Local food Greece – ‘locavores’
We love local food farmed in Greece. It is fresher, has not been transferred on refrigerated lorries, has not been cut from the tree weeks before it is ripe and it simply tastes better. We therefore want to call ourselves locavores!
The region of Live-Bio in Greece (Argolida, Troizinia and Poros Island) is blessed with an excellent climate for the cultivation of natural produce. Our hillsides are filled with olive trees, the valleys offer the sweetest tomatoes and other veggies, and the mountainous terroirs host cheese makers of exceptional quality.
Local food Greece
The freshest fruit and veg, straight from the organic farm nearby
Every time I walk to our local grocery stores, I take a deep breath to devour the incredible smell of fresh fruit and veg; as if I try to make up for the years when the fruit section in the supermarket was totally odourless. In the two little shops in the town of Galatas, I can tell the produce on the benches by the smell, not the labels. And in case you wonder what the website of the shops is, these people only care about sourcing the freshest veggies and not having an online façade. Sorry!
In addition to the local stores, a few kilometres out of town is an organic farm that has its doors open for visitors and people who would like to buy ‘straight from the tree’. We highly recommend a visit and we will happily take you there with our eco-friendly van. Even better, why don’t you cycle, it is a short ride on flat terrain!
Local food Greece
Organic Greek olive oil on nature’s demands
The region of Argolida produces a fine variety of olive oil from indigenous olive trees (known as Kothreiki or Manaki – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_olive_cultivars) that are so at home with their environment that they don’t even need to be watered. In such conditions, the use of pesticides and fertilisers is totally unnecessary, so much that I struggle to explain to the traditional farmers how it is possible to grow non-organic produce!
All olive oil is pressed locally, in a number of micro-presses scattered throughout the region, ensuring small batch, single estate, cold pressed goodness. The olive trees in the Live-Bio property, the mystical dancers of our every day life, offered us 100 litres of extra virgin olive oil in 2014. We just cannot have enough of it in our salads and our foods…
Poros Island – olive trees
Poros Island – Olive trees
Delicious feta cheese and matured cheese varieties
On the northern side of Live-Bio lies the gorgeous island of Poros. On the southern side, the glorious mountain of Aderes rises 721 meters above sea level. On its hills it hosts a number of traditional flour mills and cheese producing facilities.
The village of Trachia in particular is renowned in the region for producing outstanding quality feta cheese (from ewes and goat’s mile only!) as well as a variety of local matured cheeses such as graviera, kefalotyri and kefalograviera (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Greek_cheeses).
In addition, any bakery you go to in the region and the nearby islands bakes bread with the traditional method used for decades in Trachia. Simply delicious, especially when it is warm and drizzled with the most virgin of olive oils.
Local wine from Nemea, as old world as it gets
Only 100 kms from Live-Bio one can find the wine making region of Nemea (http://www.bbr.com/region-1134-nemea). Known for its indigenous Agiorgitiko variety (http://www.newwinesofgreece.com/nemea_agiorgitiko/en_nemeaagiorgitiko_1.html), Nemea is one of the prime wine making regions of Greece, also hosting a number of organic wine makers amongst others (http://www.papaioannouwines.gr/index.php/en/, http://www.palivos.gr/en, http://www.nemeionestate.gr/english/, http://repanis.gr/en/company.html).
As the locals enjoy to comment, if you are into old world wines, Nemea has been producing wine non-stop for around 3.000 years. It is definitely Greece’s, if not the world’s, oldest wine making region (without this meaning that we don’t also enjoy new world wine dear friends from South Africa, Argentina and Australia 🙂 )
There is nothing more rewarding than knowing that we can open a bottle of full bodied red whose carbon footprint is almost negligible. Cheers to Nemea!
Nature – vineyards
Nature – vineyards
Do you want to taste all this natural goodness? It would be our pleasure to introduce you to it! Enjoy your life, live-bio