Syros Gastronomy

Syros ’s gastronomy has been greatly influenced by the various conquerors and refugees who left their own culinary mark over the years. With spicy flavors from Asia Minor and the Levant, with velvety notes from the Venetians and traditional aromas from Chios and other North Aegean Islands, Syros has created its own unique cuisine. An authentic cuisine with a special culture consisting of excellent quality and traditional products worth trying.

West, east, Cyclades, aristocrats, rebetes…, make a mixture well kneaded with unique ingredients, the rich history and the indescribable charm of the island. This is how the special gastronomic identity of Syros reaches our plate.

Gastronomy is one of the most important parts of the rich history of Syros and is directly related to the lifestyle of the people who inhabited the island for centuries. The people who arrived on the island during the past centuries brought with them elements of their gastronomic culture that they had developed in their homelands. Different ingredients, cultures, origins and experiences are mixed in the pot of local people, giving really impressive taste results.

In the kitchens of the bourgeois of Syros, which were mainly merchants and shipowners originating from Chios or Smyrna, the oriental elements will be combined with the western modernities. For the high society, gastronomy will be the sign of social prosperity at that time. The importance of cooking for the Syrians, is highlighted by the fact that the first cooking book published in our country, was printed in Syros in 1828.

In the countryside, the farmers’s cook was more frugal, as it was usually on the islands of the Cyclades. The raw material they usually used was the seasonal products, produced or grown on the island, such as greens or herbs, olive oil, various vegetables, legumes and in exceptional cases meat. Refugees from the lower social layers usually enriched the recipes of the poor with an oriental flavor, adding spices and contributing with their own local recipes to the Syrian menu.

The modern cuisine of Syros is influenced by these social and cultural contradictions and is full of local ingredients. The capers that spreads among the rocks of the island, the wild greens, the prickly pears, are some of the special local products of the island. The list is not limited to them of course: the spicy PDO cheese San Michalis -“the Greek parmesan”-, will definitely be a unique tasty meeting for the palate and certainly the gruyere, the mizithra, the Cycladic PDO kopanisti, the tirovolia

At the islands’ delicatessens,  the Syrian sausages with fennel stand out, and louza one of the finest cold cuts in the country is an ideal choice to accompany some of the fine local wines, with the Aegean as background.

Special local dishes are the atherinopita, the octopus meatballs, the caper salad, the fennel pie, the parsley salad, the Syrian garlic sausage, the tomato meatballs and many more….

The memories from Syros will definitely be sweet and sprinkled with a little loukoumi powder or even some roasted almonds, since you will not be able to resist the desserts that the “Lady of the Cyclades” has to offer. The famous Syrian loukoumia are known for the special taste they acquire from the brackish water of the few springs of the island and their taste variations are unlimited. The delicious halvadopites and the pastellaria are also really special.