Paxos y Antipaxos :: Comparisson reports

During the summer, people tend to eat a lot of fish and potatoes, especially with skordalja (garlic with oil). The garlic is mashed in the oil a long while until forming a paste which is later placed on top of the boiled, cut potatoes. People also eat small squash, a lot of salted sardoni [= sardines] and anchovies, and salty cheese from Paxos, Albania and Corfu.

Green beans are cooked in a sauce made from very finely chopped onions, red paprika and oil. Sometimes celery is added when the rest is half cooked. Green beans are also eaten simply boiled and then dressed with oil and red paprika. The same occurs with peas to which they add garlic, not celery. Lentils are cooked the same way, but always with oregano, while garbanzos (chick peas) are cooked with garlic and rosemary.

Cod is generally boiled and eaten with garlic sauce ( skordalja) or it’s served as brodeletto [= an Italian fish soup] with onions. A lot of garlic is always used in summer. Salted cod is always eaten that way, though some also accompany it with potatoes.

When it comes time to fast, as already mentioned, people eat dried cuttlefish with rice and potatoes, followed by dried squid ( oktapus) which is imported from Albania, and also fresh cuttlefish and squid, a lot of limpets, sea urchins and pen shell clams, and various shellfish, along with lachana (a type of wild herb). The primary food during this period is olives.

During the winter they eat a lot of sausages from Saint Maura and Corfu, especially at Christmas and during Carnival. At Christmas they eat a lot of turkey, preferring lamb at Easter. During Easter celebrations they also eat a lot of salami from Saint Maura and Corfu and they make buccellati (circular cakes) with eggs dyed red. They eat a lot of eggs in spring.