The Greek mainland by car

My small but inexpensive-to-maintain Hyundai Accent- which is always covered in a thin film of dust, reflecting the climatic change noticed among Cretans which is windier than it used to be, with more red rain falling these days than it did in the past - has served me well for nearly 14 years, and continues to get me from A to B, as well as providing lifts to my colleagues whose old BMWs and/or Audis are too costly to drive these days.

When we travel in Greece on holiday, we always take the car - Evritania, 1200m above sea level, Central Greece, 2011.

Needless to say, they are unable to afford another German car themselves. German cars are also getting increasingly more difficult to re-sell - nobody wants to buy used cars that are uneconomical, and owners don't want to accept a low price for something that was overpaid.

Free press Cretavoice, Issue 8, May 2013: Fuel consumption reaches nadir levels - many Hania petrol stations in the red. I used to pass 7 petrol stations in the space of 5km when driving my kids to school - it was only to be expected that some would close down (two did). But they all sell petrol too expensively, so I hardly ever use them, preferring instead one close to my office. We can't really claim that the crisis is to blame - another crisis was brewing before the financial one. The silver lining in the expensive petrol prices is that the roads are quieter as there are fewer joy-riders.  

I may have never owned a German car myself, but at least I can still afford to drive the one I have. Admittedly, the car is getting old and will need to be replaced some time soon. I would like to buy another new one, but it's a buyer's market these days in the used car trade, so I know my next car will not be a new one. However, it will probably be a German model: apparently, used Audis sell for less than new Asian models, according to my husband. He once owned a VW Passat taxi, which came to an untimely end after a decade of dedicated service (someone crashed into him and the car was a write-off). He has since bought two Skodas, which haven't treated him badly, but he remembers the German car with greater affection. Whatever our next cars are, they won't be new. Why spend more when you know you can spend less?

If there is one thing that makes me angry about the crisis, it is that it has made it difficult for my family to take an annual summer road vacation in Greece. Mainland Greece is not as well known as the Greek islands. We rarely visit islands because we live on one. A car trip in Greece is now every expensive for the average Greek. I'm not talking about about the taverna meals or overnight accommodation - they are relatively cheap. But ferry tickets (including the cost of transporting a car), petrol costs and toll station fees make travelling by car around Greece rather expensive. The economic crisis has not stopped us travelling abroad to European destinations - cheap flights are easy to find these days. But absolutely nothing can compare to a Greek summer holiday. The Greek landscape offers much more than just coastline and good beaches. We have snowy mountains, rushing rivers, dramatic waterfalls, picturesque villages, war memorials, ancient sites, religious communities, natural landscape, railroad attractions, lake districts, rugged coastline, culinary delights, and above all, the perfect climate to enjoy it all in.

What follows is the highlights of our Greek summer road trip in September 2011, the last time we travelled through mainland Greece. The end of a summer is a good time to travel in Greece as most of the tourists have gone back home. I hope you all enjoy the photos - they show a very different Greece to the one I present from my hometown.


Milies, Pilio

A non-descript rocky beach, Pilio

Dinner by the seaside at a coastal village in Pilio

Pilio architecture, with Volos and the Pagasitiko Gulf in the horizon

Pilio architecture

Meteora monastery

Meteora monastery

Islamic architecture, Ioannina

Near the home of Ali Pasa, on the Island in the Lake of Ioannina

Souvlaki at Ioannina

Ioannina Lake and the surrounding fields, viewed from the Perama cave exit

The artificial lake of Kremaston

The old bridge in Arta

River in Epirus

Dinner at Karpenisi

Karpenisi forest

Refreshments at Mikro Horio, Evritania

Velouchi mountain, Evritania

Small waterfall in Evritania

Abandoned carts, Evritania

Lunch in a small village in Evritania

Bakery at Karpenisi

Abandoned German machinery, Evritania

Picnic

A local in the area of Evritania

Haystacks

Lake Plastira

The dam at Lake Plastira

Pistachio trees, Makrakomi

Abandoned taverna on the old national road between Thebes and Athens

Toasted bakery bread

Hope I've whetted your apetite.

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Giritli - Cretan Turks (Τουρκοκρητικοί)

One of the greatest upheavals in the history of contemporary Greek times is the moment when the Greek citizens of Mikrasia (Asia Minor, as Ottoman Turkey was known before 1923) were forced to leave their homeland and adopt another one, a period in history known as the population exchange. People were literally thrown out of their homes when the Smyrna crisis broke out in 1922. Mikrasiates and Moslems were forced to flee their homes and adopt a new homeland. Much has been written about the stories of the people involved in the population exchange.

Not quite a century has passed since then, so the wounds of this upheaval have had time to heal, but there are still people who will never forget their ancestors' former homelands, people like Mufide Pekin whose grandmother was in her mid-30s when she arrived in Turkey after her family left Crete, and Hakki Bilgehan whose parents lived in Crete up until 1924 when they were forcibly removed from the island in 1924 through the population exchange. Their parents spoke constantly about their life in Crete, about their former neighbours, and the happy days they lived there. These feelings are shared by many other Tourkokritiki (Giritli in Turkish), Turks with Cretan origins. With the help of the Foundation of the Lausanne Treaty Emigrants, many Turks and Cretans have found the sites of their ancestors' former homes in Greece and Turkey.

Cretan Turks talk about their experiences

Monument dedicated to the memory of the Asia Minor catastrophe in Hania, showing a mother and her children sighting for the first time the place where they were brought to after being forcibly removed from their homeland. 

"Who am I?", "Where did I come from?", "How did my grandfather live?" To be able to answer all these questions means that you are closely linked to your past; it also shows that you are a wealthy person: you know your past which helps you in the present to see your way to the future.

Over 2 million people - 1.5 million Greek Christians from the East and half a million Moslems from Greece were uprooted forever from their homelands, and transported to a new country which was practically foreign to them as they had never lived there before. Only the Greeks of Constantinople and the Moslems of Western Thrace were exempted, according to the Treaty of Lausanne, which solved the  refugee issue once it was signed in 1923, a decade after the problem began to arise after the end of the Balkan Wars in 1912.

Moslem children with their
teacher in Crete

The descendants of Cretan Turks have never lived in Crete, but still keep close connections with the island, visiting it many times and searching for their ancestors' former homes. Many take back some soil in a jar to spread over their parents' and grandparents' graves. Some Cretan Turks left Crete before the Balkan Wars, and settled in North African countries; these people shed more insight about the origins of the Moslem Cretans, as they often consider themselves Cretan/Greek and have maintained the Cretan dialect, while also speaking Arabic. While Cretan Turks are not considered a minority group, they have their own identity, which was challenged by the local population when they first arrived in the newly formed Republic of Turkey, which was naturally building up its own modern identity once Ottoman rule was dissolved. Despite being Moslem, Cretan Turks were often labelled as 'infidels':

"The Cretan immigrants who landed on the Aegean coast towns and cities after the  “Population Exchange” did not speak a word of Turkish when they first arrived. This is especially true for women who were less exposed to the world outside the home. Not being able to communicate with the locals naturally resulted in the Cretan’s isolating themselves  and closing up in their own communities. Greek was spoken in the house and Turkish was a second language to be learned at school or in the neighborhood. During our oral-history interviews, almost all Cretan informants of the first generation immigrants reported that  they learned Turkish at school. Needless to say, the Cretan Muslims were not received very well by the locals or other immigrants whose mother tongue was Turkish . Just because they spoke Cretan Greek or spoke a very broken Turkish led to their being labelled as “yari gavur” or “half-infidel” in their social environments. They had to face humiliation and “othering” by the locals just because they sounded different.  As we can easily see, their “Muslim identity” was challenged or at least questioned because they did not fit well  into the picture of a Turkish speaking society. The language problem of the Cretans was articulated by all our informants and it seems to be the main factor that held together the Cretans in solidarity and coherence more than anything else. Today, the Cretan Greek is still spoken inside the Cretan house but naturally to a lesser degree as the third and fourth generations are getting more and more assimilated   and are forgetting  their mother tongue." (Source:http://www.lozanmubadilleri.org.tr/ingilizce/en_mufidepekin_twistedmemories.htm)

Greek cuisine has been heavily influenced by the Asia Minor immigrants, leading many to say that the Greek and Turkish cuisines are very similar. But few people realise just how much Cretan cuisine influenced Turkish cuisine, through the traditions brought by the Cretan Turks, namely through the use of wild greens; it is believed that the use of horta was not common in Turkey until the Cretan Turks introduced the local population to their uses. This new culinary tradition for the Turks gave rise to anecdotes about the newly-arrived refugees:

"A Cretan goes into a field with a cow. The son of the field’s owner runs to his father, and says “Papa! A cow and a Cretan are in the field! What should I do?”  His father answers: “don’t bother the cow, she’ll eat until she’s full and leave. But the Cretan will gather everything before he leaves. So chase the Cretan out!”

It is this connection, the relation between Greek food and Greek identity as expressed in Crete, that I have the honour to meet the descendants of a Cretan Turkish family, who came from Istanbul to Crete on a recent visit, and asked to meet me in Hania...

Candia, Crete, 1923. Mostafa's father and grandfather Ibrahim leave their Greek homeland, never to return. Mostafa is born 10 years later in Turkey. At the age of 80, he has come to visit his ancestors' homeland with his son Ibrahim. Mostafa speaks the Cretan dialect that he grew up with in Turkey. Together with the Greek language, he also grew up with the Cretan food customs that his parents took back with them when they were forcibly removed from Crete after the population exchange following the Smyrna catastrophe.

Four generations of Cretan Turks: the men in the photographs were all born in Crete while Mostafa and Ibrahim were born in Turkey. The photo on the left is the maternal grandfather of Mostafa Jnr (pictured here with his son Ibrahim Jnr). The top photo on the right is Mostafa Snr; the bottom photo Mostafa's father, Ibrahim Snr who left Crete in 1923. Ibrahim Snr went by the name Arnaoutakis, which shares the same stem base as the the well-known name (in Greek) of Arnaoutoglou: -akis signifies a Cretan name while -oglou shows Turkish origins. 

It is difficult to describe the emotions felt on meeting Ibrahim and his father Mostafa, who trace their Cretan roots back to Ibrahim's grandfather and great-grandfather (also called Mostafa Ibrahim) as they came to my homeland searching for their roots. We had arranged a cafe as a meeting place by the Venetian harbour, and it was there that I realised I was their only human contact in Crete. Mostafa began to speak to me in the Cretan dialect from the moment I met him.

Less than a hundred years ago, there was a place in Crete called Candia, where the Latin script was regularly seen in tandem with the official Greek language, where it was used to represent the Turkish language.

"I speak Romeika," he tells me in Greek with a Cretan accent, "like my afendi did." He does not say 'Ellinika' (Greek), using the word that the Greek language was called when his parents left the island before he was born (Romeika = Roman = language spoken in a Roman-occupied country). Nor does he call his parents 'goneis', as Greeks would now say; he talks of his afendi. "Αλλά δε κατέω καλά", he says apologetically. ("I don't speak it well.") This was hardly the case - I understood what he was saying most of the time. His knowledge of the language has declined now that he doesn't have anyone to speak it with - but it hasn't been purged. He remembers the life of Crete - and the language of Crete - as it was a hundred years ago.

Mostafa speaking with the cafe owner, who wanted to see the photos of his kafetzi grandfather - Mostafa Snr ran a coffee house in Candia (modern-day Iraklio). 

Mostafa's mother's family lived in Hania, but his father's family lived in a place he calls Candia, which now goes by the name of Iraklio, known as the capital city of Crete. "Half of us were Haniotes, the other half Kastrini," he said, pointing eastwards in the direction of Iraklio, whose people were also known as 'castle people' (kastro - castle) after the large fortress found in Iraklio. Haniotes also referred to Irakliotes as Kastrini in my parents' times; this is now largely old usage, still heard among old people - just like Mostafa. Mostafa's wife's family also came from Crete, as does his son's wife's mother. The family can trace back their roots to at least three generations before they were born. Like modern people of the second millenia, Mostafa's grandfathers did not stay put in one place - migration is a constant theme since Oddyseus' time, and his grandfathers traveled to and from Crete mainly as soldiers.

Washing down the afternoon with raki (tsikoudia, Cretan firewater). 

"Κουβεντιάζω πολύ," Mostafa says to me, "stop me if I am talking too much." But how can you stop someone from talking too much when you want to know more about them? By the end of the afternoon, Mostafa had made friends with all the cafe staff, re-telling his story to them too. He had never forgotten his parents' Cretan language, the one they raised him on in Turkey, and this was his first time in Crete; he was making up for the time he lost after his parents died. By the time we all left the cafe, we were all drinking raki, and the Cretan Turks had made many friends. (That was the biggest honour for me, bringing these people together, helping to forge new friendships.)

My presents from Istanbul - the kalitsounia are home-made in the traditional shape of lichnarakia (as in Crete) and peinirli (Turkish filled pizza). On my part, I bought them some traditional xerotigana from Hania, fried rolled pastry dipped in honey syrup, which were individually wrapped and can be stored for a few days. When I showed them to my guests, they told me they remembered their mothers making long curly-shaped xerotigana, which we call avgokalamara - they are made in similar ways, but the avgokalamara are reminiscent of Southern and Eastern Crete, whereas the round xerotigano that I bought (an ever-present feature of Hania weddings and baptisms) is common in Hania. A century later, The Cretan Turks still remember the food of their ancestors.   

Despite being an immigrant of sorts myself, I have always been able to connect with both my homeland and birth country, which has not been possible in Ibrahim's case. It is both a source of pride and humility to know that you have a full grasp of your past: "Obviously without the past, you cannot go into the future with wisdom”.

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Gastro-tourism (Γαστροτουρισμός)

Elias Mamalakis, a well respected Greek gastronomist whose TV series have always enjoyed great popularity, was at MAICh today, speaking about gastrotourism, in the framework of a researchers' meeting about future tourism prospects. In his short speech, he reiterated a number of points made many times about tourism in Greece, which I have already alluded to in other blog posts, namely:
- tourists in Greece are generally of the package type,
- they do not spend much money on activities we, the providers, perceive as worth spending money on,
- they look for cheap prices and not quality services, and
- Greek laws and regulations impede tourist development.

www.maich.gr

Therefore, gastro-tourism in the general sense, is not for everyone: it's mainly for the well-padded pocket of the well-informed tourists, and above all, it is organised in a formal manner by a tour operator, not a state representative. Gastro-tourists are brought into contact with producers and restaurants by well-informed executives, and these producers and restaurants will be offering tailor-made services which are often not advertised on the internet. The itinerary for each tourist/group will be unique and will naturally come with a higher price-tag. This is not to say that cheap gastro-tours cannot be arranged: we can all create our own gastro-tours over the internet, simply by surfing through the web. But the gastro-tourists are those that are willing to pay for someone to do all that for them, and even more, going beyond what is being offered on the web. Therefore, gastro-trourism is very hard to execute - it's a highly specialised high-level branch of tourism, going beyond the mere act of feeding people.

Elais Mamalakis at the podium, with the Director of MAICh, Dr George Baoureakis, in the background

Elias reminded us of the human aspect of cooking for visitors. Above all, people must show ΚΑΛΗ ΔΙΑΘΕΣΗ - good will and a happy countenance. People in the food world must show an active interest in the sport that they are performing - that means everyone, from the driver of the bus/taxi that takes someone to an event on an itinerary even though that driver may have a splitting headache, to the cheese-maker whose equipment might be malfunctioning the moment the visitors arrive, to the cook whose assistant just burnt a sauce, to the low-paid immigrant hired to clear the plates off the table. In other words, all the chain involved in gastro-tourism must show a professional image.

In Greece, we are extremely lucky to have some of the bases of gastro-tourism provided to us 'de facto', without making any special effort to have them:
- Greece has an exceptionally good climate
- Greece is a very beautiful country
- Greece produces a high degree of natural nutritional elements

The future of tourism is in our hands...

An added bonus is that throughout Greek history, the concept of hospitality has always been held in high regard. So the foundations for gastro-tourism do not need to be laid here. What needs to be done is to find a nice 'wrapper for it, to make it presentable to people who do not know our culture well, and that includes Greeks too, since every region is different.

The icing on the cake in Elias' speech was when he mentioned that Crete is one of the few regions in Greece that can truly claim to have ζώσα παραδοσιακή γαστρονομία : a living traditional gastronomy. This may sound rather egotistical, but there is a certain ring of truth to it: there are very few places in Greece where non-generic Greek food is not being served everywhere. Even when you go to the tiniest village cafe in Crete and ask for a few nibbles to have with your drink, you can expect to be served some locally produced fresh seasonal produce and some locally made products. A typical meal in Crete will include very regional ingredients combined in a very regionally unique manner.

What I like about the food that is prepared for all our guests at MAICh is that it is not elitist; it is prepared for everyone using the same ingredients as a base, with time being the biggest investment according to the occasion. Food should not be treated like a luxury - everyone needs to eat fresh quality food.

Through his work, Elias has had the opportunity to see some of the most isolated places in Greece, so he must have had a reason to say this. Cretan cuisine is not only different in some aspects to Greek cuisine, but it is also well and truly living and continuing to develop. And for the tourist to truly understand the significance of this statement, s/he must be an informed tourist, like the gastro-tourist.

A variety of cheesecakes inspired by locally made soft Cretan cheeses. The raw zucchini flower was stuffed with cheese and walnut and topped with marmalade. Flowers are often added to salads in their raw form.

Food in Crete can be created for the highest level of tastes, but its deconstruction will show that it is made up of food that is available to everyone.

Quick update: I got the chance to talk to Elias for just a couple of minutes at the end of his stay at MAICh and told him about my interests in food as a blogger, and how I have often written about many of the aspects he covered in his speech. He was glad that we were in agreement, auto-confirming each other's observaitons - that's what I liked most about Elias, he's simple, he's humble and he's honest.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

Suicide (Αυτοκτονία)

Yani was about my age. I'd known him for about 16 or so years. I should really say that I had known of him, as if we were aware of each other's presence. He was strange and I was careful. Our houses stood next to each other, but I always made sure to go to that side of my garden when I knew no one would be there to perve.

I knew his dad better as I usually relate to older people. Panagos didn't have an easy time raising his family. His wife died of cancer, leaving behind a baby girl with Down's syndrome. Yani and his older brother practically raised her. The windows of Panagos' house were permanently closed. I don't think I ever saw them open, except perhaps once when a lady had come to do an annual cleaning of the house. The yard was full of carpentry equipment, scrap metal and all sorts of other junk that often looked as though it had lain there untouched for at least a decade.

Panagos wasn't a great talker, understandably with what he had to put up with in his daily life. But even though he bore many crosses, he always managed a smile when a situation merited it. Not much more than a smile, but this showed that he hadn't forgotten that there is somethign about life that can make you happy. I was always amazed that he never remarried - he was such a good looking man, with typical Cretan looks. But I guess he had too good a heart to do that - how could he when he knew what kind of house he'd be bringing a new woman into.

Panagos must have seen some joy out of his elder son's wedding, and the birth of his grandchildren, but he was also witnessing the opposite extreme of happiness: the depression, the madness and finally the detachment of Yani who he could no longer encourage. How could he explain to Yani to remain strong when there was little to hope for in Yani's life? The middle child feels a sens of not knowing where it belongs, and Yani was not an exception.

Panagos' roots came from higher ground and he has struggled throughout his life to overcome daily difficulties and psychological issues. Even retirement has been a struggle for him, what with having to watch the degeneration of his middle child. And now he has to live with the sight of his dead son who he found in that dark bedroom that never saw any light for years. Yani's roots were firmly planted in urban life, and urban life is just not what it used to be any more, not even in this sun-filled resort town.

I'm glad I visited Panagos today. He was happy to see me. In fact, I could tell that he was glad to see me. But I was shocked to see how much my old neighbourhood had degenerated. People who were always curious to see what was going on in each other's hosues were now sitting cooped up inside their homes, while Panagos was surrounded by only a few old age pensioners like himself. And there was also Maria,
bringing a tray in and out of the kitchen with glasses of water and orange juice. Suddenly they were too busy.

In Greece, it's not true to say that we don't know what is going on inside somebody else's home. It's often teh case that we do know. We can't always stop it, but we do know. And it's not just an economic crisis.

©All Rights Reserved/Organically cooked. No part of this blog may be reproduced and/or copied by any means without prior consent from Maria Verivaki.

EU olive oil wars

The latest olive oil news to hit the headlines is that the EU has decided to ban the use or refillable olive oil dispensers in eateries all over Europe. So the classic foursome found on every taverna table is set to become a threesome. The news has been met mainly with scorn by the European press:

 Located at a summer restaurant by the sea in Hania

"They should let the people decide what olive oil bottles they want to use and not dictate uniformity from the center," said Paul Nuttall, a member of the European parliament from Britain's UK Independence Party. (Source: http://www.ekathimerini.com/4dcgi/_w_articles_wsite1_1_17/05/2013_499485 )

Sam Clark, the food writer, chef and proprietor of the award winning Moro restaurant in London, told The Daily Telegraph that the ban would stop him serving his customers specially selected Spanish olive oil in dipping bowls with bread when they are seated at their table. "This will affect us. It is about choice and freedom of choice. We buy our oil, which we have selected from a farm in Spain, to serve our customers," he said.(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/10064787/EU-to-ban-olive-oil-jugs-from-restaurants.html )

"If the European Union was logical and properly run, people wouldn't be so anti-Europe. But when it comes up with crazy things like this, it quite rightly calls into question their legitimacy and judgment," said Marina Yannakoudakis, a British Conservative member of the European Parliament. (Source: http://www.enetenglish.gr/?i=news.en.home&id=956 )

Critics have accused the EU of unwarranted meddling at a time of economic crisis. (Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22579896 )

Britain, which regularly cites perceived meddling from Brussels as the reason for its strained relationship with Europe, abstained [from the vote]. (Source: 
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/may/19/eu-banning-olive-oil-jugs-restaurants )

Enzo Sica, owner of Italian restaurant Creche des Artistes close to the EU quarter of Brussels, said the rules would prevent him from buying his extra virgin olive oil direct from a traditional supplier in Italy. "They say they're thinking about consumers, but this will increase costs for us and our customers as well. In this time of crisis, surely they should be worrying about other things rather than stupid stuff like this. (Source: 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/05/18/us-eu-oliveoil-idUSBRE94H09820130518 )

On the face of it, it sounds like a stupid law, meddling with an age-old custom in an attempt to standardise a habit. But it's actually already been implemented in Portugal and some parts of Italy; the proposal has been accepted by many other countries, including the main producers of olive oil (Spain, Italy, and Greece). Germany, one of the prime EU health-safety-hygiene freaks, voted against the proposed law, while the UK, another laws-and-regulations freak, abstained from voting, which can be put down indirectly to the current anti-EU stance ripping UK politics apart. The far-right who recently rose in popularity in the UK are using this proposed law to sway people against the Europeanisation of Britain. So the anti-campaigners of this law could be said to be influenced by factors other than logic.

In the meantime, the UK has become a connoisseur nation when it come to live oil quality (see http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/01/stains-in-extra-virgin-olive-oil.html) while Germany exports olive oil even though it isn't even a producer ( see http://www.organicallycooked.com/2012/01/stolen-heritage.html)!

The reasons for bringing in this measure are much less deviant than the excuses people have against it: customers are often fooled by being served cheap olive oil, non-refillable bottles will improve hygiene, tamper-proof packaging protects the consumer, the proposed law attempts to reassure consumers that the olive oil has not been diluted with an inferior product, among others; above all, it helps to preserve the image of olive oil, as getting what one pays for will now become more transparent to the consumer. There do seem to be many good reasons for the law after all, which is why it seemed a perfectly acceptable step to take...

A typical self-service eaterie in the UK (Ponti's, Lewisham Shopping Centre, which closed down two months after this photo was taken - a tea and coffee muffin shop opened in its place instead). Note that ALL the dressings and sauces are packaged, and in this case, none are left on the table (making that hot-headed British Conservative member of the European Parliament with the very Cretan-sounding name look a bit of a ninny now - she must be very used to sights like this in the UK). Can you imagine being served HP sauce form a refillable container? Not everyone needs or uses extra dressings. Greeks use a lot of olive oil, but this will not necessarily create a barrier to the bottling issue (there are ways to get round this law, and they are waiting to be created). 

Taking the case of the average Cretan restaurant, the olive oil used in it could possibly be the owner's own production; at any rate, it will be bought and/or stored in bulk. The average olive oil canister found on a restaurant table has a capacity of about 100-200ml, so filling up small containers sounds like extra packaging and costs, especially at a time of crisis. But the owner of the average Greek (as opposed to Cretan) restaurant will not be a producer - there are many parts of Greece that do NOT produce olive oil - so no doubt s/he is buying the olive oil they use in their business. It will come in (approximately) 17-litre canisters. From here, the crockery sitting at the tables will be filled up...

... but hang on: olive oil connoisseurs will have heard about the different uses of olive oil with different acidity levels: low acidity is good for salads, while higher acidity is better in cooking, and refined olive oil is useful in baking. If olive oil is being poured out of 17-litre canisters, it's probably being used like all-purpose flour - one size fits all, and you know how awful those clothes look on you, don't you?

It's all about gimmicks - we remember restaurants for their perks. (KOUZINA EPE, Hania)

Seriously, when you have been eating horse for beef for more than a year, surely you'd welcome a law that demands greater transparency in your food chain, especially when you live in a country where only one in five people work in agriculture, and your country imports most of its food needs out of necessity.   There can simply be no trust in the refillable bottle of extra-virgin olive oil - or the refillable sea salt dispenser, or the gourmet balsamic vinegar bottle, for that matter. Restaurant owner-producers would now be forced to label their product, certifying that it is indeed what it purports to be.

We cherish the corked wine bottle and scorn the cheap home-made bulk wine, which most Greek restaurants and tavernas use; complaints of inferior wine are often based on the use of home-brew. Over-priced bottled water is also seen as superior to tap water. So the problem with the excess packaging can be solved by recycling. We dispose so much for recycling purposes that it hardly seems an issue to throw out a few more glass/metal/aluminium/plastic vessels.

Above: Ladywell Tavern, Lewisham, London.
Below: Spanich Galleon, Greenwich, London.

You may think that choosing what wine or water to drink is up to the customer, who specifically orders it, whereas the olive oil canister is sitting on the table, waiting to be used. When it's provided for free, it doesn't actually have to be there in the first place. Restaurants may choose to serve their salads already dressed, like they usually do in Western countries - there is no need to have a canister of olive oil on the table. Restaurants are now vying for trade - it's their choice what corners they will cut. Some restaurants don't serve bread any more, which used to be a pretext for a cover charge. At the end of the day, it's up to the restaurant to make use of the laws for its benefit.

Soya sauce is often brought bottled to your table (WONG KEI, London). It may be a refillable bottle, but it can be checked for quality. If it is not the same soy sauce that is stated in the bottle, then the restaurant has to answer quite a few questions.

What about dipping bowls which are served with bread as an appetiser? If that is being paid for (and it wasn't provided for free in the first place), why not bring both the bowls and the canisters to the table, so that people can see for themselves where that oil you are serving came from? This leads to a whole new ball game - novel packaging ideas will follow on from the importance of correct labelling, which is how most olive oil snobs buy their EVOO. The new law will create more mystique around elitist culinary traditions, which can only lead to more profits.

The cost factor will figure greatly among the moaners and groaners of the restaurant trade - but the cleverest dicks will have already figured this one out ages ago, especially since Portugal is already implementing the law. Olive oil is already being transported to restaurants in canisters for cooking use. Now, they can have some of the best EVOO transported to them in the same way, in smaller vessels, which will be placed at the tables and can then be admired by the customers (for their pretty packaging), who will read the labels (to check the validity of the product), and try the oil (it had be better be good, or else...).

These bottles are part of a collection at my workplace (www.maich.gr) - they are very old, and the oil contained in them won't be useable now; the collection is purely for souvenir purposes.


To go that extra mile, in EU olive oil-producing countries (as opposed to EU non-producing countries like Germany and the UK, who also happen to be the greatest users of olive oil in EU non-producing countries), during the tourist season, the restaurant could encourage customers to try the olive oil in the vessel (or to take the bottle home with them as a souvenir, if they don't wish to to use extra oil in the food they were served); if the customer likes it enough to want to use it in their own food back home, they can buy more in larger containers from the restaurant itself. Who said there is no profit to be made from this gesture after all?! The possibilities are endless, in a sense; I'm only providing a taster here. And that free little bottle of olive oil - it's one of the best ways for Greece to nationalise its product!

Could the restaurant owner have a choice in the matter? There are ways to work around this issue too - what about placing an own-bottled olive oil (eg garlic, lemon, herbs, etc) on the table that the owner has scented and produced in the restaurant kitchen? I'm sure there are others already implementing this law by now, who have already solved this problem. I doubt it would raise the cost of a meal -there is no more room for raising prices in crisis-ridden EU; people are already going out for a meal less often.remember, what is provided free doesn't have to be provided at all in the first place. Olive oil could be bought to the table only if the customer asks for it. The bottom line is: would you go to a restaurant that serves inferior olive oil (or wine for that matter)? The new law is forcing the restaurant trade to clean up their act!

Olive oil is treated like gold in many countries; here in Greece, in fact, we like to call it 'green gold'. It's time we began promoting it like gold outside Greece, which will help nationlise the product and boost its image.

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