Cuisine of Dodecanese
The Dodecanese-literally the “Twelve Islands”-actually number fourteen: Astypalea, Halki, Kalymnos, Karpathos, Kassos, Kastelorizo, Kos, Leros, Leipsi, Nissyros, Patmos, Rhodes, Symi, and Tilos. There are dozens of smaller islands here, too, but most are mere parcels of rock in the sea, sparsely populated if at all.
Like all Greek islands, each of the Dodecanese is unique, with customs and foods specific to each place, and, yet, their shared history and, to some extent, geography, have shaped the cuisine over the ages and have helped give it a rare homogeneity.
Proximity to the East and to North Africa lent aromas and even specific dishes to these islands not found anywhere else in Greece. The sea, which provided the main livelihood for many people until the advent of tourism, also provided-and still does-a spate of local treasures. A history of conquests and interlopers, from the Ottoman Turks, Venetians, and Franks to the Italians, in the 20th century, has shaped the contours of the Dodecanese table in ways both subtle and obvious.
From earliest times, inhabitants of these islands moved fluidly back and forth between home and the nearby shores of Asia Minor and Egypt. Denizens of Rhodes traded avidly in ancient Naucratis, a thousand years before Christ. In antiquity, the island enjoyed a bristling wine and grain trade, profits from which enabled it to build a great navy and the legendary Colossus.
The spice trade of Byzantium and, later, the Knights of St. John, who helped bring sought-after spices to western Europe, have left a palpable mark on the flavors of Rhodes and other Dodecanese islands. Centuries later, the Italians, who ruled over the Dodecanese from 1912 to 1948, left a legacy, too; dishes that seem inherently Italian, such as squid ink risotto, for example, have been part of the local cuisine for decades. Other, more recent, influences worked their way into the local cuisine thanks, for example, to the legions of local villagers who went off to work in cosmopolitan Alexandria and brought back with them a handful of foods, such as chick pea fritters.
But local geography and necessity also, of course, shaped the overall cuisine. On some islands, such as Kalymnos, Symi, and Halki, the sea provided almost the only livelihood and so it stands to reason that its treasures appear readily in local cooking.
There is also a continuity here, the same continuity of ingredients that threads its way through all Greek cooking: ancient ingredients such as lentils, chick peas, olives, wheat, herbs, honey, and more are as vibrant a part of the kitchen today as they were three thousand years ago.
Patterns emerge that define the Dodecanese kitchen. Here, for example, the marriage of legumes and pasta is popular, evinced in the array of lentil or chick pea and pasta dishes found in Rhodes, Nisyros, Symi, Astypalea and other islands. Pasta is eaten widely in these islands, and in places like Kassos and Karpathos a few local pasta dishes have become culinary icons far beyond local shores. Bulgur wheat is also a staple in the southern Dodecanese more so than anywhere else in Greece, used readily in stuffings, pilafs and soups.
The traditional diet here boasts a host of dishes based on bread and grains. There are also many old dishes, both sweet and savory, based on flour-cream-like dishes akin to polenta that were simple, economical and sating, as well as a host of delicious, if arcane nowadays, dishes for pasta, bulgur, even stale bread cooked in milk.
VEGETABLE AND BEAN FRITTERS, filling, tasty foods derived from simple, humble ingredients, abound in both the kitchens of the Dodecanese as well as the Cyclades.
SESAME SEEDS AND TAHINI are used more here (especially in Rhodes) than anywhere else in Greece. Tahini breads and pies are made on Rhodes during Lent. There are also tahini soups and sauces for fish, and some very unusual dishes for sweetened tahini and pasta.
THE SPICE PALETTE is distinct in the Dodecanese, with cumin and cloves among the two most entrenched flavors, seasoning everything from tomato sauces, to legume dishes, stuffings, meat dishes, and sweets, especially those based on sesame seeds and nuts.
MEAT in the traditional diet was always rare. Local farmhouse preparations include the typical array of preserved and salted meats that one finds all over Greece although the charcuterie tradition is limited. Like all the islands, in the Dodecanese, too, meat cookery culminates in the yearly roasting of the Paschal lamb, which generally is stuffed and baked in a wood-burning oven.
THE SEA has always provided a wealth of raw ingredients and from it have emerged some of the most unique treats in all of Greece, especially for preserved shell fish and salted small fish.
It is virtually impossible to delineate the cuisine of 14 unique and individual islands, each with its own landscape, flora, fauna, and history. But in the Dodecanese, similar aromas, cooking techniques, and culinary lore play off one another like a fugue. These flavors, dishes, and traditions provide both a sense of place and history to contemporary cooks, but also inspiration, for the ancient, timeless ingredients that have forged the cooking of the Dodecanese are still potent forces today.