Vegetarian Food in Crete

Our Introduction to Vegetarian Food in Crete

Village tavernas away from the resorts serve some of the tastiest and cheapest vegetarian Cretan food. They rarely list vegetarian dishes separately, and some have no printed menu at all. Some places invite you into the kitchen to see what is cooking that day.

Vegetarian food in Crete tastes good because the fruit and vegetables are local and very fresh. Many family-run tavernas pick vegetables and salad from their own land on the day they serve them. We have never tasted potatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, aubergines, onions and tomatoes as good as the ones grown on Crete.

Cretan olive oil goes into almost every dish, both for cooking and for dressing salads. The dishes below are what vegetarians can expect on menus in Crete.

Boureki

Boureki is a Cretan baked dish of thinly sliced courgettes and potatoes layered with Cretan cheese, usually mizithra or feta. Cooks can leave the cheese out for people who don't eat it.

Some versions have a thin pastry crust on top. Boureki is baked until golden and is a filling main course for lunch in a village taverna.

Briam

Briam is a tray of mixed seasonal vegetables roasted together in olive oil. The usual vegetables are courgettes, aubergines, potatoes, peppers and ripe tomatoes, with oregano, thyme and a little garlic. The vegetables roast slowly until the edges caramelise.

Briam is eaten warm or at room temperature, with bread to mop up the juices. If you eat cheese, a little crumbled feta on top goes well with it.

Fava

Fava is a smooth purée of yellow split peas, despite its name, not of fava beans. The split peas are slow-cooked with olive oil and onion and finished with a little lemon.

Fava is usually served as a meze, topped with olive oil, sliced red onion and capers or fresh herbs. It is on the menu in seaside tavernas, mountain villages and town restaurants alike, often with bread and a glass of raki or white wine.

Courgette Balls

Courgette balls, or kolokithokeftedes, are fried fritters of grated courgette, crumbled feta, fresh mint and dill, held together with a little flour. They are crisp outside and soft inside.

Courgette balls are part of a traditional meze and usually come with a wedge of lemon and a spoonful of tzatziki. Vegetarians who avoid dairy should note that both the fritters and the tzatziki contain it.

Fennel Pies

Fennel pies, or marathopites, are small Cretan pies filled with wild fennel, often mixed with other wild greens. The dough is rolled thin around the filling and the pies are fried until golden.

Fennel pies taste of aniseed and fresh greens. They are eaten as a meze or a snack, with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon.

Greek Salad

Greek salad is the dish almost every visitor to Greece and Crete tries. The salad contains green pepper, onion, tomato, cucumber and olives, topped with feta, sprinkled with oregano and dressed with plenty of olive oil and lemon juice. Many other salads are on Cretan menus for vegetarians too.

Giant Beans

Giant beans, or gigantes plaki, are large butter beans baked in the oven in a tomato sauce with olive oil, garlic, onion and herbs such as dill and parsley. The beans become very soft as they absorb the sauce.

Giant beans are eaten as a main course or a meze, warm with bread, or cold the next day. Cretan cooks often add more olive oil just before serving.

Green Beans in Tomato Sauce

Green beans in tomato sauce, or fasolakia ladera, are green beans simmered slowly with tomatoes, onions and olive oil until the sauce is thick. Some cooks add potatoes or carrots.

Fasolakia are served warm or at room temperature with village bread to soak up the sauce. The dish is common in Cretan homes and in traditional tavernas.

Horta (Wild Greens)

Stuffed Courgette Flowers

Stuffed courgette flowers are not on every menu in Crete, but when they are, they are delicious. The flowers are filled with a seasoned rice mix.

Stuffed vine leaves are sometimes tinned rather than home-made. Stuffed courgette flowers are always prepared fresh.

Stuffed Peppers and Stuffed Tomatoes

Stuffed peppers and tomatoes, called gemista, are the go-to choice for many vegetarian visitors to Crete. The vegetables are baked in the oven with a stuffing of seasoned rice.

Gemista sometimes contain minced meat as well. Check with the waiter if you are unsure.

Stuffed Vine Leaves

Stuffed vine leaves, or dolmades, are vine leaves wrapped around a filling of rice, fresh dill and mint, chopped onion and olive oil, often with lemon juice. They are a standard part of a meze platter.

Dolmades are served cold, or warm with a spoonful of yoghurt.

Non-Meat Dishes That Contain Cheese

Cheese appears in many Cretan vegetarian dishes. These 3 are the ones you will see most often.

Cheese Pies

Cheese pies are the most common vegetarian food in Crete, and Cretans eat them for breakfast. Some cheese pies are huge, usually the breakfast ones, and some are small pasty-shaped pies. The pastry is filo and the filling is a mild, white, creamy cheese. Some tavernas serve cheese pies with local honey.

Saganaki

Saganaki is fried cheese, and it differs in each restaurant you visit in Greece and Crete. The cheese varies too, and some places use halloumi. It tastes better than it sounds. Prawn or shrimp saganaki is a different dish made in the same pan, so check which one you are ordering.

Dakos

Dakos is a classic vegetarian dish in Crete, often listed as "Cretan salad" on menus. Double-baked barley rusks form the base, topped with grated tomato and crumbled feta or soft mizithra cheese.

Boureki, giant beans, stuffed vine leaves and horta show how much Cretan food is vegetarian by tradition. Our guide to the traditional Cretan diet explains why vegetables, pulses and olive oil sit at its centre.