Here is the continuation to Greece – Food – Part 1. The event of going to supper was the great constant in the trip, and a minor portion of The Daily Disappointment (see below) was to try and see what was going to be for supper. Saying that one saw tins of squid on the counter was a particularly effective form of psychological warfare, as for the rest of the afternoon, one would be quizzed incessantly (“Are you sure? Really? Really really? Oh man….”). Part 3 will conclude this topic with Travelling Food and Kithera/Athens food. — Kate
Supper at Myronas’
We ate the evening meal at Myronas’ taverna, which is one of two tavernas on the island. It also functions as the general store, the post office, and the place to watch the news on television.
We would usually walk down to the taverna around 8:15pm or so, passing by the other taverna on the way. Supper was served shortly after we arrived. We sat outside, under the shade of a long blue and white striped awning, at oval plastic tables and resin armchairs. Everyone pitched in to get water glasses, cutlery, and serve the meal.
The first course was always communal plates of bread and horiatiki, usually 2 to a table of 4. Horiatiki is “Greek salad”. Our version consisted of tomatoes, cucumber, green pepper, red onion, olive oil and salt. Occasionally there would be a sprinkle of thyme or oregano on the top. If the ferry didn’t come, then the composition of the horiatiki would change accordingly, which can be represented by this mathematical formula:
The salt would leach the juices out of the vegetables and make a nice melange with the oil that was perfect for dipping bread.
After horiatiki, then individual plates of entrée came out.
Favourite Meal
Stewed goat and chips was my absolute favourite of all the meals we had. The goat was fresh killed, a couple times while out fieldwalking teams saw supper dispatched with a shotgun blast. It was then butchered and stewed with tomatoes, onions, and thyme. Very tender and satisfying, and the sauce was great on the chips.
Least Favourite Meal
The day I got hit in the head, we had a most memorable supper. I don’t know if Myronas didn’t get supplies in on the ferry, or if he just decided to try something different. It was small tubes of pasta, covered in a sweetish blush sauce, and garnished with fried tinned whole baby squid and grated hard white shiny cheese that had no taste. I will try just about anything, but I was feeling kind of off because of my head, and I couldn’t face the squid, so I gave all of mine to James, as he (and both Andys) seemed to be enjoying his meal quite a lot. Sach was game to try the squid, but they were submerged in the pasta on his plate. As he bravely impaled one with his fork, it reared up at him, tentacles thrashing in saucy impotent rage. I will always remember the look on his face at that moment. Sach foisted his squid off on James as well. The village cats ate very well that night.
Other selections included:
Vegetable stew
Broad beans, potatoes, tomato and onion stewed together. This was quite nice, but it really wasn’t enough food, we needed protein to go with it. On nights that we had vegetable stew, bread and horiatiki were premium resources to supplement the meal.
Pasta
Spaghetti cooked until soft, with a thin sweet red sauce and grated shiny hard white tasteless cheese. Inoffensive, same problem as vegetable stew, although the cheese helped a bit.
Sausage and Chips
This wasn’t one of my favourites. I am ambivalent about sausages sometimes, and these ones weren’t particularly outstanding examples of their kind. The chips were stellar as usual.
Pork chop and Chips
Fried pork chop and chips. The chips again were the superstars, hand cut and lovingly twice-fried to the pinnacle of french fry goodness.
Cockerel and Chips
This was stewed rooster and chips. I am not a huge fan of chicken, and this one, while very flavourful wasn’t my favourite meal ever. It was cut up kind of strangely, and the skin was kept on so it was very oily and moist, but was more like poached chicken than anything else.
Souvlaki and Chips
3 skewers of souvlaki and the ubiquitous chips. I am not sure what kind of meat it was, I think it was pork, as it didn’t taste like lamb, and it wasn’t beef or chicken.
Vegetarians
As there were quite a few vegetarians on the team, they got slightly different menus, as obviously the meat-centric meals we were eating wouldn’t work. Generally, each vegetarian would get their own plate of horiatiki with a couple slices of feta on top, and a plate of chips. Sometimes they also would get horta, which is boiled greens that taste something like a cross between spinach and chard. This was served with olive oil and vinegar, and I really enjoyed it. The horta actually grows in a raised bed in the courtyard area of the taverna, Myronas would just go out and harvest it before supper. Being confronted with an entire plate of horta was kind of overkill for most of the vegetarians, so Libby especially would share hers around to the rest of us.
After supper, I would pitch in for cleanup duty. Plates, glasses and cutlery was taken back into the main room of the store, where Myronas’ wife would wash everything by hand. Usually at this time, people would linger at the tables and eat ice cream or whatever other treats they bought. Andy and James would also go in to settle up and also to buy supplies for the next day, usually fresh vegetables, fruit, bread, and tins of dolmathas, beans and tuna.
Treats
Treats began to factor large in daily life, and indeed are closely interwoven with my sensory memories of the trip.
Fresh fruit was a huge treat. On one of our trips to Kithera, we came back with fresh figs, dried fruit, nectarines, cherries and peaches. They were so wonderful. Twice at Myronas’ taverna, we had watermelon, and it was such a nice after dinner treat. Sweet, juicy and very satisfying. I didn’t realize how much I missed fruit until I was at the airport in Toronto and called home to ask Chris if he could get me some fresh fruit to have at home when I arrived from the shuttle. That is what I wanted more than anything else.
Juice was another treat. Most juices in Greece seem to be sweetened, so finding plain, unsweetened juice was cause for celebration. We brought back juice from Kithera a couple times and felt like kings. Libby preferred Ribena, so I brought some of that back too, and the sticky sweet blackcurrant taste was so nice when coming back from a long day out in the thorny, bitey hotness. I rarely drink juice at home, but it really felt like a luxury on the island.
Chocolate tastes quite different in Greece. I prefer dark chocolate – the darker and more bitter the better. Most of the bars we consumed were the Lacta brand, and were milk chocolate. A lot sweeter than chocolate here, but a good treat all the same. We also had Ion brand hazelnut chocolate, and that was especially nice. Chocolate was usually consumed at “movie night” which wasn’t always at night, but any time after the work day was done that James, Sach, Libby and I could sneak off with a laptop and the Lord of the Rings DVDs. Imagine lying piled on a bed in a dark room with a breeze, a movie, chocolate and good friends, and there you have a tiny piece of paradise.
The Daily Disappointment. Every afternoon, James, Sach, Libby and I would head to the beach for a swim. At first we swam at Xiropotamos or the Secret Beach, but later on we would walk down to Potamos harbour for convenience. At the conclusion of our swim, we would walk to Myronas’ taverna for ice cream. At the beginning of the trip, he was open in the early afternoon, but later on, as it got hotter, he would often be closed for siesta. So this became a daily walk of disappointment, a ritual denial of ice cream that was assuaged somewhat by the presence of a couple of mulberry trees on the side of the road on the way back to the hotel. The event of feasting on juicy, ripe mulberries off the tree, getting one’s hands completely covered in red juice, and painting shocking red smears on everyone around oneself does somehow make up for the lack of after swim ice cream (One knows there will be a 100% chance of ice cream after supper anyhow).
Ice-cream. I am not a huge fan of ice cream, but while on the island I ate four ice-cream bars. Myronas ordered a cooler full of ice-creams from the mainland, and I have to say that was a very shrewd decision on his part. I think through the sale of ice-creams we doubled his annual income. Ice-creams came in three general formats: A cup, a cone, and on a stick.
Sach’s favourite ice-cream: Sach tried just about every kind of ice-cream available by the time I left. I am sure by now he has tried them all. At the time I left, his favourite was the Status Bianco. That has chocolate ice-cream threaded with chocolate ribbons, covered in crisp white chocolate and dotted with nuts.
James’ favourite ice-cream: James clearly preferred the Status Double, which was vanilla ice-cream, covered in a crisp chocolate layer, then a soft caramel layer, and then the whole thing was enrobed in Belgian milk chocolate.
Libby’s favourite ice-cream: Libby had two favourites. One was a cone filled with strawberry ice-cream, called a Strawberry 4×4. Her other favourite was a Status Triple, which is vanilla ice-cream covered in a crisp chocolate layer, then chocolate ganache, and then a thick Belgian milk chocolate coating over top. She was quite fond of the Status Bianco as well. Libby approves of all ice cream in general unless there is caramel involved.
My favourite ice-cream: The best of the ice-creams I had was the Status Cookie (in the interests of full disclosure, I also tried the Status Double and Status Triple). This fine creation was vanilla ice-cream threaded with chocolate, covered in milk chocolate, and embedded in the coating were butter cookie crumbs. As I said, I am not a huge fan of ice-cream, but that one gave me a little glimpse into that world. Which is to say it was very fine indeed.
Tea
I drink a lot of tea, and that didn’t stop while I was on the island. Some tea memories:
Once we obtained a ready supply of fresh milk, Libby and I would often sit on our balcony in the morning and stare at the water before heading out into the field and in the afternoon after returning from the field and drink hot English Breakfast or Earl Grey tea with milk. O subtle alchemy…something about the addition of milk just raises the enjoyment level. The tinned milk one can get is called Noy-Noy (Noo-Noo) and it tastes tinned – fresh milk, even the longlife milk in the tetrapak was preferable.
James is quite partial to green tea, so we had a fair amount of that as well, usually in the afternoon after returning from the field. Sometimes, on days when I was walking and James remained at the base, I would stagger in at the end of the day, sweaty and a bit footsore and James would have tea ready. A tiny luxury.
The scent of linden tea is interwoven with movie night and stargazing on the hotel roof. Quiet time, good friends, cool darkness and the feel of the breeze.
Alcohol
I am not normally a drinker. For one thing, my tolerance is incredibly low, alcohol affects me very quickly. Also, it makes my tongue and throat itch, which I think might be a slight allergy, so as a rule I really don’t drink that often at all at home. That all changed on the island. At the end of the day, the numbing and relaxing effects of alcohol were greatly appreciated, and it deserves a mention here.
Beer. There are two main brands available on the island. Amstel and Mythos. These were available in normal cans and double cans. At the beginning of the trip I would split a small can with James or Sach, but by the end of the trip I could drink a whole little can or half of a big can with only slight dizziness and lack of motor control on the walk to or from the hotel.
Pimms. Sue brought two bottles of Pimms with her when she arrived, and so Pimm’s Cup factored highly in my last two weeks on the island. The most memorable one involved frozen cucumber that James cut with scissors in the sink. It was an interesting taste experiment, but I liked it plain just fine as well. This stuff affected me the most of anything. One night I had one glass of Pimms mixed with Sprite and I could barely walk. Yes, I am a lightweight. I had to get someone to help me to my room that night as well, as I really couldn’t seem to get my legs to work right.
Ouzo. Bottles of ouzo were about 6 euros, so relatively cheap. Ouzo was always present on Tuesday nights (Tuesdays were a half day, with Wednesday being our day off) at the fire. One Tuesday night, James, Sach and I decided to sleep on the roof of the hotel. We all brought up our sleeping bags, and Sach wandered off for a while back to the fire. When he came back, he was a little bit worse for wear (“Fucking ouzo! It messes you up!”). We all talked for a bit and then went to sleep. At about 5am, Sach suddenly sat bolt upright, shrugged out of the enveloping folds of his sleeping bag and ran down the stairs. Later we found out he had gone back to his room, and he didn’t really remember leaving the roof!
Wine. This was local wine, which came in re-used 1.5L water bottles. I was filled with trepidation the first time James bought some of this (as was Sach). The first taste is like nailpolish remover, but after a glass or two it tastes pretty good. It’s better cold, but warm is isn’t so bad. Wine was normally consumed at movie nights, stargazing, playing Magic, and map time when we would be all gathered in the War Room while Libby worked on her maps.
Next up, Travelling Food, Kythera/Athens Food.