Crete is one of the most popular islands in Greece. It attracts tourists from all over the world with its picturesque beaches, clear water, rich history, well-developed infrastructure, and, of course, cuisine. Before the trip, the tourists like often to know how much does it cost to eat on Crete. May be you will also find this information useful.

Cretan traditional dishes: specificity and distinctive features

Before discussing food prices on Crete, let’s talk about gastronomic features of the island. The Mediterranean cuisine of countries in the region, such as Spain, Greece and Italy, has many similarities. Each of them has its favorite dishes, but the most important things for the Mediterranean cuisine are the freshness of food, natural origin, minimum heat treatment and local spices. Cretan cuisine is a Greek one, but it has such features that it would be quite possible to recognize it as a separate kind of the Mediterranean cuisine.

First of all features is Cretan olive oil. Crete is the main of the three Greek “olive regions” with the largest olive groves: the other two are Kalamata on the Peloponnese and Chalkidiki.

The second feature is a large number of various spices and wild herbs. Only on Crete they grow several thousand.

Another distinguishing feature of the Cretan cuisine is a small snacks table of “meze”, akin to the Spanish tapas. Preparing it, they use vegetables (fresh and picked), meat, fish, seafood, sausages, cheeses, fruits, sauces, and herbs on wholegrain crispbreads. Often it is brought as a bonus when ordering alcohol. In the menu there is also a separate section for “meze”.

The most common Cretan meze is a dakos: shredded tomatoes with soft sheep cheese, oregano, and capers on a slice of dried bread, poured with olive oil.

By the way, often the dakos is served instead of a salad, filling with them a soup plate. On Crete it is common, like a traditional Greek salad. In Greece, the Greek salad is called “village salad”. Indeed, it’s done in farmer style simply: roughly chopped fresh cucumbers, tomatoes and onions, with olives and a slice of feta cheese (a large on) on the top. All this is lavishly poured with olive oil. We recommend mixing it thoroughly before eating.

What to taste on Crete?

When it comes choosing an advice which of Cretan dishes it’s worth tasting, one wish to reply “Everything!” Especially popular are pies (pitas) with filling of greens and cheese. The Cretan region Hora Sfakion is famous for these pies. Therefore the pies are called Sfakian.

It’s worth noting traditional Cretan dishes with grape snails: these dishes were popular since ancient times.       

Archeologists repeatedly found shells of snails among kitchen utensils. Snail meat contains more protein than poultry meat. If the snails are properly cooked (and you can be sure that the Cretans have appropriate knowledge), then you can get a real delicacy.

If we talk about meat, then the local lamb and goat are beyond competition, like everywhere in Greece, and especially on mountainous Crete. It’s worth tasting some meat dishes, and not only on grill. Such dishes as fricassee with asparagus and artichokes, or with greens, and myzithra cheese (or served with yoghurt instead of the latter) will provide gastronomic pleasure even to fastidious gourmets. On Crete the most famous and popular dish is kleftiko (it means “stolen” in Greek): lamb stewed in a stove. It melts on your tongue.

Well, what an island has not seafood? A popular and affordable fish dish is grilled sardines, sprinkled with lemon juice and olive oil. It is also one of most useful, as there are a lot of vitamins in sardines. Taste grilled shrimps, mussels Saganaki (stewed in sauce), lobster, grilled octopus or shish kebabs, as well as a large fish.

From the sweet it’s worth tasting lihnarakias – small cheesecakes with myzithra cheese (the latter has a taste of cottage cheese) – or fried in oil small pies called Kalitsounia with different fillings, poured with honey and sprinkled with sesame seeds.

Food on Crete is a cult, but sometimes the local people had to protect themselves using their food. After landing on Crete Napoleon’s army was met by Cretans not with gunshots but with meat roasted over a campfire using oleander sticks (of a shrub with bright pink and white flowers; it is growing along the roads): when heated, it emits a deadly poison, which the unfortunate conquerors of the island did not know[1].

Restaurants of Crete

As for tourists, the Cretans are a sample of hospitality. On Crete, the food is provided very well. Proof of this is a lot of appropriate establishments: there are restaurants serving European dishes, like steaks and salads with complex dressings and foie gras or traditional Greek eating houses, and gourmet taverns where chefs prepare Greek dishes in a modern manner, bringing in them their personal notes. With all regalia, prices for a lunch in such taverns range from 10 to 30 euros per person.

However, Crete is visited for enjoy attractiveness of the country, and you can feel it in simple rustic family taverns: in those, where the Greek sit themselves. Do not be confused by the modest interior, paper tablecloths and inexpensive appliances. In such taverns the whole process is usually run by venerable mothers of families or even grandmothers. They prepare dishes according to time-tested recipes and do not give a break to the suppliers of products who are trying to slip wrong tomatoes or fish.  The cost of on average check for two persons starts there from 20 euros, but on the taste of the dishes they can compete with the ones of expensive restaurants.

If you want get even deeper into atmosphere of Cretan village life, it’s best to go to a special farm open to the public. At harvest time you can collect olives, press grape in a barrel with bare feet, prepare traditional pies, make soap and ointments with olive oil and herbs or taste aromatic tinctures, and grape vodka or raki.

Such a farm has always a restaurant where food is prepared from its own products. In the menu, there are there juicy lamb and rabbit in onion sauce called stiphado, “shoes” from eggplant, stuffed tomatoes and peppers as well as, finally, a masterpiece – zucchini flowers stuffed with rice or feta. For young travelers, such farms arrange special children’s master classes and possibilities to contact animals on the farm, and to have a look at “museum exhibits”.

An important advice is to go easy on the bread before you become the main dish, because all portions are large. On Crete, bread is delicious but insidious: lush, fragrant, with addition of olive oil or of pasta from olives.

For a quick snack in the range of 3-5 euros, local fast food is suitable. There are Gyro eateries (gyradiko), with chicken or pork shawarma (in Greek – gyros), sausages and chops-soutzoukakia on grill. Everything is fresh, juicy and tasty. In the morning, check out a Bougatsa café, where are sold pastries made of filo dough and stuffed with feta, spinach, sweet cream, pumpkin, cheese or minced meat.

Average prices in Cretan cafes and restaurants in 2017 (per person):

• breakfast — 4-6 euros;
• lunch — 10-20 euros;
• dinner — 17 euros.

Prices in the gourmet restaurants of Crete:

• breakfast — 5,5-10 euros;
• lunch — 14-30 euros;
• dinner — 25-50 euros.

Of course, prices are not counted drinks.

 

Traditional products of Crete

Without these products, the Cretan cuisine would look modest and not so colorful. They are also an excellent option for a gift from sunny Greece to family and friends.

Thyme honey

This is a very useful honey with a characteristic light herb aroma, collected during the flowering period of thyme. It’s worth noting that unlike other varieties, this honey will not be candied and is sold in almost any supermarket. If you plan to travel in Crete by car, you can buy it along the way: usually, the islanders go out to the roads and sell honey from their apiaries. Delicious honey is also sold in numerous monasteries of Crete.

Cheeses

Feta is not as common in Crete as in other regions of Greece. Local cheese varieties include the graviera, the myzithra and the anthotyros. The graviera is a hard cheese prepared from sheep’s milk (sometimes adding milk of goat) and has a slightly sweet taste: the preparation of the cheese requires aging. The myzithra is a cheese from whey, unsalted and soft or salted, and slightly dried. The anthotyros is a soft one, resembling a cottage cheese.

Raki and tsikoudia

The manufacturing technique for traditional Cretan spirits is approximately the same, but, if the tsikoudia is made only of grapes, the raki can be made of plums and apples: read the issues № 7 (13) and 8 (14), 2017, of our newspaper, concerning alcoholic beverages of Crete. You can find them, looking for our archive http://thenewcrete.ru/?loc=Archive.

Olives and Cretan olive oil

Cretan olive oil is one of the best not only in Greece but all over the world: is soft and has a very low acidity. There are oils of different categories on sale. The price of a good one starts from 6 euros per liter. Olives on Crete are sold in different varieties and are cooked according to various recipes: salted, marinated, stuffed and dried in the sun. When choosing olives, we recommend always tasting them. The prices are from 2 to 10 euros per kilogram.

Product prices in markets and supermarkets

All foods bought in supermarkets or markets are of high quality, fresh and tasty. Supermarkets are very suitable: they work from morning till 21:00 o’clock and are located in each more or less large settlement. They do not work on Sunday. Large supermarkets are represented on Crete by such networks as AB Vasilopoulos, Masoutis, SYNKA (formerly INKA). On the island there are also a lot of small private mini-markets. The prices of food can slightly vary on Crete in different networks.

Food prices on Crete in 2017 (in euros):

• bread – from 0.70;
• milk (1 liter) – from 1.20;
• eggs (6 pcs) – from 1.50;
• macaroni (0.5 kg) – 0.50;
• feta cheese (1 kg) – 7.50;
• local cheeses (1 kg) – 6-12;
• chicken (1 kg) – from 2.90;
• potatoes (1 kg) – from 0.50;
• tomatoes (1 kg) – from 0.75;
• cucumbers (1kg) – 1;
• apples (1 kg) – from 0.60;
• oranges (1 kg) – from 0.80;
• strawberry (1 kg) – 2.5;
• bananas (1 kg) – 2;
• fish (1 kg): sardines – 5, dorada – 10-12 (farmed) and 17-20 (wild);
• shrimp (1 kg) – 10;
• beef (1 kg) – from 7;
• pork (1 kg) – from 5;
• water (6 pack х 1.5 liter) – from 1.50.

On Crete, fish and seafood are not in all supermarkets. It’s better to buy them in individual shops: you will have fresh ones and more choice. Everywhere the fish you choice will be cleaned at your request. For meat there are special butcher shops, for fruits and vegetables are benches greengrocer. Fresh and delicious bread can be bought in bakeries. They are usually available in every locality, sometimes not one at a time.

Advice: for fish, meat and bread is best to go in the morning, since fresh products can be bought out by 11.00 a.m.

For fresh products and a sense of local colour, go to the markets. Perhaps, you will spend more time than in a store, but you can taste everything yourself, compare and choose things to your liking directly from farmers. As in all of Greece, on Crete farm markets (or λαϊκοί in Greek: it means “folks”) work on schedule. In each major locality, the market is held on one specific day of the week and is open from the early morning hours till 12:00 o’clock. If you want to find the best choice – come early, and want you the best prices, then come to the close: sellers reduce their prices by at least half to sell off the leftovers.

Fruits are presented on Crete as early as May and in a wide range – loquat, strawberry, cherry, apricots, peaches and even watermelons, and melons.

Feeding for babies

When planning to spend holiday on Crete with a baby, all parents are wondering whether they will be able to provide their kids with the usual food for them. In Crete, baby food is represented by only a few producers, as in all of Greece. The Greek parents make meals for their children themselves: they prepare natural vegetable and fruit purees at home. On sail in pharmacies and supermarkets you can buy puree produced by Nestle and Hipp. Yoghurt for babies older than 6 months produce Delta and Noy Noy; soluble cereals make Nestle, Frezyderm and Noy Noy; there are also children’s teas, cookies of local manufacture and Heinz products.

For older children, there is a children’s menu in the taverns, but it differs from a usual one in our understanding. As a rule, for example, it includes French fries but no soups: the Greeks hardly eat them in the summer (unless you can meet fish soup in the menu). Another feature is a very rare using steam when cooking. However, you can always order a child rice or pasta, and ask that they do not add tomato sauces, if your child does not like them. From the said menu, chicken fillet, schnitzel or beefsteak are suitable for children. However, in the tourist sector, some taverns have several soups on their menus – a fish, chicken or meat one. Moreover, owing to abundance of fresh and boiled vegetables, the Cretan cuisine is very useful for those who came to rest with children.

Knowing everything about traditional products, tavern, markets and prices of food on Crete, you can plan your trip correctly and take a good rest on this Greek island.

We thank Marina Donskaya, private guide in Greece (grekoholidays.com), who made accessible in this publication current information about food prices, food and restaurants on Crete.

http://kidpassage.com/publications/tsenyi-na-edu-na-krite

[1] This event occurred in the Napoleonic army in 1808 during the campaign in Spain. A detachment of French soldiers being at a bivouac began to fry meat on skewers, which were made from branches of oleander. Of the 12 died 8, and 4 received severe poisoning: in fact during that campaign the Spaniards, indeed, sometimes poisoned the French (for example, this was dramatically described in the novel “Ashes” by S.Żeromski), but they never attributed the said story to themselves. Nowadays the story is persistently attributed to the Cretans, and how can one argue with St. Paul’s famous statement about the latter after that? Read “The Gospel”.

Concerning the arrival of Napoleon to Crete, we have written earlier.