If when you travel you love to taste typical food, here is what you should not miss on holiday in the beautiful island of Rhodes: all the gastronomic suggestions from appetizers to desserts and wines.
La Greece, as you know, it has been for years one of the main destinations visited by tourists in the summer months, capable of mixing the beautiful sea with art and culture. But Greece is also loved for hers xenia, a term that encompasses the sacredness ofhospitality, a feeling that the Greeks have cultivated since ancient times.
Of all the islands that overlook the Aegean the one I love most is definitely Rhodes, my second home for 5 summer seasons as a Tourist Assistant.
Rhodes: what to expect
The island of the sun, roses, hibiscus and the mythical Colossus. Usually I presented it to tourists with these words but also as theperfect island for a one week vacation because not excessively large (with a rental car you can take a complete tour and see everything in a few days), with wonderful coves like the Antony Queen Bay, or long sandy beaches such as Tsambika (favorite of families with small children). In Rhodes you will also find so much history and beautiful landscapes such as the white and shiny Lindos, the naturalistic site of Petaloudes with the Valley of the Butterflies or the fortified city of Rhodes.
Rhodes gastronomy
If this is not enough, you should know that another key role, not to be underestimated at all, is offered by gastronomy, which is not a trivial matter for an Italian. The gastronomy of Rhodes it is not limited to the best known classics such as Greek salad, moussaka or souvlaki.
On an island like Rhodes, from which the Turkish coast can be clearly seen, the contamination between East and West is not only seen in art but also at the table. In fact, spices such as cumin or dill are present in many dishes.
What to taste: typical gastronomy of Rhodes
To taste the real Greece at the table, first you have to start from mezédes: a series of delicious appetizers.
La Feta, the Greek sheep's cheese par excellence, is the king of many appetizers, including the saganaki (the name derives from the pan in which it is cooked) which is precisely fried cheese to be served hot (different cheeses are used if you prefer feta you have to ask for feta saganaki).
Feta and other typical cheeses
Feta is used to fill different types of pies: there are many.
For example the thyropita, the most common, made with filo dough. There kolokithopita instead it is made with courgettes. There kremmidopita with onions and spanokopita with spinach. Feta is also cooked in the oven, together with tomatoes, aubergines or peppers or to flavor shrimp (garides saganaki) or stewed mussels (mydia saganaki).
THEHalloumi is the other dominant cheese, typical of Cyprus, you can still find it in all Greek taverns. It has a less pungent flavor than feta, it is less salty in fact and it is very good grilled.
Also try the pitaroudia, chickpea pancakes flavored with cumin, typical of Rhodes. The keftedes, meatballs that can be meat, fish or vegetable.
Typical is also the psarosoupa, a fish and rice soup and the manatsouki, beans or chickpeas that are cooked in a ceramic jug.
Another typical dish to try is the Simy's shrimp, small fried pink shrimps that are caught in Simy, a small island 20 km from Rhodes.
Sauces to taste
Then indulge yourself with sauces to savor with pita like the melitzanosalata made with aubergines and garlic, the taramosalada made with fish roe, the tirokafteri, spicy with feta and chillies and the tzatziki, the yogurt and cucumber sauce that is used as an accompaniment and side dish for many dishes.
The main courses are almost always meat and fish, often grilled, accompanied with chips, salad or rice.
Gyros pita and souvlaki (the meat skewers) and the moussaka they are among the most tasted dishes. But there are also the soutzoukákia, flavored meatballs, le gemmist, tomatoes and peppers stuffed with rice and spices, lo stifado a stew of meat, and many other dishes based on lamb, beef and pork, always worked with many spices.
Meat excels on Greek tables. But also try the octopus, kotopoulo, which according to tradition, is hung and left to dry in the sun and then grilled.
Sweets and alcohol
For the desserts the Turkish recipes of the baklava and kataifi, which abound in honey. Greek honey is naturally one of the things you can take home, very good in the variations of orange and thyme; dried fruit is also highly recommended.
Typical is the melekouni based on sesame seeds: a snack given during parties and weddings.
Among the streets of Rhodes you will see many shop windows with loukuoni: Turkish candies, soft in a rectangular shape, flavored in many flavors and very sugary.
Il galotopita instead it is a spoon dessert made with milk and semolina: very delicate. While the orange (my favorite) is an orange pie with Greek yogurt.
Among the wines, the retsina, a table white, is the most common. Finally, to end a real Greek dinner, you cannot miss a glass of ouzo, an aniseed or metaxa liqueur, the Greek brandy.
