Cooking varies wildly in the Aegean (some areas, such as Mytilini, are marked by a distinctly Eastern palate), but Greek island food is generally simple, its flavours clean and pure. Sun-baked capers, fresh fish, sea sprayed herbs, a surprisingly large array of goat’s-milk cheeses and original cured meats are basic, and typical, ingredients.

Mytilini is famous for ouzo and good mezedes to accompany it, and king among them is the sardine known as papalina. About 100 tons of these fish are harvested annually from the Gulf of Kalloni – their wide, flat tins are stacked next to a pyramid of ouzo bottles in nearly every shop on the island. Read the rest of this entry »