Thanks, George. Glad to hear that we received the classic — and authentic — Cretan culinary experience!

Thanks, George. I love your characterization of “non-tomatoes” on the Greek mainland. So, it must be the soil on Crete that dates back to the island’s creation.

As for the diet, it makes sense. It seems nowadays, though, that the diet is changing (as it is everywhere) as people on Crete become wealthier and consume more expensive (and not always local) cuts and types of meat.

Thanks so much for the suggestion of diples and karidopita. Both look quite tasty!

“Mediterranean diet”
Led by experts of the world to turn their interest in the “phenomenon of Crete” as it was called, thanks to the longevity of the population of the island.

The main study deals with the Mediterranean diet:

High consumption of legumes
High to moderate fish consumption
High consumption of cereals (and bread)
High consumption of fruits
High consumption of vegetables
Low consumption of meat and meat products
Moderate consumption of milk and milk products
And of course the oil
 
Next time try:
– Δίπλες (diples) http://poultry.gr/v2/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/diples.jpg
– Καρυδόπιτα (karidopita) – Walnut cake http://www.peoplegreece.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/07/karidopita-thama.jpg

Sorry for my bad English.

Thanks, George. What was your favorite food while growing up on Crete?

Thanks, Roger! And thanks for adding that hearty, delicious vegetarian dishes are also easy to find on Crete so vegetarians need not fear.

Yes, we saw several families gather together in their own taverna to eat during the off-hours when we were finishing up our meals. That’s always a good sign 🙂

Sound, accurate and helpful Audrey.

Adding that, seems to be an often asked questions, though meat reigns as the highlight for many in Crete, there are few better places to find big, meaningful and varied salads and even cooked vegetable dishes.

Many tavernas in Greece do in effect serve “home cooking” as many are run by the family who also eat their meals – same as the ones you enjoy – right there.

Hi Raym,
Glad you found this useful for your upcoming trip! You’ll find that a lot of people on Crete do speak some English, so you can likely ask in towns and villages for small, local restaurants. If you have the name of a place, just keep asking in villages until you find it.

One of the tricks that I’ve learned over the years is to ask someone where they eat dinner/lunch instead of just asking for a general restaurant recommendation. As for getting the Greek translations for dishes, you can also ask people at the hotel where you’re staying to write things in Greek. You could also download an app for your phone like iTranslate. I’m sure you’ll have no problem finding lots of delicious food on your journey!