Tales from Crete | 23

A few years ago I asked one of my acquaintances in Crete what it was that was so special about being Greek? - "to be Greek" he answered with wonder in his voice. "Yes, being Greek" I said again. "So just being Greek" he said again. "Yes" I answered impatiently. - "Well, I've just said it twice - how many times do I have to say it" he said. Only then did it dawn on me that he knew perfectly well what I was talking about and what the question was about. But that he had already answered "being Greek", so it was probably me who was not so quick in the turnaround, but it's probably not that unusual for me :-)

Of course he was right, because the special thing about being Greek is just being Greek , and that can be difficult for many to understand. But as you gain more and more insight into the Greek mentality and the Greeks' outlook on life, you gradually understand more and more.

If I have to name just one example of where the big difference lies, the food is a very good example. For the Greeks, food is not just a meal to be eaten. The Greeks often change some of the expressions we all know. They don't eat to live, but live to eat, many say. The daily meal is not something that has to be finished in a hurry, but a meeting point where the family can sit together, talk about big and small things and enjoy the community in peace and without haste. What we in modern parlance call "Slow cooking" is not something special among the older generation, but something you do every single day, all year round. Gives himself plenty of time to prepare the food and puts a large portion of what, in the Greeks' own opinion, is the best spice in it, namely "love". If you put a good amount of "love" in your food, everyone will be happy, say the old ladies in Greece.

But how do you go about making it taste like Greece? Yes, first of all you have to have good and tasty ingredients, and it can sometimes be difficult to get vegetables that really taste like in Greece, because we don't have the same growing conditions at our latitudes. But we can handle the recipes if or you add the "love" yourself.

Right now we actually have a food writer and specialist in Greek food, traveling by sailboat from Italy to some of the Greek islands, to collect more of the unbeatable authentic Greek food recipes that will be posted on our website. We simply want to give you the opportunity to make some of the Greek dishes yourself at home using the right recipes. We will look forward to being able to do that before long.

If there is a special dish that you would like the recipe for, please write here and we will try to find it for you.