OP: West Cretan Cooking
Talos Press, 2003. Hardcover. Near Fine. First printing.
Artist, educator, co-founder of the Jewish Museum of Greece, and author of several books, Nicholas Stavroulakis’ (1932–2017) sense of urgency for preserving the stories and food traditions of disappearing communities led to an archival body of work. His is a name we think worth knowing.
In the mid-1990s Stavroulakis settled in Crete where he led the restoration project of the Etz Hayyim synagogue, which was destroyed during WWII. Out of this time on the largest of the Greek isles, Stavroulakis researched and wrote West Cretan Cooking (2003).
Like his Cookbook of the Jews of Greece (1986), West Cretan Cooking anticipates a loss of old ways with rapid globalization and an aging population of practitioners.
Acknowledging the inherent internationalism of a strategic access point connecting the Ionian, the Agean, the Mediterranean, and the Libyan seas, and its shifting jurisdiction under successive empires, Stavroulakis seeks to document the ancient and intricate foodways of the island before they make way for the next iteration.
The flavorful, bright food of the Mediterranean is evident in dishes like:
- Psarosoupa—fish soup fortified with root vegetables and rice, sprinkled with fresh dill
- Kotopoulo me Elies—chicken stewed in red wine with garlic, herbs, and green olives
- Kolokythoboureko—boreki stuffed with red pumpkin, eggs, cheese, and mint
- Sarakostiana—a sweet Lenten cake flavored with cinnamon, walnuts and raisins, orange juice and zest, and tsikoudia (grape brandy)—delectable, while avoiding the forbidden milk, eggs, and butter
Illustrated with the author’s own beautiful artwork, this is a handsome book, meaningful to the culinary historian and the curious, alike. Ours is a Near Fine first printing, unused.