Παξιμάδια and Feta-cheese

I like this commercial! The phone is ringing at the kafenío (old style Greek cafeteria) and the owner calls out for an old man, Manolis, and tells him it's his grandpa! The grandfather asks him to bring him "paximádia" - Cretan rusks.

It's written on the screen: "At Crete they live longer. Because they eat well." It's wellknown that the Cretan people are living longer because of healthy food. At an investgation from 1960 14.000 men in the age of 40-45 years from 7 different countries took part. Already then the conclusion was that the Cretans was living the most healthy. Today 40 of these 14.000 men are alive. All of them from Crete!!!

Something you often eat at Crete is "Ντάκος"(Dákos): first you make a paximádi wet under running water for a little while, as they are hard as stone! After you add tomato cut in small pieces, feta-cheese cut in cubes and oregano.

At these ones they have put capers as well, which I've never seen before though.

Apparently there are some rumours since a couple of years that unpasteurized feta can be served at restaurants and taverns in Greece and that there is the possibility to get infected by listeria-bacteria, but all Greek feta is pasteurized - it's a part of the manufacturing procedure.

My son, Babbis, told me about this funny rapper, So Tiri (Funny name, as tiri means cheese and Sotiris is a Greek name), in New York and this videoclip: "Feta kai psomi" (Feta and bread)!