In Crete, a meal is not only a celebration, but also a culmination of various events. Enjoy culinary explorations that blend all the secrets particular of the region of Crete and let yourself enjoy and learn about them first-hand, alongside the locals. Going from one region of Crete to another changes not only what you eat, but how you eat it, how its prepared and what accompanies it. Each region is a mystery unto itself. Immerse yourself in the fantastic flavors and mouth-watering smells of regional Crete.
It is believed that the most authentic way to experience and understand the heritage of Cretan culture, nutrition, history, way of life, and its people, is in the company of a local scholar, walking through streets which are alive with religion, art and history, immersing in the architecture, learning about the life, traditions, and customs of Cretan people, past and present. You will sample some of the finest meals, as well as fruit and vegetables, in the world. You will drink selected spirits (ouzo, raki, liquors) and wines that will elevate your spirit and help you relax, and relish the excellent traditional cooking in some of the less obvious restaurants that Porto Club will point you out.
Follow Porto Club's vegetarian lead, come on a route of adventure, travel and wonder as you explore the mysteries, flavors and customs particular to various Cretan regions on your unique and authentic Cretan vegetarian food holiday. Porto Club can promise you that you will not be part of any tourist trail or the sheep following mentality. Their aim has always been to offer quality not quantity, so Porto Club remains small but perfectly formed. They offer a unique opportunity to experience at first hand the authentic Cretan regional cooking techniques and recipes that have been developed and handed down over generations.
All of the ingredients you will use are bought each morning from local open market and so, you will be working with fresh fruit and vegetables in season. Throughout your cooking sessions, you will learn about the ingredients and the traditions around the dishes. You will learn the passion of the Cretan kitchen and, most importantly, you will have a lot of fun and enjoyment doing it. Your week in Crete will be as much a hands-on cooking experience as a cultural one. George will introduce you to the philosophy of local cooking and its traditions.
You will learn about the history of Cretan cuisine and how it was influenced by its occupation for more than 2000 years. You will learn the inspirations behind the Cretan dishes, the methods employed by local producers, how to make a variety of Cretan dishes from simple ingredients you can find back home, how very few ingredients can be the basis for 6 or 7 dishes. You will learn how to prepare traditional Cretan dishes adapted to vegetarian requirements but never compromising on flavor as well as the cooking techniques and methods used to create the dishes.
Cretan bakery and desserts
- Cookies: On Crete, these cookies are traditionally made and served over the Christmas and New Year's holiday season. They are enjoyed at other times of year as well, but in December and January, they come together to create a fabulous collection of tastes and textures.
- Kalitsounia: These sweet cheese pastries are an Easter favourite on the island of Crete.
- Kouloura: These sweet breads are an Easter favourite as well on the island of Crete.
- Kourabiethes: Kourabiethes (also kourambiedes) are traditional celebration cookies, served at Christmas, New Year's, weddings, and baptisms. Toasted almond shortbread-type cookies topped with a generous coating of confectioner's sugar, they melt in the mouth.
- Melomakarouna: Melomakarona are a Christmas tradition in Greece (but enjoyed at other times of the year). All over Greece, kitchens will be filled with the wonderful smell of these spice cookies that will adorn tables, be given as hostess gifts, and eaten in huge quantities.
- Pastries: these cookies are traditionally made and served over the Easter holiday season.
- Pies: Crete is famous for its cuisine and mostly of its traditional Kalitsounia, which are small pies that can be filled with different fillings, such as cheese (tyropitakia) or greens and wild herbs (Hortopitakia). These unique delicacies are served across the entire island and are a very tasteful and healthy snack you can enjoy any time of the day, as an appetizer or light meal.
- Spoon sweets: Spoon sweets are healthy confections, visually pleasing, distinctive, and extremely versatile. Offering them to guests is a wonderful tradition and a sign of "sweet" hospitality. Nowadays they are used as healthy spreads, in baked goods, and to top ice cream, cakes, and yogurt. Spoon sweets reflect the spirit of the Cretan and Greek hospitality. Spoon sweets are a traditional offering in Greek homes. Spoon sweets are fruits, preserved in syrup. They are commonly known as "spoon sweets" which translates to sweet of the spoon. due to the traditional way of serving the sweets on a well-filled teaspoon accompanied by cold water.
Cretan dishes
- Casseroles
- Dolmadakia vine leaf wraps stuffed with sorrel, pumpkin flowers
- Ladera
- Mageirefta
- Moussakas
- Saganaki (fried cheese)
- Sfakiani (stuffed pitta)
- Soups
- Stuffed peppers, tomatoes, courgettes and Aubergines (Papoutsakia)
For vegetarian and vegan
Simple, basic, without over spicing and without a distortion of taste, and quite delicious. A Cretan housewife never counts out of weighs ingredients. If you ask her how much flour is needed to make a certain dish, she will reply "as much as needed". Cretan cooking has its roots way back in Ancient Minoan times. We know that Minoans used olive oil just as Cretans do today. Porto Club knows that they stored their cereals and they enriched their meals with the pure wine just as Cretans do today. Olive oil, fresh vegetables, wild greens, and fruits are the elements of the Cretan Mediterranean diet with a beneficial action which Cretans are in the habit of purchasing and consuming fresh. The freshness of these products guarantees the quality of the foods and viability of the vitamins and physiochemical substances they contain.
