SOUFIKO ~ from Simple to Sublime Eating well in the Blue Zone.: Quintessential Ikarian Cuisine

If you can describe the Ikarian character in one word, it would be Filotimos. If you can describe Ikarian philosophy in one word, it would be Soufiko. The former is a highly prized character trait which means pride in one’s honor, pride in one’s self and respect for others. The latter is a food unique to the island made, they say, when one ingenious wife answered her husband’s inquiry of supper by going down to the garden and throwing the whole harvest onto one pan, making a hodgepodge of vegetarian babel that miraculously delivered, exquisitely – but in reality, it is the heart, soul and tenacious philosophy of a people. During the hardships of WW2, the British motto was “Make do.” In Ikaria, that motto was a recipe. That recipe – that clean, honest, simple vegetarian cuisine – has prolonged the lives of a hearty people, turning their once ignored North Aegean island into a Blue Zone discovered by Dan Buettner, where people live the longest, healthiest and happiest lives.

While we can’t take all aspects of the Ikarian life-style with us, we can eat those foods that are pure and wholesome, free from the chemical sprays and GMOs that are killing modern society. Let’s go back to a simpler, more honest way of eating; that is the one aspect of the Blue Zone that we have the power to reproduce where we are, encapsulated in that quintessential Ikarian dish – Soufiko.