If Greece is a crossroads between East and West and old and new, Lesbos, Greece’s third-largest island, is a microcosm of these juxtapositions. This northeastern Aegean island may be known to some for its ancient resident poet Sappho and her odes to women, yet have you heard of its inviting towns, unspoiled shores, and luscious olive oils and ouzos?
Now that modern-day Greece’s economic woes have grabbed the headlines, rest assured that the islands still pulse to a timeless rhythm, far removed from the tumult of Athens. These days, the crisis has had an unexpected upside for travelers: Many hotels and restaurants have been forced to lower prices, a survival tactic that is working. Last year, Greece saw the most visitors ever, and people in the industry are expecting more of the same in 2012. The image problem belongs to Athens, and many visitors bypass the Greek capital completely, either flying by charter to specific destinations or connecting at the airport to get to the islands. Lesbos, for example, is especially accessible: less than an hour by air from Athens, with service several times daily.
Venture outside the handsome capital of Mytilene—with its pristine old mansions, many of which have been renovated as chic hotels—and the island morphs into deep country. It’s a landscape dotted with traditional villages, where farming, husbandry (mainly sheep and goats), fishing, olive oil production, and the distilling of Greece’s most renowned ouzos dominate. On the northern side of the island, Molyvos, an amphitheater-shaped fishing village, has been transformed into one of the most sophisticated and picturesque ports in all of Greece. Yachts bob along the quay and the homes have thus far defied economic distress to fetch seven figures in euros and dollars alike. Eressos, on the western coast, is said to be the birthplace of Sappho and a favorite vacation spot for gay women. Nearby is one of the island’s most visited attractions, a 20-million-year-old petrified forest.
Nature’s bounty, coupled with proximity to the shores of Anatolia, still shapes Lesbos’ unique culture. Until 1922, people traveled back and forth routinely between the island’s shores and Turkey. (Lesbos, like many Greek islands, was part of the Ottoman Empire until 1913.) In 1922, when the government of Turkey expelled a million Greeks, many settled in Lesbos. They brought their cuisine—perfumed with the seasonings of Asia Minor—with them.
A few years ago, I discovered The Notebook of Erato—a paean to the cuisine of the Greeks of Smyrna (today, Turkey’s Izmir). I pored over the book with a home cook on Lesbos, and we found in it a mirror of the island’s food—specifically, many dishes rooted in the rich, aromatic cooking of the Mikrasiates, or Asia Minor Greeks, including a wealth of eggplant recipes, rice studded with chestnuts and raisins, and cumin-scented meatball sausages, all still part of Lesbos’ culinary vernacular. Rice, such an Anatolian grain, figures prominently in many island dishes. One of my personal favorites is the sougania, an herb-and-rice-stuffed onion, made with an oblong variety that looks like a giant shallot.
The Liquid Gold of Lesbos
Lesbos is one of the greenest Greek islands and owes its lush landscape to the ancient olive tree. Almost 80 percent of its arable land is devoted to groves, and there is something akin to 126 trees for each of its almost 90,000 residents, or close to 11 million in total. Needless to say, with annual output at about 20,000 tons, it is one of the three most important areas for oil production in Greece. Unlike the sharp, peppery, and emerald-green oils of Crete and the Peloponnese, made almost entirely from the Koroneiki cultivar, Lesbos’ olive oil, produced almost exclusively from two local varieties, Kolovi and Adramytiani, is gold and its flavor more subtle and round.
Today, several small estate producers on the island have moved away from the bulk sales (mainly to Italy and Spain) that once prevailed. Some olive oils, like the award-winning Eirini produced by the Kalambokas family in Plomari, are vying for a place among the elite group of Mediterranean super-premium olive oils that are beginning to pop up in gourmet shops in the United States and elsewhere.
The estate is worth visiting and even staying at, if your idea of the perfect vacation is to be surrounded by nature in a simple, serene setting. Here, with the Kalambokases as hosts, visitors can steep themselves in all that is still so good in Greece: a respect for tradition, a passion for the ancestral land, and the vision and care needed to make age-old products relevant in the modern world.
A Spiritual Home
Ouzo is another success story. On the island, ouzo is the quaff of choice—much more so than wine. And there is good reason: Lesbos is said to be the birthplace of Greece’s national drink. This spirit tastes different on Lesbos and goes down surprisingly easily, despite the fact that it is typically between 80 and 96 proof. Plomari is home to a brand that bears its name and is considered one of the best in the entire country. Several years ago, I visited the distillery and was seduced as much by the intoxicating aroma of locally grown anise—which permeates everything and gives ouzo its characteristic flavor and its milky-white color when mixed with water—as by the row after row of copper alembics, which seemed uncannily low-tech. But Plomari’s drink, like all good ouzo, is the product of a very careful and exacting distillation process.
While anise is the signature flavor, each producer claims his own unique spice blend that may include coriander seeds, fennel seeds, star anise, cloves, mint, and even rosemary, all of which macerate in the alcohol. In the best ouzos, something even a neophyte will recognize by their smoothness and noticeable lack of cloying sweetness, the alcohol is distilled three times and then diluted with varying amounts of water until the desired alcohol content is reached. The local water, full of minerals, is thought to contribute to the quality of Lesbos ouzo.
Some of the top local brands to look for are Plomari, Barbayannis, and Pitsiladi; some are exported to the United States.
Sardines Straight From the Bay
The large southern bay of Kalloni is one of hundreds of bays and coves that lace the coastline of Lesbos, blessing this island with some of the most pristine beaches in the Aegean. Yet Kalloni has more than good looks going for it: Here spawns a small, plump sardine that is made more tasty thanks to a rich diet of plankton in the bay’s waters. Locals savor it right off the boat—grilled, drizzled with local olive oil, and sprinkled with sea salt. The fresh sardine recipe that follows is a similarly elemental preparation, baked with lemon, garlic, parsley, and, of course, olive oil.
Nearby, you can actually see mountains of sea salt piled in the distance, since Kalloni also is home to some of Greece’s most important saltworks. Thanks to that salt and the superb quality of the fish, a canning industry has long thrived on the island, and indeed, Lesbos’ processed sardines are renowned. The method is simple: The sardines are salted for just several hours—much less time than usual—before being canned, resulting in an almost sushi-like succulence. Towers of canned Kalloni sardines are found everywhere on Lesbos, as well as online and in specialty markets in the United States. They are the de rigueur meze with ouzo and often are served with mashed green split peas or alone with a little olive oil.
Artisanal Fare
While the olive oil, ouzo, and sardines travel far and wide from Lesbos’ shores, it is less likely that you will find some of the exquisite island cheeses, including excellent feta, ladotyri (hard sheep’s-milk cheese aged in olive oil), and touloumotyri, a soft, naturally fermented cheese that ages in goat hides and is sold directly from the skin in local markets. It’s a sight!
Another specialty to seek out while there is the trahana. On Lesbos, the trahana is called koupes, because, as its name suggests, the pieces are cup-shaped, and large—not tiny and granular as elsewhere in Greece. Other island products include marzipan confections called amygdalota and some of my favorite Greek sauces and pastas.
Many of Lesbos’ packaged artisanal products have emerged out of the women’s cooperative movement; now a national initiative to provide greater independence and earning power to women, the cooperatives got their start here on the island, in Petra, in 1983. Today, Lesbos’ numerous co-ops produce a range of traditional items, from spoon sweets (preserves of seasonal fruits and nuts put up in simple syrup) to local pasta and confections.
Other island specialties have sprung from the imaginations and industriousness of impassioned individuals, the Papayiannides family and Christina Pandeleimonti among them. From the small but thriving Papayiannides' Cottage Industry, watch for sauces and jams based on old family recipes. My favorites are the more contemporary pairings, such as a delicious tomato sauce flavored with orange and white wine.
Pandeleimonti started her Mylelia brand of pasta on a lark after she and her husband renovated a 17th-century mill and began grinding their own flour. From initially making pasta for friends, Pandeleimonti parlayed her craft into a serious business and dozens of different products, all beautifully packaged. Some have made their way to the shelves of Harrods. Pandeleimonti’s most recent venture was the renovation of an old olive press, another worthwhile excursion.
Lesbos truly is a microcosm of Greece, yet of Greece at its best. The current economic situation is spurring many people to move back to their native villages—to farm, take part in agritourism, and more. Rich in history and natural beauty, Lesbos could be a case study in how to make delicious, traditional bounty relevant today.
Fresh Sardines Baked with Lemon, Garlic, and Parsley
Recipe by Diane Kochilas, reprinted with permission from Meze: Small Plates to Savor and Share From the Mediterranean Table (William Morrow)
In the Aegean, sardines still abound. Greeks eat tons of them in dozens of different ways, from grilled to salted to baked, like these below, with the classic duo of garlic and lemon.
Makes 6 to 8 servings
1/3 cup olive oil
1 large red onion, sliced into thin rings
2 pounds fresh sardines, gutted and heads removed*
4 garlic cloves, cut into thin slivers
Salt to taste
Juice of 1 large lemon
1 large lemon, cut into thin rounds
1/2 cup packed, finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Brush 2 tablespoons of the olive oil on the bottom of an ovenproof baking dish large enough to hold the sardines in one layer.
2. Spread the onion slices on the bottom of the dish in one layer, reserving the remaining rings. Place the sardines in the dish snugly next to each other. Place the garlic slivers between the fish, in various places all over the pan. Season with salt. Pour the lemon juice over the fish. Place the lemon rounds over the fish, covering the surface as evenly as possible. Sprinkle the remaining onions on top. Drizzle the remaining olive oil over the contents of the dish and bake, covered, for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the fish is fork tender and the onions are cooked but still a little crunchy. Serve hot, sprinkled with parsley.
*Cut away and discard the heads and viscera from the sardines. Wash very well and drain in a colander.
Diane Kochilas conducts cooking classes and tours in Greece and is the author of 18 cookbooks, including Meze: Small Plates to Savor and Share From the Mediterranean Table and the forthcoming Country Cooking of Greece (Chronicle). Her new book, due for release in October, includes several foods of Lesbos. Kochilas is also the consulting chef at Boukiés, a New York City meze restaurant slated to open in March.