Clean eating on Amorgos

Clean eating. A diet?  A lifestyle?  Only a buzzword?

The answer is very simple: Clean eating is what eating was always about before food production got industrialized: The consumption of clean food.

Clean food is real food and not encumbered with things that compromise health: artificial flavorings, artificial colorings, sugar substitutes … Clean food everywhere and for everybody was self-evident on Amorgos quite recently.  And it is still there! – You only have to consider the right harvest time and fair dealers!

Seasonal vegetables on Amorgos

Don’t expect your Greek Salad with local tomatoes from the Cyclades — small, ripe, fragrant, and flavorful — in early springtime. But there are many other salads in Greek cuisine and at least some are always prepared with seasonal ingredients from Amorgos or the surrounding islands: Marouli (lettuce), Lahanosalata (slaw”), Pantzarosalata (beetroot salad) sometimes with beet greens as well, Roka (arugula) Patatosalata (potato salad) with olive oil, finely sliced onions, lemon juice or vinegar; Revithosalata (chickpea salad), Maintanouri (parsley) salad and more and of course the famous Fava.

Fish, meat, cheese, eggs & honey

If you are not a vegetarian or a vegan you will find a lot of local clean animal products on Amorgos as well. Freshly caught fish and seafood – also have an eye on the fishery season –  frozen fish is denoted on the menue. Lamb, goat, home made sausage, pork steak like in the Tuscany of the 60ties, eggs from grandmas hens, honey from local bees and of course the very nice Amorgian cheese in many different degrees of ripeness. For those who dare to discover very traditional food, the time around easter will be perfect. On the menue among others: snails, goat lights, lamb fries – with certificate of origin 😉

How and where to buy clean food on Amorgos

Ask for local products, like vegetabels, salad, fruit, cheese, eggs, etc. in any super market. If it’s local it’s mostly organic.
There are also several shops and producers who concentrate on sustainable local products. A few on the following short list:

• Iamata is an organisation which cultivates and processes pharmaceutical aromatic plants and herbs that grow on the island of Amorgos, as well as others, without harming Amorgos’ natural environment. You can buy a lot of fine products in the charming small Iamata Shop in Langada.
• ‘To Katoi’ is a traditional shop in Chora, which sells local products for example, honey, raki (alcoholic drink), herbs and soap.
• Amorgos Organic Products in Katapola offers a nice assortement of self grown and homemade products from seasonal fruit over wine to jams and pickles.

Kelari, Maria and her idea of an urban livestyle inspired health shop

A true sample for supplying contemporary needs of many people is Maria Sinodinou. Maria, a convinced clean eater herself, opened her shop “Kelari” in Aegiali in 2010. Inspired by urban health shops in Athens, she wants to provide Amorgos visitors as well as locals with traditional and modern products. Beside a well balanced range of health food and cosmetics at Kelari you also can find nourishments for people on special diets or food allergy. If a special product a customer needs is not on stock, Maria gets hold of it in a short time, due to her smart wide-area network.