Thursday morning, 30-04-26 - an extra post

Good morning, everyone.

I'd like to explain a bit about my experience of the Cretan way of serving meals, seeing as I want to adopt it for a while, for most meals anyway.

There are courses but they all run into each other, using the same plate for more than one course.

Typically, our meals started with bread (usually sourdough or wholegrain or softened barley rusk) with their local extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

As we were enjoying that, out came some sort of dip or pate and/or something like dakos (rusk with tomatoes and cheese) or stuffed pepper or similar.

Then there might be something like dolmades (stuffed vibe leaves) or a spanakopita triangle, lovely with the dip or maybe more balsamic vinegar or perhaps rice, bean or meat balls.

These are stuffed tomatoes and peppers.

There might be something lentil or grain based next.

Then the plates were replaced and out came a salad.  Not any old salad, they were very varied and tasty.

I particularly loved the beetroot, feta and walnut one but they were all delicious.

While we were enjoying the salad, out came what would be the 'main' course in the UK although by then we were not very much hungry.  This might be meat or fish based but often it was beans/pulses and, with that a sauce and some pasta, rice or potato.

Finally, clean plates and a small dessert - bougatsa (a pastry filled with custard and/or cheese/fruit) or loukomades (mini doughnuts with honey and nuts or simple fruit.

And wine - copious amounts of very light local wine - and water.
(I know it should be red really but they served both)

It sounds an awful lot but portions were small and it was almost all very light and very easily digested.  Not once did I have any kind of indigestion.

And then there was the social side of each meal, sitting along long tables, laughing and joking with fellow One Travellers and the hotel staff who stayed in the room all the time, as the sun went down and darkness took over.  The social part is something I cannot reproduce, living singly as I do, and the wine part I don't want to reproduce, linked as it is to the social nature of the meal, but there's a lot I can take on board.

The cuisine is very 'peasant' in nature, locally specific and even from family to family.  They use what they have and what is seasonal, fresh and unprocessed, and very largely plant based.  Flavours come from vegetables, herbs and, of course, their extra virgin olive oil which they use in copious amounts although the Mistral Hotel meals do cut down a bit, catering as they are mostly to people from the UK.

It is high in healthy oil, grains and plants and low in meat, animal fats and sugar.  Yes, the desserts are very sweet but they are small and often honey us used, less processed than other sugars.

Even the famous recipes like pilafi or moussaka are only standard in a very limited way; people use what they have available and swap ingredients in and out quite happily, especially herbs, vegetables and grains.

The above is what I learnt through last week.  Forgive me if I have got anything wrong and if you have anything to add, please do.

Making it work with Slimming World is very do-able.  Swips will be higher but only because of the oil, nuts, etc.

I'll finish with a story we heard more than once.

During WW2, Crete was occupied by the Nazis with the very real potential for starvation rations.
After the way, representatives arrived to offer humanitarian relief and coordinated an epidemiological survey to determine local health.
They were both appalled and shocked by what they found.  The islanders had eaten mostly wild greens, fruits, legumes bread and barley rusk (more about this item in another post) with little animal protein and copious amounts of olive oil.  Oil, wild greens and fruits were (and still are), of course plentiful and easily available for the population.
Despite this seemingly restricted diet, shocking to those assessing it, the islanders were extremely healthy and there was no malnutrition.

At the same time, a young cardiologist, Ancel Keys, puzzled that there were no heart patients in the islands hospital, conducted a comparative study of feeding habits in different countries.  This revealed that while Cretans ate a large quantity of fat in the form of olive oil, their cardio vascular health was amazingly good.  After considerable work, Keys concluded that the Cretan diet was the healthiest in the world and subsequent studies have confirmed this.  It's comparative isolation from any mainland over centuries has compelled the islanders to maintain their traditional and very localised ways of eating.

I found it all very interesting.  Cretan food is both very healthy and super-delicious and I want develop my diet in that direction.  So bare with me as I try new things, make mistakes and rave about deliciousness!!
Thanks.

I found this link inbteresting.  Everything You Will Want to Know About the Healthy (& Delicious) Cretan Diet | Crete Insider