in Greece, but it never was anyway: it has always been a struggle to keep your head above water financially, since even before the crisis, and it remains so in our times. That won't change in the future. What's more, prices of milk, bread, books and over-the-counter medication are set to go down following deregulation. The "closed shops" of the past will no longer be.

Today's blip explains my love for colours

My Clean Monday 2014 menu was planned in such as way as to include Greek lenten traditional favorites, as well as to excite my guests' tastes. They have never left Greece, they have not travelled abroad, and their connection with non-Greeks is very limited. You could say I was educating them in global food trends by the menu I created:

• fasolada - some kind of legumes are usually served on this day, often in dry form (eg lupins, broad beans), as some people abstain from olive oil on this day. I chose Greek bean soup because my fasolada is one of the most popular fasolada recipes on the internet - it's been in the google top 10 for the search string 'fasolada' since I posted it. (I think everyone needs to try my fasolada. Even better with my home-made tomato sauce). 
• calamari stir fry in green curry sauce - calamari is a Greek summer favorite, served crisply fried. To avoid the mess and the extra calories, I decided to introduce my Greek guests to an exotic Thai flavour which they would never find in any local eaterie in our town. 
• octopus stifado - spicy stew in red sauce is a Greek favorite for cooking rabbit, hare, chicken and beef, which of course are not permitted during Lent. Octopus is a meaty kind of seafood which con be cooked in similar ways to the above-mentioned meats.
• mussel pilaf - this is a traditional Greek island dish and a favorite at fish tavernas. It's partr of the traditional Lent menu. 
• shrimp sushi - I've never seen sushi in Hania. My guests do not even know of its existence. They are that untravelled...
• leafy garden greens salad - no meal is complete in our house without a salad.
• taramosalata - this very Greek and very well-known fish roe dip is a firm staple for any Clean Monday feast.
• lagana (flat bread) - just like taramosalata, lagana bread is a staple part of the Clean Monday menu. My friend Constantinos Iliakis gives a nice explanation for the meaning of the word: "On Clean Monday people look far more relaxed probably in the absence of meat. Dr. Babiniotis said that 'lagana', the special bread for the day, shares the same root as the word 'lagnos' which means relaxed and not suppressed. For this reason, I suppose on this day children share a kite-flying experience. I remember a few priceless attempts to construct our own rocket-like kite that would reach the deep space or the neighbors' mystery backyard! Still I praise this holiday for its simple, cheap, healthy menu variety and activities that even those with difficulties can follow up."
• shrimp cooked in lemon juice - shrimp was not initially on my menu plan, but my husband insisted: this is one of his unbroken traditions every Clean Monday. Shrimp is not cheap, not usually Greek, and definitely not frugal. I am living in a rapidly changing Greece where people are still fighting the urge to let go of traditions... hence, the bank had to break a little, and we added shrimp to the menu.
• wine - I dislike the mystification and scientification of wine, which is why I like to buy wine from the supermarket. It's convenient and democratic, there is a lot of choice, I have the feeling of freedom knowing that I can buy whatever suits my taste and pocket withoutbeing judged, or stressing about my lack of connoisseur's knowledge on a subject that is often treated as elitist. My local supermarket was offering a 30% discount on all wines, so I was able to pick up very good wine made by small producers at very low prices. I also picked up an expensive bottle of locally produced export-quality wine from another supermarket which was not discounting its wines - I had been invited to a wine tasting session where I had had some of this wine, and I wanted to treat my husband to the same taste. It was my way of sharing the experience with my family - I may have tried it for free, but they should also be given the chance to share the experience in some way. Our guests don't buy bottled wine themselves - again, I see myself as educating them...

My menu will look impressive to many of you, and you will wonder how I managed to pull it off on my own. Firstly, there was no frying or oven-cooking. Secondly, most of the dishes could be prepared and/or cooked the day before. Finally, nothing goes well unless you have a plan. And last but not least: if you cook for its loving value, you will probably cook well.

For more information on the photographs, click on the individual photos in this link. 

If no recipe has been given in the link for each individual photograph, I'll try to write it up soon. We have plenty of time to Easter...

My guests were astounded by the range of tastes. Their palate was tantalised.  I also noticed how willing they - and their children - were to try new tastes, and even more importantly, to savour them. Before the crisis, I don't think that they would have felt this way. This is the real outcome of the crisis: Greeks are rethinking their identity, and perhaps finding a way to embed a foreign (to them) way of thinking into their own, without actively seeking to aspire to it, because: "... that is what truly messed us up: seeking a culture which, because it was not ours, we will never be able to assimilate nor perform adequately within it." This comment appeared in Stefanos Livos' blogpost (which went viral in the Greek cybersphere) about the first three years of his life as a "neo-immigrant", meaning someone who left Greece during the financial crisis, in the UK.

If I could add my own bit to the discussion which ensued, I'd say that instead of trying to escape the crisis in your country by migrating to another one where you believe you are treated better, and cursing your homeland for not giving you what you believe you deserve, try instead to understand why (to quote another commentator in Stefanos' post) "Greece doesn't love her children". Maybe it's because her children didn't love her in the first place. 

Kali Sarakosti to all. 

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Union of Crete with Greece (Ένωση Κρήτης με την Ελλάδα)

There is a land called Crete in the midst of the wine-blue sea,
a beautiful and fertile land, seagirt; in it are many
people, innumerable, and there are ninety cities.
Language with language is mingled together. There are Akhaians,
there are great-hearted Eteocretans, there are Kydones,
and Dorians in their three clans, and noble Pelasgians.
[Homer, Odyssey 19, lines 172 - 177]

We visited the former mosque in the old harbour last night, to see an an exhibition of schoolchildren's drawings depicting their understanding of the Union of Crete with Greece: this was my daughter's contribution.

Since the Myceneans invaded Crete (around 1400BC), the local population became Hellenes, and the Greek language has always been spoken on the island, while people's names have generally been recognisably Greek in nature. But Crete has had a very muddled history of governship - depsite her obvious Greekness, she has been ruled by various cultures:
67BC - the Romans got her
330AD - the Byzantines got her
1204 - the Venetians got her
1669 - the Ottomans got her
1830 - the Egyptians got her
1840 - the Ottomans got her back
1898 - Crete is a self-governing state
1st December, 1913 - Crete is united with Greece

A 1913 picture representing the Union of Crete with Greece. Greece is represented by the blue colour, while Crete is bronze, an aptly chosen colour, given the amount of sunshine our fertile earth receives.

And in 2013, she is still part of Greece, constituing her biggest and southernmost part - the island of Gavdos, south of Hania, is in fact Europe's southernmost point.

After the exhibition, we took our reading material and went to the rooftop cafe 'ΘΕΑ' for a view out to the harbour (you can just make out the lighthouse on the left) where we enjoyed a very large cup of delicious very hot chocolate.

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Centennial celebrations

Walking through the town today, from the stadium to the commercial centre, I searched a long long time to find some sign of the centennial celebrations of the Union of Crete with Greece, in the run-up to tomorrow's celebrations which are taking place at the old harbour. 

I finally came across these flags criss-crossed on an electricity pole (don;t be confused by the internaitonal flags - that's been there for years, all part of the cafe's decorations)..

... and a hastily erected arch (reminds me of chinatowns for some reason). 

Tomorrow marks the 100th anniversary of the Union of Crete with Greece, which will be marked by some very low-key events (possibly hiding behind the excuse of the economic crisis), the highlight being the raising of the Greek flag in the Venetian port, above the Naval Museum in Firkas, as a re-enactment of the event that took place 100 years ago. Where are the souvenir mugs, shot glasses, keyrings, USBs, hats, scarves, T-shirts, pillows, aprons, coaster sets, tote bags, magnets, raki bottles and whatever other marketing paraphernalia goes with such events? 

As usual, the Greeks generously give away their culture, while it will be others who will eventually be making money out of it.

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Happy meal

Here I am, driving down the bottleneck, stopping at the traffic lights, and this guys knocks on the window of the driver's seat, holding something.

We're celebrating our twientieth today, he said, as he offered me a pork skewer, some bread and a Temenia soft drink (local company) as well as their takeout menu card.

If you are passing by Koumbes rotisserie/souvlatzidiko, stop by and say hello and you'll get the same.

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The white plastic bucket chair

Another Greek teaser: the white plastic bucket chair. Some people love them. Some people hate them. But most people in Greece are so used to seeing them that they don't even think twice about them. The white plastic bucket chair is an iconic Greek summertime image. They are cheap to buy, easy to stack and store, easy to keep clean and relatively comfortable. But many of our visitors regard the plastic bucket chair as very tacky and unstylish.



The en masse sight of the white plastic bucket chair has a special significance for me: it can only signal one thing, and that is FEAST. FEAST also means one more thing: FOOD. I then imagine those chairs filling up as people come to take their place, to eat a communal meal at a communal table or simply to enjoy some public free-for-all al fresco music, song and dance. And I can also imagine the tables slowly filling up with food and laden with platters.



The romantic's iconic image of a Greek chair is usually the wooden one with the woven seat.




Such chairs are more expensive than the white plastic chair, bulkier in terms of storage, heavier work in terms of stacking, and difficult to maintain. Whether they are comfortable or not often depends on the size of your bum or if you have a bony build. The newer style wooden chair is made with a woven seat covering all parts of the chair that your bum touches. But the older style wooden chair (see below):


... does not have this slight comfort advantage - if the wooden legs stick into your knees and the back legs dig into your hips, you will not be able to sit on them for long. This is a big issue when it comes to enjoying your meal. If you are too broad of backside, you will not be able to sit comfortably in the wooden chairs, as the posts will stick into the backs of your thighs.



The plastic bucket chairs are miles more comfortable. They almost feel as if they are purpose-built to mallow people to sit comfortably for a long period of time, as long as it takes to enjoy a Greek feast from start to finish.

Bonus photo: our outdoor dining space at my workplace, which houses an ISO-approved conference centre. The wooden seats are of a more comfortable style than the traditional woven taverna chair, but the bucket seats still beat them on this point.

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Crete in one dakos (Όλη η Κρήτη ένα ντάκο)

Last night, an attempt was made to assemble the biggest dakos ever at 1.80m x 8m for the Guinness Book of World records. Dakos is a favorite Cretan snack which is often turned into a vegetarian meal when accompanied by a salad. It often forms our own evening snack throughout the summer when we have an abundance of fresh tomatoes growing in the garden. The base of the dakos is made of double-baked bread, usually wholewheat, that becomes hard and can last for a long long time in storage, to be used when needed. The rusk has been eaten in Greece since ancient times and it was one of the foods that soldiers often carried with them, as they were easily transportable.

The giant dakos was presented at the small forested park near the beach at Ayious Apostolous in Hania. Whereas a decade ago, the dakos was known as a Cretan specialty, it is now widely known all over Greece, having entered the mainland restaurant menus. The wholewheat rusk is now made to suit a multitude of different tastes, with white flour, brown flour, multigrain, etc, and most bakeries produce their own version. Dry bread doesn't sound exciting, but once you try the dakos, you will probably be hooked. Dakos can be made vegan or vegetarian, depending on whether you use the cheese - but generally speaking, Cretans associate dakos with the cheese.

The giant dakos event is not going to be remembered just for the dakos that was shaped in the form of the island of Crete (it was baked in smaller parts that fitted together like a puzzle). I preferred to see it as a celebration of the Mediterranean diet. The event was not characterised just by a food presentation. It started with a group of people who had an idea, which was taken up at the community level. The choice of the bakery, the cooking of the rusk, its transportation to the site, the setting out of the tables and chairs, the makeshift kitchen for the assembly of the dakos, the grating of the tomato (by hand, of course!), the choice of olive oil and mizithra (soft white cheese), the designation of the kitchen assistants and how each one would take part, the assembly of the dakos (layer by layer), the congregation that came to the event, and finally, the sharing out of the giant dakos to the audience (children were treated first) all formed a significant part of the event.

The dakos base was baked in a commercial baker's oven, but the grating of the tomato and the  spreading of the cheese was all conducted at the park. In about half an hour, the dakos was assembled; there was a bit of a scramble for photographs (I got a 6 1/2 foot man to take my shot from the dais set up for musical component of the event) after which the dakos was immediately distributed to the public.

Any food celebration in the Mediterranean area does not start and stop with food, so this was not the end of the event - music and dance followed, completing and marking the event as a whole and complete one. The Mediterranean diet cannot be divorced from the lifestyle component:

"The Mediterranean Diet as a unique lifestyle, determined by the climate and by the Mediterranean area, is also manifested through related festivals and celebrations. These events become the receptacle of gestures of mutual recognition, hospitality, neighborliness, conviviality, intergenerational transmission and intercultural dialogue. " 

Our piece came from the Rethimno part of the dakos.

Without a community base and a musical accompaniment, there would be no Mediterranean diet; it would simply be called 'Mediterranean food'. The food of the Mediterranean can be found in other parts of the world, but not the lifestyle - it is actually the lifestyle that UNESCO wants to protect as Intangible Heritage under the general title of the Mediterranean Diet.

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Gastro-tourism (Γαστροτουρισμός)

Elias Mamalakis, a well respected Greek gastronomist whose TV series have always enjoyed great popularity, was at MAICh today, speaking about gastrotourism, in the framework of a researchers' meeting about future tourism prospects. In his short speech, he reiterated a number of points made many times about tourism in Greece, which I have already alluded to in other blog posts, namely:
- tourists in Greece are generally of the package type,
- they do not spend much money on activities we, the providers, perceive as worth spending money on,
- they look for cheap prices and not quality services, and
- Greek laws and regulations impede tourist development.

www.maich.gr

Therefore, gastro-tourism in the general sense, is not for everyone: it's mainly for the well-padded pocket of the well-informed tourists, and above all, it is organised in a formal manner by a tour operator, not a state representative. Gastro-tourists are brought into contact with producers and restaurants by well-informed executives, and these producers and restaurants will be offering tailor-made services which are often not advertised on the internet. The itinerary for each tourist/group will be unique and will naturally come with a higher price-tag. This is not to say that cheap gastro-tours cannot be arranged: we can all create our own gastro-tours over the internet, simply by surfing through the web. But the gastro-tourists are those that are willing to pay for someone to do all that for them, and even more, going beyond what is being offered on the web. Therefore, gastro-trourism is very hard to execute - it's a highly specialised high-level branch of tourism, going beyond the mere act of feeding people.

Elais Mamalakis at the podium, with the Director of MAICh, Dr George Baoureakis, in the background

Elias reminded us of the human aspect of cooking for visitors. Above all, people must show ΚΑΛΗ ΔΙΑΘΕΣΗ - good will and a happy countenance. People in the food world must show an active interest in the sport that they are performing - that means everyone, from the driver of the bus/taxi that takes someone to an event on an itinerary even though that driver may have a splitting headache, to the cheese-maker whose equipment might be malfunctioning the moment the visitors arrive, to the cook whose assistant just burnt a sauce, to the low-paid immigrant hired to clear the plates off the table. In other words, all the chain involved in gastro-tourism must show a professional image.

In Greece, we are extremely lucky to have some of the bases of gastro-tourism provided to us 'de facto', without making any special effort to have them:
- Greece has an exceptionally good climate
- Greece is a very beautiful country
- Greece produces a high degree of natural nutritional elements

The future of tourism is in our hands...

An added bonus is that throughout Greek history, the concept of hospitality has always been held in high regard. So the foundations for gastro-tourism do not need to be laid here. What needs to be done is to find a nice 'wrapper for it, to make it presentable to people who do not know our culture well, and that includes Greeks too, since every region is different.

The icing on the cake in Elias' speech was when he mentioned that Crete is one of the few regions in Greece that can truly claim to have ζώσα παραδοσιακή γαστρονομία : a living traditional gastronomy. This may sound rather egotistical, but there is a certain ring of truth to it: there are very few places in Greece where non-generic Greek food is not being served everywhere. Even when you go to the tiniest village cafe in Crete and ask for a few nibbles to have with your drink, you can expect to be served some locally produced fresh seasonal produce and some locally made products. A typical meal in Crete will include very regional ingredients combined in a very regionally unique manner.

What I like about the food that is prepared for all our guests at MAICh is that it is not elitist; it is prepared for everyone using the same ingredients as a base, with time being the biggest investment according to the occasion. Food should not be treated like a luxury - everyone needs to eat fresh quality food.

Through his work, Elias has had the opportunity to see some of the most isolated places in Greece, so he must have had a reason to say this. Cretan cuisine is not only different in some aspects to Greek cuisine, but it is also well and truly living and continuing to develop. And for the tourist to truly understand the significance of this statement, s/he must be an informed tourist, like the gastro-tourist.

A variety of cheesecakes inspired by locally made soft Cretan cheeses. The raw zucchini flower was stuffed with cheese and walnut and topped with marmalade. Flowers are often added to salads in their raw form.

Food in Crete can be created for the highest level of tastes, but its deconstruction will show that it is made up of food that is available to everyone.

Quick update: I got the chance to talk to Elias for just a couple of minutes at the end of his stay at MAICh and told him about my interests in food as a blogger, and how I have often written about many of the aspects he covered in his speech. He was glad that we were in agreement, auto-confirming each other's observaitons - that's what I liked most about Elias, he's simple, he's humble and he's honest.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

The fish that became fishes

Sorry, no recipes in this post, but I hope the photos help. March 25 is the traditional day to eat salt cod - known as bakaliaro - in Greece.

This piece of boneless bakaliaro (salt cod) has ben desalinated by lying in fresh water, changed on a regular basis, for two days. It needs to feed 5 adults and 2 animals.



The skin of the fish is removed - it's a little too tough for chewing, but a cat and dog will be able to manage it easily. Half of the filleted fish will be cut into small pieces, while the rest is flaked.



The cod pieces are set aside, while the flaked fish is mixed with onion, herbs, spices, breadcrumbs and an egg, to bind it into fishballs.



The fishballs are moulded and fried in hot olive oil, in small batches (to keep the oil at a high temperature).



The fish pieces are small; to make each bite bulkier, they are floured and then dipped in an egg batter.



When they are fried, they come out much larger than the original fish pieces, making a more substantial meal out of each piece, so that each bite counts as two.



I got 13 pieces of fish and 14 fishballs from one 800g fillet of salt cod (€~8/kg on supermarket special).



The skin and remaining batter can be fried in the oil that was used to fry the fish. Nothing is wasted because nothing needs to be wasted.



It may sound like too much food to add fried potatoes and Greek-style coleslaw to this dish ...



... but if you have made such an effort to cook such a good meal, why not go one step further and create enough for more than one meal? Preparing this kind of meal requires a lot of effort. If you are working, you really can't do this every day.



There were just enough leftovers for another meal the next day. Cooking a fresh meal every second day is what I call a bargain.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.