Hunter-gathering in Kriti

I recently traveled to Crete (Kriti) and spent a month walking and hitch-hiking, interviewing people along the way to get an idea of what is or if there is an actual Cretan diet. I foraged both literally and figuratively through its mountain wilderness and urban settings getting an overall idea about the island’s livelihoods past and present, food, health and uniqueness.

Cretan diet was said to be the reason for the island’s long life expectancy rate after it was part of the controverted Seven Countries Study examining the relationships between lifestyle, diet, coronary heart disease and stroke in different populations from different regions of the world. The Blue Zones study looks in to what is the path to longevity and usually Mediterranean islands make their appearance:

This study has picked worldwide regions where people share common lifestyle characteristics that contribute to their over average longevity. The Greek island of Ikaria was uncovered as the place with the highest percentage of 90-year-olds on the planet – nearly 1 out of 3 people make it to their 90s and it has about 20 percent lower rates of cancer, 50 percent lower rates of heart disease and almost no dementia. It’s easy to see the “Ikarian” diet is actually the Greek diet 50 years ago and possibly also Crete’s maybe up to the 1970s.

When asking around about if what they ate was the secret for their well-known longevity and strong health some answers were not that enthusiastic “well this is what you have in the island”. Some of the foods are now seen as something you would eat in times of real hardship e.g. Carob – the now trendy substitute for chocolate – about which an old lady said “we used to give it to babies and children when we had not much else during the war”. Iorgos and Vassilis in rural areas of Amari Valley and Lasithi Plateau were of the opinion this longevity was – but not anymore – the result of the combination of frugal meals, what they ate, but specially the constant physical activity during their whole life due to hard work in the growing, picking, foraging and herding up and down mountains to survive in a self-dependent harsh environment.

I had the chance to learn more about how decisive had the landscape been on their coping mechanisms to survive at different times in history after some talk with Krzysztof Nowicki about his extensive archaeology work in Crete and his experience in living “as a nomad” while researching sites for over 30 years. But livelihoods in the island today depend greatly on tourism. Nevertheless, I met young people like Nikolas, that helping out in the family’s vineyards in Heraklion region, was not only interested in continuing the produce, but  – with his brother – had started harvesting prickly pear or cactus fruit – an abundant fruit on the Island – to sell to a jam producer.

As mentioned, Cretans do love to discuss things. This is what I got from an hours debate with local 20 to 30-year-old friends when informally asked them about their preferred Cretan dish: Stuffed tomatoes and other vegetables, intestine stew with cinnamon, Staka (fried grease), Zucchini balls, Gamopilafo, Bugatsa (pastry), Fried snails, Loukoumades, Dakos, Dolmades. It was interesting to see how thoroughly they considered it. After one would say his/her favorite they would go into an argument over if one could consider the dish was exclusively Cretan or was all over Greece, then if you could only find older people cooking it and if it was a filling dish and how it was made.

Unfortunately during my stay I did not succeed in trying all on the list, but also had grilled octopus, fava  –  without knowing it was the food of the Minoan gods – and enjoyed their marvelous “fast food”, Souvlaki. You can see about a cooks experience on local food and flavors (and his own reinterpretation) here:

Traveling light and quite randomly by foot in between towns I found myself doing some foraging,  living off fruit I would find along the roads and paths. I soon bought a bag of bread rusks – paximadia – a double baked bread made with barley that lasts for months. When I came across a market I would get some tomatoes, peppers and occasionally feta cheese. After a few days I added to my frugal hiking meals oregano and other kind of wild herbs I found. There was no hunting as besides goats, sheep and lizards there was not much more around. What I found most precious and needed was water that was kindly offered immediately anywhere I found people as part of an idea of hospitality and responsibility towards the well-being of anyone walking in their mountains.

My experience in Crete was brief, but I certainly saw much of the same lifestyle of blue zones people still remaining today. Crete is like most Mediterranean regions already influenced by food globalization but amazingly still keeps in essence and in many households the influence of harsh landscape, the variety of wild plants and wonderful vegetables all intertwined with very light layers of cultures passing through the Island over time coming together in an unassuming but extra healthy diet – if you choose it.