The Greek island of Crete lies in the Mediterranean, 200 miles south of Athens and 160 miles North of Libya. It is the largest of the Greek islands with a land size of 3216 square miles.

The Cretan diet forms the basis of the Mediterranean Diet and is said to be one of the healthiest in the world.

Based on The Seven Countries Study which took place during 1958 to 1970, it was discovered that the control group of 700 rural Cretan men had exceptionally low death rates from heart disease, despite moderate to high intake of fat, and lived to a ripe old age.

The type of fat was olive oil and the beneficial health effects are due to the oil’s high content of monounsaturated fatty acids and antioxidants.

The Cretan people were mainly land owners, farmers, and rural agricultural workers. Traditionally living off the land, gathering wild herbs and fruits, growing their own vegetables and raising animals for meat – particularly chickens, lambs and goats.

Food was always fresh, never processed, and mostly home produced.

Note: One aspect of the original study which spawned the Cretan Diet phenomenon which is rarely mentioned is the importance that physical exercise probably played in the original study group. These were active men engaged in hard labour; farmers toiling their land.

The following foods form the basis of the healthy Cretan Diet and were eaten in abundance;

Olive Oil

Extra virgin olive oil is used in just about every Cretan dish. Soups, stews and vegetables are cooked with plenty of olive oil and salads are very generously dressed with oil.

Mountain Herbs and Greens

On the Cretan hillside grow abundant wild herbs such as thyme, oregano, sage and rosemary. Many wild mountain greens are also eaten in Crete .. known as ‘horta’. There are various types of horta such as ‘vlita’ and ‘stamnagathi’. Boiled and then covered with olive oil these greens formed an integral part of the Cretan diet, and are still eaten throughout the island today.

Vegetable Dishes

The following vegetables were used often, usually boiled in a tomato and olive oil sauce with added herbs. Each dish was a meal on its own, served with freshly baked bread and salad.

Green beans / runner beans, courgettes/zuccinni, aubergines, artichokes

Beans and Pulses

Bean soup, Lentil soup , Chick pea stew

Fish

Grilled fish, sardines, fish soup

Salads

There are two popular salads – one a winter and one a summer salad, using the in-season vegetables.

Summer Salad – tomato, cucumber, green pepper, onions, olives, dressed with olive oil and vinegar. Often topped with feta cheese or the local creamy myzithra cheese.

Winter Salad – chopped lettuce, shredded cabbage, grated carrot and spring onion, dressed with olive oil and vinegar.

Fruit

Again whatever is growing locally, in season

Oranges, apples, pears and figs in winter.

Melon, watermelon and grapes are summer favourites, all grown on the island.

Nuts

Almonds, walnuts, hazelnuts and chestnuts all grow in Crete.

Honey

Thyme, flower and pine honey are all produced on Crete.

Other foods, which were eaten in moderation.

Chicken

Eggs

Lamb

Goat

Snails ( very high in calcium)

Goats milk

Home made cheeses and yoghurts

Home made Red Wine

The Cretan Diet and Crete Today

All of the above foods are still comsumed in Crete today, with olive oil, vegetable dishes and salads still playing a large part in the diets of Cretans. However there is also a larger prevelence now of fast foods such as pizza, hamburgers and gyros souvlaki (a Greek snack of pitta bread, meat, chips, tomato & yoghurt), as well as processed and ready foods available in supermarkets. Added to this the Cretans now consume greater amounts of fatty meats and fried foods.

In today's modern Crete, with the majority of young women with families working to help support them, there is little time for the growing, harvesting or gathering, then preparation and cooking of fresh foods every mealtime.

- The first pressing of the oil produces extra virgin olive oil, the most pure.

- Extra virgin olive oil from Crete is green in colour, rather than yellow.

- A tablespoon of olive oil contains 120 calories, 14 grams of fat, and no cholesterol.

- Olive oil is at its peak within a year of production. Newly pressed olive oil tastes bitter and takes 2 to 6 months to 'mature'.

- Greece is the world's largest producer of extra virgin olive oil

- Greece consumes the most olive oil per capita in the world, and the Cretans consume the most in Greece!

Kalitsounia - small cheese pies, usually served hot and drizzled with honey.

Kochlous - Snails cooked with onions and home made tomato sauce or fried and simmered in vinegar and rosemary.

Rabbit stifado - Rabbit cooked with onions and tomatoes.

Staka - hot cooked soft goats cheese.

Dakos - Rusk bread coated with olive oil, grated fresh tomato and creamy mizythra cheese.