Home Grown

Before we leave Amorgos, we have one more story to share with you. It’s about food.

Many of the meals we’ve eaten here have consisted only of ingredients grown and harvested locally. And on this island, those pickings are rich: fish taken fresh from the sea, livestock raised ranging the countryside, and fruit and vegetables that flourished without the benefit of chemical sprays.

Simple and delicious fare, this was food to nourish both body and soul.

This small taverna in the middle of the countryside was our favourite place to eat - it's run entirely by one family

The father and son are fishermen, the mother cooks (with help from her son), and when the girls get home from school, the oldest one waits the tables while the two little girls do chores like clearing tables and mopping the floors - and everyone always has time for a laugh and a chat

Everything that comes from the kitchen here has been caught, grown or collected within a radius of a couple of kilometres

These petalides (limpets) were something new for us, but with only a big squeeze of lemon juice to enhance the flavour, they were delicious

Dolmades and a plate of greens foraged from the fields around the taverna

Fava with lots of olive oil and lemon juice

Braised goat - from the family's herd - and cuttlefish in tomato sauce; really, everything that hit the table in this little restaurant was absolutely delicious!

And to top it off, one of the little girls presented us with flowers she'd picked from the field 🙂

Another day we were invited to lunch at our hosts' home; again everything on the table - eggs, greens, beans, cabbage, peppers, potatoes ...

... and, of course, the fish - was sourced on the island

At our local seafood restaurant in Katapola, the menu consisted of what was fresh off the boat

On this day it was lobster 🙂

Of course, the experience of a great meal is not only about the food itself, but also where it's enjoyed ...

... the care with which it's prepared, and most of all, those with whom it's shared