A Taste of the Simple Life

By Anna Maria Kambourakis

How one woman’s passion for a Greek island inspired her to make a life-changing move and share farm-fresh cuisine with others.

“You mean, I can just eat it off the tree?”

“Would you prefer if I put it on a styrofoam tray and wrap it in plastic?” I respond.

I’m not surprised when I get questions like this from guests to our property. I had asked the same ones nearly 30 years ago when I first came to my family’s village in Crete. Bemused and often sarcastic responses were a constant from my cousins who couldn’t understand that, while I was a blood relative, I knew so little about food and life on Crete.

At age 9, I ate my first fruit directly from a tree — an apricot, plucked from a branch while standing on a donkey to reach a ripe one. “Check for worms,” my cousin reminded me as I opened the fruit along the seam. The furry skin of the apricot tickled my lips and tongue. That first bite was an explosion of flavour. This is what food is supposed to taste like. The apricot was sweet and tart and like nothing I had before.

Every meal that summer was better than the next. Potatoes fried on an open flame in thick golden olive oil and topped with sea salt were far superior to the soggy fries I had at home. Here, I knew the source of all my food — olive oil from my great-grandfather’s trees, salt collected from the rocks at the beach and potatoes from the garden. A switch flipped in my brain. I became a voracious eater, much to the pleasure of my aunts who delighted in feeding me. It turns out I wasn’t picky. I just needed food to taste good.

CRETE IS ABUNDANT IN FRESH PRODUCE

My quest for the rest of that summer was to chase smells and flavours as new fruits and vegetables ripened in the Cretan sun. The earth graciously rewarded me with fresh almonds, peaches, cherries and prickly pears.

All these new flavours were a build-up to the agricultural climax of the summer — fresh figs. The fig leaf smell had teased me since June. When the skins finally turned from green to yellow in September, I knew it was my moment. I peeled back the fig skin and broke it open to expose the vibrant ruby concentration of seeds. Its syrupy sweetness and seeds popping with every bite sent me into a frenzy.

FRESH FIGS

When the summer came to a close, I returned home to the U.S. with its bland foods and microwaved meals. I tried in vain to replicate a traditional Cretan salad, but the flavours never came close. I was left longing for the following summer when I could return to Crete. I had a nagging feeling it was where I belonged.

Years passed, and visits to Crete became sporadic as life went on. I began studying wine as soon as I was old enough to drink legally. In every new wine, I would smell aromas that would transport me back to the island. Fresh fig in Zinfandel, apricots in Albariño, and jasmine in Riesling made me nostalgic for those childhood summers in the village. I longed for its simple life. Moving to Greece during its latest economic crisis was not rational, but neither was working oneself to exhaustion and never enjoying life.

TRADITIONAL CRETAN SALAD

It remained a daydream until 2013. I was newly engaged to Vasili, a fellow Cretan-American who shared my passion for Crete. After our wedding on the island, our guests left and we stayed. My husband began working on his grandfather’s vineyards abandoned since the 1970s and I started learning everything I could about Cretan wine. In my eight years of wine studies, Crete, despite being the oldest winemaking region in Europe, was never mentioned.

After a few years, we decided our best bet to make our mark was to start our own company offering food and wine tours. Tourism made the most sense since we are both native English speakers. We also wanted to show people the Crete that we knew, beyond the beaches and resorts, including its cuisine.

VINEYARDS ON THE ISLAND OF CRETE, GREECE

Today, visitors we take to the Cretan countryside are overwhelmed by the endless views of olive trees. More than 50 per cent of the land is planted with them. Olive oil is the basis for the entire Cretan diet. Cretans do not drizzle olive oil, we bathe our food in it, including a typical Cretan salad I first loved as a kid. It has tomatoes, cucumbers, mizithra cheese, onions, sea salt, and oregano, but no lettuce. The pool of olive oil at the bottom of the bowl is perfect for dipping fresh bread and absorbing all those flavours. Local olive mills are open to guests, where they can see the oilmaking process. Quick note: Learn from my mistake, do not eat an olive straight from the tree!

CRETAN RURAL LANDSCAPE WITH OLIVE TREES

Another local delicacy is Cretan honey. The bees have over 300 unique flora and fauna to choose from, but prefer the wild thyme that grows in the mountains. The best way to try Cretan honey is on a Sfakiani pita, a thin pie filled with goat and sheep cheese, fried in olive oil and topped with honey. Or add it with Crete’s famous thick and creamy yogurt. The ultimate foodie experience is visiting an apiary and tasting honey directly from the honeycombs.

Discover how food is a way of life, with an emphasis on simplicity, sustainability, fresh local produce, respect for tradition and (most importantly) warm hospitality.

BEEHIVES IN A MOUNTAINOUS SETTING

Crete is the oldest winemaking region in Europe and is currently experiencing a boom in quality. There are 11 native grape varieties found on Crete, like Liatiko (red) and Vidiano (white) — each with their own unique flavour profile and expression of Cretan terroir. One of the pleasures of wine tasting in Crete is finding aromas in wine that match the environment like wild herbs, blossoms, apricots, and even fig. There are more than 50 wineries on Crete eager to welcome guests to their rustic tasting rooms.

Farm-to-table restaurants are not a new concept in Crete, it’s the way things have always been. It’s not unusual to see a little old lady preparing traditional dishes in the back while her children or grandchildren serve guests in the front. Food is often sourced from the gardens and livestock of the owners. The twinkle in a Cretan’s eye when they present their guests with cheese made from the milk of their own sheep or raki, distilled grape spirit they’ve made, exemplifies the pride they take in their food and hospitality.

RESTAURANT IN THE OLD TOWN OF RETHYMNO, CRETE

As we lead our guided tours around the island, I delight in seeing my guests’ faces as they eat their first fresh fig straight from the tree. Their eyes widen and I know exactly how they’re feeling. And who knows? Maybe it will inspire them to go back to their roots and live the life they’ve always dreamt of, too.