Nikolas Drossos a Greek Graphic Designer, illustrates a traditional Cretan recipe and presents his list of Greek Diet Dos and Dont’s.

Being a Greek graphic designer/illustrator and dedicated foodie, I have always held the Mediterranean diet in high esteem. But even though this diet has been proven to be extremely healthy, it has lost ground to highly processed, ready to eat foods.

I was reading about Rene Redzepi, the chef of Noma, the two-Michelin star restaurant that was named as Best Restaurant in the world, and the Mediterranean diet came to mind.

Why? Well Chef Redzepi may be known for his creations in the Danish restaurant, but he is in fact of Albanian origin. He comes from a country, not far from Greece, which is very poor. He was raised appreciating the simple food; and that was what has been on his mind. Mediterranean food is all about that: “real food”.

But the Mediterranean diet is more than food; it is a way of life.

Let’s see what I do as a Greek to maintain a healthy way of living.

Greek Diet To Do’s

• Do not eat processed foods, pre-cooked or ready-made food.

• Use only extra virgin Greek olive oil in cooking.

• Prefer whole wheat bread instead of the usual processed bread.

• Include a lot of fresh vegetables, or wild greens in your daily menu. Also Kalamata olives.

• Consume dairy products.

• Eat fish 2 times a week.

• Eat very small portions of red meat.

• Prefer Greek honey instead of sugar for coffee, or as a sweetener….

• Instead of drinking beer or other kind of alcohol, prefer the heart healthy red wine.

And last but not least, I use my bike, or I walk as often as possible.

You may think that this diet is exotic or very expensive to follow, but in fact this was the everyday food of Cretans, who were very poor and hard-working people.

So let’s give it a try by looking at this very simple, yet marvelous recipe from Crete: the Dakos.

To make it simpler, I’ve illustrated it; you can see the illustration above.

Note: The real dakos, is made with “mizithra” cheese, but as it is difficult to find it outside Greece, you can use feta instead.

Nikolas Drossos is a Graphic Designer, Illustrator and Foodie, specializing in food and culinary illustrations. You can see samples of his working by clicking here.