Without a doubt, the island’s rapid growth in tourism has created agricultural challenges. However, allay your concerns. Santorini has plenty of great food available starting with cherry tomatoes, white aubergine (eggplant) and, of course, magnificent wine.
1. Cherry Tomatoes (Tomataki)
Santorini Tomato
Earning protected PDO status, sweet Santorini tomatoes are one of the island’s signature products.
Santorini’s tiny tomatoes are intensely packed with sweet flavor due to the island’s dry climate and mineral-rich soil. Local farmers have been growing the little red fruits (or are they vegetables?) since the early 19th century.
Granted PDO (Protected Designation of Origin) status by the European Commission, these petite tomatoes claim a prominent spot in a myriad of dishes on almost every Santorini menu. Many chefs serve the red fruit atop salads while others fry them to make crispy, sweet, melt in your mouth fritters called tomatokeftedes.
Where to Eat Tomatoes in Santorini
If there’s a Santorini restaurant that doesn’t serve sweet local tomatoes in at least one dish, we are yet to find it. In other words, tomatoes are everywhere in Santorini.
2. Tomato Fritters (Tomatokeftedes)
Tomato fritters are a popular way to repurpose Santorini’s tomato bounty.
You can eat tomato fritters all over Greece but there’s nothing like eating tomatokeftedes in Santorini, the island where the tangy fried tomato patty was invented. It’s no exaggeration to assert that local cooks channel history every time they fry tomato-infused dough in olive oil. That’s how prevalent tomato fritters are in the Santorini food culture.
Born in poverty ‘back in the day’ when tomatoes were more available than meat, tomatokeftedes are as rich in flavor as they are in history. Beyond tomatoes and olive oil, typical ingredients include mint, onion, parsley and assorted spices.
Where to Eat Tomato Fritters in Santorini
Most local restaurants serve tomatokeftedes.
3. Cretan Dako Salad
This Cretan dako salad temporarily distracted us from an epic sunset thanks to ingredients like tapenade-coated rusk, tomato, feta, capers and herbs.
Horiatiki may be an iconic Greek dish as well as one of the most popular global salads, but we never say ‘no’ to Cretan dako salad whenever we see it on a Santorini menu. Typically, restaurants prepare the salad with local tomatoes, feta cheese, black olives, capers, olive oil and oregano.
But barley rusks, crunchy, rustic, crouton-like cubes, are the star of this salad born on the Island of Crete. Not only does the rusk’s double-baked bread add a hefty bready texture to the salad, but the wholesome carb also turns the seemingly simple Greek starter into a miniature meal.
Where to Eat Cretan Dako Salad in Santorini
Dimitris Ammoudi Taverna, Kokkalo and Metaxi Mas
4. Fava (Fáva)
Fava bean purée is readily available at most Santorini restaurants.
Though fava beans are available all over Greece, Santorini’s variety is so special that the island’s green pods qualify for PDO status. Local restaurants typically purée fava beans into a creamy spread and top the lush concoction with octopus, tomatoes and other local products.
We recommend ordering fava as often as possible in Santorini. It’s a great starter for vegetarians and pescatarians. If you fall in love with the dish, you can learn to make your own fava at a Santorini cooking class.
Where to Eat Fava in Santorini
Traditional restaurants serve fava all over the island.
5. Seafood (Thalassiná)
Santorini fishermen catch an abundance of fresh seafood in the Aegean Sea.
As an island in the Aegean Sea, Santorini is literally swimming with seafood. Most restaurants take advantage of this fishy situation by offering seafood options like octopus (chtapódi), prawns (garídes), mussels (mýdia) and fresh Mediterranean fish like red mullet, tuna, seabass and John Dory.
You don’t want to leave the island without trying our two favorite Santorini seafood dishes – grilled octopus and shrimp saganaki. For the uninitiated, the latter Greek dish preparation involves baking prawns in a tasty red sauce containing tomatoes and feta. Santorini’s grilled octopus, cooked to charred doneness with a tender texture, is less niche but equally tasty.
6. Souvlaki
Since souvlaki is readily available at both sidewalk stalls and casual restaurants all over Greece, it’s easy to find the ultimate ‘meat-on-a-stick’ snack food in Athens and on the country’s many islands including Mykonos, Rhodes and, of course, Santorini. Some Greek menus list this crowd-pleaser as kalamaki or gyro, but it’s all souvlaki and it’s all good.
To prepare souvlaki, grill masters cook meats like pork, chicken and occasionally lamb on large pits before transferring charred chunks to skewers. Motivated vegetarians can find souvlaki versions with eggplant, peppers and mushrooms.
7. White Eggplant (Lefkó Melitzána)
White eggplant is a Santorini standard. Large in size and sparse in seeds, Santorini’s white eggplants (more commonly called aubergine in Europe) are filled with sweet flavor thanks to the island’s rich volcanic soil.
In addition to frying and grilling aubergine, local chefs transform the nightshade into a paste and add it to comforting, cheese-rich saganaki. In case you missed it above, saganaki is a must-eat dish in Santorini.
Where to Eat White Eggplant in Santorini
Traditional restaurants serve white eggplant all over the island.
8. Wine (Krasí)
It’s always wine o’clock in Santorini. Benefitting from the island’s arid climate and volcanic soil, Santorini winemakers excel at growing flavorful grapes like Aidini, Athiri, Mandelaria and, most notably, Assyrtiko. After producing world-class wine with these grapes, they sell bottles around Greece and throughout the world. However, we suspect that the very best Santorini wine stays on the island.
Santorini wineries also produce Vinsanto, a late harvest dessert wine that derives its sweetness from white grapes that are sun dried to a golden hue. To create Vinsanto wine, winemakers must use a minimum of 51% Assyrtiko grapes and age the wine for at least two years in oak barrels. The resulting elixir must be 9% abv or higher.
Where to Drink Wine in Santorini
You can sample wine at wineries like Domaine Sigalas, Santo Wines and Venetsanos Winery, Argyros estate. Better yet, take a Santorini wine tour.
9. Craft Beer (Spitikí Býra)
Drinking beer with a view is a must in Santorini. Donkeys followed us in Santorini. No, not the animals who transport sedentary tourists. We’re talking about bottles of Yellow Donkey beer, Red Donkey beer and Lazy Ass Donkey beer .
A local craft beer since 2011, Santorini Brewing Company’s brews were our beer of choice except when we encountered Volkan Brewery’s award-winning bottles. Talk about a win-win situation when we want to beat the heat and drink a tasty tipple.
Where to Drink Craft Beer in Santorini
Santorini Brewing Company, Ftelos Brewery and Volkan Brewery
Source: 2foodtrippers.com
