Culinary Tourism in Crete

Catering to a whole new set of tourists, Crete Island is slowly starting a revolution with the new form of tourism it endorses. Termed Culinary Tourism, it allows visitors to indulge in the culinary practices of the island. This fairly new concept is fast catching up as tourists who love to cook and experiment with styles of cooking are gaining a lot of experience from these holidays. They are an effort to provide an educational program to participants, which will focus on culture, sustainable organic agriculture, nature and of course traditional cuisine.
The menu mainly employs fresh and local ingredients, giving you a taste of the local cuisine. The classes are specially designed to help you use flavors and nutritional elements in new and exciting ways, even in everyday items.
Crete is an island which has managed to retain its traditional styles of cooking and even now milk is taken directly from goats, without the help of milking machines, out of which a stunning and mouth watering variety of cheeses are made.
One event which is a must visit if you enjoy eating good food is the day when the village community center is laden with mind blowing variety of dishes, with each woman in the village bringing a different traditional dish to the table. It has everything from tiny fried pastry pockets, stuffed with sweet cheese, or pastries made of homemade strawberry or apricot jams, pork with wild greens or even cured olives to rabbit and innumerable artichoke dishes.
Even today the traditional Cretan way of roasting meat is employed which involves skewering the meat on spikes and then resting it on stakes which have been pounded into the ground, so that the fat can drip from the cheese, without any flare ups.