Santorini tomatoes are one. These rock-sized tomatoes, which hug the ground, are only watered once, when planted. Because of this, once ripe, the tomato has a highly concentrated taste. These, along with another type of pedigreed tomato from Argos, make superb tomato paste. Another unusual product is the Florina pepper; this scarlet-red pepper is ideally picked ripe and then fire-roasted to bring out its natural flavor.

Olives and Oil
And then there are the olives. Most foodies know the plump and juicy Kalamata olive. Even though these olives are protected by PDO status in the EU, unfortunately counterfeit Kalamatas abound elsewhere in the world. Accept no substitutes. That said, Kalamatas are not the only special olive of Greece. Seek out the true versions of Nafplion, Thassos, Megaritikes, Throumbes, and Lianolies olives to name a few. These ‘true’ versions are naturally cured (physikes) with special attention paid to their post-cure preservation.

Olives lead to olive oil and Greece produces some of the best. For the 2004/2005 season, Greece produced roughly 19% of the world’s olive oil, making it the third largest supplier after Spain and Italy, according to the International Olive Oil Council. While it may be the third largest producer in terms of quantity, more than 70% of what it does produce commercially is extra virgin, the highest grade of olive oil. I say ‘commercially’ because many, many Greeks pick and press their own olives for the consumption of friends and family. I try to make friends with as many of these Greeks as possible.

There are many different olive oil regions in Greece and several different types of trees that grow in them. Like Greek cheese, they are deserving of their own article. But what you should know is that much of Greece’s production is shipped out in bulk where it is sometimes mixed with the importer’s oil to improve its taste. Sometimes it’s just bottled as it is and labeled as coming from the importer’s (you know who you are) country. In other words, chances are you have already tasted Greek olive oil (and paid a pretty penny for it as well).

Research assistance was provided by Sotiris Kitrilakis, a world-renowned Greek food authority and champion of the Slow Food movement. His first company, Peloponnese, was acquired in 1995 by Hormel Foods, and he is still active in a second company, Mount Vikos, which produces hand-crafted Greek cheese and other artisan products. He also runs Zante-Feast, a nonprofit agro-tourism organization dedicated to preserving traditional ways of life on the island of Zakynthos.

Disappearing Foods
Yet another interesting Greek delicacy are its legumes, such as the giant beans of Kastoria known as gigantes, the white beans of the Prespa Lake region, the Santorini fava (grass split pea) as well as different varieties of lentils and chickpeas. Sadly, these varieties are slowly becoming extinct, replaced by less flavorful and less expensive substitutes. Get them while they last. Also soon to drop off the face of the earth are Zante Currants from Zakynthos. The ones you find in stores nowadays are brought to you courtesy of the grape growers of California. That is not to say that the good people of Zakynthos are not producing currants, it is just that they are usually sold in bulk, again, to be marketed as something else.

Quality vinegars, such as those traditional ones from the Aegean islands of Paros, Syphnos and Crete, are also disappearing from commercial production in Greece. This is sad because what makes Greek vinegar special is that it is made from indigenous grapes, such as those used today to make Greek wine. Two of the more tasty varietals used for vinegar are mandilaria and kotsifali. There is also another kind of vinegar called glicadi, or sweet vinegar. It is prepared with freshly harvested grape must and is somewhat similar to balsamic vinegar.

Saving Greece’s culinary heritage
It is true that some of the products discussed in this article are at risk for extinction. Like many other places in the world today, Greece is facing challenges to its culinary heritage, as mass-market blandness slowly erodes tradition and small, artisinal producers are shunted out of the market. The Slow Food movement is doing what it can to combat this trend, though it is not a very active movement in Greece today. To ensure survival of its traditional foods, Greece must work to find a wider audience for its regional products. I believe the only hope of specialty food producers in Greece is export, for even within one Greek region it is sometimes difficult to locate delicacies from another. To illustrate, I was in a small market in a tiny village on the island of Kea the other weekend searching for kefalotiri. They had none – but they did have plenty of nondescript yellow and white cheeses from Ireland and Denmark. Luckily, this market is still the exception and not the rule.
So calling all foodies – there are foods and drinks here you will find nowhere else; foods whose origins date to antiquity and whose tastes are zestily unique. Come one, come all, I promise you it will be an adventure you can really sink your teeth into.